Martin wins twice, NCMP punches six tickets to state swim meet

AMES — Finn Martin won two individual races, set two new pool records and helped a pair of Cardinal relay teams drop a total of 10 seconds off their times during the district meet on Saturday.

But when the rest of the swimmers were changing in the locker room or on the outside of the pool talking about how they performed that day, Martin was in the warm-up pool getting in a few more laps.

“There’s still work to be done. We are not at state yet,” Martin said. “The job’s not finished.”

Martin will get a chance to defend his 50-yard freestyle state title and plans to win his first 100 freestyle crown after qualifying for the state meet in both events for the third consecutive season.

The Cardinal junior highlighted a big day for the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella boys swim team, which finished fifth in the final standings.

Nearly every swimmer set career-best times and all three relays dropped multiple seconds off their best times.

“It was way, way better than I had hoped,” NCMP head boys swim coach Lucas Warner said. “All but maybe one event didn’t drop time. We got faster, we had fun and our relays swam out of their minds. I don’t know how to put it into words.”

Martin won both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races to clinch spots at the state meet. And Ethan Comer returns to state in the 100 breaststroke after a runner-up finish on Saturday.

Both Cardinals also helped their squad advance to state in all three relays as No. 25 NCMP scored 187 points in fifth.

Second-ranked West Des Moines Valley won the district championship with 468 points. No. 16 Ames was the runner-up with 334 and the rest of the field featured No. 15 Boone (268), No. 19 Marshalltown (260), No. 28 Waterloo West (174), No. 33 Indianola (119) and No. 35 Oskaloosa (116).

There is no automatic state qualifiers at the district meet. The top 24 relay times and top 32 individual times in each event from all six districts advance to the state meet, which takes place at the University of Iowa’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center on Nov. 14-15 in Iowa City.

Martin was named the Ames District Swimmer of the Year after setting two pool records in his individual events.

He won the 50 freestyle in 20.46 seconds and won the 100 freestyle in 45.23. He bettered his pool record times from last year in both events.

Martin doesn’t need extra motivation or fuel but got a little bit after being named co-Conference Swimmer of the Year with Boone’s Isaac Clark last week.

Clark was the runner-up to Martin in the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.77. They go into the state meet with the top two qualifying times.

“I had a little extra motivation for sure,” Martin said. “The Boone guys were rested and had been wearing tech suits for a couple weeks. My training prior to this meet was me thinking those guys are well rested and they think they have a chance to beat me. But they don’t.

“So when I won that first race, I did have a bit of fuel. It was a great feeling. I got what I had been working towards. And I went faster today than I did last year in both races.”

Martin posted the top state qualifying time in the 100 freestyle by nearly a full second.

He also led off the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and the Cardinals registered top 12 qualifying times in both events.

The 200 freestyle relay team featured Martin, Comer, MacK Copeland and Caleb Punt and they finished second with a season-best time of 1 minute, 28.02 seconds.

It was the 10th-fastest state qualifying time. Cedar Falls’ 1:26.07 had the top time and Dubuque Hempstead also went faster than 1:27.

West Des Moines Valley won the 200 freestyle relay after Boone was disqualified following a pool-record performance.

“They blew my expectations out of the water, they showed up and they did exactly what they needed to do,” Warner said. “They took our taper very serious this year.

“We are 1 second off the 200-yard freestyle relay record that I helped break when I was in school. They are going to break that next week so be looking out for that.”

The 400 freestyle relay team of Martin, Punt, Drew Fuller and Copeland posted the 12th-fastest qualifying time in 3:18.25. That was a season-best time by 7 seconds and a new school record.

Iowa City West brings the top qualifying time to the state meet as the Trojans went 3:08.20. Valley won NCMP’s district with a 3:09.51.

“I was really happy today with my individual races and the relays,” Martin said. “The 400 freestyle relay dropped 7 seconds. The 200 free relay dropped 3 or 4 seconds. We all did really good.

“My teammates have worked hard, too. I’ve seen it. So to see us all do well today with our times was awesome.”

The Cardinals advanced to state in the 200 medley relay, too. That group featured Hudson Meyer, Comer, Punt and Evan Marshall and they finished in 1:42.96, which was the 22nd-fastest qualifying time. Valley won the race in 1:37.06 and the fastest state-qualifying time of 1:33.06 was posted by Cedar Falls.

