Sports Swim Meet at Waterloo

The holiday break hit at the right time for the Vinton-Shellsburg/CPU Stormin ¢â‚¬â„¢ Vikes swim team.  Battling illness and injury the team limped to the break where it was able to get guys healthy and put in a lot of good work.  That work appears to be paying off as the team — following a strong effort against an outstanding Decorah team — traveled to Waterloo Saturday and turned in their best meet of the year.  The Waterloo invitational also included hosts Waterloo, Decorah, Newton, Spencer, and Keokuk.  Despite a couple of lingering injuries, the team captured second place narrowly edging out Newton and falling again to Decorah.

On the day, the team ¢â‚¬â„¢s sole event winner was Senior Ian Vrba in the 100 breast.  But there were numerous podium appearances and medals to include all three A relays finishing 2^nd or 3^rd, Ian Allsup 2^nd in the 200 Free and 3^rd in the 100 Free, first-year swimmer James DeSmet with a 4^th in the 50 Free, and Wesley Farrell and Aleric Weber 3^rd and 4^th in the 100 Back. 

It was a great team effort with 12 different swimmers scoring team points and 35 new personal best times. Three swimmers — James DeSmet, freshman Trey Dooley and Sophomore Jacob Dreier turned four new personal best times each, one for each one of their swims.

For the second meet in a row, senior Ian Allsup took down a school record.  Tuesday night he captured the 160 Individual Medley at home and Saturday in Waterloo he broke Carter Kitz ¢â‚¬â„¢s 200 Freestyle record.

This week the Stormin Vikes will be at home twice as they face Grinnell Tuesday and Williamsburg for senior night on Thursday.  Both meets are at 4:30 PM.