Ellie McCorkle named top athlete at the state swimming and diving meet
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IOWA CITY — Ellie McCorkle won two individual titles and Ames placed fifth as a team during the IGHSAU girls state swimming and diving meet held on Nov. 12-13 at the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
McCorkle claimed her first individual state championships by winning the 200 and 500-yard freestyle races.
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She won the 200 freestyle on Nov. 13 with an impressive time of one minute, 48.40 seconds. McCorkle swam a time of 1:50 flat during the prelims to take second to Dowling Catholic's Charlotte Qualley (1:49.21) on Nov. 12, but she swam an incredible race in the finals to shave 1.6 seconds off her prelim time, which was just fast enough to edge Qualley's 1:49.63 effort in the finals.
McCorkle cruised to victory in the 500 freestyle. She won the prelims of the longest individual race at the meet in 4:57.16, then cut over three seconds off that effort in the finals when she touched the wall in 4:53.93.
Cedar Falls' Maelyn Woltz took second to McCorkle in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:57.90.
McCorkle's amazing performance earned her the IGHSAU Athlete of the Year in girls swimming and diving.
As a team, Ames scored 150 points. That beat out Iowa City West by nine points for yet another top-five finish for the Little Cyclones, who are in their first season under coach Ben Utesch.
Dowling Catholic cruised to the team championship with 294 points. Cedar Falls placed second with 209 points, and Bettendorf and Waukee Northwest tied for third after they each finished with a score of 181.
The Ames 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams both placed fourth.
Naya Nakama, Addyson Binkowski, and Texas women's rowing signee Miah Mogard teamed with McCorkle to swim the 200 freestyle relay in 1:36.87. Bettendorf won in 1:33.14, Waukee placed second in 1:36.52 and Dowling earned the bronze medal in 1:36.71.
Those same four swimmers competed in the 400 freestyle relay at the end of the meet. Going in the order of Mogard, Nakama, Binkowski and McCorkle, the Little Cyclone quartet finished the race in 3:32.62 to trail only Dowling (3:25.06), Cedar Falls (3:25.89) and Waukee Northwest (3:30.92) in the final results.
Nakama placed fourth individually in the 100 freestyle and seventh in the 200 freestyle.
She touched the wall in 51.70 during the 100 freestyle finals to trail only Cedar Falls' Ella Gardner (50.52), Bettendorf's Brielle Andedo (50.99) and Dubuque Senior's Annie Gilligan (51.29). Nakama finished the 200 freestyle in 1:52.62.
Mady Hermsen just missed placing in the top eight during the 100 breaststroke. Hermsen took ninth in the race with a 1:07.46 showing.
Ames had a breakout showing from eighth-grader Grace Udelhofen-Clark in the 1-meter diving competition at state. The Little Cyclone eighth-grader had the 16th-best qualifying effort entering state, but she moved all the way up to seventh at state with an 11-dive score of 361.45.
Southeast Polk's Emory Braunschweig-Norris claimed the state diving championship with a score of 471.85.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ellie McCorkle named top athlete at the state swimming and diving meet