Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s swift young swimmers were in first place before the regional meet even started on Saturday, and they just kept piling on the points throughout the afternoon.

In the early lead thanks to Jayden Lovell winning the regional diving title Thursday, the Cougar girls won seven of 11 swimming events in the fast Linn-Mar Aquatic Center pool to swamp the rest of the 10-team field.

Along with setting several school and pool records, Kennedy won its third straight regional championship with 469 points. Cedar Rapids Washington came in a distant second with 300.5 points.

“We’ve got a lot of young ladies who are both talented and motivated,” said veteran Kennedy Coach John Ross.

“They all did well individually today. More importantly, we did really well as a team.

“Team always comes first.”

Ranked seventh in the state power ratings, the Cougars are hopeful their strong contingent of automatic qualifiers will move them up in next week’s state meet in Marshalltown from last year’s 14th place finish.

“We’ve got a deep team, and we want to be in top 10 at least,” Ross said. “Next week is what the swimming season is all about. The last meet.”

The Cougars got off to a fast start in the first race Saturday, breaking the pool and school record in the 200 yard medley relay with sophomore Mackenzie Macho, junior Jessica Williams and seniors Taylor Golden and Kirsten Siebenga.

Both records were also cracked by the 200 yard freestyle relay quartet of freshman Kassidy Lovig, sophomore Darby Manternach, junior Maddie Bagby and Siebenga.

With senior Lydia Yang in the anchor slot with the three younger freestylers, Kennedy made it a perfect relay trifecta by finishing the day with a win going away in the 400 yard freestyle relay.

“We had a lot of lifetime bests today,” said Manternach, who set one of her own along with a school record in winning the 50 yard freestyle.

She has been struggling with an on-again off-again case of mononucleosis for all of the swim season but said she was at her peak form on Saturday.

“I felt really good today,” she said. “I just wanted to do my best and not let my team down.”

Bagby has been battling walking pneumonia for the past several weeks, one of a number of girls who have been under the weather.

“It’s like we’ve had the plaque,” she said. “But we’ve pushed through it as a team.

“We support each other and keep a positive attitude. And today, it paid off.”

Bagby broke her own school record in the 100 yard freestyle, edging runner-up Manternach by less than a second.

The other individual regional champions from Kennedy were Williams with dual records in the 100 yard backstroke and Macho in the 100 yard breaststroke.

Also winning from the Metro teams was Washington sophomore Lauren Havertape, who claimed the 100 yard butterfly. She missed the school record by one-hundredth of a second and did the same while coming in third in the 50 freestyle.

“I feel pretty good about it,” she said. “There were a lot of strong swimmers today.”

Despite finishing far back of heavily-favored Kennedy, Washington Coach Megan Lewis said she was pleased with her team’s second place performance.

“Really, we had a heck of a meet,” she said. “We’ve got a handful of girls who can just race. We had a lot of individual dropped times today. So, I’m super pleased with second place. We swam well today.”

REGIONAL TEAM STANDINGS

1. Kennedy 469, 2. Washington 300.5, 3. Iowa City West 281.5, 4. Decorah 250, 5. Wahlert 245, 6. Linn-Mar 217, 7. Jefferson 168, 8. Hempstead 150, 9. Tipton 58, 10. Keokuk 28.

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS

200 medley relay - Kennedy (Jessica Williams, Mackinzee Macho, Taylor Golden, Kirsten Siebenga) 1:48.45
200 free - Elly Kalb, Wahlert, 1:57.02
200 IM - Erica Hsu, Iowa City West, 2:06.93
50 free - Darby Manternach, Kennedy, 24.42
100 fly - Lauren Havertape, Washington, 58.14
100 free - Maddie Bagby, Kennedy, 53.17
500 free - Erica Hsu, Iowa City West, 5:06.82
200 free relay - Kennedy (Darby Manternach, Maddie Bagby, Kassidy Lovig, Kirsten Siebenga) 1:37.97
100 back - Jessica Williams, Kennedy, 58.17
100 breast - Mackinzee Macho, Kennedy, 1:07.73
400 free relay - Kennedy (Darby Manternach, Maddie Bagby, Kassidy Lovig, Lydia Yang) 3:37.50

METRO STATE QUALIFIERS

(With Seedings)

KENNEDY

3. 200 free relay, 1:37.97
4. 200 medley relay, 1:48.45
5. Maddie Bagby, 100 free, 53.17
5. Jessica Williams, 100 back, 58.17
6. Mackinzee Macho, 100 breast, 1:07.73
7. Mackinzee Macho, 200 IM, 2:10.65
8. 400 free relay, 3:37.50
10. Jayden Lovell, diving, 390.60
10. Darby Manternach, 50 free, 24.42
13. Kassidy Lovig, 200 free, 1:57.10
13. Darby Manternach, 100 free, 54.01
15. Sarah Gannon, 500 free, 5:20.25
17. Kassidy Lovig, 500 free, 5:20.68
20. Jessica Williams, 100 fly, 1:00.78
21. Maggie Bagby, 200 free, 1:58.99
23. Taylor Golden, 200 IM, 2:17.80

WASHINGTON

6. Lauren Havertape, 100 fly, 58.14
9. Jenny Hughes, 500 free, 5:14.19
16. Jenny Hughes, 100 breast, 1:09.31
18. Lauren Havertape, 50 free, 24.68
19. 200 medley relay, 1:53.70
19. 200 free relay, 1:41.49
19. Logan Eckhardt, 100 breast, 1:09.90
21. Emily Nelson, 200 IM, 2:17.08
22. Emily Nelson, 500 free, 5:23.03
22. Caitlin Sievers, 100 breast, 1:10.26
27. Amara Taylor, diving, 349.20

LINN-MAR

20. Paige Broghammer, 200 IM, 2:16.94
21. Brooklyn Corey, diving, 361.05
22. Katie Culver, diving, 360.15

JEFFERSON

19. Josie Thompson, 100 fly, 1:00.66
22. 200 medley relay, 1:54.37
23. Skylar Meyers, diving, 354.45
24. Mika McChesney, 50 free, 25.00