Aquagirls dunk Fort Dodge
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The Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella swim team had some fun on senior night.
The lineup was shifted, mixed and matched, but that didn’t stop the Aquagirls from claiming an easy win over Fort Dodge on Thursday as NCMP drowned the Dodgers, 124-58, and honored nine senior swimmers and divers and three managers in the process.
“We changed things around because we knew Fort Dodge didn’t have a lot of swimmers,” NCMP coach Sarah Patterson said. “It helped us compete better, and the girls had more fun. The kids like to mix it up.”
Besides the seniors being honored midway through the dual, the big story of the night was sophomore Ellen Colville. Swimming in the 100 breaststroke for the first time in her NCMP varsity career, Colville broke a long-standing school record with a time of 1:19.68. The previous top mark was set by Janet Ferguson in 1983.
“It surprised me only because of the event it came in,” Patterson said. “She’s not bad in anything, but that is her weakest stroke if there is such a thing. It was jaw dropping.”
Colville also swam in the 50 freestlyle for the first time in her varsity career and took home another first-place finish after hitting the wall in 28.71.
Junior Lindsey Hook also won two events on the night, and all three varsity relay races were dominated by the Aquagirls.
Hook won the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke, hitting the wall in 1:07.02 and 1:19.41, respectively. In those two events, NCMP went 1-2-4 as freshman Kora Scotton was second in the 100 freestyle and junior Stephanie Griffith was second in the backstroke. Taking fourth in the 100 freestyle was senior Katelyn Jolivette, while senior Becky Miller was fourth in the backstroke.
In the first relay of the night — the 200 medley relay — NCMP went 1-2-4.
The first-place team consisted of Griffith, senior Michelle Rabedeaux, Hook and sophomore Courtney Meyer, while the second-place foursome included sophomore Taylor Quayle, Colville, junior Morgan Daniels and sophomore Dani Peters.
The 200-meter freestyle relay produced a 1-3 finish as the team of Daniels, senior Sally Campbell, freshman Sidney Griffith and Colville claimed first and Rabedeaux, Peters, Scotton and Meyer took third.
The final event of the night put the finishing touches on another dual win for NCMP. In the 400-meter freestyle relay, the Aquagirls went 1-2-3.
The winning team featured Meyer, Rabedeaux, Daniels and Stephanie Griffith, the second-place foursome included Sidney Griffith, junior Amber Fruetel, Miller and Scotton and the bronze-medal team was made up of Jolivette, junior Regina Starkenburg, sophomore Kari Amensen and sophomore Hannah Long.
Overall, the mixing and matching of the lineup did not produce a lot of individual wins. However, NCMP’s team is much deeper than Fort Dodge, which allowed the Aquagirls to pile up several points in every event.
In the varsity 200 freestyle, Fort Dodge’s Angela Ellendson took first, but Scotton was second, Miller was fourth and senior Leah Norcross was fifth.
Jamie Pearson won multiple events for the Dodgers, but in the 200 Individual Medley, NCMP was 2-3-4 with Stephanie Griffith taking second, Meyer grabbing third and Peters claiming fourth.
Colville won the 50 freestyle but Quayle and Campbell were third and fourth, respectively. Pearson also won the 100 butterfly, but the Aquagirls grabbed 2-4 in the event as Rabedeaux hitt the wall in second followed by Daniels and Norcross.
Ellendson won the 500 freestyle for Fort Dodge, but Sidney Griffith was second, Starkenburg was fourth and Fruetel was fifth.
Colville’s win in the 100 breaststroke was backed up by senior Kayla Piskula in third and Peters in fifth.
With only a few meets left on the schedule, Patterson is trying to get her kids through “the grind” of the season.
“We’re putting in the work, and this is the grind time,” Patterson said. “How do you handle the grind? Are we kicking our own butts.”
And with the district meet approaching, Patterson will now decide who needs to taper off in their workouts and who needs to keep rolling strong.
“Tapering really depends on the swimmer,” Patterson said. “The workhorses can’t take too much time off because they think they are heavy and out of shape if they do. They do better when they are challenged.”
NCMP has a chance to qualify for state in several events, including all three relays. Colville will get her chances at state in the 200 Individual Medley and the 500 freestyle. Rabedeaux, Meyer, Hook, Quayle, Stephanie Griffith, Daniels and Scotton could also earn trips to state.
“We’ll try to taper so we can qualify for the state meet and then be at our best for the state meet,” Patterson said. “We’ll definitely keep pressure on Ellen though.”
Thursday, the nine senior swimmers honored were Rabedeaux, Avery Amensen, Campbell, Jolivette, Miller, Norcross and Piskula. The senior divers are Jeanann Dougan and Shelby Fox, and the senior managers are Michael Odland, Alex Gearhart and Josh Adams.
“It has been a lot of fun working with these seniors this year,” Patterson said. “They cover every base of a team. They are fun, hardworking and encouraging. They have so much good leadership and have surpassed my expectations. And they are super competitive. They fight for every single point.”
The junior varsity also won easily Thursday, dumping Fort Dodge, 139-14.
Piskula won the junior varsity 200 freestyle, Avery Amensen won the junior varsity 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke, Liz McCann was victorious in the junior varsity 50 freestyle, Erin Lewis won the junior varsity 100 butterfly, Long grabbed first in the junior varsity 100 freestyle, Alexa Bainbridge swam to a win in the 500 freestyle, while Katelyn White won the junior varsity 100 backstroke.
