Three top-10 finishes highlight Aquagirls at state meet

MARSHALLTOWN — All three relay teams swam season-best times and moved up at least one spot from their seeding, junior Harper Barton advanced to Saturday in both of her individual events and the rest of the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella individual qualifiers either improved from their qualifying position or stayed right at it.

It was a strong end to the season for the Aquagirls. No. 15 NCMP scored 56 points and finished 13th in the final team standings. It was 29 points back of No. 10 Southeast Polk, which finished 10th.

“It feels good. We followed the process,” NCMP head girls swimming coach Nick Shelton said. “I trust the girls to swim the way I know they can and they came out and did it. We accomplished the goals I set out for them, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

The top finish of the weekend came in the 200-yard freestyle relay, but the Aquagirls were at least 12th in all three relays and finished in the top 10 in both the 200- and 400-yard freestyle.

Barton also grabbed a career-best ninth-place finish in the 50 freestyle and advanced to the consolation final in the 100 breaststroke, too.

“It was a good meet. I was pleased with my performance,” Barton said. “I think I did well, especially in the 50.”

The 200 freestyle relay team featured senior Peyton Ray, junior Tori White, senior Alex Riney and Barton and they finished eighth in a season-best 1 minute, 39.62 seconds. The group came into the weekend seeded ninth.

Ray, Riney and Barton were on a foursome that took 11th last year. This year’s time was .54 seconds off the school record.

Bettendorf won the race in 1:35.07 and the sixth and final podium time was 1:38.3.

“It feels great. We got our exchanges down better for this one,” Ray said. “The relays obviously had a lot of seniors so we realized this was our last one and we’re in it to finish strong.”

Ray also opened the 400 freestyle relay and she was joined by Riney, senior Addison Van Maanen and Barton. They finished 10th in a season-best time of 3:40.86. The group was seeded 12th.

It was Ray’s second top-10 finish in the event as she was on the team which finished 10th her freshman year. Last year’s 16th-place finishing team included Ray, Riney and Barton.

Bettendorf won the relay in 3:28.39 and the sixth and final podium time was 3:36.2.

“This was the last swim ever for some of us so we gave it everything we had and tried to improve the little things,” Riney said.

NCMP kicked off Saturday’s final session with the 200 medley relay. The foursome of White, Van Maanen and seniors Izzy Lane and Paige Benson moved up from their 14th seed to finish 12th in 1:54.27. That was a season best by .02 seconds.

White and Lane were part of the team’s 20th-place finish last season.

Cedar Falls won the race in 1:45.36. The sixth and final podium time was 1:50.11 and 10th finished in 1:51.72.

“We came together in the relay. It felt great today,” Van Maanen said. “We swam one place up, but we moved up two because Ankeny got DQ’ed. We had a strong race. We had our goal set, knew what we wanted to accomplish and we dropped some time.”

The preliminary round for the individual events was Friday. The top eight finishers in each event advanced to Saturday’s ‘A’ final and the next fastest eight times competed in Saturday’s ‘B’ final. The top-six finishers earned a spot on the podium.

Barton made it to Saturday in both the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.

In the 50 freestyle, Barton qualified for the consolation final in 10th with a time of 24.58 seconds. She was third in her heat and came into the meet with the 13th-best qualifying time.

In the consolation final, Barton cut .10 seconds off Friday’s time and moved up spot in the standings. She was ninth overall in a career-best 24.48. It took a 24.38 on Friday to advance to the ‘A’ final.

Riney also competed in the 50 freestyle on Friday. She came in 23rd and finished 23rd in 25.41. She needed a 25.16 to reach the consolation final.

Iowa City High’s Grace Hoeper won her third straight 50 freestyle title with a time of 23.06 and the sixth and final podium time was 24.32.

“I wanted ‘A’ final but at least I got to swim today,” Barton said. “I was so close to making it. The 50 is so unpredictable. It softens the blow a little bit when you drop time.”

