Sports : BIG WINS ON A RECORD BREAKING NIGHTS FOR GIRLS SWIMMERS –

Swimming in just their second meet of the year, a young and talented Vinton-Shellsburg Union girls swim team started fast and never let up cruising to a double dual sweep Thursday night at Grinnell. VSU set one school record, nearly broke a second while defeating both host Grinnell and Des Moines East.

“The girls swam really well tonight; we had some very fast times” said Coach Mike Dominick. “I was expecting to see some improvement with all the work they have been putting in, but this was excellent. Up and down the line-up everybody swam extremely hard.”

In the first race of the evening the Vikettes jumped all over the competition cruising to a dominating one-two finish in the 200 Medley Relay. The VSU A Medley Relay team of junior Madison Elwick, seniors Savannah Jensen and Katie King and junior Emily Freeland won going away, finishing at 2:08.08. Their time was four seconds faster than their previous meet and broke the school record of 2:09.11 that had stood since 2002. The VSU B Medley Relay, comprised of four freshmen, wrapped up a complete sweep in the event finishing second, several seconds ahead of their nearest competitors.

Staked to big leads over both opponents, the VSU ladies never let up or relinquished their advantage. Grinnell closed the score to 75-67 after the diving event scoring a 13-0 advantage as the Vikes have no divers. However Madison Elwick and freshman Lauren Krupa came up big in the next race, the 100 Back, earning a first and third place finish to put VSU back up by 13 over the Tigers and 17 over East, slamming the door on any potential comeback.

In the 200 Free relay VSU pulled off strong second and fourth place finishes. Leading off the A relay team, Savannah Jensen raced to out to a narrow lead with a blazing 27.27 split, coming within .16 seconds of breaking the school record for a 50 Free.

Beyond the great relay performances, the Vikes registered several strong individual efforts. Katie King and Madison Elwick led the way with first place finishes in the 100 Butterfly and 100 Back respectively. King also finished third in the 200 Individual Medley.

While the four upperclassmen led the way for VSU, this team is laden with talented newcomers; the seven freshmen were all valuable varsity contributors. Freshman Katie Freeland, swimming her first ever 200 and 500 Free races earned a second in the 200 and a third place finish in the 500. She also swam on the 400 Free Relay that that took second place. Fellow freshman Lauren Krupa and Alli McLaren were third in the 100 Back and 100 Fly respectively.

Up next for VSU will be a meet Saturday at Charles City.

200 Medley Relay 1st 2:08.08 A - Elwick, Jensen, King, E Freeland (SCHOOL RECORD)

2nd 2:15.50 B – Krupa, Hennings, McLaren, Goodell

200 Free 2nd 2:23.52 K Freeland

4th 2:35.48 McLaren

200 IM 3rd 2:31.55 King

4th 2:48. 17 Elwick

50 Free 3rd 28.88 E Freeland

4th 30.36 Hennings

8th 39.92 Wilson

100 Fly 1st 1:11.24 King

3rd 1:19.54 McLaren

100 Free 3rd 1:05.72 Krupa

6th 1:16.13 Goodell

8th 1:31.36 Wilson

500 Free 3rd 6:50.15 E Freeland

200 Free Relay 2nd 1:55.49 Elwick, K Freeland, E Freeland, Jensen

4th 2:03.97 Krupa, Goodell, Hennings, McLaren

100 Back 1st 1:13.72 Elwick

3rd 1:20.90 Krupa

100 Breast 3rd 1:20.56 Jensen

5th 1:25.96 Hennings

6th 1:55.21 Goodell

400 Free Relay 2nd 4:19.54 E Freeland, Jensen, K Freeland, King