Washington Warriors win 47th consecutive district swimming title

CEDAR RAPIDS - There are few certainties in this world, but among those you can count on are death, taxes and Cedar Rapids Washington boys' district swimming titles.

The Warriors roared to their 47th consecutive district crown Saturday, whipping second-place Dubuque Senior by 38 points at the Washington pool.

There were five other district meets Saturday. All district winners and the next 18 fastest times from across the state automatically qualify for this week's state meet at the Marshalltown YMCA. Another entry could be added if a district winner's time is the slowest among qualifiers.

Senior is the defending state champion. Washington has won 27 state titles, the last in 2008.

Washington won five individual events, led by sophomore double winner Morgan Barnes. The Warriors' other victory, the 200-yard medley relay, got the meet off to a roaring start with a 1:37.89 clocking that earns it All-American consideration.

“The medley relay started us out fast and we just kept going,” said Washington Coach Chris Cruise, whose team finished fourth, 12 points behind Senior, at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet two weeks ago at Kennedy.

If beating Senior wasn't enough motivation for the Warriors, they also got pre-meet pep talks from Tom Proctor and Geoff Mykleby, former swimmers who were inducted into the Washington Hall of Fame Friday night, and former Olympian John Kinsella.

“That was awesome,” said Barnes, who won the 200 and 500 freestyle. “We didn't want to lose. It was good seeing everyone get up for their races.”

All swimmers were up a little higher for the first five events. The meet was stopped for about five minutes after the 100 butterfly to drain about three inches of water out of the pool.

“The pool was actually too low when we came in this morning, so we were pumping water in. I guess it just got a little too high,” said Cruise, whose Warriors swam the entire meet like they were 3 feet above the waterline. Junior Mo Green shaved 10 seconds off his individual medley seed time and finished sixth. He came back three events later and dropped 3.7 seconds off his butterfly seed time to win that event.

“Those certainly were key swims for us,” Cruise said. “But we had a great overall performance by a lot of kids today.”

Washington sophomore Ian Ford won the 100 backstroke and senior Joseph Gallet the 100 breaststroke.

Decorah senior Nathan Maloney won the 200 IM. The Vikings finished fifth, behind Cedar Rapids Kennedy and ahead of Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Dubuque Hempstead junior Ben Loeffelholz won the 50 and 100 freestyle and was named the meet's outstanding athlete.

By Mike Koolbeck, Correspondent