Barton snuck into the consolation final in the 100 breaststroke after placing 16th on Friday. She didn’t move up in the standings on Saturday and placed 16th overall with a time of 1:08.33.

Barton came into the state meet seeded 19th and swam a 1:07.83 on Friday to advance to Day 2. Van Maanen also competed in the event and placed 24th in 1:09.19. Barton needed a 1:06.28 to clinch a spot in the championship final.

Waterloo West’s Lucy Parson (1:02.43) edged defending champion Willa Hage (1:02.67) of Waukee Northwest to win the 100 breaststroke. The sixth and final podium time was 1:05.56.

“The field all added time today. It felt faster,” Barton said about her performance on Saturday. “My race felt good. In my mind, I had a way faster time than what the board says. I looked up there and was in disbelief. My body and mind felt like I was going way faster.”

The next best finish came from Ray in the 100 freestyle. She came into the weekend with the 23rd-best qualifying time but placed 20th in 54.9 seconds. She needed a 54.55 to advance to the consolation final and a 53.65 to move on to the ‘A’ final.

Hoeper repeated as the 100 freestyle champion with a time of 49.94. The sixth and final podium time was 53.5.

“I dropped three places from my seed and had a time drop,” Ray said. “I was fine with it. It felt good.”

Van Maanen dropped more time in the 200 individual medley. She came in seeded 26th and placed 21st in a career-best 2:16.14. That was second in her heat.

She needed a 2:13.65 to reach the consolation final and a 2:11.06 to clinch a spot in the championship final.

Hage repeated as 200 IM champion with a time of 2:04.06 and the sixth and final podium time was clocked in 2:10.56.

“I moved up five places from my seed in the 200 IM and dropped a full second,” Van Maanen said. “I felt like I had a strong race, and I was confident the whole time. It was a good way to end my last 200 IM.

“I wasn’t as confident in my breaststroke, and it showed in my race. It wasn’t the way I wanted it to end, but I can’t do anything about it now.”

The final individual qualifier was White. She finished right at her seed position in 24th. Her time on Friday was clocked in 1:02.56. A 1:01.25 was needed to reach the consolation final and the last championship final time was 59.27.

Waukee Northwest’s Hayden Bailey won the race in 56.12. The sixth and final podium time was 59.0.

“I’m proud I was able to place better than I did last year, and my time here this year was faster than my time here last year,” White said. “To end the season with close to a season best is a good way to finish. I really wanted to get in the 1:01s. I felt like I could have gone faster. That’s what was frustrating.

“My turns on this end of the pool, I was short on both of them. That’s what cost me. I can’t fix it now.”

Top-ranked Dowling Catholic won the team championship with 260 points. That was 17 points better than runner-up and fourth-ranked Waukee Northwest. Second-ranked Cedar Falls (220) placed third, fifth-ranked Bettendorf (216) was fourth and third-ranked Ames (191) placed fifth for the second straight season.

Dowling Catholic was the runner-up last year. Waukee Northwest is competing as its own team for the first time after Waukee and Waukee Northwest combined to win the title last season.

Shelton was happy with how his individual qualifiers performed.

“To have someone in the ‘B’ final is awesome,” Shelton said. “We haven’t done that as a program in a few years. I’m happy (Barton) got to that point. And even the ones who didn’t make it to Saturday still moved up from their seeds.

“Last year, they all went down. So to move up this year was awesome. This was a big meet. We haven’t had a lot of big meets this year, but they showed up and swam the best they could.”

Notes: Next season could be a transition year for the Aquagirls as they lose 10 seniors from this year’s squad. Barton, White and freshman state alternate Temple Barton return as well as a few other varsity contributors, but there will be some big shoes to fill with the departing senior class. “I know I can go faster in the 100 breaststroke,” Barton said in reference to her expectations for next year. “My walls and pullouts need work. If I improve on that, my time will go down. My goals are ‘A’ final, podium finish and school records.”