JOHNSTON, Iowa — The Perry High School swim team traveled to the Summit Middle School pool in Johnston Saturday in order to compete in the 2024 IGHSAU Regional Meet.
A total of six regional meets were held across the state on that day, and Perry placed fourth in the eight-team field at Johnston, scoring 190 points. High school swimming in Iowa is all one class, so Perry must compete against all sizes of teams.
“The team had an amazing 11 personal best times today,” said longtime PHS swim team Head Coach Jean Dowd. “It was an honor to be able to give out 1st-place medals as the coach of Aleah Karolus in the 50 freestyle and Quin Mahler-Moreno in the 100 Breaststroke.”
Dowd noted that Karolus’ achievement also had a personal side for the PHS junior.
“Aleah Karolus did something pretty special today,” Dowd said. “She not only got the school record in the 50 freestyle, but she also broke her own sister’s record in the process. Jaylene Karolus has held the record in the 50 free with a time of 24.74 since Nov. 6, 2021 at the state meet. Aleah’s new record is 24.53!”
Karolus also broke her teammate Quin Mahler-Moreno’s record in the 100 meter freestyle. Mahler-Moreno set the record of of 54.86 on Sept. 26, 2023. Karolus’ record is now 54.00.
The Perry swimmers qualified for State competition in a number of events. The State swim meet will take place next Friday and Saturday at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.
200 Medley Relay
Harper Peterson, Quin Mahler-Moreno, Cali Hernandez, Aleah Karolus, 1:58.09, 4th place scoring 30 points, with a season best relay time. Qualifies for State competition next Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.
200 Freestyle
Jazmine Johnson, 2:28.56, 17th place, personal best time, dropping -1.16 seconds
Charlie Cromwell, 2:42.34, 21st place, personal best time, dropping -5.18 seconds
200 Individual Medley
Ellie Hughes, 2:30.91, 9th place, scoring 9 points, personal best time, dropping -2.96 seconds
Malia Jacobsen, 2:55.07, 15th place, scoring 2 points, personal best time, dropping -2.41 seconds
50 Freestyle
Aleah Karolus, 24.53, 1st place, scoring 20 points, with her personal best time, dropping -.59 seconds, Qualifies for the State preliminary competition Friday, Nov. 15 at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA, seeded 10th.
Harper Peterson, 29.20, 15th place, scoring 2 points
Ema Valenzuela-Flores, 33.53, 20th place, personal best time, dropping -1.60 seconds
100 Butterfly
Cali Hernandez, 8th place, scoring 11 points, with her personal best time, dropping -.02
100 Freestyle
Aleah Karolus, 54.00, 2nd place, scoring 17 points, personal best time, dropping -1.78 seconds. Automatically qualifies for State competition on Friday, Nov. 15 at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA, seeded 10th.
Jazmine Johnson, 1:05.90, 15th place, scoring 2 points, personal best time, dropping -1.53 seconds
Charlee Cromwell, 1:14.86, 21st place, personal best time, dropping -0.93 seconds
500 Freestyle
Quin Mahler-Moreno, 5:13.74, 4th place, scoring 15 points. Already pre-qualified for the State meet in Marshalltown on Friday, Nov. 15 at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA, seeded 5th.
Ellie Hughes, 5:48.45, 9th place, scoring 9 points, personal best time, dropping -18.64 seconds.
200 Freestyle Relay
Jazmine Johnson, Ema Valenzuela-Flores, Malia Jacobsen, Charlee Cromwell 2:10.27, 8th place scoring 22 points with their season best time.
100 Backstroke
Harper Peterson, 1:18.72, 16th place, scoring 1 point.
100 Breaststroke
Quin Mahler-Moreno, 1:06.86, 1st place, scoring 20 points. Already pre-qualified for the State meet in Marshalltown on Friday, Nov. 15 at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA, seeded 8th.
Lydia Nelsen, 1:57.03, 19th place
400 Freestyle Relay
Aleah Karolus, Cali Hernandez, Ellie Hughes, Quin Mahler-Moreno, 3:55.07, 4th place scoring 30 points, with a season best time. Qualifies for State competition next Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.
