Iowa City West's Mark McGlaughlin stands alone with a dozen state swimming gold medals

MARSHALLTOWN – In the annals of Iowa high school boys' swimming, there is no podium spot higher than the one where Mark McGlaughlin stands.

The Iowa City West senior claimed four gold medals for the third year in a row, including three state records, as the Trojans placed second overall Saturday in the boys' swimming state championships at the Marshalltown YMCA.

'That is extremely satisfying,' McGlaughlin said. 'I have had so much fun with this team and this coaching staff. It's great.'

Waukee denied West a third-consecutive team title and won its first boys' swimming state championship with 244 points, 34 better than the Trojans. Bettendorf was third (198.5 points).

Four gold medals gives McGlaughlin 12 for his prep career, breaking the career mark held by Nick Cordes of Cedar Falls, who won 11 from 2004-07. The North Carolina State signee began his day with a record-shattering time of 1:46.91 in the 200-yard individual medley, an event he had never competed in at the state meet. He later added a 100 freestyle title for the third year in a row, but this time with a state record (43.64 seconds) in tow.

'There's no way to put that into words,' McGlaughlin said of the career gold medal mark. 'I found out that I was possibly going to be up for that earlier this season and just made it my personal goal. … This is unbelievable.'

Fellow West senior Will Scott claimed his first individual state title in grand fashion, breaking a 23-year-old state record in the 50 freestyle by three-hundredths of a second in 20.29.

'It wasn't even something I thought I could do,' said Scott, who will swim for Iowa next year. 'I didn't see it coming. I didn't even see my time until my coach told me to look.'

McGlaughlin and Scott closed their day by teaming with Aidan Keen and Oliver Martin for two freestyle relay victories, including a coveted state record time of 1:22.55 in the 200 free relay that had been a goal since the preseason. Add in the two relay state records from last season, and now all three relay records can call Iowa City West home.

'Hopefully we're going to be a generation that 20, 30 years down the road people are going to take a step back and say, 'Those guys,'' Scott said.

Cedar Rapids Washington finished fourth with 195 points, led by a pair of victories from junior Cameron Kelley. Kelley entered the meet as the top seed in both the 200 free and the 500 and did not disappoint. He trailed for most of the 200, but blistered the field over the final 25 yards and claimed gold in 1:39.50.

'I just stuck to what I know,' Kelley said. 'The back half. That is where I rule.'

Kelley had his sights set all season on the 500 free state record, a goal that appeared more possible with each successive postseason meet. After two years of falling short to Keen, Kelley reached the top of the 500 free podium in 4:29.96 and broke the 20-year-old record in the process.

'I just did what I've been doing,' Kelley said. 'Kept long, kept smooth and made sure I had the energy to finish at the end.'

After two previous top-5 finishes at the state meet, Washington senior Nick Saulnier claimed his first state title in the 100 backstroke in 49.54 seconds.

Kennedy, Linn-Mar and Jefferson all finished in the top 15.

STATE MEET

(At Marshalltown)

Teams —

1. Waukee 244, 2. Iowa City West 210, 3. Bettendorf 198.50, 4. C.R. Washington 195, 5. Johnston 182, 6. Dubuque Senior 126, 7. West Des Moines Valley 124.50, 8. Ames 122.50, 9. Dubuque Hempstead 93, 10. West Des Moines Dowling 90, 11. C.R. Kennedy 73.50, 12. Lewis Central 61, 13. Sioux City 60, 14. Linn-Mar 59, 15. C.R. Jefferson 49, 16. Newton-Pella 46, 17. Ankeny 41, 18. Waterloo 33, 19. Pleasant Valley 31, 20. Davenport North 27, 21. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln 25, 22. Boone 23, 23. Fort Dodge 21, 24. Burlington 18, 25. Des Moines Roosevelt 11, 26. Des Moines East 4, 27. Atlantic 2

200 medley relay —

1. Dubuque Senior (John Colin, Andrew Breitfelder, Jacob Hansen, Brandon Sindt), 1:34.03; 2. Bettendorf, 1:34.13; 3. Waukee; 5. CRW (Kaleb Donels, Nick Saulnier, Matt Jackson, George Durin), 1:35.19; 6. CRK (Stefan Kitsos, Reece Linder, Cade Schoenauer, Brady Gibson), 1:37.08; 7. CRJ (Nate Homan, Paul Hummell, Ryan Martin, Luke Hummell), 1:38.26; 17. ICW (Nassim Adu-Dagga, Ben Berhow, Brennon Keen, Noah Bruns), 1:40.97; 19. Iowa City High (Andrew Parr, Nate Katalinich, Eric Thomas, Riley Hall), 1:41.32; 21. LM (Zach Vana, Ethan Schmidt, Matthew Mather, Brycen Snell), 1:42.33.