“The guys had a great mentality this week. We knew we were going to swim well,” Warner said. “There was no worrying about missing state. We were just focused on swimming our best.

“We were excited for our best times and not scared to miss state. That mindset helped us compete.”

Comer qualified for the state swim meet in the 100 breaststroke for the second straight season. He needed to cut around 3 seconds off his previous season-best time but posted a career-best 1:01.48 and finished second.

Comer bested Oskaloosa’s Cooper Rupprecht (1:01.49) by .01 seconds and was .14 seconds in front of Marshalltown’s Sam Greazel, who defeated Comer in a meet earlier this season. All three swimmers advanced to state with the 20th-, 21st- and 22nd-fastest qualifying times.

“I only saw Marshalltown right next to me. So I didn’t know where anyone else was,” Comer said. “I just really wanted to get to state and this was my only chance to do that and my last chance to go fast. I thought my first 50 was pretty slow, but I guess it wasn’t.

“I’m really hoping the medley can get in. The taper was perfect, we all had a mentality of really wanting to go to state and it all came together today.”

Martin and Comer both loved the way the Cardinals tapered heading into districts and each swimmer thought the guys brought the right mindset.

“You don’t really go best times at every meet,” Martin said. “You swim a fast time and then it stays right at that time. After a while, you just want to go fast. Everybody was super excited going into this meet because we were rested, and we knew we were going to go fast. There was an extra fire today from the whole team.

“Ethan was going 1:04 in the breaststroke all season. He told me he was annoyed by that. So we talked about training hard and seeing how districts go. He dropped 3 seconds. And that was everybody. Everyone had that desire.”

NCMP’s next best individual finish came from Meyer, who was ninth in the 100 backstroke in a career-best 1:00.99. The final state qualifying time was 56.65 seconds. Brody VanZee finished 15th in 1:12.15.

Copeland and Fuller finished back-to-back in the 200 freestyle with career-best times of 1:56.13 and 1:57.17, respectively. They were 11th and 12th in the race, and Marshalltown’s Lincoln Barker placed fifth and had the final state-qualifying time of 1:50.1.

Marshall joined Martin in the 50 freestyle. He placed 11th in 23.27 and the final state-qualifying time was 22.57. Meyer was 14th in 23.71.

Warner wasn’t expecting a team finish higher than fifth. There were decisions made that put the emphasis on all three relays making the state meet.

Teams can put up to three swimmers in each individual event, but Warner and the coaching staff decided to not enter anyone in the 200 individual medley and did not have the maximum number of swimmers in the 100 butterfly or 500 freestyle.

“I left us out of the 200 IM and didn’t put three to each event,” Warner said “I was not worried about scoring points. I want my guys to go to state. I didn’t stack it. We could have scored more points, but I don’t think we swim those times if we were in more events.”

Warner said he had discussions with a few of his swimmers before the meet. They chose to use Punt in all three relays and Fuller was in only two events to focus on the 400 freestyle relay.

“(Punt) had an outside chance in some individual events, but we knew the relays could all go if we focused on those,” Warner said. “I left it in his hands, and he told me he wanted to swim the relays.

“We had (Fuller) in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay, which are at opposite ends of the meet. I wanted him fresh for the relay. He’s usually a 100 backer, and he does well in that, but his best chance to swim at state was in that relay. So that was our focus today. And he was fast today.

Notes: While Martin and Comer gave credit to the coaching staff for how they chose to taper, Warner said he leaned on his resources to find the best plan for his team. “I know I don’t have this all figured out as a coach yet so I try to use any resources that I have,” Warner said. “I love getting opinions from everyone else. I talked to other coaches and the legendary Sarah Patterson and got as much feedback as possible.” … Martin returns to the state meet after winning the state title in the 50 freestyle and placing second in the 100 freestyle last season. He’s confident in his ability to win both races this winter. “I know I put a lot of work in and the training has been great all year,” Martin said. “I’m excited to see what I can do at state. I think I will blow some minds.” … Martin and Comer will compete in the preliminary heats of their individual state races starting at 5 p.m. on Friday. All finals, including relays, kick off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The fastest eight qualifying times from Friday’s individual races advance to Saturday’s championship final, while the next fastest eight times compete in the consolation final. … Martin placed sixth at state in the 100 freestyle and was 11th in the 50 freestyle as a freshman. Comer placed 27th in the 100 breaststroke as a sophomore last season. ... The Cardinals’ time in the 400 freestyle relay broke a record that stood since 2013.