NCMP relay teams have sights set on top-10 finishes

Senior Peyton Ray was part of a 400-yard freestyle relay team which placed 10th at the state meet in 2021.

That season also saw the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella girls swim team finish ninth in the 200 medley relay and 10th in the 200 freestyle relay.

NCMP head coach Nick Shelton feels like this season could produce similar results from the Aquagirls.

“I’d like to get top 10 in all three,” Shelton said. “It will be easier said than done, but it’s a realistic goal. I think the 200 freestyle relay goal is to reach the podium. It’s the one we are highest ranked in. They want to place and break that school record.

“The 400 freestyle relay dropped 7 seconds at districts. That one also is in contention for top 10.”

NCMP was impressive at this past weekend’s regional meet. The Aquagirls clinched 10 spots in the state meet between the three relays and seven individual entries. They also placed second as a team for the first time since 2021.

That’s part of the reason why expectations for the state meet are so high. But also pretty realistic.

“My goal at the beginning of the season when we talked was to get three relays to state and seven individual events and that’s what we did,” Shelton said. “Now it’s up to them to get after those state goals. I have an idea of what I want them to do, but we’ll talk (Monday) about what they want and how we can get there.”

The 200 freestyle relay has been NCMP’s best event the past four seasons. The Aquagirls were 11th last year with the foursome of now-junior Harper Barton and now-seniors Alex Riney, Paige Benson and Peyton Ray. NCMP was 12th in 2022 with a team that included Barton and Ray and it finished 10th in 2021.

This year’s team features Ray, junior Tori White, Riney and Barton and they qualified with the ninth-best time of 1 minute, 40.29 seconds.

The foursome will compete in lane four of the third heat.

“In my four years, we have not been ranked this high in all three relays collectively,” Ray said. “We are definitely aiming for top 10 in all of the relays, and it would be awesome to reach the podium in at least one.”

The seven state qualifiers this fall are Ray, Riney, Benson, Barton, White and seniors Addison Van Maanen and Izzy Lane. The three alternates are seniors Avery Meyer and Anna DeVries and freshman Temple Barton.

The Aquagirls will conclude the state meet in the 400 freestyle relay. They enter the weekend with the 12th-best qualifying time in the event.

NCMP was 16th last year with a team that featured Ray, Riney, Lane and Barton and the 2022 team which placed 14th included Ray, Riney and Van Maanen. Ray was on the 10th-place 2021 team as a freshman.

“I think both relays can drop a little bit more time, but I think we swam some good times at regionals and a goal would be to move up a place or two,” Van Maanen said.

This year’s 400 freestyle relay team features Ray, Riney, Van Maanen and Barton. That foursome posted a season-best time of 3:41.74 at regionals. NCMP will be in lane six of the third heat.

“We have to really nail our exchanges, have quick reaction times on our starts and get down our flip turns,” Ray said. “We’ve already put in the work, where you can only do so much to get faster physically, but now it comes down to the technical things.”

NCMP will begin Saturday’s portion of the state meet with the 200 medley relay. That group features White, Van Maanen, Lane and Benson.

“I think the end goal is to just place the best we can and drop time, but I think a lot of it will be in our exchanges and turns,” Lane said.

The Aquagirls enter the state meet with the 14th-best qualifying time in the 200 medley relay.

Last year’s team included White, Lane and Riney and they were 20th. The 2022 foursome that featured White, Barton and Benson took 18th and the 2021 team placed ninth and set a school record.

“My goal is to get a low 25 split, have fun and enjoy the state experience,” Benson said. “As a relay, our goal is to move up in the rankings and improve our time. I think one of the big ways to drop time is to speed up my relay exchange so maybe we could drop time by each tweaking our exchanges.”

White said the 200 freestyle relay team wants a podium finish and the school record. She hopes the medley relay can get into the top 10.

“I think our medley has a lot of room to grow,” White said. “If we get our relay exchanges quicker we can definitely drop a good amount of time. I also think we can drop 1 to 1.5 seconds in the 200 freestyle because we’ll be pushing even harder, and it’s our last chance at that record.”

The Iowa High School Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships kicks off with the individual preliminary round at 11 a.m. on Friday inside the Linda Bloom Natatorium at the Marshalltown YMCA in Marshalltown.

The diving portion of the state meet is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday’s final swimming round begins at noon.