Cougars 200 Medley Relay, lane 8 (bottom of screen)
This past weekend the women’s swimming and diving team competed at the 44th annual Iowa Girl’s High School State Swimming and Diving Championships. Divers Savanah Schott and Liz Hayes finished 2nd and12th at Friday night’s diving session. Savanah’s lifetime best effort earned her a place on the podium and a spot on the first team all state squad. Saturday started with the quartet of Carmen McCoy, Ashley Harris, Lexi Scharmer and Kylee VonAhsen making the podium, finishing 6th in the 200 medley relay. The Cougars competed in 9 out of 12 events with Carmen and Ashley finishing 12th in the 100 back and 100 breast respectively and a season best swim in the 400 free relay with the fearsome foursome of Val Ross, Lexi Scharmer, Carmen McCoy and Kylee VonAhsen. The Cougars finished the state meet in 14th place and also finished as the top metro team. Congratulations girls on a great state meet and season.
The women’s swimming and diving team competed this weekend at the IGHSAU Regional Championships at CR Washington and came away with eight state qualifiers and a 2nd place team finish. The state meet starts this Friday. November 6th in Marshalltown at 5:00 PM with 1 meter diving taking front stage. Cougar senior Savanah Schott and jr Liz Hayes are seeded 11th and 17th out of 36 divers and are both looking to finish in the top six at the end of their 11 dive event. The state meet continues Saturday at noon where the Cougars will be competing in 8 of the 11 events. They get started with their regional champion and 8th seeded 200 medley relay. The fantastic foursome leads off with JR Carmen McCoy, then SR Ashley Harris, Soph Lexi Scharmer and is anchored by JR Kylee VonAhsen. McCoy, Harris and Scharmer all qualified in two individual events and two relays. McCoy was the regional champ in the 100 free and is seeded 11th in the 100 back at state. Harris qualified in the 200 IM and is seeded 13th in the 100 breast and Scharmer qualified in the 100 fly and 100 back. Both free relays earned a trip to the big show. Swimming in the 200 free relay will be Jr Val Ross, Sr Brooke Prouty, Harris and VonAhsen. Then in the final event, the 400 free relay, the Cougars will finish with McCoy, Scharmer, Ross and VonAhsen. Come join the many supporters of JFK swimming and diving this weekend as they cheer on the Cougars at state.
The women’s swimming and diving team competed this weekend at the MVC varsity championships in Dubuque and brought home their 4th straight title. The underdog Cougars used gold metal performances from MVC athlete of the week, Savanah Schott and the medley relay quartet of Carmen McCoy, Ashley Harris, Lexi Scharmer and Kylee VonAhsen to start the team’s record performance. Missing 2 varsity starters due to illness, the shecougs used strong individual performances to earn top 6 finishes in 6 events and team depth to score points in every event. The coaching staff led by assistants Rick Forrester, Leslie Nelson, Holly Broadwater and Katie McKinnon also earned honors by being voted MVC coaching staff of the year. Congratulations to all, well done!!! Tuesday night is senior night for the girls as they finish their dual meet schedule against CR Xavier. Festivities begin at 5:30, so come watch and cheer on the Cougars as they compete against the Saints.
With the championship season looming the 9th rated Cougars traveled to Cedar Falls to compete against the 4th rated Tigers last night and suffered only their 2nd lost of the year, 115 to 71. After winning 3 out of the first 5 events, the Cougs were clawing for an upset but the very talented and deep Tigers won the final 7 events to secure their victory. Event winners were junior Kylee VonAhsen in the 50 free, senior Savanah Schott in diving and the quartet of Lexi Scharmer, Ashley Harris, Jordan Muir and VonAhsen winning the 200 medley relay. The JV also had a terrific night of swimming, winning seven events but loosening the dual by only nine points, 95 to 86. Event winners were senior captain Deena Altschwager winning both the 200 and 100 free, freshman Maddy Harris in the 200 IM, Freshman Jessica Schmeiser in the 50 free and freshman Henna McCoy in the 500 free. The Cougar’s next meet is Saturday at wash for the JV invite and then next Tuesday, October 13th hosting Dubuque Hempsted.
