Sports : V-S Viking Swimmers Tuesday Night Swim Meet

Tuesday night was a chance for the Viking swimmers to perform on a big stage against 13 other teams representing 9 schools in the MVC. The Vikings rose to the occasion early before some unfortunate luck ended the evening on a mixed note. Facing opposition from the likes of defending State Champion Iowa City West, 52-time consecutive district champion CR Washington as well as Waterloo, CR Kennedy, Jefferson, Linn-Mar and both Dubuque schools the Vikings finished a respectable 9th out of 14 squads.

The Viking Medley relay started very well knocking off 1.4 seconds and capturing fourth. (Photo attached - Tyler Hekel, Ryan Levis, Isaac Lindauer and Caleb Kruckenberg). The squad then had some nice swims in the 200 free with Ben Eden and Lewis Williams dropping time though not placing.

Unfortunately, just as it looked that the Vikings were poised for a fantastic night, freshman sensation Isaac Lindauer suffered what turned out to be a season-ending injury. He was attended to by the CR Washington trainer and valiantly completed one more swim in the 200 Free Relay, but was in too much pain to continue. It was a tough break for the team but particularly for Isaac who has had a fantastic freshman year, registering the team’s best time in 5 of the 8 individual events. Isaac was seeded first for the meet in the 100 Butterfly and 2nd in the 100 Backstroke but was not able to compete in those events.

The team continued to swim pretty well turning in a collective 17 new personal best times led by three each from Sophomore Lewis Williams and Freshman Thomas Osborn and two each from Kruckenberg, Hekel and Freshmen Donny Sass and Ryan Fowler. Williams took 19 seconds off of his 500 free coming in at 7:09.06.

Tyler Hekel was the top individual performer on the night placing 6th overall in the 100 backstroke with a new personal best time of 1:12.86 (photo attached).

The Patrick Karamitros Invitational at Cedar Rapids Washington is designed as a lower-level varsity/JV meet within the Mississippi Valley Conference allowing athletes who will not be on the district team an opportunity to swim a season-ending shaved and tapered meet. A normal district team is comprised of roughly 12 – 16 swimmers. Many of the big schools such as those in the MVC have 40 – 60 swimmers so this is the opportunity for those other kids to measure their progress for the year.

The Vikings continue the season Saturday with the Conference Meet at Grinnell and then districts at Linn-Mar next Saturday.

Results