March 28, 2024

Cardinals fall to Dowling Catholic in swimming dual

A trip out to West Des Moines wasn’t too kind to the Newton boys swim team on Tuesday.

The Cardinals had seven top-three finishers and won two events, but the hosting Maroons still managed a 124-45 victory.

It was a big night for Newton senior exchange student Matheus Pinto, as he walked away with two individual victories and remained undefeated in dual meets. The first of the two came in the 50-yard freestyle, which Pinto completed in 22.16 seconds for a 1.69-second lead over the field. Pinto’s second win came in the 100 breaststroke, in which he edged out Dowling’s Spencer Clark by .06 seconds for a time of 1:03.88.

Newton’s highest relay finish came in the 400 free relay from the team of Pinto and seniors Luke Norcross, Ryan Jolivette and Josh Smith. The team finished second with a time of 3:41.87, finishing four seconds behind first place, but nearly seven ahead of third.

Individually, the Cards got second-place finishes from Norcross in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:04.03 and Smith in the 100 free with a time of 57.19. Jolivette earned points with a third-place finish in the 200 free, while Brandon Miller also took third in the 200 IM with a time of 2:28.39.

“I thought we did a nice job overall,” Newton coach Dave Hook said. “Obviously we had some tough competition in Dowling, but we had a lot of nice swims.”

The Cardinals also earned JV points from Logan Norcross in the 200 free, Jacob Smith in the 50 free and Jacob Thomas in the 100 backstroke.

After spending the last two meets on the road, the Cards will return to the Newton Y for a dual with Marshalltown on Thursday.