Next weekend will bring one more swim meet, as for the third year in a row, the Stormin' Vikings are on to State. Swimming in a highly competitive district at Linn-Mar, the team managed to qualify one relay and three individual events.

The 200 Medley Relay of Bradyn Schlief, Carter Kirtz, Ian Allsup, and Logan Zearley qualified for state with a season best time of 1:42.22. Unfortunately that time placed the team in fifth at the meet. And while they were only 0.68 seconds out of being second, it put in front of them four other schools competing for a slot at state. The top 24 relays in the state qualify for the single-class state meet, so with four teams in the Linn-Mar district in front of them, it became a bit of an agonizing waiting game to see how the other five district meets finished up. But later that evening the good news came in that the relay was safely in, seeded 20th.

The 200 Free Relay was not quite as fortunate, finishing 27thin the state and missing the cut for state by about 1.5 seconds. The team of Kirtz, Ian Vrba, Schlief and Allsup still finished up the year having set a new school record in the event, besting the old record, which had stood for 24 years - by more than two seconds.

The day also saw three individual qualifications and one District Championship. Carter Kirtz won the District Championship in the 100 Breast and will be seeded 6that the State Meet. He also qualified in the 200 Individual Medley for the second year in a row. Carter had a new school record time of 2:00.94 and will be seeded 22nd. And Ian Allsup joined the list of individual qualifiers with a 22.36 in the 50 Freestyle to put him at 24thin the state. For individual events, the top 32 qualify for state.

Throughout the day the Stormin' Vikes showed great resolve and skill. The team emerged from the day with 22 new personal best times and hung tight with bother Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Jefferson in the standings until the very end where a disqualification in the 400 Free Relay allowed those two schools to pull away at the finish. But all in all, it was another successful outcome for the team as it stepped up to face its most difficult competition of the season.

The State meet will be held at the University of Iowa pool Friday evening and Saturday.


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Thanks Kelly Kirtz

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