NCMP edges Marshalltown, downs Grinnell on Senior Night

Finn Martin was part of four wins, Ethan Comer swam to three victories and a runner-up and the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella boys swim team picked up a pair of wins on Senior Night at the Newton YMCA on Thursday.

The Cardinals had no trouble with Grinnell but needed every single varsity performance to edge Marshalltown by a pair of points.

NCMP defeated the Bobcats 48-46 and downed the Tigers 62-32. In the other matchup, Marshalltown defeated Grinnell 59-35.

“I’m super proud of everyone tonight. They all swam their hearts out,” NCMP assistant swim coach Clay Lamb said. “This is the last time they get to swim here, and they made the most of it.”

Lamb was elevated to head coach for the night because head coach Lucas Warner was out due to an illness.

Lamb found out about his temporary role on Wednesday, the night before the meet. The official lineup was made out by Warner, but Lamb said he did make a few tweaks.

“I didn’t feel good about it,” Lamb said. “But after getting stuff figured out and getting more answers with how things were going to happen I felt more comfortable. I was definitely stressed out last night and some today.

“We didn’t have any hiccups and things went on without a hitch so it was a good night.”

The Cardinals registered five overall wins and went 1-2 against Grinnell in four events.

Martin’s victories came in the 200-meter freestyle and 100 butterfly. He also anchored the 200 freestyle relay to a come-from-behind win and swam the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay, which the Cardinals also won.

Comer won the 200 individual medley and was part of both winning relay teams. He fell short of another overall win in the 100 breaststroke.

The Cardinals opened the night with a win in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Drew Fuller, Comer, Martin and MacK Copeland won the race in 1 minute, 57.58 seconds.

Brody Van Zee, Heath Anderson, Sean Bower and Kaden Marshall placed third against Grinnell with a time of 2:22.01.

“The relays are in a really good spot,” Copeland said. “Our medley is the fastest it’s been since I’ve been on the team. That 200 freestyle relay has a great shot to make state. I don’t know where our time compared to our last meet was, but everyone is excited about that one. We’ll see how it goes the rest of the year.”

NCMP produced a 1-3 finish in the 200 freestyle relay against both Marshalltown and Grinnell.

Evan Marshall, Comer, Copeland and Martin won the race in 1:44.28 and the group of Caleb Punt, Kaden Marshall, Reilly Trease and Derek Wermager finished fourth overall in 1:57.51.

“I’m feeling great about the relays. It’s been a pleasure to swim with (Martin) and the rest of the guys,” Evan Marshall said. “I’m loving the relay teams right now. Getting that school record a few weeks ago felt amazing.

“This season has been really great so far. It’s starting to hit me that it’s my senior year. I’m getting toward the end of things. I want to have that mentality of it’s my last season and my last chance to be out here.”

Marshalltown couldn’t quite rally past NCMP in their head-to-head matchup, but the Bobcats were 1-3 overall in the 400 freestyle relay and grabbed wins in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke after the final break of the night.

Evan Marshall, Punt, Hudson Meyer and Fuller were second overall and first against Grinnell in the 400 freestyle relay. They hit the wall in 4:08.27.

Wermager, Nathan Stoltzfus, Blaine Brooks and Trace McClellan were third against Grinnell in 5:02.09.

Martin and Comer produced back-to-back wins in the 200 freestyle and 200 IM, respectively.

Martin won his race in 2:02.7 and Copeland was third overall and second against Grinnell in 2:20.65.

Comer’s winning time in the 200 IM was clocked in 2:25.74 and Meyer was second against Grinnell in 2:44.4.

Martin’s second win came in the 100 butterfly. He hit the wall in 58.06 seconds.

Copeland and Fuller were 2-3 overall and 1-2 against Grinnell in the 400 freestyle and Meyer and Fuller finished 2-3 overall and 1-2 versus Grinnell in the 100 backstroke.

Copeland (5:01.44) edged Fuller (5:02.96) in the 400 freestyle, while Meyer (1:10.64) and Fuller (1:12.21) were back-to-back in the 100 backstroke.

“It was not going the best over the break, but this meet has brought a lot of confidence back,” Copeland said. “I think a lot of our times today were either PRs or close to PRs. I got a personal record in all the events that I swam in.

“We had two-hour practices over the break. That made me feel like I was slow and my shoulders hurt a lot. That was a great backup into this meet knowing it was all behind me and I can move forward now.”

Punt was second in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle. His time of 26.9 seconds in the 50 placed him first against Marshalltown. He also downed Marshalltown in the 100 free with a time of 1:00.43.

Comer (1:13.74) trailed Marshalltown’s Sam Greazel (1:13.64) by .10 seconds in the 100 breaststroke. Comer scored the win over Grinnell, while Kaden Marshall was third against the Tigers in 1:31.88.

The Cardinals recognized 10 swimmers for Senior Night during the first break. That group included Trease, Wermager, Bower, Evan Marshall and Talon Currie as well as Pella’s Copeland, Fuller, Stoltzfus and JJ Spratt.

“I personally swam with MacK Copeland and Drew Fuller while I was on the team a few years ago,” Lamb said. “They were sophomores when I was a senior. To see them getting to this point is sad for me because I have personal relationships with those guys. And the other seniors practice in lanes 5 and 6, which is where I coach at. It’s been really nice to see all of them grow and get better with swimming, but it does suck because we are losing 10 kids after this year and that’s half our roster.”

Notes: Trease won the junior varsity 50 freestyle and Blaine Brooks was the runner-up in both the JV 200 and 400 freestyle. … Lamb said the Cardinals put in a ton of miles over the holiday break. They are trying to develop stroke depth within the roster. “We tried to get a lot of meters in and wanted to get a lot of distance under their belts,” Lamb said. “A lot of teams dial it back over the holiday break, but we tried to crank it up. Stroke depth is one of our struggles right now so we worked on flushing that out more.”