March 28, 2024

Newton swimmers fall in close meet to Des Moines Roosevelt

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NEWTON — Heading into the homestretch of the season, Newton’s swimmers are sharpening their fins and dropping their times. The Cardinal water dwellers continued that forward march with a strong home meet against Des Moines Roosevelt on Tuesday.

Although the Cardinals lost by a tight team score total of 87-83, Newton coach Dave Hook liked the effort he saw out of his swimmers.

“That was fantastic. I thought we did a great job,” Hook said. “I knew it was going to be a close meet, and you can tell it was by the final score. Our guys just really came to swim, and they swam well.”

Newton swims at Boone on Thursday.

Bookending the meet was a pair of Newton relay victories. The Cards’ 200-meter medley relay team of Levi Heschke, Jake Lensing, Aaron King and Josh Bailey kicked the meet off with a victory in a time of 1 minute, 59.47 seconds. Newton’s 400 freestyle relay team ended the night with a close victory over the Roughriders. That team — consisting of Austin Bunker, Jake Lensing, King and Isaak Webb — swam a time of 4:00.98.

After setting a school record for the 200 medley relay at Fort Dodge on Saturday, the Cardinals came within mere seconds of making history yet again. Webb’s first-place swim of 2:17.61 in the individual medley and Bunker’s first-place time of 4:29.53 in the 400 freestyle narrowly fell short of eclipsing two more school records, which would have brought the Cardinals’ season total to four.

“The guys definitely swam up to their capabilities,” Hook said. “We almost had another two school records set in the IM and the 400 free, so the guys did a great job. I thought Isaak had a really good night. Paul DeHart had a good night, and Zach Theis had a good night, as well.”

Newton’s 200 freestyle relay team of Webb, Bailey, Bunker and Heschke took first with a time of 1:44.83.

Bunker took first in the 200 freestyle in 2:13.91. Heschke won the 100 backstroke in 1:09.26, followed by teammate Aaron King in third at 1:12.44. Lensing won the 50 freestyle in 25.17. He also took the top spot in the 100 freestyle, winning with a time of 57.14. Aaron King took third in the 100 butterfly in 1:09.72. Webb took first in the 100 breaststoke at 1:10.68.

Newton’s JV lost, 74-57.

Jacob Thomas won the 200 freestyle in 2:36.78. Zach Theis finished second in the 200 individual medley at 2:54.22. Brock Southern and Paul Maharry finished 2-3 in the 50 freestyle, swimming times of 31.27 and 32.28, respectively. Theis won the 100 butterfly at 1:21.27. Clay Trotter took second in the 100 freestyle at 1:21.27.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Theirs, Logan Norcross, Logan Zaabel and Maharry took the top spot at 2:08.51.