West sets relay records in state repeat

MARSHALLTOWN - Iowa City West returned to the boys' swimming state championships as the prohibitive favorite to repeat as state champions.

If there were any opinions to the contrary, those were quickly dispelled.

West's 200-yard medley relay team of Mark McGlaughlin, Matt Anderson, Oliver Martin and Will Scott opened the meet with a state-record 1:33.39, the first of seven event wins as Trojans won another state championship with 189 points.

'It's pretty much the culmination of everything,” West Coach Rob Miecznikowski said. 'We had some pretty loose goals at the beginning of the year. We knew what we wanted to accomplish. As the year went on, we literally had to lose a few battles. We kept our eyes focused on the prize here, and it definitely paid off.”

Junior Will Scott's freestyle leg of the medley relay clocked in at a brisk 20.66, clinching a state record. The Trojans closed the meet with a second state record when McGlaughlin, Martin, Scott and Aidan Keen shattered the 400-yard free relay record by nearly three full seconds in 3:02.98.

'He (Miecznikowski) definitely gave us every opportunity throughout the season to set up these relays and win these relays,” said Scott, who also finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle. 'He never put it on us. He said, ‘You can do it, and I'm going to support you the whole way.'”

West juniors McGlaughlin and Keen were repeat winners in two individual events from last season. McGlaughlin fought off a hard-charging field to claim gold in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100, while Keen swept the 200 and 500 freestyle distance events.

'There are so many good swimmers in Iowa,” Keen said. 'I was freaking out this entire week leading up to this because I just wasn't sure. But I'm really happy that we did it again.”

For the second year in a row, Cedar Rapids Washington was state runner-up. The Warriors accumulated 140 points, led by senior Jared Thorson's first state championship in the 100-yard butterfly. Thorson, motivated by last season's runner-up butterfly finish to two-time champion R.J. Hemmingsen, made sure his Washington career ended with no regrets.

'I've waited so long,” Thorson said. 'Last year, I just took something from what I saw him do during the race. Every time I looked over he was under water, so I just tried to do that today.”

His efforts produced a Washington school record of 50.56 seconds.

'I just knew that at the beginning of the race, I needed to get out as hard as I could,” Thorson said. 'I shouldn't have been, but I looked under water during the final way back to see where everybody was. I saw them behind me, and I was like, ‘I just need to finish this thing.'”

Washington senior Nick Saulnier finished third in the 100-yard backstroke and second in the 200 individual medley, while sophomore Cameron Kelley earned a pair of bronze medals in the 200 free and the 500. Thorson, Saulnier and Kelley combined with George Durin for second place in the 200 free relay.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy fell just short of the top 10 with 42 points as both Brennan Urbi (sixth in 50 free and 100) and Stefan Kitsos (fifth in 100-yard breaststroke) reached the podium. Linn-Mar finished 14th.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson received a courageous performance from sophomore Paul Hummell. According to Jefferson Coach Ryan York, Hummell underwent an emergency appendectomy Thursday. Originally slated to compete in all three relays and the breaststroke, Hummell was limited to the breaststroke portion of the medley relay (15th place), plus an 11th-place finish in the individual breaststroke in 1:00.29, just :63 short of his seed time.

Abe Eyman Casey finished fifth in the backstroke for Iowa City High, while Decorah's Mac Faldet reached the breaststroke podium with a sixth-place finish.

STATE MEET

At Marshalltown

Teams – 1. Iowa City West 189, 2. C.R. Washington 140, 3. West Des Moines Valley 119.50, 4. Dubuque Senior 98, 5. West Des Moines Dowling 88.50, 6. Dubuque Hempstead 80, 7. Waukee 75, 8. Johnston 71, 9. Lewis Central 62.50, 10. Bettendorf 53, 11. C.R. Kennedy 42, 12. Newton 41, 13. Pleasant Valley 39, 14. Linn-Mar 38.50, 15. Muscatine 32, 16. Ames 31, 17. Davenport Central 21, 18. Davenport North 13, 19. Fort Dodge 12, 20. Decorah 11, t21. Sioux City 10, t21. Iowa City High 10, t21. Council Bluffs Lincoln 10, 24. Waterloo West 8, 25. Ankeny 4, 26. C.R. Jefferson 2, 27. Des Moines Roosevelt 1.

200 medley relay – I.C. West (Mark McGlaughlin, Matt Anderson, Oliver Martin, Will Scott), 1:33.39-*; 2. West Des Moines Valley (Sam Gorham, Bradley Rhein, Ethan Eiler, Beau Blazek), 1:34.87; 3. Dubuque Senior (John Colin, Andrew Breitfelder, Drake Stierman, Brandon Sindt), 1:35.50; 4. C.R. Washington (Kaleb Donels, Matt Jackson, Jared Thorson, Nick Saulnier), 1:36.28; 12. C.R. Kennedy (Brennan Urbi, Stefan Kitsos, Cade Schoenauer, Evan Bednar), 1:38.38; 15. C.R. Jefferson (Nate Homan, Paul Hummell, Ryan Martin, Luke Hummell), 1:41.49; 21. Linn-Mar (Zach Vana, Noah Decker, Zach Hendricks, Matthew Mather), 1:42.55; 23. Iowa City High (Andrew Parr, Cole Donahue, Abe Eyman Casey, Eric Thomas), 1:43.14.

