After swimming a pair of races in a matter of minutes during the preliminaries of the girls’ state swimming meet on Thursday, Ankeny sophomore Charlie Villhauer moved to the auxiliary pool at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center in Iowa City.
She had just started to cool down when she learned over the loudspeaker that she would unexpectedly have to swim again.
“I had just swam the 100 freestyle so I was really tired, but I love to race,” said Villhauer. “Ask anybody, and (they’ll tell you) I love racing.”
In her first event of the day, Villhauer posted a time of 59.15 seconds in the 100 butterfly. She tied with Addison Oelke of Sioux City West for the eighth-fastest time, which meant that the two swimmers would have to compete in a swim-off later in the meet.
About an hour later, the duo returned to the starting blocks for the swim-off. Villhauer went on to set a personal record of 58.37, but it wasn’t enough to catch Oelke–who got off to a fast start and turned in a time of 57.76 to advance to Friday’s “A” final.
Villhauer, meanwhile, will compete in the “B” final, where she can place between ninth and 16th overall.
“It’s better than getting ninth and not having a chance to move up, so I’m really glad that I got a chance to swim again,” said Villhauer, who finished 16th in the butterfly as a freshman. “And I got a PR, so that was really nice. I’m really happy with my time. Of course I wish I could have got on the podium, but it’s ok. I can do it next year.”
In her other event on Thursday, Villhauer placed 24th in the 100 freestyle. She was clocked in 55.98 seconds.
Villhauer was seeded 18th in that event after posting a time of 55.14 at Saturday’s regional meet.
“I was very tired, but I like the adrenaline,” Villhauer said of swimming the back-to-back events. “It’s a good push. No one else can do it, so it makes me feel really good.”
Villhauer was among the five Ankeny swimmers who qualified for state in at least one individual event. The others were senior Madi Trosper and fellow sophomores Avery Anderson, Maggie Blackmore and Allie Kearney.
Anderson and Blackmore both competed in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. The teammates swam in adjacent lanes in both of their preliminary heats.
“It was really cool,” Anderson said. “I love how driven Maggie is and how much she dedicates herself to the sport. It was really fun racing her, and I hope to do it again in the future.”
Blackmore placed 19th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:23.83, moving up two spots from a year ago. Anderson took 23rd in 5:26.21.
Earlier, Blackmore finished 25th in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.02. Anderson placed 26th in 2:01.60.
“It’s really a privilege to be able to swim here with all my teammates,” Anderson said. “I’m just so glad to have made it here.”
Kearney tied for 30th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:22.37. She later finished 32nd in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.24.
Trosper placed 31st in the 50 freestyle for the second straight year. She was clocked in 25.63 seconds.
Ankeny junior Kambelle Subbert also competed on Thursday, placing 27th in the diving event. She posted a score of 150.50 points through five dives, but did not advance to the second round.
Camryn Russell of Grinnell went on to win the 11-dive event with 465.50 points. The Southeast Polk duo of Holli Hetzer and Emory Braunschweig-Norris placed second and third, respectively.
The swimming finals will begin at noon on Friday. In addition to Villhauer’s “B” final in the butterfly, Ankeny will compete in all three relay events.
“I’m really excited with how this weekend is going,” Villhauer said. “And with our relays, who knows (what will happen)? You can always get PRs off of those, too.”