Iowa City West’s Oliver Martin sprints to state gold in 50 free

MARSHALLTOWN – Throughout a decorated high school athletic career, individual gold at the boys' swimming state championships had eluded Oliver Martin.

The Iowa City West senior had been a part of seven relay victories for Trojan teams that won state championships in 2014 and 2015 and was runner-up last season.

At the state meet Saturday at the Marshalltown YMCA, Martin closed his prep swimming career with a blistering 50-yard freestyle victory in 20.72 seconds – eighth-fastest in state history – and claimed his first individual state championship.

'Personally, you always want to win an individual medal at state,” Martin said. 'That's a dream and a goal of all high-school swimmers, so I am really happy I was able to do it.”

Only five boys' swimmers in Iowa history have more gold medals, two of which are former West teammates Aidan Keen and Mark McGlaughlin. With those power-packed West teams, Martin had won seven relay golds, including state records in all three (200-yard medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle).

The individual state championships caps a whirlwind winter for Martin. The coveted football recruit remained committed to participating in as many swim meets as permitted by his schedule, which included campus recruiting visits and an appearance in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl game last month.

'When I found out about the U.S. Army (All-American Bowl) game, I knew I wasn't going to be able to do a lot of training for swimming,” Martin said. 'I had to stick to the sprint events. Once I got back, part of the sprinting is just being strong, and I was strong from football so I wasn't too worried. I got in the pool when I could and I knew I'd be fine.”

Martin signed a letter of intent Feb. 1 to play football at Michigan, a pledge that also includes the possibility of swimming for the Wolverines.

West finished ninth overall with 94 points. Waukee (259 points) won three events and claimed its second team state championship in a row.

Cedar Rapids Washington rebounded nicely after having its 53-year district title string snapped last week. The Warriors received runner-up performances from Kaleb Donels (100 backstroke) and Cameron Kelley (200 free), had all three relays reach the podium and placed fourth overall (165.5 points).

'I'd say that exceeded expectations,” Washington Coach Chris Cruise said. 'We thought kind of fifth was maybe our ceiling. We did a little bit better than that today. That's a real testament to the kids and the way that they were able to be mentally tough and bounce back after last week.”

Kelley, the defending state champion in both the 200 and the 500, placed third in the 500. Washington junior George Durin was fifth in the 50 free.

Linn-Mar was 14th behind junior Matt Peng, who placed third in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 50 free.

Iowa City High freshman Forrest Frazier sparkled in his state meet debut with a third-place effort in the backstroke. The Little Hawks finished 16th overall (45 points).

Cedar Rapids Jefferson senior Paul Hummell was fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

BOYS' SWIMMING STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Marshalltown (Marshalltown YMCA)

Teams -

1. Waukee 259; 2. Johnston 191; 3. Bettendorf 185; 4. Cedar Rapids Washington 165.5; 5. West Des Moines Dowling 160; 6. Ames 153; 7. Ankeny 144; 8. West Des Moines Valley 117; 9. Iowa City West 94; 10. Pleasant Valley 93; 12. Fort Dodge 72; 13. Sioux City 71; 14. Linn-Mar 65; 15. Cedar Falls 57; 16. Iowa City High 45; t17. Atlantic 33; t17. Council Bluffs 33; 19. Lewis Central 22; 20. Dubuque Senior 21; 21. Dubuque Hempstead 20; 22. Des Moines Roosevelt 19.5; 23. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 16; 24. Des Moines Lincoln 14; 25. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 9; 26. Decorah 7; t27. Mason City 5; t27. Muscatine 5; t29. Des Moines East 1; t29. Carroll 1.

200 medley relay -

1. Bettendorf (Caleb Aman, Ryan Schade, Ben Luppen, Zach Bunn), 1:34.08; 2. Waukee (Cameron Briggs, Grady Rogers, Gus Muenzenmay, Jackson Kuhlers), 1:35.60; 3. Ames (Ethan Johnson, Dalton Lillibridge, Misho Mahrous, Peter Matthews), 1:35.71; 5. Cedar Rapids Washington (Kaleb Donels, George Durin, Zach Kolker, James Breitbart), 1:36.20; 7. Iowa City West (Izaak Hajek, Sam Deyak, Brennon Keen, Oliver Martin), 1:37.27; 10. Iowa City High (Forrest Frazier, Louis Stephan, Eric Thomas, Mickale Sadecky), 1:38.42; 16. Linn-Mar (Zach Vana, Ethan Schmidt, Matthew Mather, Carter Lorenz), 1:42.18.

200 freestyle -

1. Zach Linder (Waukee), 1:40.72; 2. Cameron Kelley (C.R. Washington), 1:40.91; 3. Jackson Allmon (Council Bluffs), 1:41.41; t14. Jeremy Throndson (C.R. Washington), 1:47.14; t14. Brycen Snell (Linn-Mar), 1:47.14; 17. Hogan Myers (Linn-Mar), 1:47.37.

