Tigers Finish Regular Season Strong, With Home Win

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor

  TIPTON — The Tipton swimming team heads to their Regional state qualifying meet Saturday with some momentum and dreams of sending an event or two to the state meet In Marshalltown on Saturday, November 3. Tipton closed their regular season with a home dual win over Fairfield last Monday, October 15, 117 to 52. The victory gave the Tigers a 9-1 record in dual meets this season. The Tigers also honored their only senior on the team this year, Artica Dykstra. Dykstra won one event on senior night.

  Seven different Tigers won events at the meet. In freestyle events, Ali Anderson won the 50-yard freestyle in 27.89, Zoe Stonebraker won the 100-yard freestyle in 59.12 and Artica Dykstra won the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 6:38.94. Stonebraker’s and Dykstra’s times in those events were season-best ones to date.

  Britney Ford won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:15:46. Ford did not lose a 100-yard breaststroke race in a dual meet this season. Sara Webb turned in a season-best time in the 100-yard backstroke, winning the event in 1:12. Swick won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:05.01 and Hoefler won the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:26.65 in a season-best time.

  One Tiger swimmer swam her best times in two events and two others turned in the best time in one event. Liz Bierman had a pair of runner-up finishes in times that were her best to date this season. Bierman was second in the 200-yard IM in 2:41.75 and second in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:21.88. Hannah Tucker swam to a season-best time in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 8:38.38. Kayley Clark also swam to the best time in the 200-yard freestyle in finishing second in the event in a time of 2:29.63.

  Tipton won all but one event at the meet, collecting ten event wins, including winning all three relay events. Junior Ali Anderson and sophomores Zoe Stonebraker and Maddie Swick were on each of the winning relays. Tipton freshman Rhyan Hoefler was on two relay event wins and junior Britney Ford was on one winning relay.

  The Tigers 400-yard freestyle relay team of Hoefler, Anderson, Swick, and Stonebraker won the event in a time of 4:04.69. The Tigers 200-yard free relay team of Stonebraker, Anderson, Swick, and Hoefler won the event in a time of 1:50.10. The Tigers 200-yard IM relay team of Anderson, Britney Ford, Swick, and Stonebraker won the event in a time of 2:01.03.

  The Tigers will swim at the Linn-Mar Regional swimming meet Saturday. Teams there will be Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Rapids Washington, Decorah, Iowa City High, Iowa City West, Keokuk, Linn-Mar, and Waterloo East. The Tigers look to qualify an event for the state meet for the first time in quite a while.

  The Tigers best chances to send an event to the state will lie in their relay events, the 200-yard IM, 200-yard freestyle, and the 400-yard freestyle relay. The State has a new way of qualifying for state this year. Individual events take the top-24 times and also added a way for automatic qualification if you reach preset times. In relay events, the Tigers are near the top-32 times statewide. Currently, the Tigers 200-free and 400-free relay events are ranked 33rd and their 200-IM relay is ranked 34th. The Tigers 200-freestyle relay team is within less than one second away from being ranked 29th and the Tigers 200-IM relay team is within less than one-second away of being ranked 28th based on the times turned in heading into Saturday’s meet. The Tigers along with the final 32 state qualifiers, will qualify for the state meet in the respective relays based on their times at the Regional meet. Thus the Tigers, despite being ranked below the 32-team cutoff, are very much in contention at this weeks meet.

  The 2018 state swimming meet has expanded too, including another day of competition on Friday, November 2. The state meet will conclude on Saturday, November 3 at the Marshalltown YMCA.


Tipton 117, Fairfield 52
Monday, October 15
Tipton, IA


Individual Event Results:
200-yard medley relay: 1. Tipton (Ali Anderson, Britney Ford, Maddie Swick, Zoe Stonebraker) 2:01.03, 2. Tipton (Sara Webb, Liz Bierman, Artica Dykstra, Corrine Vandergaast) 2:14.65, 3. Fairfield 2:36.46, 4. Fairfield 2:44.53, 5. Tipton (Alicia Beranek, Mayle Brooks, Hannah Tucker, Sabra Rogers) 2:53.87.

200-yard freestyle: 1. Danielle Elliott (F) 2:26.58, 2. Kayley Clark (T) 2:29.63, 3. Sara Webb (T) 2:30.43, 4. Clare Else (F) 2:51.11, 5. Mayle Brooks (T) 3:11.34.

200-yard IM: 1. Rhyan Hoefler (T) 2:26.65, 2. Liz Bierman (T) 2:41.75, 3. Erica Olson (F) 2:55.89, 4. Blair Bowman (F) 2:57.01.

50-yard freestyle: 1. Ali Anderson (T) 27.89, 2. Madelyn Hanna (F) 31.74, 3. Emma Clubb (F) 32.46, 4. Alicia Beranek (T) 33.36, 5. Tea Harris (F) 37.15, 6. Mayle Brooks (T) 39.12.

100-yard butterfly: 1. Maddie Swick (T) 1:05.01, 2. Rhyan Hoefler (T) 1:06.17, 3. Hannah Tucker (T) 1:47.96, 4. Emily McAvan (F) 1:48.97, 5. Tea Harris (F) 1:50.89.

100-yard freestyle: 1. Zoe Stonebraker (T) 59.12, 2. Danielle Elliott (F) 1:03.35, 3. Britney Ford (T) 1:06.06, 3. Delaney Mondia (F) 1:23.84, 5. Sabra Rogers (T) 1:42.68.

500-yard freestyle: 1. Artica Dykstra (T) 6:38.94, 2. Erica Olson (F) 6:41.19, 3. Kayley Clark (T) 6:56.48, 4. Blair Bowman (F) 7:33.10, 5. Hannah Tucker (T) 8:38.38.

200-yard freestyle relay: 1. Tipton (Zoe Stonebraker, Ali Anderson, Maddie Swick, Rhyan Hoefler) 1:50.10, 2. Tipton (Liz Bierman, Britney Ford, Corrine Vandergaast, Artica Dykstra) 2:04.05, 3. Fairfield 2:09.97, 4. Fairfield 2:30.35, 5. Tipton (Sabra Rogers, Hannah Tucker, Mayle Brooks, Alicia Beranek) 2:36.49.

100-yard backstroke: 1. Sara Webb (T) 1:12, 2. Alicia Beranek (T) 1:27.77, 3. Emily McAvan (F) 1:28.17, 4. Kyra Hunter (F) 1:38.98, 5. Isabel Allen (F) 1:40.10, 6. Sabra Rogers (T) 2:12.57.

100-yard breaststroke: 1. Britney Ford (T) 1:15.46, 2. Liz Bierman (T) 1:21.88, 3. Clare Else (F) 1:32.41, 4. Corrine Vandergaast (T) 1:36.45.

400-yard freestyle relay: 1. Tipton (Rhyan Hoefler, Ali Anderson, Maddie Swick, Zoe Stonebraker) 4:04.69, 2. Tipton (Sara Webb, Corrine Vandergaast, Kayley Clark, Artica Dykstra) 4:44.70, 3. Fairfield 4:45.18.