Jackie Hughes dominated her junior varsity races for the Cedar Rapids Washington swim team last year as a freshman, but it's not what she really wanted to do.

Hughes wanted to swim for the varsity last year, but couldn't due to Cedar Rapids Community School rules. She lives in the Kennedy school district and open-enrolled at Washington, so she had to compete at the sub-varsity level for a year.

Now she's making up for lost time.

Hughes captured the 500-yard freestyle in 5:18.70 at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet at the Jefferson pool Saturday afternoon.

That was the varsity title, not JV.

"It was fun, especially after not being able to swim it last year because I open-enrolled," she said. "It was fun to be able to race some girls who I know from club swimming. It was just a fun feeling."

Hughes and other top swimmers from the Metro area made their mark in the conference meet this year, winning four out of 12 events.

Linn-Mar won three events in the Super Meet. Emilie Berg captured the 100 breakstroke, Sam Wagner took the diving crown and the Lions prevailed in the 200 freestyle relay.

Cedar Falls won the team championship with 432.5 points. Iowa City West finished second with 371.5 markers.

Kennedy finished third in the standings with 290.5 points, collecting points in a variety of events. Linn-Mar was fourth (258), Washington eighth (143.5) and Jefferson 10th (87).

Hughes was a terror in junior varsity races a year ago. Her winning times in JV events were often better than the winning times in the same varsity races, but there's nothing she could do about that.

Hughes went to Franklin Middle School, which sends most of its students to Washington High School and some of its students to Kennedy. Her brother attends Washington and she wanted to become a Warrior as well.

Hughes had a price to pay, due to the rules, but now she's proven she's the top distance swimmer in the MVC and one of the top in Iowa, ranking fifth in the state in the 500.

Hughes likes competing in the 500-yard freestyle, which requires strength and endurance. "I feel like the 500 is an event that's for people who are tougher," she said.

Hughes also enjoys the 100 breaststroke and finished third in the event Saturday.

Berg swam the opening leg on the championship 200 freestyle relay for Linn-Mar and won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.18. Lizzie Adams, Lauren Dalecky and Alex Dunn joined Berg on the triumphant relay that finished in 1:41.98.

Berg ranks third in the state in the 100 breaststroke and Linn-Mar's 200 freestyle relay ranks fifth. She's hoping to compete for high finishes at the state meet in Marshalltown Nov. 4-5.

"It's my senior year," she said. "I really want to go out with a bang."

Berg plans to swim in college and hopes to make a decision by January. "I love swimming," she said. "I can't get enough."

Kennedy did not have any champions or runners-up Saturday, but the Cougars piled up points in eight events. Lexi Scharmer finished third in the 100 butterfly, third in the 100 backstroke, third in the 200 medley relay and fourth in the 400 freestyle relay to help spark the Cougars.

Jessica Schmeiser piled up points for Kennedy by placing third in the 200 freestyle, third in the 200 freestyle relay, fourth in the 400 freestyle relay and fifth in the 100 freestyle.

Sam Jacobsen and Jordan Muir also placed in four events for the Cougars.

Wagner won the diving title for Linn-Mar Thursday night at Jefferson. Dunn finished third in the 50 freestyle for the Lions.

MVC SUPER MEET
At Jefferson

Team Standings
1. Cedar Falls 432.5; 2. Iowa City West 371.5; 3. Kennedy 290.5; 4. Linn-Mar 258; 5. Dubuque Senior 172; 6. Waterloo West 157; 7. Hempstead 150, 8. Washington 143.5, 9. Wahlert 89; 10. Jefferson 87; 11. Iowa City High 72; 12. Waterloo East 22.

200 Medley Relay
1. Cedar Falls 1:51.46 (MVC record); 2. Iowa City West 1:54.29; 3. Kennedy 1:55.72 (Sam Jacobsen, Amanda Jacobsen, Lexi Scharmer, Hannah Botkin); 4. Linn-Mar 1:56.10 (Nicole Larsen, Lauren Dalecky, Emilie Berg, Lizzie Adams); 5. Waterloo West 1:57.75; 6. Hempstead 1:57.87.

