IGHSAU Girls Swimming and Diving State Championships
- November 13-14, 2020
- Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 IGHSAU State Swimming and Diving”
- All State Meet Info
Despite winning six of the swimming events on the day, Iowa City West finished second at the meet to Ames. Ames has been one of the top two teams in the state every year since 2010, winning nine of the eleven state titles during that time period. This was Ames’ first season without longtime head coach Dan Flannery, who died earlier this year. He had served as the head coach of Ames’ girl’s team since 2002 and their boy’s team since 1998. This year Ames was led by former assistant coach Joe Fischer. The meet was swum with prelims on Friday and the finals session on Saturday.
Top 5 Teams
- Ames – 303
- Iowa City West – 277.5
- Dowling Catholic – 233
- Waukee – 227
- Johnston – 173
Bettendorf and Johnston both had strong showings on the diving board to start the meet. Bettendorf divers Makayla Hughbanks and Sydney Hanson finished first and third in the event, scoring 505.70 and 478.75 points respectively. Johnston added a second-place finish from Clara Wheeler (484.25), as well as a fifth from Addi Kamienski and seventh from Abby Hutchins.
Johnston continued their strong start in the 200 medley relay, beating out Ames’s relay by .03 to claim the state title.
The 200 free featured a trio of Iowa City West girls competing in the A-final. The top spot in the event went to Stanford University-bound senior Aurora Roghair in near record-setting time. Roghair won the event in 1:47.30, missing Allyssa Fluit’s record by .16. Aurora was joined in the A-final by her sister Jade Roghair, a sophomore who took third, and Kolby Reese, a freshman who finished seventh.
The three Iowa City West girls again returned to compete in the A-final of the 500 free. Aurora once again took the top spot, this time in record-setting fashion. After Waukee sophomore and runner up Jessi Wigham reset the state record in the event during prelims, Roghair returned to best her time by almost two seconds, finishing in 4:45.78. Jade added a fourth-place finish (5:02.64), while Reese finished seventh (5:12.85).
The 200 IM went to Johnston junior Olivia Swalley. After finishing fourth in the event last year, she came back to beat last year’s third-place finisher Annie Galvin. Swalley finished in 2:03.28 while Galvin touched in 2:04.94.
Swalley also added a second event win in the 100 breast. Beating last year’s runner up Hayley Kimmel, Swalley finished in 1:04.12. She was slightly faster in prelims, finishing in 1:03.66.
Also taking two wins on the day was Ames junior Meghan Donald. Her first win came in the 50 free, where she was the only swimmer to break 23.00, touching in 22.99. She added her second win in the 100 free, where she bested the field with a time of 50.63.
Scarlett Martin both led the meet, and set the state records, in both of her events. In prelims she set the state records in both the 100 fly (53.39) and 100 back (54.17). She returned on the second day of the meet to break both of her day-old records, winning the fly in 53.01 and back in 54.14. Martin is committed to join the University of Florida in the fall of 2022.
The 200 and 400 free relays were both won by Iowa City West, with Martin and the Roghair sisters competing on both. In the 200 free relay they were joined by Ella Hochstetler to win the event with a time of 1:34.34. The 400 free relay included Olivia Taeger, who helped the relay take the title, and reset the state record, in 3:23.73.