CARROLL, Iowa — The Perry Summer Swim Team rounded out an undefeated season Saturday by winning the Iowa West Swim Conference (IWSC) meet at the Carroll Aquatic Center here.
It came down to the final event, the Freestyle relays, and Perry came out on top of the nine-team conference, scoring 654 points with Guthrie County Swim Club in second scoring 633.
Perry was represented this year in every event for every age group, including all the relay events for medley and free relays. None of the relay teams, from the 8 and under swimmers to the 15 and over swimmers, was disqualified, and each placed in the top five, which was essential to win the meet this year.
The relays which placed first were:
- The 15-18 Boys Medley Relay (Issac Winey, Bryan Anderson, Diego Diaz and Dexter Moe) winning by .03 seconds.
- The 15-18 Boys relay also won the Freestyle Relay to finish the day by less than a second.
- The Boys 11-12 Freestyle relay was also a first-place finisher (Sebastian Banuelos, Graham Nerem, Matthew McDevitt and Ray Hughes) for Perry, touching the wall three seconds faster than the second-place team.
Second-place finishers for relays included:
- The 15-18 girls freestyle relay (Ellie Hughes, Cali Hernandez, Jasmine Johnson and Aleah Karolus)
- The 13-14 Girls Freestyle Relay (Stella Perez, Kilee Hughes, Lauren Riley and Kennedee Cromwell) and the girls 8U Freestyle Relay with Johanna Darden, Abril Ramirez, Lia Bradley and Charlett Moe.
- The 11-12 girls 200 Medley.
(Lillian Lucht, Lilah Stringer, Maya Anderson and Autry Gage) -
The 11-12 Girls 200 Freestyle Relay.(Lillian Lucht, Lilah Stringer, Maya Anderson and Autry Gage)
- The 11-12 Boys Medley Relay (Nerem, McDevitt, Hughes and Jadiel Pena-Barios).
Points were awarded through sixth place for relays, and Perry finished in the top five in all relay categories.
Individual events were scored through the top eight swimmers. Perry had many swimmers finish in the top eight. The first-place finishers included:
- Aleah Karolus for the 15-18 girls in three events, the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 50 backstroke.
- Ellie Hughes was also first to the wall for the 15-18 girls in the 50 breaststroke.
- Lillian Lucht was first to the wall in the Girls 11/12 50 Backstroke breaking the IWSC record in the process.
- Issac Winey was also a first-place finisher in the 15-18 Backstroke.
- In the Individual Medley, the 11-12 age group was dominated by the Perry swimmers, with Lillian Lucht taking first for the girls and Ray Hughes taking first for the 11-12 Boys.
- Fabian Banuelos won the Boys 8U 25 Butterfly and Emmett Nerem won the 9-10 Boys 25 Butterfly.
Perry also had several athletes honored for All-Around Conference All-Stars (earning 160 total points during the season) and Individual All-Stars, which requires a swimmer to earn at least 32 points in an individual event during the season.
Conference All Stars this season were: Bryan Anderson, Maya Anderson, Fabian Banuelos, Cali Hernandez, Cloe Hernandez, Ellie Hughes, Kilee Hughes, Ray Hughes, Aleah Karolus, Lillian Lucht, Matthew McDevitt, Charlette Moe, Dexter Moe, Xander Norman and Lauren Riley.
Sportsmanship Award winners this year (chosen by the coaches) were Noah Kezar and Cloe Hernandez.
Perry had 62 swimmers on the team roster, with 40 swimmers swimming at the Conference meet. It is the first time in recent history that the team, coached by Head Coach Sophia McDevitt and Assistant Coach Maddie McDevitt, won both the dual meet season and the IWSC Conference Meet.
The sign up for swimming lessons is ongoing. The lessons will be led by several current and former Perry Swim Team members. Parents interested in registering can contact mcb@perryia.org or call 515-465-5621 for more information.