200 Freestyle
1. Kathleen Bowman, Iowa City West, 2:00.83; 2. Brittany Moffatt, Cedar Falls, 2:01.03; 3. Jessica Schmeiser, Kennedy, 2:02.76; 4. Maria Gannon, Iowa City West, 2:03.23; 5. Jordan Muir, Kennedy, 2:04.70; 6. Taylor Pherigo, Waterloo West, 2:06.52.

200 IM
1. Lilian Zhu, Iowa City West, 2:11.61; 2. Aftin Phyfe, Cedar Falls, 2:13.79; 3. Autumn Roepsch, Dub Senior, 2:16.59; 4. Catherine Sell, Cedar Falls, 2:19.35; 5. Sophie Shoultz, Iowa City West, 2:21.23; 6. Savannah Butler, Iowa City West, 2:21.54.

50 Freestyle
1. Molly Lembezeder, Dub Senior, 24.43 (MVC record); Tereysa Lehnertz, Iowa City West, 24.84; Alex Dunn, Linn-Mar, 25.59; 4. Shelby Cline, Waterloo West, 25.74; 5. Emilie Berg, Linn-Mar, 25.85; 6. Lizzie Adams, Linn-Mar, 26.03.

100 Butterfly
1. Tereysa Lehnertz, Iowa City West, 1:00.09; 2. Aftin Phyfe, Cedar Falls, 1:00.28; 3. Lexi Scharmer, Kennedy, 1:00.87; 4. Jordan Muir, Kennedy, 1:02.01; 5. Taylor Pherigo, Waterloo West, 1:02.84; 6. Kathleen Bowman, Iowa City West, 1:02.93.

100 Freestyle
1. Kelsey Abbas, Cedar Falls, 54.01; 2. Molly Lembezeder, Dub Senior, 54.16; 3. Lilian Zhu, Iowa City West, 54.21; 4. Autumn Roepsch, Dub Senior, 55.91; 5. Jessica Schmeiser, CR Kennedy, 56.51; 6. Alex Dunn, Linn-Mar, 56.92.

500 Freestyle
1. Jackie Hughes, Washington, 5:18.70; 2. Clare Slagel, Hempstead, 5:20.08; 3. Brittany Moffatt, Cedar Falls, 5:24.54; 4. Maria Gannon, Iowa City West, 5:24.59; 5. Jasmine Roghair, Iowa City West, 5:33.83; 6. Sam Jacobsen, Kennedy, 5:34.42.

200 Freestyle Relay
1. Linn-Mar 1:41.98 (Emilie Berg, Lizzie Adams, Lauren Dalecky, Alex Dunn); 2. Cedar Falls 1:42.64; 3. Kennedy (Hannah Botkin, Jordan Muir, Amanda Jacobsen, Jessica Schmeiser); 4. Dubuque Senior 1:44.99; 5. Iowa City West 1:47.18; 6. Jefferson 1:48.25 (Erin Kibby, Emily Ritchie, Kylie Steimer, Kailey Drake).

100 Backstroke
1. Kelsey Abbas, Cedar Falls, 58.65 (MVC record); 2. Clare Slagel, Hempstead, 59.31; 3. Lexi Scharmer, Kennedy, 1:04.08; Sam Jacobsen, Kennedy, 1:04.37; 5. Nicole Larsen, Linn-Mar, 1:04.99; 6. Sophie Shoultz, Iowa City West, 1:05.01.

100 Breaststroke
1. Emilie Berg, Linn-Mar, 1:08.18; 2. Savannah Butler, Iowa City West, 1:10.02; 3. (tie) Jackie Hughes, Washington, 1:10.84; Montana Clasby, Cedar Falls, 1:10.84; 5. Natalie Shimp, Cedar Falls, 1:12.54; 6. Payton Augustine, Waterloo West, 1:13.11.

400 Freestyle Relay
1. Iowa City West 3:43.00; 2. Cedar Falls 3:45.27; 3. Dubuque Senior 3:48.70; 4. Kennedy 3:48.96 (Jordan Muir, Sam Jacobsen, Lexi Scharmer, Jessica Schmeiser); 5. Hempstead
3:53.58; 6. Linn-Mar 3:54.86 (Nicole Larsen, Alexa Klimes, Jessica Arebaugh, Alex Dunn).