Trojan-Bolt swim and dive team wins regionals
The Trojan Bolt girls swim and dive won the regional meet Nov. 5.
Following a sixth consecutive undefeated dual meet season, the Trojan Bolt swim and dive team continued their momentum by winning the regional meet held at Clinton High School on Nov. 3 and 5.
At the regional dive meet on Thursday at Dubuque Hempstead High School, Kamila Swanson ’26 placed second and Ainsley Young ’23 placed fourth, qualifying for the state championship. Aimee Varga ’24 placed sixth.
To begin the swimming portion of the regional meet on Saturday, the 200 medley relay team of Makala Hajek ’23, Ave Bilskemper ’25, Karen Liu ’24 and Bella Friessen ’25 placed third with a time of 1:52.93.
Jade Roghair ’23 and Kolby Reese ’24 were champion and runner-up in the 200 freestyle respectively, with freshman Gretchen Gerke placing sixth.
@SwimICWest celebrates their Regional Title. Congratulations to the team & coaches! pic.twitter.com/gnxji3BZWg
— Iowa City West Athletics (@ICWestAthletics) November 5, 2022
In the 200 individual medley, Hajek placed third in 2:13.63 and Liu placed fifth in 2:17.92, earning their spots on the podium. Bilskemper touched the wall at 2:18.89.
Hannah Longmire ’26 claimed first in the para division of the 50 and 100 freestyle.
Friessen was runner-up in the 50 free in 25.34. Heidi Du ’23 placed eighth and Jessica Nauman ’23 placed ninth.
Maddy Grueter ’23 was sixth in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.02 with Liu finishing seventh in 1:01.04. Maggie Greer ’23 was close behind in 1:01.44. In the 100 freestyle, Hajek and Friessen placed second and third in 55.35 and 55.85 respectively.
In the 500 freestyle, Roghair and Reese again topped the podium, placing first and second, with Gerke placing fourth. Roghair heads into the state championship meet ranked first in this event.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Friessen, Bilskemper, Reese and Roghair placed second in 1:40.37. Carlee Wilkins ’24 was runner-up in the 100 backstroke and Greer placed fifth. In the 100 breaststroke, Megan O’Neill ’25 placed tenth.
To cap off the meet, the 400 freestyle relay team of Reese, Bilskemper, Hajek and Roghair placed first with a time of 3:39.03.
With 464 total points, the Trojan Bolts won the regional meet, beating second-place Davenport Central (359) and third-place Bettendorf (356). The team heads into the state championship meet tentatively ranked fifth overall. To conclude the meet, Head Coach Byron Butler was named regional coach of the year.
The team will compete in the state championship meet Nov. 11-12 in Marshalltown, IA. The full list of state qualifiers can be found here.
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(she/her) Heidi Du is a senior and this is her third year on staff and second year as copy editor of the newsmagazine. Outside of the newsroom, she can...
