Newton swimmers set for cool runnings in 2015-16

Newton High’s boys hit the competitive waters with nine returning swimmers in 2015-16. They return three state meet qualifiers.

“The team looks pretty good so far. We have individual swimmers who a very good,” senior Zach Theis said. “We’re working on being a team. I’m excited to see how the season progresses.”

Theis is one of four seniors on the Cardinal swim squad this season. He swims the individual medley, the butterfly and the breaststroke.

Chet Adams, Isaak Webb and Aaron King are the other seniors. Webb holds six individual team records and is on six record-holding relay teams.

King and sophomore Lucas Warner are on record-holding relay teams for Newton. Webb, King and Warner come to the NHS team from Pella. All three qualified for state last year.

Newton has two sets of school records in the pool. The Cardinal home pool at the Newton YMCA is in meters, while all other pools the team swims in are measured in yards.

“I look for us to have a great season. Our goal is to win half of our dual meets, finish in the top half of all our invitationals, finish in the top three at Districts and send individuals and relays to the state meet,” NHS swim team head coach Dave Hook.

Hook is in his 19th season as Cardinal head coach. Newton was 5-6 in dual meets last year and 2-0 for second in the North Central Iowa Conference.

“We should do well against our conference competition (Grinnell, Oskaloosa, Vinton-Shellsburg and Decorah),” Hook said. “It should be a super conference meet at Grinnell college when the time comes.”

Webb is the top swimmer back for the Cardinals. Webb finished second at state in the 100-yard butterfly in school-record time of 51.69 seconds. He was 13th in the 100 breaststroke at state.

Webb, King and Warner set a school record of 1 minute, 27.86 seconds as part of the 200 freestyle relay at state last year. The Cardinal relay finished sixth, earning medals.

King, Webb and Warner were on the district championship in the 200 medley relay. Webb claimed district titles in the butterfly and breaststroke races.

“Our state qualifiers look real good at this point in the season as two of them have been swimming club,” Hook said. “We have swimmers like Paul Maharry, Jacob Knoll and others who will fill in on some of the varsity relays this season. They have made improvements from last season.”

Adams swims the freestyle and backstroke. Also back are juniors Logan Heisdorffer and Maharry and sophomores Grant Hamand and Knoll.

“We might be a small squad, but we’re strong,” Adams said. “We have individuals who bring strengths to different races. We’re working on putting together strong relays.”

Theis said he was going to wait until after the team’s first meet, which was Tuesday at home, before he set his personal goals for the season. Adams said he wanted to keep improving and get his times down.

Hook said the team’s strength is in a good group of junior and senior swimmers. He said the freshmen you are talented and will add depth to the lineup.

“We have several swimmers on the team who can swim multiple events and swim them well,” Hook said. “I’m really impressed with our four freshmen and how they have taken on a great work ethic in practice.”

Hook said the low numbers — 14 — is a concern. He said it would be nice to have some junior varsity swimmers this season.

Newton takes on Oskaloosa and host Des Moines Lincoln Tuesday. The Cardinals host the Newton Invitational Dec. 5 at the Newton YMCA.

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