Ankeny swimmers Bryer Pearson, Brock Peterson and Finn Stukerjurgen qualified for Saturday’s finals in the boys’ state meet in a total of five individual events during Friday’s preliminaries at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center in Iowa City.
Stukerjurgen qualified for the “A” final in the 100 backstroke in 52.04 seconds, the seventh-fastest time overall. He also qualified for the “B” final in the 200 individual medley in 1:57.20, the 13th-fastest time overall.
Stukerjurgen, a senior, dropped about 2 seconds off his time in both events from last week’s district meet.
“I know the work I’ve put in, but no points are scored in prelims,” said Stukerjurgen. “I have to rest up and be ready to come back faster (on Saturday).”
Peterson, a senior, also dropped a lot of time while qualifying for the “B” final in both of his events. He posted the 11th-fastest time of 1:56.05 in the 200 IM, then had the 12th-fastest time of 51.86 in the 100 butterfly.
“There were some very fast swims tonight,” said Peterson. “I’m not ‘super’ pleased with my times and I was really hoping to make an ‘A’ final, but I’m glad I can go out there and swim them again. I’m not going to let it bring me down, and I’m going to try and enjoy every moment I can.”
Pearson, a junior, just missed qualifying for the “A” final in the butterfly. He posted the ninth-fastest time overall of 51.44 to qualify for the “B” final.
The finals will begin at noon on Saturday.
Here are the rest of Ankeny’s results from Friday’s preliminaries:
200 freestyle: Wilson Pous-Ojeda, 1:50.96 (31st).
200 IM: Jack Walsh, 2:03.84 (27th).
50 freestyle: Austin Troyer, 22.25 (23rd); Bryer Pearson, 22.34 (tied for 25th).
100 butterfly: Sam Howard, 54.66 (30th).
500 freestyle: Wilson Pous-Ojeda, 5:06.17 (32nd).
100 backstroke: Noah Kearney, 54.61 (18th).
