NCMP to compete in six events at 2018 state swim meet

With qualification in six events a week ago at the regional swim meet, the NCMP Aquagirl tradition continued. For 26 consecutive years under head coach Sarah Patterson, the NCMP girls’ swim team has had a state swim meet qualifier.

The NCMP Aquagirls’ swim team is steeped in traditions from preseason right through the state meet. Those traditions are important to the Aquagirl swimmers and are passed on from season to season.

A new tradition begins Friday as three Aquagirls will experience the new format instituted by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union — preliminary round and final round for individual events. Relays also have the expanded 32-qualifier field, but will compete in timed finals’ heats in Saturday’s swim final.

Senior Lindsey Blommers is in her third straight state swim meet in the 100-yard breaststroke. She is after a second state medal in the event after finishing fifth as a sophomore.

Lakin Jenkins, another senior, has been to the state as a member of a relay but will compete in her first individual event, the 100 backstroke. Blommers and Jenkins are on the NCMP 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.

Leading things off for NCMP at the 2018 Iowa Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday will be freshman Hannah Nedder. Nedder qualified in the 100 butterfly. She also is on the medley and 200 freestyle relay teams for NCMP.

Senior Alex Inskeep, who is the fourth member of the medley and 200 freestyle relay teams, is in her first state meet. She also swims on the NCMP 400 freestyle relay.

Jenkins is the anchor for the 400 freestyle relay. She and Inskeep are joined by junior Erika Van Sickle and sophomore Natalie Boll. It’s Van Sickle and Boll’s first state meet competition.

Going as alternates for the relays are senior Rachel Boll, junior Kenzie Van Maanen and sophomore Makenna Brooks.

“This year I’m the most excited about state,” Blommers said. “I had an amazing time in districts as a sophomore but I wasn’t ready for the state meet — the atmosphere and all. Last year, I was disappointed in my times most of the season and I think I pushed too hard.

“This season I’ve put in a lot of training and have felt good in the pool. I’m ready to go to state and see what I can do against the best competitors in the state.”

Blommers, who has been ranked fifth and sixth in the breaststroke most of the regular season, goes into Friday’s preliminary round with the fifth-fastest time in the state at 1 minute, 6.52 seconds.

That was her season’s best time, which she posted at the regional meet. She was second at the Grinnell regional, after going undefeated in the event in the regular season.

“Lindsey had an amazing swim at districts and she had a real race on Saturday,” Patterson said. “Having that good competition allowed her to swim her best time of the season.”

Blommers said she has a lot of training in her back pocket to pull from and they’ve done a lot of race pacing in practices this season. She said at the regional she had good competition.

“I’m just excited to go back out there and race again,” Blommers. “I’m trying not to focus so much on a goal time because I have found if I focus on a certain time it distracts me from my race.”

Blommers said her individual goal is to get back on the podium at state in the breaststroke. She said she will be in the same heat as Mary Martin of Dowling Catholic, who has the second-fastest time of 1:04.54.

Blommers said it will be a nice rematch of the regional swim. She said she is used to swimming prelims and finals with club.

“I like that I have two times to swim the breaststroke at state,” Blommers said.

She holds the 100-yard breaststroke record for NCMP at 1:04.61 set when she won a 2016 regional championship.

“It’s also exciting to go on the relays now that they take 32. The last relay I was on was my sophomore year at state and last year we didn’t have relays make it. It just wasn’t the same atmosphere.”

Blommers was the only state qualifier in 2017 from NCMP. She said it’s great to have more girls from the team qualified for state.

“It’s been a really good season with great senior leaders like Lakin and Alex,” Blommers said. “They’ve been inspiring to the younger girls. With so many of these girls going to state for the first time, it will be fun to help them experience the state meet.”

Jenkins said she felt good about her regional swim in the 100 backstroke. She said it was a surprise to see her name on the qualifiers list for that event.

“I had a lot of faith in my teammates on the relays so those weren’t that surprising to me but when I saw I made the backstroke — it was mind blowing actually,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins was sixth at the Grinnell regional and all six podium swimmers reached the state meet. Jenkins is seeded No. 32 with a 1:02.05.

“I’m still going for my goal time of a 1:01.98 to beat my sister’s record,” Jenkins said. “I was a .06 away from that last time.”

Sydney Jenkins set the NCMP 100-yard backstroke record of 1:01.99 in 2013. Little sister is going after that mark.

“I’ve added more backstroke and more backstroke each day,” Jenkins said. “The difference on Friday is I don’t have the relay before it so I’ll be fresh.”

Patterson added, “I’m so proud of Lakin and happy for her to make it to state in an individual event. I know she’d like to break her sister’s record, who Sydney’s blessing.

“She has one more chance to do that. It is so fitting for someone who is so talented and works so hard and brings joy to everything.”

Jenkins swims the lead-off leg of backstroke for the medley relay. She said all the teams are in the same boat and she really enjoys leading off the relay.

On the 200 freestyle, Jenkins is the No. 3 swimmer and anchors the 400 freestyle relay.

“We just want to beat our time from before and kept everybody under a minute for the 400,” Jenkins said. “We’re just going for it at this point.”

Nedder said her end goal for the season was to reach state in the 100 butterfly. She said she knew she had a shot at it.

“It was still very exciting when it came out,” Nedder said. “For the prelims, I want to get to the finals and drop a second off my time which would be 58 seconds.”

Nedder went 59.75 seconds for third at the regional. That was her best time.

