Cedar Rapids Washington’s Andrew Seifert has himself a day at district swimming meet

MARION — Andrew Seifert has been among the state’s best swimmers all season.

The Cedar Rapids Washington junior’s performances may have gone a little unnoticed because he did not have the state’s best time in any event as of Saturday.

In Saturday’s district meet at the Linn-Mar Aquatic Center, Seifert put the state on notice by taking down a pair of No. 1-ranked swimmers on his way to winning a pair of district titles.

In the 200-yard individual medley, he outswam Linn-Mar’s Parker Macho to win in 1:49.85. He came back later in the meet to edge Bettendorf’s Kiefer Roemer to win the 100 breaststroke in 55.36 seconds.

“He might get a little lost when it comes to getting notice around the state, but all he wants to do is compete,” Washington Coach Matt Sinnott said. “It doesn’t matter who is right or left of him in a race, he is always ready to compete against anybody.”

Host Linn-Mar captured the team title, winning six of the 11 events. The Lions scored 414 points, outdistancing Pleasant Valley (370), Bettendorf (310) and Washington (288).

“God blessed me with two amazing races today,” Seifert said. “I really think I will be able to improve on it (at next weekend’s state meet), but this was really a good meet for me today.”

Seeing the likes of Macho and Roemer ahead of him all season on the time charts was something that definitely caught Seifert’s attention.

“It is something I see and it gives me something to work for,” he said in reference to times posted by Macho and Roemer. “That’s a goal that I can have. Seeing those swimmers ranked ahead of me gives me something to push for at the end of the season.”

Sinnott believes there is more to come from Seifert in the state meet, set for next Friday and Saturday at the Campus Wellness and Recreation Center pool at the University of Iowa.

“He’ll be ready to go,” Sinnott said. “As I said, he will take on anybody. I really expect to see some great swims there next week.”

Linn-Mar had its share of great swims on Saturday. Junior Hudson Huberg took home top honors in the 200 freestyle (1:41.30) and the 100 free (46.66). He was named the district athlete of the year by the coaches. Macho won the 100 butterfly in 49.21 while sophomore Rylee Sieren edged Washington’s Peter Wittnebel to take the 500 freestyle in 4:55.26. The Lions also won the 200 medley and 400 relay crowns.

“Each opportunity to swim is something they embrace,” said Linn-Mar co-coach Tim Belin. “Today was all about figuring out what to do to get as many people to state as possible.”

That is always a challenge for a coach, according to Belin, striking a balance between trying to win a meet and getting swimmers to state.

“That is why you see some kids blow it out of the water while others are still working to peak for next week,” he said.

Washington’s Gavin Lucas won the 100 breaststroke while Pleasant Valley’s Kaiden Bonner took the 50 freestyle. Bettendorf was the winner in the 200 freestyle relay.

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TEAM SCORING

1. Linn-Mar 414, 2. Pleasant Valley 370, 3. Bettendorf 313, 4. CR Washington 288, 5. CR Kennedy 225, 6. CR Jefferson 152, 7. Burlington 96, 8. Vinton-Shellsburg 68.

EVENT RESULTS

200-yard medley relay: 1. Linn-Mar (Parker Macho, Owen Sieren, Carter Byers, Maxwell Macho), 1:35.47, 2. Pleasant Valley (Caleb Steward, Isaiah Eliasen, Jamison Gray, Kaiden Bonner) 1:37.44, 3. CR Washington (Gavin Lucas, Andrew Seifert, Remy Barton, Anthony Trotta) 1:37.70.

200 freestyle: 1. Hudson Huberg (LM) 1:41.30, 2. Caleb Steward (PV) 1:43.71, 3. Rylee Sieren (LM) 1:45.98

200 individual medley: 1. Andrew Seifert (CRW) 1:49.85, 2. Parker Macho (LM) 1:54.23, 3. Owen Sieren (LM) 1:59.24

50 freestyle: 1. Kaiden Bonner (PV) 22.03, 2. Jacob Mitvalsky (Bett) 22.05, 3. Maxwell Macho (LM) 22.26

100 butterfly: 1. Parker Macho (LM) 49.21, 2. Kiefer Roemer (PV) 50.27, 3. Jamison Gray (PV) 52.05

100 freestyle: 1. Hudson Huberg (LM) 46.66, 2. Caleb Steward (PV) 47.43, 3. Hudson Weaver (PV) 49.35.

500 freestyle: 1. Rylee Sieren (LM) 4:55.26, 2. Peter Wittnebel (CRW) 4:55.33, 3. Tyler Brekke (CRK) 4:56.17.

200 freestyle relay: 1. Bettendorf (Jacob Mitvalsky, Mateo Surma, Hudson Weaver, Kiefer Roemer) 1:27.13, 2. CR Washington (Andrew Seifert, Anthony Trotta, Gavin Lucas, Peter Wittnebel) 1:27. 67, 3. Linn-Mar (Hudson Huberg, Rylee Sieren, Dylan Koepnick, Maxwell Macho) 1:28.30.

100 backstroke: 1. Gavin Lucas (CRW) 53.93, 2. Maxwell Macho (LM) 54.08, 3. Jacob Mitvalsky (Bett) 55.96

100 breaststroke: 1. Andrew Seifert (CRW) 55.36, 2. Kiefer Roemer (Bett) 55.41, 3. Owen Sieren (LM) 59.14

400 freestyle relay: 1. Linn-Mar (Parker Macho, Rylee Sieren, Owen Sieren, Hudson Huberg) 3:10.81, 2. Pleasant Valley (Kaiden Bonner, Jamison Gray, Carter Hatz, Caleb Steward) 3:14.62, 3. CR Washington (Remy Barton, Anthony Trotta, Gavin Lucas, Peter Wittnebel) 3:18.70

HONORS

District Swimmer of the Year: Hudson Huberg, Linn-Mar

District Coaching Staff of the Year: Tom Belin, Kathy Vorhies and the Linn-Mar staff.