District streak on the line

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids Washington is a boys' swimming program rooted in tradition.Year after year, the Warriors bleach their hair blond, later shave it off, taper and ultimately add to their remarkable run of district domination, which stands at 45 straight titles.There have been a few state championships along the way as well - a state-record 27 titles, in fact."The traditions in general are a big part of this team," Washington Coach Chris Cruise said. "Having seen it work, it gives you a lot of confidence that it can work again."The power of those traditions will be put to the test Saturday for the defending state champion Warriors, ranked seventh in the Iowa High School Swim Coaches Association power ratings.Second-ranked Dubuque Senior made a strong statement at the Mississippi Valley Conference meet Jan. 24, and Washington will be hard-pressed to extend its district streak to 46 titles.The Rams captured the conference championship with 365 points - 81 ahead of the third-place Warriors."Senior swam a great meet, and we weren't mentally or physically ready to go," Cruise said. "We have some work to do again after losing to them by 80 points."Similar work has been done this season.Washington lost dual meets to No. 6 Bettendorf by 45 points and No. 3 West Des Moines Valley by 24 points before beating both teams for the team title at the Dr. John Ferguson Midwest Championship Jan. 17."To their credit, they bounce back from things pretty quickly," Cruise said. "I'm always amazed when they maybe do not have a great meet, but instead of sulking in their boots about it they bounce back and swim really, really well when they absolutely have to. We saw a great example of that at the Ferguson meet."Expect a repeat effort at districts Saturday at Kennedy. But because Cruise doesn't expect the Rams to come back to the pack one bit, will it be enough to overtake Senior?"We know we have to work hard. It was shocking at MVC," said senior John Sevier, the MVC champion in the 50 freestyle. "It's not over. We're not going belly-up for Senior."Sevier conceded that the Warriors were really tired at the MVC meet, which marked the conclusion of their first hard week of tapering.Will McCartan admits Washington places more emphasis on the district and state meets compared to the MVC competition."Our sights have always been on the end of the year," McCartan said. "Things didn't go right (at the MVC meet), but we have to forget about it."Previous meet results and current opponents mean little to the Warriors.They know what personal challenges are ahead, and how to meet them.Those many district and state titles in their school's history inject them with confidence."We just try to swim as fast as we can," McCartan said. "We're pretty confident that if we do that, Coach Cruise will have the lineup done whatever way it takes to win the meet."n Contact the writer: (319) 339-3177 or john.riehl@gazcomm.com

By John RiehlThe Gazette john.riehl@gazettecommunications.com