The Iowa Men are reaching across state-lines and plucking gems out from under many of their Big Ten rivals this spring.
The latest signing is out of one of the top high school programs in the state of Wisconsin, Monona Grove, where they signed three-time individual Wisconsin state champion Jack Allen.
As a junior, Allen won the Wisconsin state title in the 100 free in 47.14; that’s a solid time for a junior, but the win came mostly as a lack of competition in Division II.
But as a senior, he shifted to a schedule of the 100 fly and the 200 free, and things really clicked for him. He swept those titles, with a 50.45 in the fly and a 1:41.73 in the 200 free.
Allen seems to have a lot of improvement left in his system, as he’s still making big leaps in his improvements. He dropped two seconds, for example, in that 200 free between his junior and senior seasons.
He probably won’t have an immediate spot on the Hawkeye 800 free relay, but he actually good back to his old race the 100 free, and with decent development end up on their A 400 free relay. He’s still a pretty decent sprinter, with relay leadoffs as a senior of 46.91 and 21.17. Iowa’s 400 free relay was hit much harder by graduation (their top three Paul Gordon, Ryan Phelan, and Duncan Partridge all used up their eligibility after last year).
Iowa, the birthplace of the butterfly, is very deep in the 100; no results in the 200 fly were readily available, but it sounds like he has the tools to be very good there, and the Hawkeyes have more of a need in that race.