Swimmer Jada Ripke has made a name for herself in the pool through dedication, consistency, and an impressive list of accomplishments. While she attends school at Mount Vernon, Ripke competes for Cedar Rapids Washington High School during the swim season but also swims year-round with the Linn Mar Club Team. 

At Cedar Rapids Washington, Ripke mainly swims the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly. On the other hand with the Linn Mar Club Team, she competes in the 50, 100, and 200 yard backstroke. Also in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle, and the 100 yard butterfly.

Ripke’s swimming has not only been in Iowa, while visiting Iceland and Canada she has practiced with club teams. Her experience there was amazing and she said “I loved seeing how other teams practiced and what they experience daily.”

When asked what she enjoys most about swimming, Ripke says that the friendships she has made and the ability to practice and compete year-round. She also loves the challenge of pushing herself through difficult workouts and experiencing the satisfaction of improvement and success. Her hardest practice lasted three hours and totaled 10,000 yards, or about 5.6 miles. But during the peak of club season, she swims an average of 70,000 yards per week!

That hard work has led to consistent success in competition. At YMCA, Ripke earned first place in the 100-yard backstroke in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, winning the same event each year. During her freshman high school season at state, she placed 20th in the 200 IM which is 50 yards of each of the four strokes, and 12th in the 100 yard backstroke. This year, as a sophomore at state, she finished 10th in the 100 yard backstroke and 14th in the 100 yard butterfly.

Ripke’s consistency and performance earned her First Team All Metro in her freshman and sophomore seasons. Outside of the pool, she is equally dedicated to academics and is currently ranked eighth in the Mount Vernon High School class of 2028, showing her ability to succeed in swimming.

With several high school seasons still ready to come, Ripke continues to focus on her growth and consistency in swimming and in life. Coaches describe her as hardworking, focused, and dependable, traits that make her a strong leader and teammate. As she continues representing Mount Vernon in the classroom and Cedar Rapids Washington and Linn Mar in the pool, Ripke’s discipline and dedication suggests that her best performance is still yet to come.