Thoren gets top 10 finish once again at state swimming

MARSHALLTOWN—Red Oak High School student and swimmer Kelsey Thoren was once again part of the Lewis Central swimming team for the State Swimming and Diving Tournament at Marshalltown Saturday.

In the 500-yard freestyle race, Thoren placed seventh with a time of 5:15.67.

She missed out on the top five by less than a half second. Thoren’s time was faster than her qualifying time, which was a 5:25.17.

Thoren finished seventh in the 500-freestyle last sason. Her time was nearly a second ahead (5:14.77) this year’s time.

Thoren finished 12th in the 100-yard backstroke final by swimming a time of 1:00.28, which was a second faster than her seed time.

By finishing 12th, Thoren scored five points for Lewis Central. The senior missed out on the top 10 in the race by .27 seconds.

In the 400-yard free relay final, Thoren and her teammates Paxton Hedrick, Harper Emswiler and Lauren Leehy placed ninth with a time of 3:39.88, three seconds faster than their seed time.

Thoren also competed in the 200-yard free relay final along with Hedrick, Emswiler and Leehy. The team ran a time of 1:40.39 to place eighth in the meet.

Lewis Central finished 12th at the state meet with a team score of 82 points.

Ames was crowned the state champion with a team score of 274 points.

Pleasant Valley finished second and Valley West Des Moines took third place.

Thoren has competed at the state swim meet as well in her junior, sophomore and freshman seasons.

She was the lone Red Oak representative to advance to state this season.