Cedar Falls kicks past the field at Linn-Mar Invite

MARION - Despite Thursday's 111-75 victory at Dubuque Wahlert, Linn-Mar girls' swimming coach Chad Derlein didn't like what he saw from his Lions.

'Last week wasn't a great week for us,” Derlein said. 'We had about 75-percent time gains at Wahlert. We had a little chat, and said we needed to turn it around. There's things to be gained from a bad swim, there's things to be gained from a good swim.”

Derlein's message must have been received, because the Linn-Mar coach was excitedly cheering and encouraging his Lions thoughout the Linn-Mar Invitiational Saturday at the Linn-Mar Aquatic Center.

The result was a third-place finish behind perennial power Cedar Falls - which won decisively with 587 points - and West Des Moines Dowling (390).

'Today was completely different,” Derlein said. 'We had some good and bad swims, but they were positive and they took what they wanted out of it.”

Linn-Mar finished fifth at the state meet last season, but the Lions must replace all 156 of the points they scored in Marshalltown due to roster hits from graduation and a quartet of swimmers forgoing this high school season. As a result, the door is open for some new faces to emerge and that has brought excitement to the team.

'As a team, and as an individual, it's just a great season so far,” Linn-Mar senior Paige Broghammer said. 'We obviously miss those girls and they're with us all the time. (Two-event state champion) Kelsey (Drake) was lifeguarding for us today, but we've had a lot of girls step up to the plate and take the challenge for it, so it's good for us in the end.”

Broghammer is ahead of her pace from last season in both the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley, two events she is hoping to qualify for at the state meet. Saturday, Broghammer swam second in Linn-Mar's runner-up 200-yard freestyle relay team (with Hannah Gardner, Serena Brizard and Madison Renz), missing the top spot by just 26 hundredths of a second in 1:45.99. Broghammer later added an individual runner-up in the breaststroke in 1:13.16.

'This is a big step for me,” Broghammer said. 'I am very proud of how I am doing.”

Both of Linn-Mar's second-place finishes placed below Cedar Falls, which won six of 12 events, including all three relays.

Cedar Falls sophomore Olivia Clark continued a fantastic start to her season with individual wins in the 200-yard individual medley (2:16.08) and the breaststroke (1:11.85). Clark currently has the state's third-best time in the IM (1:09.89), and is ninth in the breaststroke (2:15.03) - two events she plans to compete in at the state meet.

'This meet has been one of our tougher ones because we have been practicing harder,” Clark said. 'But I think we are doing good as a whole.”

Clark swam the breaststroke portion of Cedar Falls' 200-yard medley relay victory (with Sammi Hall, Meghan Hackett and Madison Hall) in 1:53.49, and led off the 200 free relay victory (with Grace Considine, Kailie Valentine and Cassie Bergman) in 1:45.73.

Hackett won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.06, and led off a season-best 3:48.40 finish in the 400 free relay (with Sammi Hall, Considine and Madison Hall).

This is the 47th and final season for legendary Cedar Falls Coach Dick Marcussen - a member of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame. Marcussen has won nine state championships with the Tigers, and led Cedar Falls to a third-place finish at the state meet last season.

'It's kind of hard, hard for me to put it into words,” Marcussen said. 'We had a great season last year, went undefeated all the way through the season. Came in third in state, which is, I thought, incredible for the team that I had. And I think this team is very similar to that.”

Muscatine junior Sarah Schemmel (50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke) and Clare Culver of Dowling (200-yard freestyle and 500 free) both won twice.

Both Linn-Mar and Cedar Falls will compete in Tuesday road duals. The Lions visit Cedar Rapids Washington, while Cedar Falls is at Iowa City West.

LINN-MAR INVITATIONAL

At Linn-Mar Aquatic Center

Teams -

1. Cedar Falls 587; 2. West Des Moines Dowling 390; 3. Linn-Mar 323; 4. Dubuque Senior 310; 5. Albert Lea (Minn.) 276; 6. Muscatine 214; 7. Dubuque Wahlert 195.

Diving -

1. Margaret Engel (Dowling), 462.60; 2. Jaycie Klein (Musc), 461.70; 3. Madison Schoppe (CF), 401.80.

200 medley relay - 1. Cedar Falls (Sammi Hall, Olivia Clark, Meghan Hackett, Madison Hall), 1:53.49; 2. Albert Lea (Bailey Sandon, Samantha Nielsen, Ahnika Jensen, Emily Taylor), 1:57.90; 3. Muscatine (Samara Perkins, Alexis Hagen, Sarah Schemmel, Victoria Roth), 1:57.94. 200 free - 1. Clare Culver (Dowling), 1:59.19; 2. Jenna Willer (DS), 2:00.90; 3. Grace Considine (CF), 2:02.28. 200 individual medley - 1. Clark (CF), 2:16.08; 2. Hackett (CF), 2:16.32; 3. Roth (Musc), 2:19.50. 50 free - 1. Schemmel (Musc), 24.13; 2. M. Hall (CF), 25.33; 3. Jensen (AL) 25.90. 100 butterfly - 1. Hackett (CF), 1:00.06; 2. Megan Lilly (Dow), 1:02.90; 3. Kailie Valentine (CF), 1:03.74. 100 free - 1. Willer (DS), 55.32; 2. M. Hall (CF), 55.84; 3. Taylor (AL), 56.98. 500 free - 1. Clare Culver (Dow), 5:22.72; 2. Considine (CF), 5:24.31; 3. S. Hall (CF), 5:35.57; 200 free relay - 1. Cedar Falls (Clark, Considine, Valentine, Cassie Bergman), 1:45.73; 2. Linn-Mar (Hannah Gardner, Paige Broghammer, Serena Brizard, Madison Renz), 1:45.99; 3. Dubuque Senior (Molly Johannsen, Alice Tsui, Grace Tsui, Willer), 1:46.10. 100 backstroke - 1. Schemmel (Musc), 1:00.77; 2. S. Hall (CF), 1:01.52; 3. Samantha Pose (Dow), 1:04.46; 100 breaststroke - 1. Clark (CF), 1:11.85; 2. Broghammer (LM), 1:13.16; 3. Jensen (AL), 1:13.68. 400 free relay -

1. Cedar Falls (Hackett, S. Hall, Considine, M. Hall), 3:48.40; 2. Dubuque Senior (Frances Inzenhofer, A. Tsui, G. Tsui, Willer), 3:52.83; 3. Muscatine (Perkins, Roth, Schemmel, Sarah Schoer), 3:53.30.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com