State performances show future is bright for Iowa City West girls swimming

MARSHALLTOWN - The future looks bright for Iowa City West girls swimming.

Ames was the story of the state swimming meet Saturday inside the Linda Bloom Natatorium at the Marshalltown YMCA, winning the team title for the third straight year. The Little Cyclones scored 384 points to easily outdistance West Des Moines Dowling (271.5).

However, a couple of stars of the future showed off their talents for the Women of Troy. Freshman Aurora Roghair and sophomore Lily Ernst both came up with third-place finishes in individual events to propel West to an eighth-place finish with 91 points, the best team finish among Gazette-area teams.

Roghair rallied over the second half of her race in the 200-yard freestyle to finish in 1:52.76. She came back later in the meet to finish fourth in the 500 freestyle, coming home in 5:02.40.

Ernst's podium finish came in the 100 butterfly. Her time was an impressive 56.89.

'Our top scorer was Aurora and Lily was right behind her,” West Coach Byron Butler said. 'We had some up-and-down swims overall but this meet is all about trying to maintain your seed time.

'There's a lot of emotion that happens between the regionals and this meet. We did a really nice job overall.”

Roghair, the third member of her family to swim at West, impressed her coach with her calm demeanor in the noisy, pressure-packed atmosphere.

'I just really get out of her way on a day like today,” Butler said after her 200 free performance. 'Aurora is such an intense racer. I knew she would perform well in this loud environment.”

The 200 was the first of four races for Roghair on Saturday. She said she felt strong.

'It was my first race at state, so I just really wanted to attack it,” she said. 'I just gave it all I had.”

The West freshman followed up her 200 with a strong 500, coming on to get fourth.

'I was pretty happy with my first state meet,” Roghair said. 'I thought I swam some pretty good times.”

Ernst added an eighth-place finish in the 200 individual medley to her 100 butterfly performance. Both West standouts also swam legs on the 200 and 400 freestyle relays where the Women of Troy finished ninth in each race.

'All credit to them and their hard work,” Butler said of Roghair and Ernst. 'Both of them swim for I-Fly (their club team). They have put in the work all season long to have these performances and I'm lucky enough to be around them when they have these performances.”

Vinton-Shellsburg's Arabella Shepard also had a fourth-place finish in the 100 backstroke (57.23). She took ninth in the 100 butterfly.

The top performance among Metro swimmers came from Cedar Rapids Washington's Elise Novak with a sixth-place finish in the 100 butterfly (58.12). The Warriors had the top team finish among Metro schools, taking 11th with 80 points.

Ames' Sophie Sorenson and Dowling's Berit Quass shared swimmer of the meet honors.