Aquagirls beat Southeast Polk, lose to Johnston in SEP pool

PLEASANT HILL — Facing two other swim teams ranked in the top 20 power rankings for the state, NCMP had a good gage of where it is at this point in the season. The NCMP Aquagirls are right in the middle of those power rankings at No. 10 and competed against No. 6 Johnston and No. 16 Southeast Polk Tuesday at Southeast Polk’s pool.

“We had a good middle of the season meet tonight. Johnston is ranked quite a bit above us in the power rankings and Southeast Polk is just below, so we had a lot of tough, fast races tonight,” said Sarah Patterson, NCMP head coach. “Our girls are in a requisite stretch of training right now — we’re feeling the fatigue, but I thought they swam well.”

The Aquagirls recorded a 58-44 win over host Southeast Polk, but lost 64-38 to Johnston. Johnston defeated Southeast Polk, 65-37.

NCMP’s only overall event win came in the 200-yard freestyle relay race. Sara Martin, Hannah Scotton, Alexis Stout and Samantha Hedrick won in battle in the water, touching in 1 minute, 43.22 seconds, just ahead of Southeast Polk at 1:43.28 and Johnston at 1:43.87.

“Talk about fingernails,” Patterson said of the close race. “Every girls turned in a good leg and Samantha’s anchor time of 24.30 seconds was the fastest on all there teams.”

Hedrick had one individual event on the night as she was on three relays. She made the most of her race, taking on top-rated Allyssa Fluit from Southeast Polk. She placed second with a 53.24 but had great splits and was chasing Fluit down at the end, Patterson said.

“I told her that my favorite part of the race was that she did not show nerves or back down before or during the race. That is the sign of a mature competitor. Sophomore Willa Colville continues to improve weekly, posting a 1:02.66 time in the event,” Patterson said.

Patterson said both Johnston and Southeast Polk are strong in the mid to distance races, so NCMP didn’t place well, but looked strong in the back half of races. Rachel Prendergast swam a smart 200 race and posted her best 2014 season time. Freshman Jessica Zahn is making huge strides; she swam a first-time ever 2:42.92 junior varsity 200 individual medley, while also continuing to drop time in the 500 freestyle where she went a 6:19.55 for second in the junior varsity race.

Hannah Rhoads and Sierra Griffith went third and fifth in the varsity individual medley race in 2:24.16 and 2:32.13, respectively. Sydney Jenkins and Martin had fast 50 freestyle times in 26.41 seconds and 27.78 seconds for the varsity.

Jenkins posted her fastest time of the season, 1:05.07, in placing second in the varsity backstroke race and Rachel Prendergast was fourth in 1:08.14. Sarah Prendergast swam in the 100 backstroke event for the first time and played second in the junior varsity race.

Rhoads and Griffith went second and third in the varsity breaststroke event. Scotton and Martin were second and fourth in the varsity 100 butterfly with Martin recording her personal-best time of 1:05.06.

“Our divers continue to be a highlight for us, with freshman Morgann Eide placing second in a strong field and notching her best score to date with a score of 208.85,” Patterson said. “Anna Barr won the junior varsity event handily with a score of 137.20.”

In an exciting and close race to finish out the night, the NCMP foursome of Scotton, R. Prendergast, Jenkins and Hedrick finished second in the 400 freestyle relay. Southeast Polk, which is ranked in the top three in the state in the event, won it.

Emily Miller and S. Prendergast notched a 1-2 finish in the junior varsity 100 butterfly for the Aquagirls. Stout took third in the junior varsity 100 freestyle in 1:01.15, while teammate Morgan Altman was sixth in a personal-best time in 1:08.90.

NCMP will not be going to Saturday’s Marshalltown Invitational. Patterson said the team has three Saturday meet ins in a row “and with this one on homecoming, it was too much, so we decided to drop the meet.”

The Aquagirls will use next week to prepare for the West Des Moines Valley Invitational on Sept. 27.

Contact Sports Editor Jocelyn Sheets at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com.