DES MOINES — A total of 59 youth from the Perry Area Winter Swim team competed March 12 at the Greater Iowa Swim League state meet at the Wellmark YMCA.
PAWS, which is coached by Dana Stein and Weston Lucht, set five GISL records while finishing third of 14 teams, trailing only Carroll and Spencer.
The girls 15-18 200 freestyle relay of Sophia McDevitt, Lily Riley, Zoe Hibbert and Jaylene Karolus reset the standard with a time of 1 minutes, 45.47 seconds. Karlous would establish new state marks in both the 50 free (24.49) and 100 free (55.24), with McDevitt inking new records in the 100 butterfly (1:01.88) and 200 IM (2:19.84).
PAWS High Point Awards were won by McDevitt and Karolus, who tied for the honor. PAWS All-Star recognitions are determined by the coaches and are chosen for work ethic and positive attitude, with Harper Peterson and Tucker Carroll honored. Angelica Cardenas-Diaz was selected for the Volunteer Award.
PAWS 15-18 girls claiming wins included McDevitt in the 100 fly, 100 backstroke and 200 IM and Karolus in the 50 free, 50 fly and 100 free. Riley won the 200 free and joined Hibbert, McDevitt and Karolus on the victorious and record-setting 200 free relay while Addison Huntington, McDevitt, Karolus and Riley won the 200 medley relay.
Zander Kenyon (50 free, 100 fly) was the winner for the PAWS 15-18 boys, with Ty Thomas winning the 50 fly and 200 free for the 13-14 boys.
Finishing second for the girls Aleah Karolus, Meredith Arganbright, Rylee Robson and Merenda Gruber in the 11-12 free relay, with the 11-12 boys medley relay of Andrew Baumert, Boomer Deardorff, Caden Larsen and Gracen Bingham also second. Collin Stringham (13-14) was second in the 50 breaststroke, with the 13-14 medley relay of Stringham, Thomas, Jameson Pfrang and Diego Diaz-Cardenas second, as were Sam Ridnour and Zander Kenyon (both 15-18) in the 100 breaststroke and 100 free, respectively.
For the girls, Hibbert (15-18) was third in the 100 IM, with Robson, Arganbright, Gruber and Aleah Karolus (11-12) third in the medley relay. The 15-18 and 11-12 boys free relays were both third, with Ridnour, Kenyon, Conner Larsen and Tucker Carroll swimming the former and Caden Larsen, Adrian Quijas, Bryan Anderson and Baumert racing on the latter. Stringham was third in the 100 breaststroke and Thomas third in the 100 free for the 13-14 boys, with Dysen Deardorff (9-10) third in the 100 breaststroke.
Placing fourth in the 50 backstroke for the 11-12 girls was Robson, with Dysen Deardorff fourth in the 9-10 boys 100 IM.
Girls earning fifth-place points were Hibbert in the 15-18 50 free and Illana Baumert in the 13-14 100 breaststroke.
Hibbert (15-18) was sixth in the 50 breaststroke, Huntington (15-18) sixth in the 100 breaststroke and Gruber (11-12) sixth in the 50 fly. Boys placing sixth included Stringham (13-14) in the 50 free and Renaud Deardorff (9-10) in the 100 IM.
The regional meet will be held Saturday at the University of Minnesota pool in Minneapolis. Now a one-day event, the meet will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions.
