Sports : VSU Swim team goes to Qualifying District Meet

VSU girls swam in the state qualifying district meet today at Dubuque Hempstead against incredibly fast competition. Vinton-Shellsburg Union was the smallest district by far in the field of Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Decorah, Dubuque Hempstead, Dubuque Walhert, Dubuque Senior, and Waterloo East/West.

The girls showed they were ready right out of the gate. The first event - the 200 Medley Relay - of Clarissa Carolan, Lexi Goodell, Geordyn Webster, and Justyce Dominick cut almost 4 seconds off their seed time to finish in 1:54.43. That was good enough for fifth place, a new school record by .78 seconds, and a trip to the State Meet in Marshalltown next weekend.
Then the individual events got underway. Clarissa Carolan continued her impressive day taking fifth place in the 200 IM with a time of 2:23.24, cutting almost 2 seconds off her seed time. Lexi Goodell took almost 3 seconds off her previous best time in the 100 Breaststroke to nab sixth place in 1:13.78. And the times just kept dropping. Eleven of fifteen individual swims ended in lifetime personal bests, and all three relays finished in season best times - two of those relays finished with new school records. And the season isn't over. 
The 400 Freestyle Relay of Clarissa Carolan, Maren Redlinger, Justyce Dominick, and Geordyn Webster saved just enough for the last event of the meet. They swam lights out and put down blazing splits to finish at 3:59.69. The previous school record was 4:02.80 set in 2015.
The district meet is always exciting - it's where we aim to be on target throughout so much of the season, so it's nice when girls achieve the best times there. It shows our training and preparations worked. Knowing this though, there's also a lot of pressure to do one's absolute best at this meet. When that doesn't happen, it can be a particularly tough pill to swallow. The girls had big ambitions today and some didn't pan out as hoped. Those are experiences we learn from and refocus to drive us forward in a positive way. I'm so proud of this team and how hard they've worked all year long. They've had fun but pushed and supported each other. They earn every success they achieved today.
For results click here.
Click below to follow the link to the State Qualifier list:https://ighsau.org/upl/downloads/library/swimming-2020-tentativestatequalifiers.pdf