IOWA CITY — Karlee Pearson put a cap on her junior season with the Fort Dodge swim program by competing here Thursday at the state championships.

Pearson took part in the preliminary race of the 100 breaststroke from the University of Iowa Aquatic Center, clocking a time of 1:14.33. She entered with a seed time of 1:12.95 for the race.

Waterloo West junior Lucy Parson had the fastest effort in the prelims, going 1:02.68. Ginny Heddinger of Dowling, Caite Schaffel from Linn-Mar, Jaya Stacy of Bettendorf, Alexandra Powers from Ames, Brielle Andedo of Bettendorf, Quinn Ramaeker of Dowling and Makenzie Lumadue from Waukee Northwest will comprise Friday’s finals in the event.

“It was a great first state experience for Karlee,” FDSH head coach Ashley Beaumont said. “I think she learned a lot for her first time competing. It’s definitely hard to wait around all day and swim the last event but I know Karlee is going to take this experience and grow so much.”

Prelims for all of the indivdual races took place Friday, as the Top-8 advance to the A final while the next-eight times out of the prelims will compete in the B final. Relay finals will be on Friday.

Algona’s Ella Welp will compete in the B final of the 100 breaststroke after advancing as the 16th-fastest prelim swimmer. The junior went 1:10.25, shaving over a full second off her regional time.

Welp’s teammate, Reece Taylor, was ninth overall in diving. Grinnell’s Camryn Russell won the diving title.

With her qualifying race at regionals, Pearson kept Fort Dodge’s streak of advancing a swimmer to state alive, pushing it to 12 consecutive now. Last year, Pearson was a swimmer who spent the time at state as a manager for the Dodgers.

From her sophomore season to now, Pearson — a student at Manson Northwest Webster — dropped almost seven full seconds off her time. It helped having a fast regional, as eight individuals came out of Ames for the state meet in the 100 breaststroke.