Seven wins power NCMP to LHC championship

INDIANOLA — The Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella boys swim team won seven events at the Little Hawkeye Conference meet on Thursday.

But it was the eighth win that got taken away that kept things closer than it should have been at the Indianola YMCA.

The Cardinals finished 1-2 in both the 200-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke, went 1-3-4 in the 100 breaststroke and placed 1-3 in the 500 freestyle and the 200 individual medley and that led them to a conference championship.

No. 23 NCMP scored 415 points at the top of the standings. It also had the fastest time in the 200 freestyle relay but a disqualification took those points off the board.

No. 28 Indianola was the runner-up with 408 points and the rest of the field included No. 33 Oskaloosa (358) and No. 34 Grinnell/BGM (258).

It’s the first LHC championship since the Cardinals won the inaugural event in 2018. NCMP was second in 2021 and 2023.

The Cardinals and Indians were tied at 155-all at the first break, but Indianola surged ahead 313-276 with three events left. That’s when NCMP closed with a 1-2 finish in the backstroke, a 1-3-4 finish in the breaststroke and a victory in the 400 freestyle relay.

The Cardinals only relay win came in the final event of the day as Finn Martin, Caleb Punt, Drew Fuller and MacK Copeland swam to a victory in the 400 freestyle relay. They finished the race in a season-best 3 minutes, 27.34 seconds. That time ranks 18th in the state.

Martin and Copeland finished 1-2 in the 200 freestyle. Martin won the race in a career-best and school-record 1:45.4 and Copeland was the runner-up in 1:58.81.

Martin also won the 100 butterfly in 52.01 seconds and his time in the 200 freestyle ranks sixth in the state.

The other 1-2 finish came in the 100 backstroke. Hudson Meyer was the claimed his first conference title in 1:02.47 and Fuller was the runner-up in 1:05.49.

Comer led a 1-3-4 finish in the 100 breaststroke. He won the race in 1:04.17. Heath Anderson (1:16.34) placed third and Kaden Marshall (1:17.96) came in fourth.

Comer (2:12.42) and Meyer (2:22.56) were 1-3 in the 200 IM and Punt (5:35.09) and Fuller (5:36.65) finished 1-3 in the 500 freestyle.

Punt also was third in the 50 freestyle. He finished the race in 23.4, while Evan Marshall placed fifth in 24.6.

Copeland’s 52.71 in the 100 freestyle placed him in third and Evan Marshall was fifth in 55.48.

NCMP’s 200 medley relay team of Fuller, Comer, Meyer and Punt took third in 1:50.67.