MARSHALLTOWN - Linn-Mar sophomore Kelsey Drake came home from the state swimming meet Saturday with two gold medals and one slightly embarrassing confession.

The embarrassing moment came a few minutes after Drake captured the 200 individual medley by a scant 5-hundredths of a second in an exhausting race.

She left the pool deck and spilled her guts, to put it as delicately as possible.

"I was dehydrated after my 200 IM," Drake explained. "I didn't feel good. I had a headache and I kind of threw up a little bit. It was stressful."

Fortunately, Drake managed to leave the pool deck before the unfortunate episode.

"It wasn't in the pool," she said with a relieved smile. "Thank God."

Drake returned shortly after the 200 IM and won the 100 butterfly, although she missed breaking the state record she set in the 100 fly a week ago in the regional meet.

Jenn Jenks of Linn-Mar captured a pair of silver medals, but she almost did not get to swim in the 200 freestyle after one of the officials noticed she was wearing an illegal swimsuit that had two Arena company logos on it instead of just one.

Jenks was told she was disqualified from the race and walked away from the blocks, but another meet official said she could swim if they would black out the logo.

"Bizarre," said Jenks, who was not aware of the rule.

Linn-Mar Coach Chad Derlein quickly arrived on the scene with a black sharpie and saved the day. He also managed to get Jenks re-focused on the task at hand.

"I held her face and I said, 'You know what? You've got this,'" Derlein related. "'This has nothing to do with you. You've got this race, go get it.' And she goes, 'OK.'"

Alyssa Fluit of Southeast Polk set a state record in the 200 free and won comfortably, but Jenks beat everyone else to the pad for second place.

Jenks battled distractions at the state meet last year as a freshman and thought she was prepared for everything this time.

"I was ready for anything that could happen, except for my swimsuit," she said. "I stayed more calm (this year). That really helped.

"I don't know where Chad got a marker," she said happily, "but he got a marker."

Derlein said he knew the rule, but thought the sticker on Jenks' $400 swimsuit indicated the suit had been approved for competition. Actually, the sticker meant the swimsuit material had been approved, but not the suit itself.

"It's a dumb rule," said Derlein, "but you have to abide by it."

Jenks also finished second in the 100 freestyle to claim two silver medals.

Overall, the Lions had a good day and finished fifth in the team standings. They finished third in the 400 freestyle relay and placed sixth in the 200 freestyle relay to pile up key points.

The fifth-place finish in the team standings matched the best in Linn-Mar history.

"The girls were amazing," said Derlein. "They stepped up, they swam well. They made me proud, they made the school proud."

Drake chopped two seconds off her personal-best in the 200 IM and needed all of it to nip Sydney Angell of Pleasant Valley, 2:02.05 to 2:02.10.

"We all came here expecting to do great things and we did," said Drake. "It was a lot of fun. I think we're all really happy."

The Washington Warriors got a seventh-place showing from their medley relay and tied for 19th in the team standings.

Sam Jacobsen of Kennedy finished ninth in the 100 backstroke. The Cougars also placed ninth in the medley relay and 200 freestyle relay and finished 16th in the standings.

Pleasant Valley nipped Ames, 301-293, for the team championship.

TEAM STANDINGS
Top 20

1. Pleasant Valley 301, 2. Ames 293, 3. Cedar Falls 170, 4. West Des Moines Valley 159, 5. Linn-Mar 156, 6. Johnston 142, 7. Waukee 134, 8. Bettendorf 111, 9. Southeast Polk 99, 10. Ankeny 87.

11. Muscatine 86, 12. Mason City 84, 13. Newton 78, 14. Spencer 70, 15. Iowa City West 62, 16. Kennedy 51, 17. Des Moines Roosevelt 39, 18. Lewis Central 37, 19. (tie) Washington 27, Atlantic 27.

WINNERS

200 medley relay - Waukee 1:46.57
200 free - Allyssa Fluit, Southeast Polk, 1:47.14 (state record)
200 IM - Kelsey Drake, Linn-Mar, 2:02.05
50 free - Maddie Gehrke, Waukee, 22.51 (state record)
100 fly - Kelsey Drake, Linn-Mar, 54.79
100 free - MyKenzie Leehy, Lewis Central, 50.40 (state record)
500 free - Allyssa Fluit, Southeast Polk, 4:50.27 (state record)
200 free relay - Pleasant Valley 1:35.96
100 back - Maddie Gehrke, Waukee, 54.83 (state record)
100 breast - Sydney Angell, Pleasant Valley, 1:02.85
400 free relay - West Des Moines Valley 3:31.10

LINN-MAR PLACEWINNERS
Top 16

2nd - Jenn Jenks, 200 free, 1:51.96
2nd - Jenn Jenks, 100 free, 52.04
3rd - 400 free relay (Jenn Jenks, Stephanie Jenks, Lizzie Adams, Kelsey Drake) 3:32.94
6th - 200 free relay (Jenn Jenks, Lizzie Adams, Paige Broghammer, Kelsey Drake) 1:37.78
16th - Stephanie Jenks, 500 free, 5:21.46

KENNEDY PLACEWINNERS
Top 16

9th - Medley relay (Sam Jacobsen, Brooke Timmerman, Taylor Golden, Kirsten Siebenga) 1:50.46
9th - 200 free relay (Darby Manternach, Maddie Bagby, Sam Jacobsen, Kirsten Siebenga) 1:38.25
9th - Sam Jacobsen, 100 back, 59.34
13th - Jessica Williams, 100 back, 1:00.40
16th - Maddie Bagby, 100 free, 54.67

WASHINGTON PLACEWINNERS
Top 16

7th - Medley relay (Kaitlyn Nemickas, Caitlin Sievers, Lauren Havertape, Logan Eckhardt) 1:50.14
14th - Emily Nelson, 500 free, 5:20.66