Sports : VSU will be sending 4 swimmers to State in the 100 Fly, 100 Back and 200 Medley

Big day for VSU girls!

Arabella Shepard qualified in 2 individual events (100 butterfly and 100 backstroke) and our 200 Medley Relay also qualified (made up of Shepard, Lexi Goodell, Geordyn Webster, and Clarissa Carolan).

Almost every single VSU swim today ended in a time drop - each swimmer achieving at least 1 personal best.

The Medley Relay got the ball rolling in the first event of the day - cutting 4 seconds off their season best and beating out a powerful Cedar Falls team for 3rd place. They swam in a time good enough to qualify for State - the first girls relay to qualify in school history.

Emily Levis and Amanda Cardenas kept the momentum going in the second event, cutting significant time in their 200 free. Geordyn Webster had impressive individual swims in the 50 and 100 Freestyle, in addition to her contributions to the 200 Medley and 200 Freestyle Relays. Maren Redlinger swam her fastest times ever in the 50 and 100 Freestyle too.

Our newest swimmers had great days too - Abby Morarie and Hanna Higley each dropping 2 seconds in their events. I'm incredibly happy with how our day went. The girls handled the pressure of a big meet against big teams very well. Swimming against 4A schools with powerful reputations can be intimidating, but they showed they can hang with the big teams.

These girls have worked incredibly hard this season - they deserve the honor of time drops and qualifying for State. The state swim meet will begin with prelims on Friday Nov 2 in Marshalltown, and finals on Saturday Nov 3.

Girls swimming isn't separated into classes (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A) like other sports, all schools compete together. That means our smaller schools are up against Goliaths like the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines districts. Attached is the list of state qualifiers (per event) as an example of the competition VSU faces...not many 3A (or smaller) schools on those lists! VSU is in the 200 Medley Relay, the 100 Butterfly, and 100 Backstroke. Their accomplishments are impressive!