Sports

Falling times lifting spirits on Perry swim team

September 20, 2015

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swm kenyon 200 free r-l — Perry senior Haileigh Kenyon swims to a personal-best time of 2 minutes, 15.51 seconds in the 200 freestyle at the Fort Dodge Invitational Thursday. Photo courtesy of Jim Dowd.

FORT DODGE — Thursday marked another meet and another in a string of successful outings for the Perry swim team, who continues to see steady improvement at each competition they enter this season.

Spencer won the Fort Dodge Invitational with 378 points, with Boone a close second at 364 and Storm Lake a solid third at 351. The host Dodgers were fourth with 333 points, with Sioux City Metro (241), Perry (143) and Algona (125) rounding out the field.

Perry had recorded eight personal and one season-best time at the meet, and outscored Algona — with whom the Jayettes have appeared several times this season — for the first time, despite Algona scoring 19 total points in the 100 butterfly, an event in which Perry does not compete.

Jayette swimmers Anna Ridnour (left), Haley Vaughn, Sadee Whitfield and Haileigh Kenyon (right) share a light moment before competing in the 200 freestyle relay. Photo courtesy of Jim Dowd.

The meet began with Perry using a new combination in the 200 medley relay, a move which immediately paid dividends as the foursome of Vivian Gonzalez, Haley Vaughn, Haileigh Kenyon and Breanna Penenger touched sixth in a season-best time of 2 minutes, 16.32 seconds.

That result sent the quartet to the medal stand, with the 200 free relay team of Vaughn, Kenyon, Anna Ridnour and Sadee Whitfield also stepping on the podium after placing sixth in 2:01.48.

Kenyon went to the stand for her fifth-place time of 2:15.51 (a personal-best, or PB) in the 200 free, with Penenger eighth in the race in 2:21.13, which was a PB for the sophomore. Penenger was stood on the fifth-place step after her 6:25.74 (PB) in the 500 free, with Vaughn on the podium after a sixth-place 2:31.23 (PB) in the 200 individual medley.

Vivian Gonzalez holds a lap counter against the wall as Breanna Penenger prepares to make a turn in the 500 freestyle during Perry's visit to the Fort Dodge Invitational Thursday. The event is the longest in high school swimming, requiring swimmers to make 20 laps (down-and-back 10 times) in 25-meter pools. Photo courtesy of Jim Dowd. — Vivian Gonzalez holds a lap counter against the wall as Breanna Penenger prepares to make a turn in the 500 freestyle during Perry’s visit to the Fort Dodge Invitational Thursday. The event is the longest in high school swimming, requiring swimmers to make 20 laps (down-and-back 10 times) in 25-meter pools. Photo courtesy of Jim Dowd.

Gonzalez (16th, 31.4), Ridnour (31.95, a PB), Whitfield (33.97) and Breanna Ackerman (36.45) swam for Perry in the 50 free, with Kenyon (11th, 1:03.43), Whitfield (1:16.11) and Ackerman (1:20.24, a PB) competing in the 100 free.

Gonzalez turned in a PB of 1:20.78 while placing 15th in the 100 backstroke, with Vaughn (11th, 1:20.08) and Ridnour (1:34.73, a PB) taking to the pool for the 100 breaststroke.

Perry was seventh, in 4:57.8, in the 400 free relay, with Gonzalez, Ackerman, Whitfield and Penenger in the water for the Jayettes.

After five consecutive road meets to start the season, Perry will finally dive into action in their own pool when they host Indianola Thursday at the McCreary Community Building. The first event will fire off the blocks at 6:30 p.m.