Maeley Elsbury, Lance Swanepoel are the Des Moines Register's high school athletes of the week
South Tama girls wrestler Maeley Elsbury and Ankeny boys swimmer Lance Swanepoel are the Des Moines Register Athletes of the Week for Jan. 30-Feb. 5.
Elsbury dominated the voting for Female Athlete of the Week. She received 68.42% of the vote (10,133) to top Southeast Polk girls wrestler Skylar Slade, who picked up 30.13% (4,463). Both wrestlers won state championships at the girls state wrestling meet at the Xtreme Arena last week.
Elsbury pulled off an upset at 135 pounds by claiming a state championship as the No. 3 seed.
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She went 5-0 and knocked off No. 2 seed Dakota Whitman of Independence by a 5-2 decision in the semifinals and No. 1 seed Alexis Ross of Fort Dodge in a 2-0 battle during the championship match. She finished the season at 46-1.
Swanepoel won the Male Athlete of the Week voting by receiving 61.91% of the vote (395). Waverly-Shell Rock wrestler Jake Walker was runner-up with 21.79% of the vote.
Swanepoel qualified for the boys state swimming meet in four events during the district meet in Ames on Saturday.
Swanepoel swam the fastest qualifying times in the state for the 50-yard freestyle and 100-butterfly at the district meet. He completed the freestyle in 21 seconds flat and the butterfly in 48.75.
He also helped Ankeny win the 200 freestyle relay with the fourth-fastest qualifying time at 1:27.03 and take second in the 400 freestyle relay with the sixth-best qualifying time at 3:12.34.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Maeley Elsbury, Lance Swanepoel named Register's athletes of the week