The 2009 Cougar swimming and diving team continued their metro success last night as they defeated the Jefferson J-Hawks 119 to 67. It was a true team victory with six different individual event winners and first place finishes in both of the free relays. Those touching the wall first were Kylee VonAhsen in the 200 IM, Liz Hayes in the one meter springboard, Katie Hamilton in the 100 fly, Ashley Harris in the 100 free, Quinn Taylor in the 500 free and Lexi Scharmer in the 100 back. The Cougs are 3 and 0 against metro opponents with Xavier the last team left on the meet schedule. Highlighting last nights meet was the 1, 2, 3 finish in the 500 free by the freshman trio of Taylor, Tanner Rathjens and Maddy Harris. Needless to say, the future looks bright for Kennedy Women's Swimming and Diving. Also starring last night was this year's first new member to the " Sub Club " junior Val Ross, breaking the minute barrier in the 100 free at fiftynine twentysix (59.26)and earning herself a brand new BMW from coach Ross. The 8th ranked Cougars continue their season this Saturday up in Cedar Falls at the Marcussen Invite. Diving begins at 8:55 AM and the swimming competition starting at 1:00 PM.
The Varsity women’s swimming and diving team rose to the occasion last night when they hosted cross town rival Washington, dunking the Warriors 110 to 76. The Cougars won the first and last events of the evening with a very loud cheering section chanting “ COUGAR RELAY “ over and over in ear deafening volume and swam and dove lifetime best the entire night. Again the diving trio of Savanah Schott, Liz Hayes and Amy Hansen led the way finishing first, second and fifth with scores placing both Savanah and Liz in the top 5 divers in the state!! Leading the way for the swimmers was Kylee VonAhsen winning the 200 free and out swimming one of the state’s best swimmers in the 100 free with an outstanding time of fiftysix, sixtytwo ( 56.62 ). Other event winners were Carmen McCoy, Quinn Taylor and Ashley Harris. The Cougars next meet is Saturday when they host the Cougar Invite.
The Cougar swimming and diving team lost 107.5 - 78.5 to the 7th ranked Trojans from Iowa City West suffering their first dual meet defeat of the year. The girls were led by junior Carmen McCoy winning the 200 IM and the 100 free in lifetime best and joining senior Ashley Harris, junior Val Ross and sophomore Lexi Scharmer in winning the 200 free relay in a season best time of one forty-seven fifty- two (1:47.52).The Cougar divers continued their winning ways with another 1-2 finish by junior Liz Hayes and senior Savanah Schott. The JV were also defeated by the Trojans last night 105 -72. Individual event winners were soph Lauren Vito in the 200 IM, freshman Jessica Schmeiser in the 50 free, freshman Kerry Brousard in the 500 free and senior Katie Hamilton in the 100 back. The Cougar varsity will compete this weekend at the City High Invite and the JV freshman sophomores at the J-Hawk Relays.
Last night in a battle between two of the metros best swimming and diving programs, the Cougars defended their home pool with a thrilling upset over the visiting Lions from Linn Mar 97 to 89. The medley relay quartet of Carmen McCoy, Ashley Harris, Lexi Scharmer and Val Ross started the dual meet off with a victory and season best time of one fifty-six ninety (1:56.90). Sophomore sensation Scharmer also added gold medal victories in both the 100 butterfly and 100 back to lead the shecougs, avenging one of last years dual meet losses. McCoy also won the 100 free in a lifetime best and was joined by freshman 500 free champ, Quinn Taylor on the victory stand. Probably the most important event in leading the upset was the one two finish by Liz Hayes and Savanah Schott in the one meter springboard. Both divers had season best totals with scores of 211.55 and 203.05. The Cougars move their season record to 2-0 and 24 and 4 over the last three plus years. Their next dual meet is at Iowa City West Tuesday September 15th.
Last night at the Hempstead pool, the girl's swimming and diving team dominated the Rams from Dubuque Senior 137 to 48. The Cougars were led by their terrific trio of divers, Jr Liz Hayes, sr newcomer Savanah Schott and jr newbie Amy Hanson finishing first, second and fourth, just missing the diving trifecta. Also having a great night were Lexi Scharmer with four victories, Ashley Harris, Carmen McCoy and Val Ross with three and freshman newcomer Tanner Rathjens with two. The JV squad opened their 2009 season by dunking Senior by a whopping 123 to 10 margin. Event winners were Sarah Sickles and fr Jessica Schmeizer with 2, jr Sarah Luth, jr Kelsey Carney, fr Maddy Harris and sr diver Kimmy Jounot. The Cougar's next meet is next Tuesday when they host Linn Mar at the Cougar Natitorium.