Iowa Flyers give prep swimmers elite opportunities

Iowa City club works in harmony with high school programs

IOWA CITY — Competitive swimming at its highest levels has little down time.

In Iowa, most of the state’s top high school talent also swims for various club teams. One of the state’s top clubs, the Iowa Flyers (IFLY), a registered USA Swimming club operated by the University of Iowa Recreational Services, has around 275 swimmers from ages 6-18.

IFLY has consistently been among the top 100 clubs nationally.

Earlier this month, six current club members competed at the USA Swimming Winter Junior National (West) Championships in Westmont, Ill.

When the three-day meet was over, IFLY had placed in the top 10 for the first time in club history.

“The individual results of the weekend were fantastic,” said IFLY head coach Jackson Leonard, “but the top 10 finish on the men’s side was the Iowa Flyers Swim Club’s best ever team finish and the first time an Iowa swimming team (men’s or women’s) has cracked the top 10 at Winter Junior Nationals.”

Leonard — who has spent the last 12 years coaching club swimmers in Florida, Ohio and now Iowa — calls his current group “special”. IFLY had five boys and one girl compete at that meet.

*Holden Carter (IC Liberty, swims for IC West) — Committed to swim at Columbia University. Summer Junior National and 2022 U.S. Open Championship qualifier.

*Owen Chiles (Pleasant Valley) — Committed to swim at Cincinnati. Summer Junior National qualifier.

*Hayden Hakes (IC West) — Uncommitted. Individual champion in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2022 USA Swimming Futures Championship meet in Minneapolis.

*Parker Macho (Linn-Mar) — Uncommitted. Just a sophomore, Macho achieved his first Winter Junior National time standard in mid-November and was among just a few 15-year olds at the meet.

*Joe Polyak (IC Regina, swims for IC High) — Committed to swim at the University of Minnesota. A 2024 U.S. Olympic Trial qualifier in the 200-meter individual medley.

*Grace Hoeper (Solon, swims for IC High) — Summer Junior National qualifier. A junior, Hoeper is narrowing her university swimming options down to several top NCAA Division I schools.

Polyak made the “A” final in two events, placing sixth in both the 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. Chiles made the “B” final in the 200 IM, finishing 15th. Hoeper won the ‘“C” final in the 200 freestyle. The foursome of Carter, Chiles, Hakes and Polyak placed among the top 12 in three different relays.

“The meet boasted over 800 elite 18-and-under athletes from the western half of the United States,” Leonard said.

This year’s meet came just a few weeks after the end of the girls’ high school season where Hoeper won a pair of state titles and just ahead of the start of the boys’ season where Polyak, a state champion in the 200 IM last season, Chiles, Carter, and Macho all should be in contention for top honors at the state meet in early February.

Leonard said at IFLY there is a good balance between the club and high school teams.

“Thanks to the character development of our age group coaches and the support of our team parents, by the time student-athletes are competing in high school, they, by and large, create training plans in conjunction with us (their club coaches) and their high school coaches,” he said. “IFLY allows swimmers to participate in voluntary club workouts during their high school season to supplement their high school practice schedule.

“Swimmers are able to benefit from our different hours, different pool spaces and unique training tools when they can’t get to their high school practices. The local high school coaches are fantastic about communicating openly about the needs of certain athletes. We are all invested in the ultimate success of the athletes.”

The division of the girls and boys high school seasons in Iowa is a benefit for the athletes in Leonard’s eyes.

“The alternating girls/boys high school seasons also allow both groups to feel like the receive more individualized attention,” he said. “By the time summer training rolls around, the athletes are all excited to get back to training together again.”