Linn-Mar breaks Cedar Rapids Washington’s 53-year boys’ swimming district title streak

CEDAR RAPIDS — For the first time in 53 years, Cedar Rapids Washington is not a district champion in boys' swimming.

A truly incredible streak, snapped by a talented and deep Linn-Mar team that spent most of its practice time the week leading up to the meet in the Warriors' pool. In fact, the district competition was held at Coe College instead of the Lions' aquatic center, due to its water temperature not meeting state competition standards for warmth.

The call wasn't made until 8 a.m. Saturday, though contingency plans had been made earlier in the week to use Coe if the Linn-Mar pool wasn't ready.

'Talk about adversity,' Linn-Mar head coach Tom Belin said. 'That's good stuff.'

The back-and-forth meet came down to the very last event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Linn-Mar had to finish fifth or better in the event and the quartet of Matt Peng, Matthew Mather, Hogan Myers and Brycen Snell obliged, finishing second.

Cedar Rapids Washington won the relay and seven of 11 total events — but still took second in the team standings, scoring 373.5 points to Linn-Mar's 380. Dubuque Senior (277), Dubuque Hempstead (272.5) and Cedar Rapids Kennedy (272) rounded out the top five in the team race.

'Things come to an end once in a while,' Washington head coach Chris Cruise said. 'I didn't have our kids well enough prepared today in order to be able to hang onto it for another year.'

During the first four events, however, it certainly looked as if the Warriors were going to run away with the title. Washington rattled off wins in the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM and 50-yard freestyle to open the meet.

However, the depth of the Linn-Mar team showed during those first few events as they were able to score points nine times individually and once in the relay.

The Lions won just two events all day. Snell took the 100-yard freestyle (47.53) and was part of the 200-yard freestyle relay (1.28.05), which was made up of the same group from the 400-yard freestyle.

'We've been talking about being a team all year,' Belin said. 'If you go back and look, it was our second and third swimmers that won this meet for us.'

Washington's Cameron Kelley was again dominant, winning the 200-yard free, the 500-yard free and was part of the winning 400-yard relay. He also picked up co-swimmer of the year honors, along with Cedar Rapid's Kennedy's Cade Schoenauer. Linn-Mar won coaching staff of the year honors.

Team Standings

1. Linn-Mar 380, 2. Cedar Rapids Washington 373.5, 3. Dubuque Senior 277, 4. Dubuque Hempstead 272.5, 5. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 272, 6. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 145, 7. Decorah 124, 8. Keokuk 73, 9. Vinton-Shellsburg 67

Events

200 medley relay — 1. C.R. Washington (Kaleb Donels, George Durin, Zach Kolker, James Breitbart), 1:38.88; 2. Dubuque Senior, 1:39.44; 3. C.R. Kennedy (Spencer Davis, Carter Kramer, Cade Schoenaur, Dawson Gibbons), 1:40.28

200 free — 1. Cameron Kelley (CRW), 1:42.78; 2. Brycen Snell (LM), 1:45.57; 3. Chris Duehr (DH), 1:45.60

200 IM — 1. Kaleb Donels (CRW), 2:01.97; 2. Noah Faldet (DEC), 2:03.35; 3. Dylan Jones (KEO), 2:06.32

50 free — 1. George Durin (CRW), 22.00; 2. Matt Peng (LM), 22.02; 3. Matthew Mather (LM), 22.13

100 fly — 1. Ca. Schoenauer (CRK), 51.60; 2. Peng (LM), 51.71; 3. Duehr (DH), 53.84

100 free — 1. Brycen Snell (LM), 47.53; 2. Tom Poggemiller (DH), 48.56; 3. Mather (LM), 49.09

500 free — 1. Cameron Kelley (CRW), 4:42.62; 2. Jeremy Throndson (CRW), 4:45.96; 3. Hogan Myers (LM), 4:46.38

200 free relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Matt Peng, Brycen Snell, Matthew Mather, Hogan Myers), 1:28.05; 2. C.R. Kennedy (Kramer, Gibbons, Ca. Schoenauer, Sean Casey), 1:28.37; 3. C.R. Washington (Breitbart, Ethan Ford, Throndson, Kelley), 1:29.49

100 back — 1. Kaleb Donels (CRW), 52.87; 2. Will Colin (DS), 54.51; 3. Ford (CRW), 55.32

100 breaststroke — 1. Paul Hummell (CRJ), 59.27; 2. Faldet (DEC), 59.96; 3. Brandon Yuan (DS), 1:02.15

400 free relay — 1. C.R. Washington (George Durin, Jeremy Throndson, Kaleb Donels, Cameron Kelley), 3:12.43; 2. Linn-Mar (Peng, Mather, Myers, Snell), 3:12.60; 3. Dubuque Senior, 3:19.46.

l Comments: jordan.hansen@thegazette.com