The margins in the scorebook on the official’s table at the MCB Pool Tuesday were just about as narrow as possible.
Visiting Perry was Grinnell, with 17 girls ready to swim for the Tigers while the Jayettes had all eight members on hand. When all was decided, the visitors departed with an 85-83 victory.
In dual meets points are awarded, in individual events, to fifth place (6-4-3-2-1) and to the top three relay teams (8-4-2).
Greater depth — either in talent or simply numbers — can therefore tilt the results. As three scorers against two or two against one eventually wears down a team posting all the wins.
Such was exactly the case Tuesday, as Perry won 10-of-11 events but succumbed, in the end, to the number of bodies in the water.
The one event that Grinnell dominated was the first one, the 200 medley relay. Maddie McDevitt, Emily Dowd, Jenna Nelson and Hailey Peterson were third for Perry in 2 minutes, 31.54 seconds, giving the Tigers a 12-2 lead.
Perry chipped away at that margin throughout the dual. They managed to field two teams in the 200 free relay and while Zoe Hibbert, Sophia McDeviit, Quin Mahler-Moreno, and Lilly Riley won, in 1:48.69, the Tigers were able to place both second and third, giving the hosts only an 8-6 edge in the event.
When the final event came, the 400 free relay, Perry trailed, 79-75, but were mathematically doomed. as a win by Mahler-Moreno, Riley, Hibbert, and Sophia McDevitt (4:05.74) only lifted the Jayettes to 83 points. Grinnell was second, moving to 83, then — with no second Perry team in the race (each swimmer can compete in only a limited number of events) — tacked on the two third-place points to grab them win.
Perry set one school record and had seven personal-best (PB) swims in the dual.
Mahler-Moreno reset her school standard in the 200 free in 1:59.11, with Riley adding a PB of 2:11.72.
Hibbert was first (2:37.72) and Maddie McDevitt fifth (3:08.96, a PB) in the 200 IM while Mahler-Moreno and Peterson were 1-5 in the 50 free in 26.07 (a PB) and 36.39, respectively.
Sophia McDevitt used a PB of 1:04.15 to win the 100 butterfly, with Hibbert (1:00.16, a PB) and Nelson (1:04.46) 1-3 in the 100 free and Riley (5:58.09) and Dowd (6:34.17) 1-3 in the 500 free, both personal-best efforts.
Junior Sophia McDevitt was first to the wall in the 100 backstroke in 1:08.59, with freshman sister Maddie third, in 1:25.77. Nelson won the 100 breaststroke in 1:24.28, with Dowd fourth in 1:39.05.
Perry returns to competition Tuesday when Atlantic and Spencer visit for a double-dual.
