Cedar Rapids Jefferson freshman super swimmer Kelsey Drake is feeling the joy of being part of a high school team.

“It's like a family,” she says.

At the Kennedy Invitational meet on Saturday she shattered a pool record that had stood for 25 years.

Mere minutes later, however, she was at the water's edge for the third heat of the next race cheering on a teammate she's been friends with since kindergarten.

While Drake has been an elite club swimmer for years, competing as a member of her school team is a new experience.

“Being a freshman, I was kind of nervous at first,” she admits. “But I'm a lot more comfortable in and out of the pool.”

In a meet dominated by Cedar Falls and Johnston (both in the top five of the IGHSAU state power rankings), Drake proved her prowess.

She led all the way in the 100-yard butterfly and poured it on in the last lap to win with a time of 57.70. Her mark broke the meet record by nearly three seconds as well as the women's pool record of 58.90 set by Karen Weiting of Iowa City High in 1988.

Still, it's not Drake's fastest time.

She leads the state's swimmers this season with 57.14 and ranked in the top 10 nationally last year in a USA Swimming sectional meet with a time of 55.75.

“I know I can go faster,” she said Saturday before climbing a ladder to remove the old record from the pool leader board. “Usually, I improve my times by about two seconds by the end of the season.”

According to Jefferson Coach Ryan York, Drake is on track to make waves by the time the state meet rolls around Nov. 8-9 in Marshalltown.

“She's right where she needs to be,” he said. “She's always making little improvements in her technique that'll make her better.

“And Kelsey's a real hard worker. You can't give her enough yards to swim in practice.”

Besides smashing the butterfly mark Saturday, Drake also claimed a start-to-finish victory in the 200 yard individual medley. Her time of 2:11.36 was almost two seconds better than her season's best, and she was already ranked fourth in the state. She missed the meet record by just .07 of a second.

Meanwhile, fellow freshman and Cedar Rapids Aquatics Association (CRAA) teammate Jenn Jenks of Linn-Mar established a meet record of her own with a 53.47 clocking in the 100 yard freestyle.

She won the sprint by more than two seconds and slashed the meet mark by more than a half-second. Jenks holds the fastest time in the state this season in the event at 53.03.

She likewise was a double winner Saturday by taking the 50 yard freestyle by more than a second in 24.84. Her personal best this year of 24.43 ranks second in the state.

“For being the middle of the season, I had a pretty good meet,” Jenks said. "It wasn't amazing, but I'm satisfied. I was close to my best times, which is good.”

Linn-Mar Coach Chad Derlain says the sky's the limit for the frosh phenom.

“She has no idea how fast she can go,” he said. “She's nowhere near what she can do. It's just a matter of getting her to believe it.”

KENNEDY INVITATIONAL

Team scores
1. Cedar Falls 496, 2. Johnston 480, 3. IC West 423.5, 4. Kennedy 291.5, 5. Linn-Mar 225, 6. IC High 121, 7. Decorah 106, 8. Wahlert 82, 9. Jefferson 75, 10. Davenport North 13, 11. Williamsburg 12

Diving
1. Jacintha Thomas (ICW) 486.00 (meet and pool records, old mark 471.70 Bethany Olson, Cedar Falls, 2008)
2. Emily Moore (John) 384.30
3. Alyssa Deuso (LM) 379.40

200 Medley Relay
1. Cedar Falls 1:53.31
2. Kennedy (Sam Jacobsen, Brooke Timmerman, Michele Wasta, Kirsten Siebenga) 1:54.86
3. IC West 1:56.27

200 Freestyle
1. Brittany Moffatt (CF) 1:56.11
2. Jasmine Roghair (ICW) 2:02.57
3. Sam Jacobsen (CRK) 2:02.61

200 IM
1. Kelsey Drake (CRJ) 2:11.36
2. Catherine Sell (CF) 2:14.50
3. Erica Hsu (ICW) 2:14.71

50 Free
1. Jenn Jenks (LM) 24.84
2. Martee Grainger (CF) 25.74
3. Mollie Greenwood (John) 25.75

100 Butterfly
1. Kelsey Drake (CRJ) 57.70 (meet and pool records, old mark 1:00.12 Kim Rogers, Cedar Falls, 1:00.12)
2. Lilian Zhu (ICW) 1:01.33
3. Meghan Hackett (CF) 1:01.64

100 Free
1. Jenn Jenks (LM) 53.47 (meet and pool records, old mark 54.05 Meredith Luksetich, Johnston, 2008)
2. Shelby Cline (CF) 55.55
3. Martee Grainger (CF) 56.26

500 Free
1. Brittany Moffatt (CF) 5:16.21
2. Jasmine Roghair (ICW) 5:28.10
3. Natalie Shoultz (ICW) 5:33.05

200 Free Relay
1. Cedar Falls 1:41.84
2. Linn-Mar (Jenn Jenks, Kelly Wingerson, Hailey Harms, Samantha Fitzgerald) 1:42.19
3. Kennedy (Hannah Botkin, Brooke Timmerman, Maddie Bagby, Kirsten Siebenga) 1:43.04

100 Backstroke
1. Lilian Zhu (ICW) 1:00.42
2. Shelby Cline (CF) 1:02.75
3. Sam Jacobsen (CRK) 1:03.13

100 Breaststroke
1. Lizzie Brown (ICH) 1:06.97
2. Brooke Timmerman (CRK) 1:10.07
3. Natalie Shimp (CF) 1:11.03

400 Free Relay
1. Cedar Falls 3:43.17
2. IC West 3:44.98
3. Johnston 3:47.91