Community’s girls swimming and diving team faced depth issues at the 11th annual Iron Invite on Sept. 20. Head coach Mrs. Heather Budak said that with only 14 swimmers available for the Iron Invite, she was unable to fill the full lineup across both the varsity and frosh/soph meets.

“I need about 18 kids to cover that,” Budak said, explaining that the roster size limited entries in both relays and individual events.

The Ironmen placed eighth of eight teams in the varsity division, finishing 229 points behind meet champion Edwardsville, which posted a winning score of 371. Community’s frosh/soph squad placed fifth.

Senior Piper Lowder, a three-time State qualifier, continued to lead the Iron’s varsity efforts. Lowder placed fourth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.74 seconds and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:04.84.

Budak praised Lowder’s consistency and work ethic this season.

Lowder “often holds faster interval times in practice than the other girls,” Budak said. “It just takes a lot mentally to do that by yourself” after losing longtime training partner Lyndsey Hackman to graduation.

Community’s shallow roster was most evident in the relays with the team placing seventh in both the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays, finishing ahead of only Normal West.

In the 200-yard medley, Lowder teamed with seniors Alivia Larsen and Emily Hall and junior Chicory Exner to record a time of 2:15.63. 

Lowder anchored the 400-yard freestyle relay alongside sophomore Alyssa Hutson, senior Berit Rice and freshman Haleigh Guy. The team clocked in at 4:08.01 in the final event of the meet.

Despite a roster that features just six upperclassmen—four seniors and two juniors—underclassmen made key contributions throughout the invite.

Hutson competed in both levels, placing third in the frosh/soph 200-yard freestyle (2:17.20) and earning a top-three finish in the 100-yard freestyle (1:01.53). 

Guy added a second-place finish in the frosh/soph 500-yard freestyle (6:00.25) and a third-place result in the 100-yard backstroke (1:11.62).

Budak highlighted how Hutson, a transfer from Central Catholic, and Guy have helped fill gaps by competing in the distance events.

“Alyssa [Hutson] likes to swim the longer races, and Haleigh [Guy] has really stepped up in the 200 and 500,” Budak said.

Despite the limited roster this season, the team’s numbers show signs of growth. The current 1roster marks an improvement from last year’s 11-athlete team. 

But the 2025 squad is without key contributors from last season, including State veterans Kenna Malinowski, Lyndsey Hackman and Alexis Plassman—all 2025 graduates—and last season-standout Macy Hunziker, who opted to focus on club swimming her sophomore year.

Budak said the loss of those senior leaders has required this year’s upperclassmen to take on a larger role.

“Our seniors are really stepping up in a big way this year, encouraging those kids,” she said, demonstating that team success “takes every single person on the roster.”

Individual improvement, Budak said, is happening even if the team results don’t always reflect it.

Despite a ninth-place finish at the Bloomington Invite on Sept. 27, the coach said several athletes dropped time at the meet.

“They have little drops all the way through the season,” she said. “It gives them those benchmarks along the way to show that their hard work is paying off.”

Community will aim to turn individual progress into team results when the team hosts Mahomet-Seymour, Urbana and Olympia on Sept. 30.