Burlington High School girls swimming coach Emily Hill spent Saturday at the Linn-Mar Aquatic Center. Having coached a group of seniors since they were seven-year-old swimmers splashing around the YMCA, Hill wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye. The Grayhounds made sure the regional meet in Marion wouldn’t be their final outing together.
Burlington punched its ticket to the state meet by qualifying six events—three relays and three individual entries—for Thursday and Friday competition at the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center in Iowa City. The Grayhounds finished sixth in the team standings with 177 points, while defending state champion West Des Moines Dowling captured the team title with 526 points.
“We had a very fast regional,” Hill said, noting the fierce competition. “Dowling won state last year, so there is that intimidation factor. I told the girls we have to stay in our lane, do the best we can and not give up on ourselves just because we might be behind. I thought the girls did a really good job of that.”
The state-bound lineup features senior Elizabeth Speers locking down the 21st-fastest time in the 50-yard freestyle at 25.21 seconds, alongside senior Kyle Hill, who sits 21st in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.38. Sophomore Betsy Cate Brimhall rounded out the individual qualifiers by securing the 28th-fastest mark in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:11.63.
Relay events added crucial depth to Burlington’s state qualification roster. The 200-yard medley relay squad of Avery Blodget, Brynley Dixon, and Brimhall claimed the 15th-fastest time at 1:53.84. Meanwhile, the 200-yard freestyle relay team featuring Hill, Brimhall, Allisan Guyton, and Speers clocked a 21st-fastest 1:43.01, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Hill, Brimhall, Blodget, and Speers took the 25th spot in 3:48.92.
The journey to Iowa City carries extra resonance for a senior class deeply intertwined with their coach’s own tenure on the pool deck. The night before regionals brought the tradition of a team spaghetti dinner, where the swimmers surprised their coach with a scrapbook.
“We have six seniors and I have been coaching them ever since they were seven,” Coach Hill said. “That was very emotional for me. (Saturday) two girls bookended their careers with trips to state. There are a lot of emotions tied to this group of seniors. We have a lot of special moments together.”
Additional scoring performances at the regional meet included Emma Dascher taking 14th in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:17.65, and Adah Beekman finishing 14th in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:48.48. In the 50-yard freestyle, Avery Blodgett touched eighth in 26.75 seconds, while Guyton followed in 13th at 27.31 seconds. Dixon placed 14th in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:00.83, with Dascher taking 19th in 1:03.40. Beekman added a 17th-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:18.68, and Dixon placed ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:13.21, ahead of Guyton in 15th at 1:19.73.
With five days of training ahead before the state meet gets underway in Iowa City, the focus shifts immediately to fine-tuning the small details.
“We didn’t swim our best races or times that we wanted, especially Kylee and Elizabeth in their individual events. We got some season bests, but not personal bests,” Coach Hill said. “We’ll get in the pool and do a little fine-tuning, get rested up and hopefully we can get those personal bests at state.”
