Travis Gulledge Wins Two Events On Day Four Of Iowa City Sectionals

2024 IOWA CITY SPRING SECTIONALS

• March 7-11, 2024
• CRWC, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• LCM (50 meters)
• Live Stream
• Meet Mobile “2024 USA Swimming Speedo Championship Series”
• Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap

The fourth and final day of the Iowa City Spring Sectionals featured the 1500, 100 back, 100 breast, 50 free, and 200 IM. Texas Ford’s duo of Morgan Scott and Jacob Molacek kicked off the session with victories in the 100 backstroke. Scott stopped the clock at 1:00.93, which the fastest she’s been in the event since 2022. Molacek won the boy’s event by over two seconds, recording a 55.56 to narrowly miss his season best.

Lukas Vetkoetter, a Georgia Tech recruit, contributed another victory for Texas Ford in the 1500 free. He cleared the field by over twenty seconds, logging a with a 15:40.73 to narrowly miss his best time from Juniors last summer.

Travis Gulledge added two more wins for Texas Ford in the 100 breast and 50 freestyle. Gulledge, a Texas A&M commit,  hit a personal best time of 1:01.86 in the 100 breast to dip below the Olympics Trials cut, while in the 50 free he out-touched Jozsef Polyak from the Iowa Flyers by a hundredth to win in 23.62.

The girl’s 50 free was also won by the slimmest of margins, as Emily Kahn from the University of South Dakota got her hand on the 1st in a best time of 26.00. Faith Larsen was just behind in 26.01, which put her just a tenth shy of her best time from December.

In addition to the 50 free, Polyak, a Minnesota recruit, was the runner-up finisher behind Gulledge in the 100 breast. His time of 1:02.00 established a new personal best by over a second, and also took him under the Olympic Trials standard of 1:02.19.

Rounding out Texas Ford’s event winners was 16-year-old Ava Pape, who posted a near best time 2:20.48 to capture the 200 IM.  Finishing just a few tenths behind Pape was 14-year-old Margot Levesque, who knocked three seconds off her personal best time with a 2:20.65.

The boy’s 200 IM went to South Dakota State’s Cody Vertin, who logged a personal best time of 2:07.52 to win the event by over a second.

Gillian Davey completed her sweep of the breaststroke events with a victory in the 100 breast. She turned in a 1:10.40, which is about a tenth faster than the season best she recorded at the Knoxville Pro Swim Series in January. 14-year-old Lucy Parson had a fantastic swim to finish 2nd, as she dropped a total of two and a half seconds on the day to end at 1:11.45.

Paige Downey from the Gold Medal Swim Club dominated the 1500 to secure her 4th victory of the meet. The 15-year-old clocked a 16:41.66, which puts her about nine seconds off her best time set back in August.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

Combined Top 5:

1. Bluefish Swim Club – 733.5
2. Gold Medal Swim Club – 617
3. University of South Dakota – 569
4. Iowa Flyers Swim Club – 437
5. Sioux Falls Swim Team – 423

Girls’ Top 5:

1. Gold Medal Swim Club – 425
2. Bluefish Swim Club – 374
3. Phoenix Swimming – 353
4. Sioux Falls Swim Team – 316
5. University of South Dakota – 285

Boys’ Top 5:

1. Bluefish Swim Club – 359.5
2. Iowa Flyers Swim Club – 330
3. University of South Dakota – 284
4. Texas Ford Aquatics – 271.5
5. Chicago Wolfpack Aquatic Club – 240