FORT DODGE — Swimming where they need to be at this time of the season are Newton High’s Cardinals, according to head coach Dave Hook.
The Cardinal boys turned in a strong outing at Saturday’s Fort Dodge High Rusty Garst Invitational. Newton finishes fourth in seven-team field at Fort Dodge. Sioux City won the team title with 291 points followed by Fort Dodge at 213 points.
Carroll took third with 186 points. Newton was fourth with 167 points and Decorah placed fifth with 154. Waterloo West had 132 points and Spencer scored 69 points.
“It was a good meet for us with a lot of dropped times by the boys. That is showing our progress,” Hook said. “We’re swimming right where we want to be at this time and we’re very competitive.”
Newton’s Isaak Webb captured first place in the 200-yard individual medley and in the 100 butterfly. Webb took the individual medley in 2 minutes, 2.87 seconds and won the butterfly race in 53.57 seconds.
Jake Lensing won the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.30. Lensing finished third in the 50 freestyle in 23.08 seconds. Lucas Warner placed third in the 100 freestyle in 51.11 second and third in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.33.
“We finished second in two relays — the 200 medley and the 200 freestyle — being out touched by Sioux City in both races. Those were exciting races,” Hook said.
Webb, Warner and Lensing combined with Aaron King to swim a season’s best 1:31.10 for second in the 200 freestyle relay. The Cardinal 200-medley relay team of Webb, Lensing, King and Jeffery Fitzgerald came close to a season’s best time in taking second in 1:43.71.
The 400 freestyle relay foursome of Fitzgerald, Clay Trotter, Jacob Knoll and Warner placed sixth in 3:45.26. Fitzgerald placed ninth in the 100 freestyle race in 55.75 seconds and Grant Hamand was 21st in 1:21.44. Fitzgerald was 12th in the 50 freestyle in 24.72 seconds and Brock Southern turned in a 27.11-second swim for 20th.
King finished eighth in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.63 as Newton’s Chet Adams was 19th in 2:48.80 and Hamand was 21st in 3:01.31. King took 10th in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.09 and Knoll was 15th in 1:08.08.
Paul Maharry was 15th in the 200 individual medley in 2:30.58 and 17th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.69. Karl Recknagel placed 20th in the breaststroke race in 1:18.75. Knoll took 19th in the 100 butterfly in 1:13.16.
Christian Laube posted a time of 6:14.86, dropping 20 seconds off his time, for 13th in the 500 freestyle race.
Newton travels to Des Moines Tuesday to compete against host Des Moines Roosevelt.
The Cardinals are at home Thursday for Senior Night, swimming against Grinnell and Boone at Newton’s YMCA. Races begin at 5:30 p.m.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com