By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
The Guthrie County Barracuda Summer Swim Team is getting plenty of representation this winter with more than 30 swimmers competing with the Perry Area Winter Swim Team. Head Coach Dana Stein has been coaching the Guthrie County swim team for more than 10 years and has been coaching the Perry Area Winter Swim Team for the past five years.
The Guthrie County swimmers compete with the Perry Area Winter Swim Team in the Greater Iowa Swim League (GISL), which includes Atlantic, Boone, Carroll, Clarinda, Denison, Des Moines East, Life Time Swim Iowa (Urbandale), Emmetsburg, Estherville, Grinnell, Harlan, Indianola, Knoxville, Manning, Newton, South East Aquatics (Pella), Spencer and Woodbine.
There are five more meets this season before the state and regional meets:
- Jan. 11 in Carroll
- Jan. 18 in Perry
- Feb. 1 in Indianola
- Feb. 8 in Perry
- Feb. 15 in Grinnell
- March 8, State Meet in Des Moines at the Wellmark YMCS
- March 29-30, Regional Meet in Minneapolis Minnesota at the University of Minnesota
To qualify to compete at the state meet, a swimmer must achieve a qualifying time in an event for his or her respective age group and gender. Guthrie County currently has 15 swimmers who have qualified for the state meet and five who have qualified for the regional meet.
“Guthrie County has many more swimmers that are very close to obtaining qualifying times. This is an exciting time to watch our swimmers as they continue improve each time they swim,” Coach Stein said.
Current GISL State Qualifiers:
- Isabella Stein
- Sophia Stein
- Eva Steffensen
- Cordell Wolfe
- Drake Strehle
- Kroy Redfern
- Isaac Armbrecht
- Deacan Crawley
- Caleb Sanders
- Kennedy Knorr
- Lyla Martinson
- Reed Leo
- Malia Jacobsen
- Graham Clark
- Jessa Hellman
Regional Meet Qualifiers:
- Isabella Stein
- Sophia Stein
- Drake Strehle
- Cordell Wolfe
- Kennedy Knorr