NCMP qualifies four events to state swim meet

AMES — Finn Martin had a pretty good idea he was going to make the boys’ state swim meet in whatever two individual events he chose.

Being the only state qualifier from the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella boys’ swim team was something Martin was not looking forward to.

Martin was quite impressive in the Dan Flannery Pool on Saturday, and a few of his teammates will join him in Iowa City next week as the Cardinals punched four tickets into the state swim meet.

“I know Finn wanted to get more than just him to state so for us to do that is awesome,” NCMP head boys’ swim coach Lucas Warner said. “Making state is a big deal because there’s only one class. We are competing with the entire state. It’s a huge honor to swim at state and it’s an incredible atmosphere. To get a whole relay is impressive and not everyone gets to experience that. I’m glad my guys get to.”

Martin was the district champion in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, but Ethan Comer also qualified for state in the 100 breaststroke.

The Newton duo will be joined by a couple of Pella standouts in the 200 freestyle relay as the Cardinals advanced to state with the 19th-best qualifying time.

There are no automatic qualifiers in boys’ swimming. The top 32 individual times and top 24 relay times from the six districts advance to state.

“We dropped a second and were ranked 16th with our other time,” Martin said about the 200 freestyle relay. “So we feel good about that one. I’m glad we made a relay because going to state by yourself would be kind of boring. It will be nice to have teammates with me.”

Martin’s two district wins led NCMP to a sixth-place team finish. The No. 25 Cardinals scored 166 points.

Sixth-ranked Sioux City and fourth-ranked Ames battled all day at the top of the standings. The Little Cyclones won more events, but Sioux City’s depth shined brighter in the final standings.

Sioux City won the district championship with 426 points and Ames was next with 420.

The rest of the field included No. 20 Carroll (255) in third, No. 18 Boone (237) in fourth and No. 22 Ottumwa (209), No. 25 NCMP (166), No. 30 Des Moines Lincoln (125) and No. 32 Indianola (110) completed the eight-team field.

For the Cardinals, every single swim inside the pool at Ames High School produced a best time. That included splits in relays.

“It’s extremely rewarding and one of the best feelings you can have as a coach,” Warner said. “My goal at the beginning of the season, as a first-year head coach, was for us to have fun and get faster. And that’s exactly what they did.”

Warner, a former Pella standout who now teaches in the Newton district, will bring four athletes to the state meet in Iowa City this weekend.

Martin headlines the group as his pool-record times in both freestyle events are either the first or second fastest qualifying times in the state.

He won the 50 freestyle in a career-best time of 20.73 seconds, which is the top qualifying time. Three other swimmers from around the state went under 51 seconds.

His winning time in the 100 freestyle was clocked in 45.63, which ranks as the second-fastest qualifying time. Only Pleasant Valley senior Owen Chiles (44.26) qualified with a faster time.

“It felt great today,” said Martin, who qualified in both events last year as a freshman. “All season I have been trying to break the 21s so that was pretty cool. The 100 freestyle time surprised me. I didn’t think I would go that fast.”

The other individual qualifier was Comer, who finished the 100 breaststroke in a career-best 1 minute, 2.42 seconds. That placed seventh at districts but was the 31st-best qualifying time.

The 200 freestyle relay team featured Martin and Comer as the first and third legs. The other two members of the team are Caleb Punt and MacK Copeland and they placed fourth in the event with a season-best time of 1:30.95. That was the 19th-fastest qualifying time.

The next best finish for the day came in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Copeland, Mason Gaulke, Punt and Martin finished fifth in a season-best 3:26.03. They needed a 3:24.61 to clinch a state berth.

Comer also placed eighth in the 200 individual medley with a career-best time of 2:10.45. Copeland took ninth in the 200 freestyle with a career-best time of 1:57.55.

Having a program made up of three different school districts can be tough, but Warner loved how his team came together throughout the season.

“Our team camp was empty the entire meet,” Warner said. “I wanted to see how much support we’re giving our teammates and that shows how much we’ve come together as a team and how much they like each other,” Warner said. “Newton guys are cheering for Pella guys. Pella guys are cheering for Newton guys. There wasn’t a line or a defining difference. We were all there for each other and that was impressive to me.”

While only four swimmers from the NCMP team will compete at state this week, every single swimmer posted their best times of the year on Saturday.

The 200 medley relay team of Drew Fuller, Comer, Punt and Cody Klein finished the race in 1:49.67, which was a 4-second time drop.

Blaine Brooks cut 6 seconds off his 200 freestyle time and Derek Wermager cut 4 seconds off his.

Klein’s time of 24.94 in the 50 freestyle was a personal best by 3 seconds and his 57.22 in the 100 freestyle was a personal best by 4 seconds. Wermager also cut 2 seconds off his previous time in the 50.

Gaulke’s time of 1:00.5 in the 100 butterfly was a 6-second time drop and Fuller posted a 4-second improvement in his 100 backstroke time.

Evan Marshall, who joined the team late this winter, swam the 100 breaststroke for the first time and won his heat.

“Coach Warner’s practices were sprint related and we did a lot of starts, too,” Martin said. “We all dropped time so that worked for us.”

Notes: Martin’s time of 20.73 in the 50 freestyle is the second-fastest time in the event this year, according to results posted to Bound. His 100 freestyle time also ranks second in Iowa. “The three things we’ve been working on the most have been starts, breakouts and turns,” Warner said. “And those are the highlights of his swims today. You can tell everything is starting to come together for him, and I know he will do even better at state.” … Against an entirely different field of teams, the Cardinals were fifth at districts last year. They scored 206 points on that day. … NCMP qualified a relay for the state meet for the second straight season.