Martin’s magical day nets two more swim titles

Finn Martin knew he was going to win state titles in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle at the Iowa High School Boys State Swimming Championships on Saturday.

That may sound cocky. He’s certainly confident. But Martin knew the training he put in during the season would lead to back-to-back championships in the 50 and his first-ever 100 freestyle title.

And after his performances in Saturday’s final, the entire state saw what Martin and his team knew was coming. Total domination and two non-dramatic victories as the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella junior broke his own school records and earned automatic All-American status in both events inside the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center at the University of Iowa.

“I’m very proud of myself today. I came in just trying to win and show people what I can do,” Martin said. “That’s what I did.”

Martin’ titles highlighted a strong weekend in the pool for the Cardinals. Ethan Comer’s time in Friday’s prelims was a new career best and the 200 freestyle relay team placed 10th overall and set a new school record in the process.

Only 24 teams scored points at the sate meet. NCMP finished 17th with 58 points.

No. 4 Dubuque Hempstead won the team title in surprising fashion, scoring 213.5 points in the process. Sixth-ranked Iowa City West was the runner-up with 181 and the rest of the top five included No. 8 Waukee (177.5), No. 7 Linn-Mar (172) and No. 1 Waukee Northwest (152).

“Very impressed with the team,” NCMP head boys coach Lucas Warner said. “Every single one of my guys showed up today and swam their best. We didn’t have fluke swims last week. We swam fast again.”

Martin’s two state titles earned him co-State Swimmer of the Year with Linn-Mar’s Parker Macho and Iowa City West’s Hayden Hakes. All three were two-event champions as Macho won the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly and Hakes claimed titles in the 200 and 500 freestyle.

Martin posted the top times in the Friday’s prelims in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. His time of 20.34 seconds in the 50 was a season best at the time and also fast enough for automatic All-American status.

His career-best time of 20.19 in the finals was only .04 off the state record and the second fastest non-relay time at that distance by only .01 seconds. It took a 21.37 to advance to Saturday’s championship final. There also was a consolation final that consisted of the next eight fastest times from the preliminary round.

Martin won the 50 freestyle by .44 seconds. He was .83 seconds ahead of the runner-up in the 100 freestyle.

He posted a career-best and school record 44.3 in the prelims before winning the 100 freestyle state championship in 44.64. He was the only swimmer in the finals who broke 45 seconds. It took a 46.69 in the prelims to advance to the championship final.

“He won them by a good margin and went out and did his thing,” Warner said. “He knew he was there, he knew he was the best in those events. We all knew it. It was awesome to see him show up and let the state know that he’s the fastest guy.

“He’s an incredible kid who’s super fun to coach. It’s awesome to see a kid like him have so much success in a sport he trains so hard for. He has that natural gift in the pool, but he earned all of this by working his tail off, too.”

Martin, who won the 50 freestyle and finished second in the 100 freestyle at last year’s state meet, has developed a reputation of being incredibly powerful off the starting blocks. It’s a key component to winning the sprint races, and Martin dedicates time in the weight room specifically for what it takes to be quick off the block.

“That’s squats and single leg squats in the weight room. That’s building up muscles in the legs to be able to have the best start I can have,” Martin said. “The start is very important, especially for someone like me in a sprinting event.

“That plays into the difference between me and just another swimmer who’s next to me. The power in the legs help you have a quick reaction time off the blocks. You’re mentality plays a huge role in this, too. You have to have that dog mentality.”

Comer also swam in a preliminary race on Friday. He qualified for the 100 breaststroke for the second straight season and placed 18th in a career-best 1 minute, .73 seconds. It took a 1:00.26 to swim in Saturday’s consolation final and a 57.45 to advance to the championship final.

The 18th-place finish was good enough to be the second alternate in the consolation final. He could have swam if two others were unable to go on Saturday.

“It was good, and I’m happy, but I was hoping to go under 1 minute,” Comer said. “My under waters were better than before, but my turns could have been better. I pushed myself a lot. I was hoping to make the finals, but 18th is better than I came in at.”

