It's a good thing Jennifer Jenks is not afraid of heights, because the Linn-Mar freshman had to make a steep climb at the Jefferson High School pool Tuesday night.

Jenks broke long-standing pool records in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle as Linn-Mar dunked the J-Hawks, 133-50, in a Mississippi Valley Conference meet.

She also broke the Linn-Mar school records in both events.

As soon as the meet was over, Jefferson officials leaned a metal ladder against the wall and invited Jenks to climb up and physically remove the slabs that displayed the old pool marks from the record board.

"It was a little slippery up there," she said cheerfully after safely climbing down.

Jenks swam the 100 freestyle in 53.03 seconds, breaking the old pool mark of 53.61 set by Erin Carew of Prairie in 1991. She swam the 200 free in 1:55.77, snapping the old pool mark of 1:56.02 set by Jennifer Maehl of Prairie in 1990.

The Linn-Mar school records fell as well, including the 200 mark of 1:59.97 set by her sister Stephanie a year ago and the 100 mark of 53.27 established by Mary Beth Russell in 1996.

In one night, Jennifer Jenks broke records that were set in 1990, 1991 and 1996 and moved to the top of the leader board in her own home despite being a little weary from long plane rides Monday.

"I'm pretty happy," she said after her record-setting performance. "I came back from London yesterday, so I'm a little tired. I'm glad it all worked out how it did."

Jenks was in London with her family to watch Stephanie compete in the World Triathlon Championships this past Thursday. Stephanie Jenks also had a good meet Tuesday with victories in the 500 freestyle, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.

Jennifer Jenks now ranks first in the state in the 50 freestyle, first in the 100 freestyle and second in the 200 freestyle. "I guess it is kind of a surprise," she said of her fast start.

Jenks won the 100 freestyle by 6.54 seconds and captured the 200 freestyle by 13.33 seconds with a pair of impressive outings.

"Pool records usually aren't broken in the middle of September," noted Linn-Mar Coach Chad Derlein. "For her, it's an amazing feat. And her doing it now is even cooler.

"She's very determined," said Derlein. "She doesn't hold back. She sets her goals really high and she accomplishes them."

Linn-Mar won 10 of 12 events Tuesday. Kelsey Drake, a super-talented freshman for Jefferson, put the J-Hawks in the victory column in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly.

Jennifer Jenks and Drake swim together for the Cedar Rapids Aquatics Association and are two of the top freshmen in the state. Drake shattered the Jefferson pool and school marks in the 100 butterfly last week and leads the state in that event.

Jenks and Drake both swam anchor legs on the 400 freestyle relay Tuesday, but Linn-Mar already had a big lead and was en route to an easy victory by the time Drake hit the water. A year ago, Drake beat Jenks in both the 50 free and 100 free at the state AAU meet as they finished 1-2 both times.

"We're pretty good friends," said Jenks. "It's like friendly competition."

Jenks helped Linn-Mar win the 200 freestyle relay Tuesday and was a four-time champion. Stephanie Jenks, Samantha Fitzgerald and Kelly Wingerson were three-time winners for the Lions. Hailey Harms swam on two winning relays.

LINN-MAR 133, JEFFERSON 50

200 MEDLEY RELAY
1. Linn-Mar (S.Jenks, Broghammer, Fitzgerald, Lengwin) 2:03.31
2. Linn-Mar (Cavanah, Abodeely, Turner, Gardner) 2:09.13
3. Jefferson (Langel, Kenney, Anderson, Swanson) 2:22.23

200 FREESTYLE
1. Jenn Jenks (LM) 1:55.77
2. Jaylee Chung (CRJ) 2:09.10
3. Hannah Gardner (LM) 2:16.69

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
1. Kelsey Drake (CRJ) 2:14.15
2. Samantha Fitzgerald (LM) 2:22.94
3. Stephanie Jenks (LM) 2:27.89

50 FREESTYLE
1. Kelly Wingerson (LM) 26.63
2. Hailey Harms (LM) 27.03
3. Olivia Northrup (CRJ) 28.11

DIVING
1. Mikaela Lengwin (LM) 221.75
2. Alyssa Deuso (LM) 202.85
3. Bailee Seger (LM) 181.30

100 BUTTERFLY
1. Kelsey Drake (CRJ) 57.21
2. Paige Broghammer (LM) 1:07.00
3. Madeine Turner (LM) 1:09.51

100 FREESTYLE
1. Jennifer Jenks (LM) 53.03
2. Kelly Wingerson (LM) 59.57
3. Hailey Harms (LM) 1:00.64

500 FREESTYLE
1. Stephanie Jenks (LM) 5:28.90
2. Jaylee Chung (CRJ) 5:40.39
3. Hannah Gardner (LM) 6:10.39

200 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. Linn-Mar (J.Jenks, Wingerson, Harms, Fitzgerald) 1:42.79
2. Linn-Mar (Broghammer, Gardner, Meyer, Lengwin) 1:52.84
3. Jefferson (S.Wesbrook, J.Wesbrook, Kenney, Wallace) 2:00.72

100 BACKSTROKE
1. Elizabeth Cavanah (LM) 1:14.46
2. Rachel Velazquez (LM) 1:15.38
3. Hailey Sullivan (CRJ) 1:15.47

100 BREASTSTROKE
1. Samantha Fitzgerald (LM) 1:12.66
2. Paige Broghammer (LM) 1:16.88
3. Jessica Wesbrook (CRJ) 1:22.87

400 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. Linn-Mar (S.Jenks, Harms, Wingerson, J.Jenks) 3:48.55
2. Jefferson (Chung, Northrup, Wallace, Drake) 3:59.49
3. Linn-Mar (Corey, Meyer, Baumler, Turner) 4:33.19