If everything had gone without mishap, veteran head coach Jean Dowd would have eight healthy swimmers on her Perry squad. While double or triple those numbers would be wonderful, simply having eight bodies on which to rely would be pleasant enough.
With one girl having missed each meet so far with a knee injury, Dowd is now dealing with another swimmer stuck in the concussion protocol, another battling a nagging foot injury and yet one other dealing with allergies.
Such was the limited squad with which Perry hosted Fort Dodge Thursday, the first time in 20 years the two schools had met in head-to-head competition. The Dodgers were 128-30 victors.
“I think the team showed plenty of heart tonight,” Dowd said. “And it was nice to see the cheerleaders come out to support us.”
Perry was second in each of the three relays, with Avery Miner, Dannah Karolus, Sarah Vaughn and Abby Herman finishing in the 200 medley in 2 minutes, 21.24 seconds while Herman, Miner, Amanda Holwegner and Dannah Karolus touching in 1:58.9 in the 200 freestyle, close to their season-best time despite not being at 100 percent.
The 400 freestyle relay of Herman, Miner, Vaughn and Dannah Karolus touched in 4:28.72 to cap the meet.
Vaughn was second in the 500 free in 6:21.84, Dannah Karolus third in the 200 free in 2:18.77 and Holwegner third in the 100 free in 1:10.45 while Holwegner was fourth in the 50 free in 32.03 ticks.
Herman used a clocking of 2:41.14 to place third in the 200 individual medley, with Vaughn recording a 1:17.14 effort while placing third in the 100 backstroke.
The limited roster had Perry leave the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke uncontested. Jaylene Karolus was absent from the meet while competing in Perry’s cross country meet, where she sparkled, finishing seventh.
Perry will visit Newton Tuesday, with Oskaloosa currently expected to be present as well. The meet will start at 5:30 p.m. The Jayettes will conclude the home portion of their season October 2 with a visit from Grinnell and Algona. The meet will be senior night and will be a “pink out” dedicated to the fight against breast cancer.
