Aquagirls claim 3 event championships at North Central Swim Conference meet

BOONE — NCMP’s Aquagirls had the defending North Central Swim Conference 200-yard medley relay champion. One swimmer from the 2018 relay team remained and the new foursome were atop the 2019 conference podium on Saturday.

Sophomore Hannah Nedder combined with senior Kenzie VanMaanen and freshmen Maylei Ruggles and Lillie Ray to win the medley relay race in 1 minute, 55.23 seconds. Nedder and VanMaanen went on to claim individual event championships at the Boone High School swimming pool.

“It was a super exciting race as we went from third, to second, to first place at the finish,” NCMP head coach Sarah Patterson said. “Makenzie, Hannah, and Lillie all had their fastest splits in the event which helped us post our fastest time of the year. Can’t wait to see what these ladies do at districts.”

NCMP was also the defending team champion but came up short in 2019. In the NCSC, NCMP and Decorah seem to trade spots atop the conference. Deborah won the NCSC championship on Saturday with 628 points and NCMP was third with 436 points.

Host Boone placed second with 554 points. Williamsburg took fourth at 223 followed by Vinton-Shellsburg with 203, Grinnell with 104 and Oskaloosa with 77 points for seventh.

“Overall, we had a good meet. We talked at length on Wednesday about some of the challenges this meet would bring. We just had an exciting senior night win over Boone on Tuesday and we were missing some of our band athletes due to the state band competition,” Patterson said. “I was proud of the girls for their racing spirit and competitiveness.”

Nedder out-touched Decorah’s Emily Voyna to win the 100-yard butterfly race in 1:00.20 to 1:00.82. Nedder, who was second in the event a year ago, set a BHS pool record with her winning time. Ruggles made the butterfly podium as well, placing eighth in 1:11.05.

VanMaanen won the 100 breaststroke by a second, finishing in 1:14.39. The next five swimmers finished in 1:15.54 to 1:15.82. NCMP senior Allison Paulius placed fourth in 1:15.74.

“Hannah has been such a consistent, amazing competitor all season. She approaches swimming with an amazing attitude and loves to set goals for herself and work to reach them,” Patterson said. “Kenzie is determined to have a great senior year, and it was fun to see her get a conference title.”

VanMaanen was second in the 200 individual medley in 2”30.14 and Paulius was ninth in 2:38.57. Nedder did not swim in the 50 freestyle to defend her conference championship. Ruggles was fourth in 26.66 seconds and senior Emma Thomas took 10th in 28.54.

NCMP chalked up runner-up status in the other two relay races. The team of Nedder, Ruggles, sophomore Lauren Zaabel and Ray was second in the 200 freestyle in 1:45.12. The foursome of Nedder, Zaabel, senior Erika Van Sickle and Ray turned in a second-place time of 3:53.50 in the 400 freestyle.

Van Sickle finished sixth in the 200 freestyle race in 2:12.90 and Zaabel reached the podium for eighth place in 2:13.22. Zaabel and Van Sickle were seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 100 freestyle in 59.95 seconds and 1:00.03.

Junior Natalie Boll and senior Courtney Dawson were ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 500 freestyle in 6:17.73 and 6:28.36. In the 100 backstroke, juniors Arabella Eide (1:16.99) and Chloe Kibbee (1:17.80) finished eighth and 11th, respectively.

Patterson pointed several other great swims for NCMP during the meet including junior Jaden Hunter with a terrific 50 fly split and best times in both of her freestyle events. Also sophomore Kya Butler had a crazy fast meet — dropping 14 seconds in her 100 freestyle, Patterson said.

Also in the relay races, NCMP had foursomes finish in the top eight. The team of VanMaanen, sophomore Grace Benson, Thomas and Van Sickle tied for sixth in the 200 free relay race in 1:51.86. Dawson, Boll, Thomas and Benson combined for a sixth-place five of 4:18.08 in the 400 freestyle.

Eide, Paulus, Kibbee and Thomas teamed up for a 2:11.17 to finish eighth in the 200 medley relay race.

NCMP prepares for Tuesday’s Little Hawkeye Conference meet at Indianola. Races begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Indianola YMCA. The Aquagirls are three-time LHC defending champion.

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