The 2021 girls swimming season will go down in the Perry High School record books as the most successful campaign since 1998, as the Jayettes will compete in six events at the state meet.
Each individual event has 32 qualifiers, and each relay 32 teams. All will compete at the Marshalltown YMCA. Diving competition will be held Friday beginning at 11 a.m. with each of the eight individual events having four eight-racer preliminaries that will start at 5 p.m.
The top 16 in each event will move to Saturday’s semifinals and finals, while each of the three relays will swim in timed finals. Action begins at 12 p.m. Saturday.
Senior Jaylene Karolus will be swimming at the state meet for the second consecutive year. She was 27th in the 50 freestyle in 25.25 seconds last year while finishing 24th in the 100 free in 55.32 clicks.
Karolus is back in the 50 free, qualifying 16th in 24.74. She will swim in lane seven of the fourth of four heats. She is the 18th seed (1:00.22) in the 100 butterfly and will be in lane seven in the second heat.
Freshman Quin Mahler-Moreno swims in lane two of the fourth heat in the 500 free, in which she is the 13th seed with a time of 5:13.75. Her 1:08.62 in the 100 breaststroke is the 22nd seed, and she will race in lane eight of the fourth heat.
Both will be joined by sophomores Sophia McDevitt and Lily Riley in a pair of relays Saturday.
The foursome will be in lane eight of the second of four heats in the 200 medley relay, with Perry the 24th seed at 1:55.08. The quartet will be in lane eight in heat two of the 400 free relay, which they enter as the 24th seed in 3:47.62.
Each of the six Perry events advanced from their Ankeny regional with new school records in the respective event.
Saturday’s meet will start with the induction of the latest class to enter the girls swimming Hall of Fame, which will be followed by Perry head coach Jean Dowd becoming only the ninth recipient of an IGHSAU girls swimming Golden Plaque of Distinction award.