“I was super excited for Hannah to break a minute in the butterfly. That was her big goal along with making state,” Patterson said. “Breaking a minute in the 100 butterfly or the 100 free is something you will remember the rest of your life.”

Patterson said Nedder is a quiet worker and to make it to state as a freshman is a neat accomplishment.

Nedder swims the butterfly leg for the medley relay. She is the second swimmer in the 200 freestyle relay.

“The main thing I think of standing up on the blocks is are my goggles on tight,” Nedder said. “The swimming part — I just do it.”

Patterson said she was proud of all the NCMP relays at the regional meet. All three dropped times with the medley going in with the 15th-fastest time of 1:52.75, the 200 freestyle with the 26th -fastest time at 1:43.78 and the 400 freestyle with the 31st -fastest at 3:51.59.

“I’d like to see us going into state and drop times more on all three relays,” Patterson said. “We have little things we can improve on.”

Patterson said the four on the medley and freestyle relays have opportunities to really see more improvement on their times.

“The 400 free got in by the skin of our teeth, being 31st out of 32, even though we dropped five seconds off our previous time,” Patterson said. “It just goes to show how competitive that event is.”

Inskeep said the past three years she had a mental block in her swims. She said it has been a rough four years.

“I swim a lot better in relays than in individual events,” Inskeep said. “The motivation of ‘the team needs me’ and the team support is great. The team aspect of the sport — I love it.”

Inskeep anchors the medley with the freestyle leg and also swims the anchor leg of the 200 freestyle relay. She is the leadoff swimmer on the 400 freestyle relay.

“I think I’m at my best as the anchor. I push myself and yes, the pressure is on the last person in relays but I’d rather finish it a race than start one. I feel if I start a relay race in a bad spot the whole team will be down the rest of the race.”

Inskeep said Coach Patterson got on them a little bit in Monday’s practice. She said the swimmers were to do nitty-gritty things such as no breathing off the wall, tight streamlines and all kinds of stuff.

“I was the biggest offender of not doing what we were supposed to be doing. I finally realized if I want to be here I have to work on those little things,” Inskeep said. “I’ve struggled with my breathing this year and I have to push through that and hold my breath a little longer.”

Van Sickle is the No 3 swimmer for the NCMP 400 freestyle relay. She said freestyle is her favorite stroke mainly because she’s good at it and she doesn’t like any of the other strokes.

“It means a lot to get to state because I’ve been working my whole swim career for this opportunity,” Van Sickle said. “It’s a relief that the hard work paid off.”

Van Sickle said she’s not one to get nervous swimming. She said on the relay the four swimmers are all supportive of each other, and combine as a family before the race.

Natalie Boll, who is second off the blocks in the NCMP 400 freestyle relay said it was really rewarding to reach the state meet. She said during the hardest part of the season, she thought of what her end goal was and how was she going to reach it.

“All our hard work paid off,” Natalie Boll said. “I think the hardest spot on the relay is for Alex who goes first. She always gets us off to a good start and sets a good pace. My goal is to match that pace or improve it on my leg.”

Rachel Boll, Van Maanen and Brooks won’t be swimming in competition at the state meet. They are going as alternates for the three relays in case something would happen.

Rachel Boll is finishing her second season on NCMP and her senior season as an alternate for the medley relay.

“Going as an alternate is a sweet deal because you get to go to state and have the experience, but not the stress part of it,” Rachel Boll said. “I wouldn’t be that sad if I did get to swim.”

Rachel Boll said she hopes everyone gets to swim the races they qualified in at state. “I’m ready if they need me,” she said with a smile.

She said it was exciting being selected as an alternate. Rachel Boll said when her family lived in Ohio, she knew she’d be going to state but after moving to Iowa, she wasn’t sure anymore.

“I know I’m not swimming but living the dream of going and experiencing a state meet is pretty cool,” Rachel Boll said. “I’m really proud of Natalie in qualifying for state. She gets to go as a sophomore so hopefully big things are ahead for her as a junior and a senior.”

Rachel Boll said being on NCMP has been the first team she’s felt truly at home since moving from Ohio.

“I loved my swim teams in Ohio but none had the same quality that this one has. There’s some special element to NCMP that makes everybody super bonded,” Rachel Boll said. “I really appreciate the friends I’ve made here. Finding in myself the ability to work harder was a big accomplishment. Coach Patterson pushes us to go beyond our comfort zone to do more, to be more.”

Van Maanen said she was excited when she was selected as an alternate for the 200 freestyle relay.

“Even though I’m not actually swimming, it will fun to be part of it all,” Van Maanen said, “and possibly get ready for next year.”

Van Maanen said it was her first year on the team and it has been fun to be part of a team where everyone is supportive of each other. Van Maanen said she has been swimming since she was 8 and is not sick of it yet.

Brooks is the alternate swimmer for the 400 relay. She said last year she just missed state with the relay she was on.

“It means a lot with the excitement and atmosphere surrounding the team getting ready to go,” Brooks said. “I love it.”

Brooks said her goal is to be there to cheer on the team. Brooks said the Aquagirls are her second family.

The 2018 Iowa Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships are Friday and Saturday at Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA. There are three sessions tickets being sold and tickets are $10 per session.

The swimming preliminary meet begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday. There are four preliminary heats for each individual swim event. The eight fastest swimmers from Friday’s preliminaries advance to Saturday’s finals in each event which begin at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The ninth-through-16th fastest swimmers from the preliminary round will swim in the consolation heat on Saturday evening. The consolation heats swim first then the championship final.

The state diving championships begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday followed by the swimming finals.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com