200 free —

1. Cameron Kelley (CRW), 1:39.50; 2. Stjepan Fiolic (Johnston), 1:40.36; 3. Aidan Keen (ICW), 1:40.71; 11. Hogan Myers (LM), 1:47.23.

200 IM —

1. Mark McGlaughlin (ICW), 1:46.91* ; 2. Saulnier (CRK), 1:49.80; 3. Caleb Aman (Bettendorf), 1:52.58; 8. Jackson (CRW), 1:57.92; 16. Donels (CRW), 2:00.68; 17. Reid Snell (LM), 2:02.09.

50 free —

1. Will Scott (ICW), 20.29*; 2. Grant Fuhr (Johnston), 20.81; 3. Josh Waltman (Waukee), 20.98; 4. Kitsos (CRK), 21.22; 10. P. Hummell (CRJ), 21.46; 17. Matt Peng (LM), 21.80; T19. Schoenauer (CRK), 22.18.

100 butterfly —

1. Waltman (Waukee), 50.01; 2. Colin (Dubuque Senior), 50.16; Isaak Webb (Newton-Pella), 50.46; 8. Oliver Martin (ICW), 51.74; 10. Peng (LM), 51.93; T13. Schoenauer (CRK), 52.70; 15. Jackson (CRW), 52.87.

100 free —

1. McGlaughlin (ICW), 43.64*; 2. Fiolic (Johnston), 45.57; 3. Fuhr (Johnston), 46.24; 4. Scott (ICW), 46.52; 11. Durin (CRW), 47.48; 15. R. Snell (LM), 48.58; 17. B. Snell (LM), 48.74; 20. Gibson (CRK), 49.49

500 free —

1. Cameron Kelley (CRW), 4:29.96*; 2. A. Keen (ICW), 4:30.49; 3. Zach Bunn (Bettendorf), 4:38.27; 13. Myers (LM), 4:54.42; 19. Lane Griffis (ICW), 4:57.77.

200 free relay —

1. ICW (McGlaughlin, A. Keen, Martin, Scott), 1:22.55*; 2. Waukee, 1:24.73; 3. Johnston, 1:24.78; 5. CRW (Saulnier, Mitchell Anderson, Durin, Kelley), 1:25.68; 6. Linn-Mar (Peng, B. Snell, Mather, R. Snell), 1:27.18; 11. CRK (Gibson, Kitsos, Schoenauer, Linder), 1:27.75; 16. CRJ (P. Hummell, L. Hummell, Martin, ' McChesney), 1:29.02;

100 backstroke —

1. Saulnier (CRW), 49.54; 2. Colin (Dubuque Senior), 50.35; 3. Donels (CRW), 51.71; 19. Parr (Iowa City High), 56.05; 24. Eric Thomas (Iowa City High), 57.30.

100 breaststroke —

1. Webb (Newton-Pella), 56.45; 2. Kitsos (CRK), 57.50; 3. P. Hummell (CRJ), 57.56; 8. Martin (ICW), 59.19; 19. Katalinich (Iowa City High ), 1:01.97;

400 free relay —

1. ICW (McGlaughlin, A. Keen, Martin, Scott), 3:03.18; 2. Bettendorf, 3:07.56; 3. Johnston, 3:08.43; 6. CRW (Jeremy Throndson, Durin, Donels, Kelley), 3:13.00; 10. LM (Peng, B. Snell, Mather, R. Snell), 3:15.09; 21. CRK (Gibson, Spencer Davis, Clark Montover, Linder), 3:21.70; 22. CRJ (L. Hummell, Martin, Noah Hoogestraat, McChesney), 3:22.10

*— Meet record

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