March 28, 2024

Records fall as NHS swimmers take second at Cardinal Invite

Isaak Webb has had quite the week inside the pool at the Newton YMCA

Webb tore down a sign on the record board Thursday after setting a new school best time in the 100-meter butterfly.

Saturday, he joined three teammates in tearing another sign down and nearly ripped off two more individual ones as well.

Webb joined Jeffery Fitzgerald, Lucas Warner and Jake Lensing as new record holders of the 200-meter freestyle relay when the foursome hit the wall in 1 minute, 43.76 seconds.

Before that, Webb was .7 seconds off a new school-best mark in the 200 individual medley and then he also came within .53 seconds of setting a new school record in the 100 breaststroke.

Indianola, though, was a little deeper and swam a smidge better in the team race and bested the Cardinals by 3.5 points. The Indians trailed Newton for most of the day but claimed a 1-3 finish in the backstroke and a 1-2 tally in the 400 freestyle.

Indianola, which also won the event last year, scored 256 points, while Newton recorded 252.5. Decorah defeated Newton for second last year but came in third this time with 242.

The rest of the six-team field included Grinnell/BGM (108), Oskaloosa (43.5) and Vinton-Shellsburg (40).

“I thought we did really well. I knew it would be a competitive meet and we competed really well,” Newton coach Dave Hook said. “The backstroke finish by Indianola was kind of the tipping point in the standings, but the swimmers in each event did what they could do and it came down to the last few races.”

Webb and Lensing both won two individual titles and were a part of Newton’s winning 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams.

Webb’s near-record time in the IM was 2:17.90 and he won the race by 18 seconds. The current record is 2:17.20 and it was set in 1982 by Jeff Schnoebelen.

Webb also nearly set a new mark in the 100 breaststroke as he crossed the line in 1:10.58. The record for that race is 1:10.03.

“I just try to stay relaxed, work hard in practice and hope to get better every day,” Webb said. “Every meet I have some goals in mind. I think what I set are reasonable goals, and I just do the best I can with achieving them.”

Lensing won both the 50 and 100 freestyle. His 25.05 in the 50 was more than a second faster than the runner-up, and he bested the second-place finisher in the 100 by more than 3 seconds following a time of 56.78.

Warner also got points for the Cardinals in the 100 freestyle as he took third in 1:01.62.

King had a pair of top-two individual finishes to his name Saturday. He won the 100 butterfly in 1:07.10, which was .56 seconds better than the runner-up. He also was second in the 200 freestyle earlier in the day. That time was 2:23.59.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Webb, Fitzgerald, Warner and Lensing won the race by 6.5 seconds. And it was the first school record for Fitzgerald.

“It was really exciting,” Fitzgerald said. “This is my fourth year now so I really wanted a record. (Webb) and (Warner) helped us out a lot with that record. We all just stepped up. They told us what we each needed to get and we knew as we were swimming that we were on pace. It was just cool to see the time pop up and know that we beat it by a second.”

The winning 400 freestyle relay team included Lensing, King, Warner and Webb. That foursome did not set a new record but their time of 3:56.91 was only 4.5 seconds off the mark.

Webb has confidence that the other two individual race records, the IM and the 100 breaststroke, will come eventually. The Cardinals also may tear off the 400 freestyle relay board.

“The addition of Pella has helped us out a lot,” said Hook of the recent success and record-setting performances. “But it’s also because they are just swimming well. The YMCA programs are helping out and the Pella club program is helping us a lot, too.”

Contact Troy Hyde at
641-792-3121 ext. 6536 or thyde@newtondailynews.com