Comer and Martin were busy on Saturday, too. Outside of their individual events both Newton juniors were part of two NCMP relay teams.

Martin and Comer swam the first two legs of the 200 freestyle relay and were joined by Pella senior MacK Copeland and Pella sophomore Caleb Punt.

They came into the state meet seeded 10th with a season-best time of 1:28.65 and finished 10th in the event after taking second in their heat with a school-record time of 1:27.54.

Coach Warner was part of the foursome who set the previous school record.

“It was obviously great to set those records, and I’m really happy to get Warner’s name off the board,” said Copeland, who was swimming at the state meet for a third time. “He was very happy for us, too.

“I PRed in my 200 freestyle relay split, and we did amazing as a team. The 200 freestyle relay dropped 3 seconds, but it was sad we were a little slower than our seed time in the 400 freestyle relay. I wasn’t particularly happy with that, but I think the team performed well overall.”

Punt was on all three NCMP relays. He anchored the 200 freestyle relay to 10th, but the Cardinals needed a 1:27.07 to earn a spot on the podium. Dubuque Hempstead won the event in 1:23.35 and NCMP was only .19 seconds back of ninth place.

“It was fun being on three relays,” Punt said. “The mentality was great and the environment was great. This is a fast pool with fast swims. We set our goals really high so when you don’t make them we get upset. But we all swam great and all did really well.”

NCMP did not reach its goals for the 400 freestyle relay, but after a big time drop at last week’s district meet, Warner was not overly surprised the time stayed about the same this weekend.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Martin, Punt, Drew Fuller and Copeland finished 15th in 3:18.51. That was .26 seconds slower than their time at the district meet.

“The 400 freestyle relay gained a tiny bit of time, but the time drop last week was so big that I was already in shock from that,” Warner said. “But sitting at that time again just solidified that we belonged in that heat, we belonged in the event and it wasn’t a fluke.”

Every other team in the top 15 of the 400 freestyle relay dropped significant time from districts, which pushed NCMP down from the 12th seed it came in at.

Dubuque Hempstead was 7 seconds faster than its district time and won the state title in 3:05.04. The final team on the podium posted a time of 3:12.01 in eighth.

Fuller, a Pella senior, was competing at the state meet for the first time. He won’t allow one race to define his career or the Cardinals’ season.

“I have been here in the past to watch, but it’s a little bit different than just being down on the deck,” Fuller said. “It wasn’t what I wanted for my last race. But I think we swam well. I was hoping to go under 50. I didn’t quite get there.

“One race doesn’t define our season. What we did at Ames setting the school record, that was awesome and no one is taking that away from us.”

Also swimming at the state meet for the first time were Newton senior Evan Marshall and Newton freshman Hudson Meyer. They were both part of the 200 medley relay team which opened Saturday with a 20th-place finish.

The team of Meyer, Comer, Punt and Marshall posted a time of 1:43.17, which was .21 seconds slower than their district time. But the Cardinals finished 20th after coming in seeded 22nd.

“It was awesome. There’s no other experience like this,” said Meyer, who swam the backstroke leg of the medley relay. “I was expecting it to be similar to a swim meet I attended in Minnesota, but it was nothing like that. I felt like my turns and breakouts could have been better, but I was moving. It felt fast.”

Marshall’s goal coming into his final season was to conclude his year at the state meet.

“I was close last year. I just wanted to work as hard as I could in practice every day and make sure my season ended here. That was the goal,” said Marshall, who anchored the 200 medley relay with a 50-yard freestyle. “It meant a lot to me to be able to swim here for my last race. I think we did amazing. There’s always that feeling as an athlete where you think you could have done better, but ultimately all you can do is swim your best.”

Notes: Martin was unaware that his foursome set a school record in the 200 freestyle relay. But he’s certainly doing his part to re-write the program’s record board. Comer said the group was hoping to make the podium in the 200 freestyle relay but there’s always next year as he joins Martin, Meyer and Punt as state qualifiers on this year’s squad who wil be back next season. “We all just swam really well in that one,” Comer said. “We all had good under waters, and our starts were strong.”