Cardinal swimmers ready for state meet

Loose and ready to compete are Newton High’s boys who qualified for Saturday’s 2015 Iowa High School Boys’ State Swimming Championships.

Senior Jake Lensing and junior Isaak Webb make a return trip to the state high school swim meet. Junior Aaron King and freshman Lucas Warner have not competed in the Iowa high school state meet but have competed in “big meets” before swimming at the club level.

The state meet begins at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA swimming pool. Admission for all spectators is $10.

Joining the four qualifiers is sophomore Reese Rosenquist as the team alternate. King was in that spot a year ago.

“It’s exciting. This year I get to swim at state and not just watch,” King said. King anchors the Newton 200-yard medley relay with the freestyle. He also swims on the 200 freestyle relay.

Newton qualified in both relay races. The Cardinals’ 200 medley team was a district champion and the 200 freestyle relay took second at district. Lensing, Webb, Warner and King recorded Newton High record times in both races.

Newton’s 200 medley goes in with the ninth fastest time, 1 minute, 38.13 seconds, and the freestyle relay is seeded at No. 10 at 1:28.26.

“I think we’re sitting in real good spots with our relays at state,” said Dave Hook, Newton head coach. “Being in the middle lanes of the second heat is a perfect place to be. We’ll have fast competition on both sides. We’re out to win our heat, drop our time and place in the top six to get on the podium.”

Every swimmer’s goal is to reach the top six in an event to be on the podium and receive a state medal.

“I just want to have another good meet,” said Webb, who is qualified in four events at the state meet. “As a team, we’re just out to make it fun and enjoy the competition.”

Webb is a district champion in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke in school record times. He has the third-fastest time in the butterfly, 51.73 seconds, going into the state meet. Webb is seeded eighth in the breaststroke, 59.54 seconds, and Lensing is 19th, 1:01.45.

“I want to swim a sub-one minute in the breaststroke,” said Lensing, who also is qualified in four events. “In the 50 freestyle, I’d like to get a 21-second time. I’ve put in some extra technique work with Coach Hook and Coach (Sarah) Patterson and my other coaches. I applied it in my last 50 of the 200 freestyle relay at district and got my best split ever. I hope it helps me at state.”

Lensing is seeded at No. 23 in the 50 freestyle race, qualifying with a time of 22.37 seconds. Warner will swim in the 100 freestyle race, going in with the 17th-fastest time of 49.02 seconds.

Lensing swims the breaststroke leg of the medley relay while Warner leads off with the backstroke. Webb swims the butterfly leg.

“For the relays, I want to go out and not let these guys down. It’s exciting going to my first state meet, but I am a bit nervous,” Warner said. “I’ve always been the older guy in my age group and in faster heats, but this time I’m the young guy in the slow heat. I hope to compete well in the 100 freestyle. I want my turns to look good and swim a low 47 (second) time.

Rosenquist knows the only way he’ll compete at state this season is if someone gets hurt or sick. He said going as the alternate gives him an opportunity to see what a state meet is and what to work for next year.

“If someone should get hurt, it would be a great opportunity for me to swim. But more important right now is to have another week of practicing and hanging out with my teammates,” Rosenquist said.

Hook and assistant coach Sarah Patterson worked the Cardinals hard with yardage in the pool Monday. Hook said the rest of the week is about decreasing the yardage work and increasing intensity.

“We’re doing the same thing we did in preparing for district. That worked well for us,” Hook said. “This is a great group of guys. Our main goal for Saturday is try to improve our times. As long as we improve our times, we’ve had a successful meet.”

Saturday’s IHSAA state swim meet will be video streamed live on the internet through the NFHS Network. Go to NFHSNetwork.com for more information.

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