IOWA CITY — The road back to the Iowa High School Girls State Swimming meet hasn’t been easy for Piper Gevock.
One year after making a splash by nearly securing medals in a pair of state swims as a freshman, Gevock has had to battle physically just get back to compete at state this season.
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The Ottumwa sophomore was reminded on Thursday just how tough it is to make it on to the podium at state, finishing 19th in the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries despite posting a season-best time of 5:17.46. Gevock earned one final swim this season in the 200-yard individual medley after finishing 10th in the prelims in 2:11.13, over a second faster than her regional-winning swim on Saturday at Johnston.
“I’m excited to hopefully finish the season tomorrow with a personal best. I’m hoping to go under 2:10,” Gevock said. “It’s very exciting. Next year looks very promising. It’s been hard this season getting over being sick at the beginning of the season. I didn’t get off to a great start, but I’ve managed to finish the season pretty well.”
Gevock will have a chance to match her ninth-place showing in last year’s 200-yard individual medley which featured a school-record time of 2:10.69. After missing out on a top-eight preliminary finish in the race by just over a second, Gevock could find her way into either the championship or consolation final race in the 500-yard freestyle finishing almost five seconds slower than last year’s preliminary swim of 5:12.77 that came within two seconds of earning the Ottumwa swimmer a place on the podium in her first state meet.
“My head was just kind of out it. The 500 is a very mental race and I just wasn’t really in it,” Gevock said. “I’ve still got two more years to go after that state medal, so I’m not too down about it. It’s the longest race in high school, so it’s both mentally and physically challenging.”
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Like Gevock, Penelope Morrison earned a chance to swim in an individual final on Friday after placing 11th in the 50-yard freestyle prelims. The sophomore from Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, swimming for Oskaloosa, finished fourth in the third of the four heat races in 24.61 seconds just missing out on matching or lowering her regional-winning time of 24.47 swam just five days earlier.
“I was hoping for a personal record, but you can’t really expect much with just a few days in between the meets,” Morrison said. “It felt good to swim around the same times I swam last week. The goal is to just go out there and drop a little bit of time. Hopefully I can go out there and swim even faster than I did at regionals.”
Like Gevock, Morrison missed out on earning a chance to compete in two individual finals at state after finishing 27th in the 100-yard freestyle prelims. Morrison posted a time of 55.4 seconds, 0.04 off the mark that secured Morrison a regional medal and a somewhat surprising state berth.
“I didn’t make it in the 100 last year, so I was pretty excited when I saw I made it this year,” Morrison said. “That just means I’m getting better at that.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
