Cardinals have cool runnings against the Scarlets

Jeffrey Fitzgerald, Newton senior, hadn’t taken to the water for the 400-meter freestyle since he was a sophomore. He jumped into the race this week and seemed to be comfortable in the long-distance competition.

Tuesday night against Des Moines East, Fitzgerald pushed out strong early and finished strong, winning the race in 5 minutes, 21.98 seconds.

“I swam the 500-yard in districts as a sophomore in 6:06. Tonight’s converted time from meters to yards is about a 6:06,” Fitzgerald said. “I swam it Saturday here and I dropped 24 seconds from Saturday.”

Fitzgerald said on Newton’s summer swim team, he had coaches Sarah Patterson and Chris Forsyth, who also coach the girls’ high school team, tell him go out strong the first 200 “and your body will be able to finish like you started.”

The Cardinals started out strong at home in the dual with Des Moines East and never let up. They won the varsity meet, 114-56.

Three more Newton boys’ records fell in the meter pool.

Senior Jake Lensing set a new NHS mark in the 100-meter breaststroke. Lensing pulled away from the field to win in 1:09.92.

The old record was 1:10.03 set by Matheus Pinto in 2012.

“I’ve had it in my sights since last year. I didn’t think I’d get it this early in the season,” Lensing said. “We worked had stroke lanes in practice Monday and I worked hard on my breaststroke. I was hoping I’d get close to the record tonight.”

Lensing said he really was feeling a bit tired in the breaststroke race after swimming the 100 freestyle event.

“I just asked God to pull me through and he did,” Lensing said.

Isaak Webb, a junior, broke two more individual records. He said he was so close to the 200-meter individual medley time in Saturday’s home invitational that he knew it would come for him.

It did Tuesday night. He was chasing a 32-year-old record of 2:17.20 set by Jeff Schnoebelon in 1982. Webb posted a 2:17.90 Saturday in winning the 200 IM.

“I was super close to it on Saturday so I really wanted to get that one tonight,” Webb said of his dominating swim in the event against the Scarlets. Webb won the race in 2:16.44 with East’s Kegan Dolphin in a distant second at 2:51.78,

Later in the meet, Webb took down another school record in the 100-meter backstroke. Austin Bunker set the mark of 1:03.43 in 2013. Webb claimed first place in the race against East, swimming it in 1:02.85.

“The 100 backstroke was just ‘hey, see if I can go do it,’” Webb said.

The Cardinals went 1-3 in the first event of the meet — the 200 medley relay. Fitzgerald and Lensing combined with Lucas Warner and Reese Rosenquist to win in 2:01.62 while Brock Southern, Paul Maharry, Christian Laube and Zach Theis came in at 2:20.99.

Aaron King, Rosenquist and Theis finished second, third and fourth, respectively, in the 200 freestyle in 2:16.28, 2:34.49 and 2:37.60. Maharry placed third in the 200 individual medley in 3:01.18 and Jacob Knoll was fourth in 3:01.79.

Warner won the 50 freestyle in 26.33 seconds with Fitzgerald in third at 27.84 and Clay Trotter taking fifth in 31.17. Lensing beat out Warner in winning the 100 freestyle in 57.40 seconds to Warner’s 1:00.03. Southern was fourth in 1:11.14.

King snared another individual win in the 100 butterfly in 1:10.65. Rosenquist placed second in 1:17.74 and Logan Heisdorffer was fourth in 1:35.74. Laube finished third in 400 freestyle in 5:41.13 and Karl Recknagel was fifth in 6:40.23.

In the 100 backstroke, Heisdorffer was fourth in 1:28.85 and Grant Hamand placed sixth in 1:58.23. Maharry finished third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:25.24 and Theis took fifth in 1:29.30.

Newton’s Webb, King, Maharry and Warner combined to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.41. The foursome of Theis, Heisdorffer, Chet Adams and Knoll took third in 2:08.25.

In the final event of the night, Webb, King, Fitzgerald and Lensing flew in the water to a large-margin victory in the 400 freestyle relay. They won in 4:11.27 and Newton’s Laube, Recknagel, Heisdorffer and Rosenquist was second in 4:49.92.

“It was a great meet for us. East has a lot of good swimmers and I knew it was going to be a challenge for our guys,” said Dave Hook, Newton head coach. “Our guys really stepped up and took it to them.”

Hook said the whole team performed well. He said the younger and less experienced swimmers are stepping up and helping the team develop depth.

In junior varsity action, Southern won the 50 freestyle in 30.48 and Recknagel was second in 33.41. Adams was second in the 200 freestyle in 3:30.42 and Hamand took third in the 100 freestyle.

Adams, Recknagel, Knoll and Hamand turned in a first-place time of 2:44.19 in the 200 medley relay. In the 400 freestyle relay, Knoll, Adams, Hamand and Southern took first.

The Cardinals head to the Marshalltown Invitational Saturday.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com