200 free – 1. Aidan Keen (ICW), 1:40.32; 2. Ben Colin (DS), 1:41.94; 3. Cameron Kelley (CRW), 1:42.90; 19. Brady Gibson (CRK), 1:50.57; 23. Hogan Myers (LM), 1:51.59.

200 individual medley – 1. Alex Walton (Musc), 1:49.20-*; 2. Nick Saulnier (CRW), 1:51.74; 3. Nick Staver (PV), 1:53.64; 11. Stefan Kitsos (CRK), 1:59.61; 14. Calvin Greve (LM), 2:00.11; 15. Matt Jackson (CRW), 2:00.75; 18. Kaleb Donels (CRW), 2:02.30; 22. Mac Faldet (Dec), 2:02.80; 23. Reid Snell (LM), 2:03.19.

50 free – 1. McGlaughlin (ICW), 20.73; 2. Luke Hemmingsen (LC), 20.96; 3. Stjepan Fiolic (Joh), 21.05; 4. Scott (ICW), 21.12; 6. Urbi (CRK), 21.30; 8. Justin Arebaugh (LM), 21.83; 11. Jerod Heying (Dec), 22.18; 12. Matt Peng (LM), 22.19; 19. Eyman Casey (ICH), 22.57; 24. Schoenauer (CRK), 23.25.

100 butterfly – 1. Thorson (CRW), 50.56; 2. Isaak Webb (Newton), 51.69; 3. Rob Leigh (FD), 51.82; 4. Martin (ICW), 51.98; 17. Nolan Heffern (Dec), 53.80; 18. Peng (LM), 54.01; 19. Jackson (CRW), 54.11; 22. Hendricks (LM), 55.22; 24. Schoenauer (CRK), 56.38.

100 free – 1. McGlaughlin (ICW), 44.76; 2. Hemmingsen (LC), 45.99; 3. Gorham (WDMV), 45.99; 6. Urbi (CRK), 46.84; 9. Justin Arebaugh (LM), 48.17; 17. Reid Snell (LM), 49.11; 23. George Durin (CRW), 50.14.

500 free – 1. Keen (ICW), 4:33.69; 2. B. Colin (DS), 4:35.52; 3. Kelley (CRW), 4:35.79; 19. Max McChesney (CRJ), 4:58.77; 22. Myers (LM), 5:01.57.

200 free relay – 1. I.C. West (Scott, Anderson, Martin, Keen), 1:24.75; 2. C.R. Washington (Saulnier, Durin, Thorson, Kelley), 1:25.83; 3. W.D.M. Valley (Eiler, Blazek, Seth Brady, Carl Skoog), 1:26.49; 8. C.R. Kennedy (Kitsos, Bednar, Schoenauer, Urbi), 1:28.03; 9. Linn-Mar (Greve, Peng, Snell, Arebaugh), 1:28.25; 18. Decorah (Nolan Heffern, Trevor Malven, Isaac Sauer, Heying), 1:31.00; 23. C.R. Jefferson (L. Hummell, Homan, Martin, McChesney), 1:33.02.

100 backstroke – 1. Walton (Musc), 49.18; 2. J. Colin (DS), 50.48; 3. Saulnier (CRW), 50.73; 5. Eyman Casey (ICH), 52.55; 6. Donels (CRW), 53.04; 7. Greve (LM), 53.38; 19. Parr (ICH), 55.92.

100 breaststroke – 1. Nick Staver (PV), 56.74; 2. Tanner Nelson (Bett), 57.75; 3. Peyton Gaumer (Dowl), 57.91; 5. Kitsos (CRK), 58.92; 6. Mac Faldet (Dec), 59.45; 7. Anderson (ICW), 59.73; 11. P. Hummell (CRJ), 1:00.29; 24. Durin (CRW), 1:03.51.

400 free relay – 1. I.C. West (McGlaughlin, Martin, Scott, Keen), 3:02.98-*; 2. W.D.M. Valley (Blazek, Brady, Skoog, Gorham), 3:08.89; 3. Dubuque Senior (B. Colin, Nick Topping, Stierman, J. Colin), 3:12.72; 6. C.R. Washington (Michael Janssen, Donels, Thorson, Kelley), 3:14.67; 7. Linn-Mar (Greve, Peng, Snell, Arebaugh), 3:14.92; 13. Decorah (Heffern, Sauer, Heying, Faldet), 3:18.77; 23. C.R. Jefferson (L. Hummell, Homan, Martin, Noah Hoogestraat), 3:28.50.

*-state record

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