Burlington's 200-yard freestyle relay team ready to chase down another record

Twenty-seven years.

That's how long the Burlington High School girls 200-yard freestyle relay record had stood, literally a generation of swimmers ago.

That is also how long it had been since a BHS 200 freestyle relay team had qualified for the state meet.

Both of those droughts were ended by this year's 200 freestyle relay team of sophomore Elli Boyer, junior Olivia Kraus, freshman Olivia Ritter and senior Jordyn Boyer.

That quartet smashed the 1995 team's school record by turning in a time of 1 minute, 44.86 seconds at Saturday's regional meet at Clinton High School.

That time qualified the Grayhounds for the state meet Friday and Saturday at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA pool.

More high school sports:WACO gets a crack at the first state championship game in school history

The preliminary round is set for 11 a.m. Friday, with the finals to begin at noon Saturday.

It will be the first time since Brena Peterson qualified in 1-meter diving in 2009 that the BHS girls have competed at a state swim meet.

The last time BHS qualified in an individual swimming event or a relay was in 1998.

The Grayhounds are hoping this is just the start of a new trend for the BHS girls swim program.

"It's been a long time in school history since it's happened," first-year BHS head coach Emily Hill said. "It's a unique situation in that these girls happen to be from other schools, so Burlington having this sharing program helps southeast Iowa swimming grow. It's nice to see the girls and the future for swimming is what excites me. Getting to see girls go to state adds some excitement into the sport. We have more swimmers coming next year. Adding that youth and that excitement into the sport is great."

A Saturday to remember

The Grayhounds have been closing in on the school record all season. Every day at practice, they look up at the school record board on the south wall at the BHS pool and read the time and names. Their goal was to break that record this season, and, if possible, take a shot at qualifying for state, too.

The Grayhounds accomplished both feats on Saturday at a regional meet in Clinton.

The school record was the first to fall, which sent up an emotional cheer from the Grayhounds.

"It was really nerve wracking right before we swam. We got up in the blocks and we were hyping each other up, being super positive about everything," said Elli Boyer, who has been swimming since second grade. "After we got out of the pool we were all super excited and we all started crying. It was an amazing moment for all of us."

"It's amazing that it's been up there since 1995. It's been almost 30 years," Kraus said. "It's unbelievable that my name is going to be up there with the rest of my relay team."

The waiting game

After breaking the school record, the Grayhounds had to wait to find out if they qualified for state. Several hours later, they got the word from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. The drought was over.

"Being new coaches, we had to ask some of the other coaches, 'Hey, what happens? What are we doing?' They gave us a time frame and there was no news and no news and no news," Hill said. "I even emailed the Davenport Central coach and asked f I missed it. He said, 'No, we're still waiting, too.' We were hoping to be on the bus and make that announcement, the only good part of a long drive home. We didn't get that opportunity. As soon as we got off the bus we got the news. It was exciting. We knew there was the potential and historically that time made it in the last two years. They knew it was high probability. It was exciting news."

"We kept asking the coaches every minute if they got results back yet," Jordyn Boyer said. "Once we got in it was very emotional. We were all very happy for each other. I'm sure we made our coach very proud."

Share and share alike

Burlington shares a swimming program with program with West Burlington, Notre Dame, Danville, Central Lee and Fort Madison.

None of the members of the 200 freestyle relay team actually attend Burlington High School. Elli and Jordyn Boyer -- no relation -- and Kraus all attend Fort Madison High School, while Ritter is from West Burlington.

More:Mount Pleasant football coach Shawn Striegel steps down after 10 years

The sharing agreement offers each an opportunity they otherwise would not have.

"We're really grateful. If they didn't have a sharing agreement, then we wouldn't have a team to swim on. We're very grateful. We have some really good swimmers on our team," Elli Boyer said.

"It's a great experience. As a high schooler, I swam for Keokuk my freshman year. I moved schools and now I am swimming here, which is a really great opportunity. If Burlington didn't have the sharing program, I wouldn't have the opportunity to compete with my amazing relay team. It's a bright time. It's amazing," Kraus said. "It's really interesting because we swim against schools all over. A lot of the schools have super sweet girls. I love getting to know them through our journey and seeing them the next year. It's good to grow with them. Sometimes I have relationships with them as friends. I've had many friends through swimming."

"I'm so happy that they finally let me swim," Ritter said. "I've always looked up to that scoreboard since I was five. I've come into this pool almost every single day looking at that board, knowing I wanted my name up on that board. I am thankful for Burlington that they let me do it."

Looking ahead to Friday's state swim meet

Now that they have qualified for state, the Grayhounds have more goals to achieve this weekend. And with three members returning next year, the future looks promising, as well.

"I think we are trying to make it as memorable as possible. Our goal is to drop time and beat our record and beat everybody in our heat so we can make it to the next round," Kraus said.

"I think I need to improve my relay start a little bit," Ritter said. "That's been one thing that I need to focus on. I'm really hoping to get that relay start down and maybe get our relay time down another second."

One of my goals is, even if we don't win the event, knowing that we all came in and tried our best. What we want to do is cut time on the school record we just got. That means two girls have to cut a little more time," Jordyn Boyer said. "It's awesome, but I know next year we're going to have even faster girls to beat that record."

Matt Levins is a sports reporter for the USA Today Network in Burlington, Iowa, who has covered local sports for 32 years at The Hawk Eye. Reach him at mlevins@thehawkeye.com.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Burlington relay team reaches state swim for first time since 1998