The postmeet scene for Mentor on Jan. 10 following the morning girls session of the Perry Invitational was about as subdued as hardware collection can get. The thing is, though, when you make as much noise as the Cardinals have to ring in the new calendar year, that makes enough of a statement all i ts own. Mentor dominated the girls team race with six firsts and 472.5 points, more than runner-up Chagrin Falls, third-place Lakewood and fourth-place Lake Catholic combined. The Cardinals got an individual double from Elisabeth Davis in 100-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke, a 200 individual medley crown from Marian Collins and a relay sweep. “I think we’re really good on pool deck. We support each other a lot,” Davis said. “I think the team talking and constantly encouraging each other really just allows us to have a good performance in and outside of the pool. “I think we’re coming off a long week of just meets and a lot of hard practices. And obviously, we’re not all feeling 100%. But that in and out of the water bonding has helped us do as well in the pool.” Davis more than did her part. The senior, one of The News-Herald coverage area’s premier backstrokers, logged a dominant gold in 100 back with a time of 1 minute, 1.17 seconds. Perry Invitational girls 100 back, won by Mentor's Elisabeth Davis with a 1:01.17 pic.twitter.com/rVW92v011m — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026 As a general rule, for a variety of reasons, Perry doesn’t necessarily produce the fastest times as compared to, say, SPIRE or Cleveland State’s Busbey Natatorium, the latter the longtime district and, this year, sectional home. Coming off a coverage area season-best 58.23 at the Greater Cleveland Conference meet, Davis emerged pleased. “I was pretty tired, honestly,” Davis said of 100 back. “But I would say it was a pretty good race for me, considering the fact that I was tired. I think I swam very well, fighting through that pain and everything around that. Overall, I’m very proud of that race. “In my opinion, I think the warmer the pool, the harder it is to swim. When it’s a hot pool, I can feel myself get tired very quick. And I think a pool that’s colder makes me feel really centered and in the zone.” Typically in the event, 100 backstrokers find better on the front end or the back end, but not both. Davis, to her credit, has found it on both. Her GCC splits, 27.81 to the wall and 30.42 home, mark .63 and 1.06 drops, respectively, from when she was Division I SPIRE Sectional runner-up as a junior. “(The GCC swim) was very big for me,” Davis said. “A goal of mine has been to drop time, and I finally saw that happen in the water. “Honestly, I feel like I’m very good at keeping the last 50 in the 100 back at around a 30. So if I really try to go all out on the first 50, that’s where I get my time. I have almost a muscle memory to come back with a solid time.” Collins delivered another quality 200 IM at Perry. Building on her encouraging swims at Jim Stacy (2:14.24 for third) and GCC (coverage area-best 2:11.99), Mentor’s skilled sophomore went 2:14.46 here. That’s good for a .96 cut from when she took third at the D-I SPIRE Sectional last winter. “At this point in the season, we’re supposed to be feeling tired and kind of feel like you can’t physically go any faster,” Collins said. “So 2:14 for me right now tells me my taper is really going to work and that I can easily get under the 2:11 that I just went at GCC.” Perry Invitational girls 200 IM, won by Mentor's Marian Collins with a 2:14.46 pic.twitter.com/6idFErRb4b — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026 Her most notable improvement in IM, without question, has come on fly, where she hit for a 30.15 split here and a 29.01 at GCC. Her sectional pace was 30.90 as a freshman. “I think it’s because that, to me, is my weakest stroke,” Collins said. “Even though now, I feel like, it might be backstroke, so I should probably train that more. Every time I swim the event, I choose one thing for each stroke to focus on. So on my fly, it’s really my underwaters and staying long.” In 100 breast, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin’s Brooke Dynes continued her scorcher of a senior campaign, shattering a 27-year-old pool record with a 1:05.43, with Collins second in 1:08.86. NDCL's Brooke Dynes discusses her 100 breast at the Perry Invitational, going 1:05.43 to break a 27-year-old pool record in the eventNot to belabor a point I've made over over, but her growth year over year into a deep sub-1:05 threat/Power 4 recruit has been amazing pic.twitter.com/NzX7UZzP12 — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026 Dynes already has four sub-1:05.50 invitational 100 breasts by Jan. 10. Of particular note was a 30.57 opener, a .90 drop from sectional in 2025. Count Collins, also one of the coverage area’s premier performers in 100 breast and a Great Waves teammate of Dynes in club season, among those impressed by the growth Dynes has had toward being a D-II state title contender in less than a year. Perry Invitational girls 100 breast, won by NDCL's Brooke Dynes in a pool-record 1:05.43 pic.twitter.com/psCWyyZJte — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026 “We’re on the same club team, too, so training with her is really fun,” Collins said. “It really pushes me. She is obviously an amazing swimmer. So trying to keep up with her pace and keep holding the same times as her really helps me to become a better swimmer.” Other coverage area individual-event champions in the girls session were Perry’s Noelle Griffith (50 free), North’s Kaylynn Pawlowski (100 fly) and Riverside’s Madi Tas in diving the night prior. A separate story on the boys portion of the Perry Invitational will be published in the coming days on News-Herald.com and in our print edition. Perry Invitational girls 50 free, won by Perry's Noelle Griffith with a 25.81 pic.twitter.com/8fY2gpywmH — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026 Perry Invitational girls 100 fly, won by North's Kaylynn Pawlowski with a 1:03.86 pic.twitter.com/t29ioz9lkv — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026 Perry Invitational girls 100 free, won by Mentor's Elisabeth Davis with a 56.08 pic.twitter.com/OUDy3V5eDH — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026 Perry Invitational girls 200MR, won by Mentor with a 1:56.41 pic.twitter.com/z1srS0D89K — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 10, 2026       ...read more read less