200 individual medley -

1. Caleb Aman (Bettendorf), 1:49.43; 2. Jackson Kuhlers (Waukee), 1:51.89; 3. Dalton Lillibridge (Ames), 1:53.62; 9. Kaleb Donels (C.R. Washington), 1:58.84; 16. Eric Thomas (I.C. High), 2:01.60; 23. Izaak Hajek (I.C. West), 2:04.21.

50 freestyle -

1. Oliver Martin (I.C. West), 20.72; 2. Grant Fuhr (Johnston), 20.92; 3. Alex Overton (Johnston), 20.98; 5. George Durin (C.R. Washington), 21.37; 6. Matt Peng (Linn-Mar), 21.88; 15. Paul Hummell (C.R. Jefferson), 22.31; 17. Matthew Mather (Linn-Mar), 22.47; 22. Carter Kramer (C.R. Kennedy), 22.71; 24. Brennon Keen (I.C. West), 23.09.

100 butterfly -

1. Jackson Kuhlers (Waukee), 50.11; 2. Mitchell Emery (Fort Dodge), 50.37; 3. Matt Peng (Linn-Mar), 51.10; 9. Cade Schoenauer (C.R. Kennedy), 52.55; 13. Izaak Hajek (I.C. West), 53.68; 22. Zach Kolker (C.R. Washington), 55.68; 23. Drew Simmons (C.R. Jefferson), 56.40.

100 freestyle -

1. Zach Linder (Waukee), 45.81; 2. Grant Fuhr (Johnston), 45.98; 3. Oliver Martin (I.C. West), 46.36; 12. Brycen Snell (Linn-Mar), 48.52.

500 freestyle -

1. Dylan Moffatt (Cedar Falls), 4:32.24; 2. Jackson Allmon (Council Bluffs), 4:36.44; 3. Cameron Kelley (C.R. Washington), 4:36.88; 11. Lane Griffis (I.C. West), 4:51.80; 12. Hogan Myers (Linn-Mar), 4:52.31; 15. Zach Kolker (C.R. Washington), 4:54.15; 16. Nick Cavanah (Linn-Mar), 4:54.30; 21. Jeremy Throndson (C.R. Washington), 4:57.49.

200 freestyle relay -

1. Johnston (Alex Overton, Scott Lair, Grant Lair, Grant Fuhr), 1:25.41; 2. Waukee (Zach Linder, Mitchell Pollitt, Grady Rogers, Cameron Briggs), 1:26.46; 3. Sioux City (Cody Ott, Nathan Gobell, Brennan Gorski, William Rankin), 1:26.75; 4. C.R. Washington (George Durin, James Breitbart, Ethan Ford, Cameron Kelley), 1:27.08; 10. Iowa City West (Oliver Martin, Brennon Keen, Ben Berhow, Noah Bruns), 1:28.23; 12. Linn-Mar (Matt Peng, Matthew Mather, Brycen Snell, Hogan Myers), 1:28.38; 17. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Carter Kramer, Clark Montover, Cade Schoenauer, Sean Casey), 1:30.46.

100 backstroke -

1. Caleb Aman (Bettendorf), 50.89; 2. Kaleb Donels (C.R. Washington), 51.11; 3. Forrest Frazier (I.C. High), 52.06; 18. Eric Thomas (I.C. High), 56.05; 23. Ethan Ford (C.R. Washington), 56.74.

100 breaststroke -

1. Dalton Lillibridge (Ames), 57.87; 2. Ryan Schade (Bettendorf), 58.10; 3. Andrew Shie (Davenport Central), 58.14; 5. Paul Hummell (C.R. Jefferson), 58.62; 9. Forrest Frazier (I.C. High), 59.86; 10. Noah Faldet (Decorah), 1:00.05; 11. Ben Berhow (I.C. West), 1:00.20; 12. Louis Stephan (I.C. High), 1:01.21; 13. Sam Deyak (I.C. West), 1:01.35.

400 freestyle relay -

1. Johnston (Grant Fuhr, Scott Lair, Grant Lair, Alex Overton), 3:07.62; 2. Waukee (Zach Linder, Grady Rogers, Gus Muenzenmay, Jackson Kuhlers), 3:08.41; 3. Bettendorf (Zach Bunn, Charlie Bunn, Ryan Schade, Caleb Aman), 3:09.17; 4. Cedar Rapids Washington (George Durin, Jeremy Throndson, Kaleb Donels, Cameron Kelley), 3:10.23; 11. Linn-Mar (Matt Peng, Matthew Mather, Hogan Myers, Brycen Snell), 3:14.70; 18. Iowa City West (Noah Bruns, Izaak Hajek, Ethan McAreavy, Ben Berhow), 3:20.21; 22. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Cade Schoenauer, Spencer Davis, Sean Casey, Clark Montover), 3:21.89.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com