Harper Barton leads NCMP to fifth at Tiger Tankers

WEST DES MOINES — Harper Barton came really close to reaching the time standard for the 100-yard freestyle at the annual Tiger Tankers Invitational on Saturday.

Facing some of the toughest competition in all of Iowa, the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella girls’ swim team scored 13 top-10 finishes and placed fifth in the eight-team field.

Barton led the Aquagirls with a runner-up finish in the 100 breaststroke and scored a third-place tally in the 100 freestyle. NCMP’s 400 freestyle relay team also took third.

Top-ranked Dowling Catholic won the meet championship with 286 points. No. 2 Waukee Northwest (226) was the runner-up, while the rest of the top five included No. 13 Sioux City Metro (199), No. 10 Waukee (172) and No. 12 NCMP (141).

No. 18 and host West Des Moines Valley (111), No. 22 Grinnell/BGM/Baxter (109) and No. 26 Council Bluffs Lewis Central (91) completed the field.

Barton’s third-place time in the 100 freestyle was clocked in a season-best 54.64 seconds. That ranks in the top 20 in the state and the automatic state qualifying time is 54.52.

The Aquagirls scored three top-10 finishes in the 100 breaststroke. Barton was second in a season-best 1 minute, 9.11 seconds, while Addison Van Maanen (1:14.45) placed fifth and Temple Barton (1:17.74) was 10th. Harper Barton’s time ranks 11th in the state.

The next best finish came in the 400 freestyle relay. The foursome of Peyton Ray, Tori White, Van Maanen and Harper Barton posted a season-best time of 3:50.87, which ranks 12th in the state.

The 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays both were fourth. Dowling Catholic won the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and Waukee Northwest won the 200 medley relay.

The 200 medley relay foursome of White, Van Maanen, Izzy Lane and Ray took fourth in a season-best 1:56.54, which currently sits 15th in the state.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Ray, Alex Riney, Paige Benson and Harper Barton was fourth in 1:44.73.

NCMP went 7-8 in the 100 butterfly with White (season-best 1:05.48) edging Lane (season-best 1:05.78) by .3 seconds.

Ray (2:08.11) and Temple Barton (season-best 2:11.43) gave the Aquagirls a 7-10 finish in the 200 freestyle, Riney (season-best 26.66) was eighth in the 50 freestyle and White (season-best 1:04.67) was ninth in the 100 backstroke.

Notes: Baxter junior Camryn Russell won the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 459.2. Her best 11-dive score this season is 485.7, which is tops in the state.