Perry hosted Indianola at the McCreary Community Building pool Thursday in their first home meet of the season, and while the Indians came away with a 103-56 win, their were plenty of reasons for the hosts to be pleased.
Head coach Jean Dowd said she was proud of the effort of her squad after the Jayettes recorded season-best times in two of the three relays while four personal-best marks were also set.
Due to a scheduling conflict, Indianola brought a 13-member squad to the MCB, half of their normal roster size.
Dowd indicated the Indians had inadvertently scheduled one meet too many, and rather than drop a meet, the coaches decided to divide the squad, thus avoiding the risk of having any swimmer appear in more than the allowable number of events during the season.
Haileigh Kenyon scored a pair of wins for Perry, as the senior co-captain was first to the wall in both the 100 and 200 freestyle races, touching in 1 minute, 3.4 seconds and 2:17.75, respectively. Sophomores Sadee Whitfield (a personal-best 1:11.63) and Breanna Ackerman (1:20.32) were 3-5 for Perry in the 100 free, with freshman Anna Ridnour fourth in her first varsity 200 free in 2:29.56.
Sophomore Vivian Gonzalez also gave the Jayettes a victory as she sped past three Indians to win the 100 backstroke in 1:21.7.
The meet began with Gonzalez and Kenyon being joined by junior co-captain Haley Vaughn and sophomore Breanna Penenger for the 200 medley relay. Perry was second in 2:15.41, a season-best time.
After Kenyon won the 200 free, Penenger placed second in the 200 individual medley in 2:48.44 in her first-ever varsity attempt in the race.
Gonzalez was third, in a personal-best 30.65 seconds, in the 50 free, with Whitfield fifth with a PB of 32.64 while Ackerman touched in 37.35.
Vaughn swam the 100 butterfly for the first time this season Thursday. She told ThePerryNews Wednesday that her goal was to “come within a few seconds” of her personal-best in the event, which she promptly did after touching second in 1:09.98. (two short videos of Vaughn’s 100 fly follow).
Penenger narrowly missed her best time in the 500 free with a second-place time of 6:25.75, with Vaughn, Whitfield, Ridnour and Kenyon following the 20-lap race by finishing second in the 200 free relay in 2:02.72.
Gonzalez’s win the backstroke was the next event in the pool and was followed by the 100 breastroke, in which Vaughn placed third in 1:25.09 while Ridnour was fifth in a PB of 1:33.97.
The 400 free relay capped the meet, with the quartet of Gonzalez, Whitfield, ACkerman and Penenger second in a season-best 4:51.09.
Perry returns to action Tuesday when they play host to Des Moines East. The meet will begin at 6:30 p.m.
