2019 Iowa HS Girls State: Dowling Catholic Topples 4-Time Champion Ames

2019 IGHSAU State Swimming and Diving Championships

The 2019 Iowa Girls High School State Championships had a historic finish, as the Dowling Catholic girls snagged their first-ever state championship title over powerhouse Ames. The girls of Ames won the IGHSAU state title for 4 consecutive years, yet had their streak snapped on Saturday.

This is the second time Ames had a 4-year streak snapped, as they won titles from 2010-2013 and missed out on a 5th-straight title when Pleasant Valley snapped their streak in 2014.

Top 5 Girls’ Team Scores

  1. Dowling Catholic – 360
  2. Ames – 328
  3. Ankeny – 200
  4. Iowa City West – 184.5
  5. Waukee – 150

After the first 5 events, Ames had a 2-point lead over Dowling Catholic. However, Dowling Catholic gained on Ames during the remainder of the meet and defeated the 4-time champion Ames by 32 points.

Sydney Jorgense won the 1-meter diving final for Ankeny, which gave them the early lead heading into swimming and aided to their 3rd-place finish. Thanks to four individual wins, Iowa City West snagged 4th-place over the girls of Waukee.

State Meet Highlights

The girls 200 medley relay nearly foreshadowed the dominant meet Dowling Catholic was going to embark on. The quartet of Katie Broderick, Mary Martin, Berit Quass, and Cassie Rounds clinched Dowling Catholic’s second-straight medley relay title with a 1:42.54, just half a second off the team’s 2018 state record (1:42.00).

In a close race for second, the girls of Ames (1:45.16) held off Ankeny anchor Jasmine Rumley, who split a blistering 21.78 free anchor split, by 0.23s. Ankeny settled for third place with a 1:45.39.

Iowa City West’s Aurora Roghair ran away to sweep both mid-distance free events, earning wins in both the 200 free (1:48.85) and 500 free (4:50.87). In the 200 IM, Iowa City West teammate Scarlet Martin caught Linn-Mar’s Hayley Kimmel with a 27.98 free split to clinch the state title with a 2:02.56. Kimmel took a close second place finish with a 2:03.03.

Later in the 100 fly, S. Martin broke the 2018 state record (53.67) with her winning time of 53.41. The former state record-holder, Dowling Catholic’s Quass, settled for second with a 54.71.

After throwing down a sub-22 relay split, Ankeny senior Rumley won the individual 50 free final with a 22.53, missing the 2014 state record of 22.51 by two one-hundredths. Later, the Tennessee commit would sweep the sprint free events with her state record performance in the 100 free, winning with a 49.03.

Into the 200 free relay, the girls of Ames won the event with a 1:34.83, holding off Dowling Catholic (1:35.82) by a full second. Finishing behind 3rd-place finisher Iowa City West (1:35.89), Rumley popped off another sub-22 anchor split (21.80) to aid Ankeny to a 4th-place finish (1:36.17).

Dowling Catholic then won the last three events to secure their first-ever state championship. Medley relay lead-off Broderick first broke the 100 back state record in prelims with a 54.57. During the final, Broderick and Ames’ Annie Galvin had a thrilling battle for the title after flipping 0.05s apart at the halfway mark. At the finish, Broderick defended her prelims top spot with a 55.53 while Galvin was runner-up at 55.74.

Another Dowling medley relay member, M. Martin, went on to win the 100 breast with a 1:03.33. In prelims, Martin led the event with a 1:02.40. Picking up her second state runner-up finish was Linn-Mar’s Kimmel, finishing at 1:03.68.

In the final event, the 400 free relay, it became a tight battle between Dowling Catholic and Iowa City West. From the Iowa City West girls, Roghair (49.86) and anchor S. Martin (49.57) both swam the only sub-50 splits of the event. However, it was not enough to catch newly-minted state record-holder Broderick.

Dowling Catholic then won their 4th event victory with a 3:28.11, while Iowa City West snagged runner-up position with a 3:28.64. The team runner-up, Ames, finished third in the event with a 3:29.98.

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About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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