Kennedy Girls Swimming

Siebenga wins Metro Spotlight Award

Kirsten Siebenga of Cedar Rapids Kennedy is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school girls this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Siebenga, a senior, turned in a strong performance at the state swimming meet in Marshalltown on Saturday and helped the Cougars finish ninth in the team standings with 128 points.

Siebenga helped Kennedy score 50.5 of those points at the Marshalltown YMCA.

Read more...

Meghan Sievertsen honored by IGHSAU

MARSHALLTOWN - Former Kennedy High School diver Meghan Sievertsen has been inducted into the Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Sievertsen was a three-time state champion for the Cougars in diving in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Ann Walker of Des Moines Roosevelt and Megan Lonergan of Bettendorf also were inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.

Sievertsen is the fifth Kennedy athlete to be selected for the Hall of Fame. She joins Carie Goode (1985), Dale Entyre (1989), Jenni Adams (1992) and Kara Hajek (2007).

Proud Cougars take 9th at state swim

MARSHALLTOWN - The Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls swimming team did not have any superstars or state champions on the squad this year, but the Cougars featured a talented pool of athletes who epitomize the team concept of the sport.

It showed Saturday.

Kennedy scored points in 11 out of 12 events and finished a gratifying ninth at the 50th annual state meet at the Marshalltown YMCA.

"I'm very proud of the team effort that we had," said Coach John Ross. "Getting top 10, that was one of our goals. I'm really pleased with that. And to see kids on the podium, that was another aspect that we wanted.

"It's been a long time since we've had somebody up on the podium.

Read more...

Cougars swamp foes for regional title

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.

Read more...