Kennedy swimmers impressive in opener

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids Kennedy arrived at its Mississippi Valley Conference girls' swimming opener with a lot of experience and a lot of promise.

Both were impressively displayed in a rousing victory.

Freshman Kassidy Lovig and junior Jessica Williams each notched a pair of individual wins, then closed the meet by assisting in a relay victory as the Cougars rolled over Iowa City High, 144-41, Tuesday at Kennedy.

'I think it's a good way to start out the season,” Williams said. 'Everyone's being really close and it really helps to hear everyone cheer you on. They push me to go harder.”

Just two years removed from swimming junior varsity, Williams appears ready to capitalize on a breakthrough sophomore season that ended with a 13th-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke state championship. Tuesday against City High, she cruised to a backstroke victory in 1:01.95, just a second off her state-meet pace in the season's opening meet.

'That is my favorite event, I like it a lot,” Williams said of the backstroke. 'It's so much fun because you can actually see people cheering for you sometimes if you peek over, and it helps push you through it.”

Williams also excelled in the 100-yard butterfly, needing just 1:03.25 to touch the wall in what is a relatively new event for her.

'Very challenging,” Williams said. 'It's one of the most tiring strokes. That last 25 (yards), you really have to push yourself.”

The freshman Lovig entered the season with a lot of promise and she delivered in her varsity meet debut, easily winning both the 200-yard freestyle and the 500.

'I was pretty comfortable,” Lovig said. 'It really helped that all my teammates were so supportive of me and they really, like the older girls, prepared me for what to expect and everyone was cheering. It was really helpful.”

Lovig is no stranger to big swimming environments. She is fresh off a successful year with the Cedar Rapids Aquatic Association. Lovig claimed a quartet of runner-up finishes in the 13-14 age group at last month's Iowa Swimming Long Course Championships, all in distance events (200-meter freestyle, 400, 800, 1500).

'I thought it was really, really good,” Lovig said. 'I dropped so much time.”

Lovig has set specific goals for her freshman year. In addition to chasing the 34-year-old school record in the 500 (Dale Etnyre, 5:01.83), Lovig wants to earn a berth in the state meet in both the 200 and the 500. That's not to suggest she is strictly a freestyle swimmer. Over the past year at CRAA, Lovig has worked diligently on the other three strokes of the individual medley (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke).

'Before, I just did a lot of freestyle,” Lovig said. 'Just getting better at that (medley) has been amazing.”

Lovig and Williams swam second and third, respectively, in the meet-closing 400-yard freestyle relay, which they won with Darby Manternach and Maddie Bagby by over 15 seconds in 3:50.21.

Kennedy returns 13 varsity letterwinners and nine state qualifiers.

'It's really amazing,” Lovig said. 'They're so fast and it really helps me in practice to keep up with them and they just really push me.”

Sophomore MacKinzee Macho added a pair of victories in the 200-yard individual medley (2:18.93) and the 100-yard breastroke (1:11.87) for Kennedy (1-0, 1-0 MVC).

For an experienced squad with high expectations, Kennedy Coach John Ross saw what he was looking for out of a season-opening meet.

'All the young ladies really did well tonight,” Ross said. 'I was pleased with the effort. We're working on specific things. Trying to not worry about what shows up on the scoreboard. We're trying to just continue to improve.”

AT C.R. KENNEDY

C.R. Kennedy 144, Iowa City High 41

200 medley relay - 1. C.R. Kennedy (Williams, Green, Golden, Siebenga), 1:53.57; 200 free - 1. Kassidy Lovig (CRK), 2:02.13; 200 IM - 1. MacKinzee Macho (CRK), 2:18.93; 50 free - 1. Kirsten Siebenga (CRK), 25.56; 100 fly - 1. Jessica Williams (CRK), 1:03.25; 100 free - 1. Darby Manternach (CRK), 56.07; 500 free - 1. Lovig (CRK), 5:31.72; 200 free relay - 1. C.R. Kennedy (Manternach, Bagby, Yang, Siebenga), 1:43.60; 100 back - 1. Williams (CRK), 1:01.95; 100 breaststroke - 1. Macho (CRK), 1:11.87; 400 free relay - 1. C.R. Kennedy (Manternach, Lovig, Williams, Bagby), 3:50.21; 1 meter diving -

1. Jayden Lovell (CRK), 227.55.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com