West swimmers ready for the chase

IOWA CITY - They destroyed the Mississippi Valley Conference record book and made a sizable dent in the state annals, but there still are times to chase for the Iowa City West boys' swimming team.

Led by a trio of Division I signees in Aidan Keen, Mark McGlaughlin and Will Scott, West begins pursuit of a third consecutive state championship when it opens the season Dec. 1 at defending state runner-up Cedar Rapids Washington.

'It's rare,” West Coach Rob Miecznikowski said of having three D-I swimmers on one squad. 'It really is. If you're lucky, you get one every three, four years to go Division I major like that. ... It's a heck of a luxury to have that at one time.”

The sprinter McGlaughlin, a North Carolina State signee, is a two-time state champion in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 free. Distance swimmer Keen matched the feat in the 200 free and the 500 and will swim for Missouri next year. Their successes provided a blueprint of preparation for teammates like Scott, a 6-foot-5 sprinter who opted to stay close to home and swim collegiately for Coach Marc Long at Iowa.

'In previous years I have always been very hesitant with my work because these guys, Mark and Aidan, they're on another level compared to me,” Scott said. 'When these guys tell me, all of a sudden, ‘Hey, Will. You should lead the lane for this workout,' or ‘Hey, Will. You should go in front of Aidan for this workout,' it kind of pushed me to put one foot in front of the other.”

Keen, McGlaughlin and Scott have busy swim schedules outside of high school competition. McGlaughlin was named to the USA Swimming National Junior Team over the summer and he and Keen have qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials, with Scott not far behind. While these grand pursuits likely will interrupt the high school season - including a trip to Junior Nationals for all three in December - the decision to participate in a final year of high school swimming was a relatively quick one.

'I think we all just kind of sat down and we looked at each other and we said, ‘Why not go after more records?'” Scott said. 'It is such a team atmosphere - the West team - you just want to keep on going back every year.”

West established records in eight of 11 events at last year's MVC meet and collected two relay records (200-yard medley and 400 free) at state. With Keen, McGlaughlin and Scott teaming with junior Oliver Martin, who is fresh off an exceptional football season with the Trojans, the quartet is focused on not just eclipsing the two-year-old 200 free relay mark of 1:23.99, but besting their own 400 free relay standard of 3:02.98.

'I'm really excited,” Scott said. 'We're definitely going to do it. I think I can say that now. We're going to work our butts off.”

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com