Ruby Martin Breaks Mary Descenza’s Meet Record in Iowa City

2017 Iowa City Spring Sectionals

• University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• March 9-12, 2017
• Championship Central
• Live Results

Day 2 of the 2017 Iowa City Sectional Championships started off with an explosion in the women’s 100 backstroke.

In that race, the top 4 finishers all swam under the old Meet Record – and all 4 are teammates at the Fort Collins Area Swim Team in Colorado. Kylee Alons won the race in 53.54, just out-touching herr teammate Bayley Stewart by .01 seconds. Zoe Bartel was a tenth back in 53.63 and Bailey Kovac finished 4th in 54.13.

The old record was a 54.20 set by Tevyn Waddell in 2015. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last month at the Big Ten Championships.

The women’s 100 fly later in the session saw another record fall at the hands of multiple swimmers, but this time it was Ruby Martin of the host Iowa Flyers Swim Club who won in 52.99. Alons took 2nd in 53.18 and another Fort Collins swimmer Coleen Gillilan took 3rd in 53.28.

They took down the record of another star swimmer – Mary Descenza swam a 53.55 in 2002. 7 years later, she’d go on to break the 200 fly World Record at the 2009 World Championships.

Those were 2 of 4 Meet Records broken on Friday in Iowa City. In the men’s 200 free, Alexei Sancov swam a 1:35.60 to win by 2.5 seconds ahead of Edina’s 1:38.29. Sancov’s swim was more than a second better than the 13-year old Meet Record. Sancov has been as fast as 1:34.0 in the event.

Sancov also won the 100 fly in 48.31, and then he and his Terrapin Swim Team teammates closed the session with another Meet Record in the 800 free relay. He anchored the relay after Tyler James, Nathan Barsanti, and Andrew Rodriguez. The team touched in 6:42.40, which broke the Clovis Swim Club’s 2015 record in the event.

Other Day 2 Winners:

• 15-year old Peter Larson from the Edina Swim Club won the 100 back in 49.37, beating University of Iowa junior Thomas Rathburn for the wall (49.88).
• Fort Collins’ Bartel won the 100 breaststroke on back-to-back events with a 59.39. That’s about 4-tenths from her bet time. She took two more wins – in the 200 IM (1:58.54) and as the 800 free relay anchor (7:28.31) as her team dominated the scoring through 13 events.
• Justin Winnett won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 54.22.
• Melissa Pish from Waves of Bloomington-Normal won the girls’ 200 free in 1:46.83 – a second-and-a-half better than Alons (1:48.44)
• Fort Collins’ William Kovac won the 200 IM in 1:49.78.

Team Scores Through 2 Days

Women’s Top 5:

1. Fort Collins – 358
2. Edina – 126
3. Waves Bloomington/Normal – 124
4. Iowa Flyers – 83
5. Central Iowa Aquatics – 72

Men’s Top 5:

1. Edina – 138
2. Terrapins Swim Team – 134
3. Fort Collins – 114
4. Chicago Wolfpack Aquatic Club – 76
5. Des Moines Swimming Federation – 61