Blommers breaks NCMP’s oldest record

GRINNELL — Records are meant to be broken.

This one had stood for 29 years. The oldest record on the NCMP Aquagirl board tumbled Thursday in the second meet of the 2016 season.

“Last season, I really focused on getting the record. I was really close to it but didn’t get it,” sophomore Lindsey Blommers said after winning the 100-yard breaststroke race. “This year I was really determined to do it. I had my eye on that record.”

Blommers set the NCMP 100 breaststroke record in 1 minute, 9.47 as she pulled away from the field of Indianola and Grinnell swimmers. Meredith Clingman of Indianola was second in Thursday’s race at Grinnell College’s pool in 1:14.73.

“I practiced all summer and knew I’d come back this fall stronger,” Blommers said. “I really wanted to get the record, which was set back in 1987. It means a lot to me to get the record.”

Natalie Hoffmeier’s NCMP 100-yard breaststroke record was 1:09.91 set in 1987. Blommers sets her sights on the 100-meter breaststroke mark of 1:19.68 owned by Ellen Colville from 2009. The meter mark can be set in NCMP’s home pool, which is a meter-pool at Newton’s YMCA.

Blommers won the 50-yard freestyle race in 26.69 seconds earlier at Grinnell. She also swam on NCMP’s two winning relays — 200 medley and the 200 freestyle — before setting the breaststroke record. Those were the four races the Aquagirls won in the water against host Grinnell and Indianola.

NCMP chalked up its first team dual win of the 2016 season, beating Grinnell 75-26. The Aquagirls came up seven points short against Indianola, 50.55-43.5. Indianola defeated Grinnell, 80-21.

“Our girls did a fantastic job tonight,” NCMP head coach Sarah Patterson said. “In the power rankings, Indianola was 200 points ahead of us, and we only lost by seven points. I couldn’t be happier as we were vying for the lead against Indianola at the finish.”

Winning two of the three relay events was big for NCMP, Patterson said. She said the relays were all in the mix during the meet, which is all she can ask of the swimmers.

The Aquagirl foursome of Sarah Prendergast, Blommers, Emily Miller and Lakin Jenkins provided the foundation of the team’s strong showing Thursday. They combined to win the 200 medley relay, which was the first event of the night, in 2:00.69. The other NCMP medley relay team of Julia Prime, Allison Paulius, Courtney Dawson and Jaclyn Michener was fourth in 2:14.93.

Just before the diving competition break, Blommers recorded a personal first-place finish in the 50 freestyle race. She won the race with Michener tying for fourth in 28.90 seconds.

“I’ve never swam the 50 free before. I usually compete in the (200) individual medley event, but coach wanted to put me in the 50,” Blommers said. “I went out and did it. I’m very happy with my results. I really felt good tonight going into the meet. The medley relay race was a good practice for me, swimming the breaststroke leg of it.”

Blommers led off the NCMP’s 200 freestyle relay followed by Jessica Zahn, Alex Inskeep and Miller as the anchor. The quartet posted a winning time of 1:50.70, which was two seconds faster than Indianola. The NCMP team of Morgan Altman, Michener, Sarah Urias and Willa Colville placed third in 1:57.47.

“Lindsey had a good freshman season last year but really came back determined to be better this season. She told me her goal was to break the breaststroke record, so now we have it under our belts and can see how far we can push it,” Patterson said. “Lindsey has shown leadership with the team as a whole and her two other Pella teammates, who are both freshmen this year.”

Prendergast had a close race in the 100 freestyle event for NCMP. She was out-touched by Indianola’s Madison Geurts. Geurts won the race in 59.05 seconds to Prendergast’s 59.14-second timing. Jenkins was fourth in 1:03.15 for the Aquagirls.

Inskeep and Colville went 2-3 in the 200 yard freestyle race and Zahn placed third in the 200 individual medley race. Miller turned in a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly and Zahn took second in the 500 freestyle race.

Jenkins and Prendergast battled for second in the 100 yard backstroke with Jenkins getting the touch first at 1:10.45 to 1:10.90.

In the final race of the night, NCMP’s 400 relay team of Inskeep, Jenkins, Miller and Prendergast pushed for the win against Indianola. The Indians’ foursome won in 4:04.94 to NCMP’s 4:07.49 timing. NCMP took third with the team of Michener, Dawson, Colville and Zahn in 4:17.90.

“These girls said going into the season, this is our team and our season. They are looking back or forward, but swimming now. They planned to work hard and swim fast,” Patterson said. “They’re doing it and having so much fun doing it.”

Patterson said the team had four extremely hard practices on Monday and Tuesday. She said the girls went into Thursday’s meet and fought through it.

“We’ve talked about being mentally tough,” Patterson said. “I have to give a shoutout to all the freshmen on the team, who are in band. They have band practices then we have tough practices. Every year our freshmen find the mental toughness to get through it.”

Grinnell was the only team of the three to have divers for the meet, but did not compete in the junior varsity swimming races. NCMP won the junior varsity competition against Indianola Thursday.

NCMP won seven junior varsity races, including two relays. Patterson said she was pleased with the times put up by all the junior varsity swimmers as well as the varsity swimmers. NCMP had quite a few junior varsity swimmers in exhibition races during the meet.

Emma Thomas won the junior varsity 200 freestyle race while Colville claimed first in the 100 freestyle and Erin Van Sickle took first in the 500 freestyle. Jana Balek and Altman went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly and Prime was first in the 100 backstroke.

NCMP’s junior varsity won the 200 freestyle relay race with the team of Abbie Hill, Camilla Schlosser, Briahna Teague and Erika Van Sickle. The foursome of Urias, Hill, Thomas and Erika Van Sickle won the 400 freestyle.

NCMP swims at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Ankeny Centennial.

Here are the full NCMP varsity and junior varsity results from the Grinnell meet:

Varsity

200-yd medley relay: 1. NCMP (Prendergast, Blommers, Miller, Jenkins), 2:00.69, 4. NCMP (Prime, Paulius, Dawson, Michener), 2:14.93.

200-yd freestyle: 2. Inskeep, 2:21.36, 3. Colville, 2:23.04.

200-yd IM: 3. Zahn, 2:38.34, 4. Dawson, 2:44.40.

50-yd freestyle: 1. Blommers, 26.69, 4. (tie) Michener, 28.90.

100-yd butterfly: 2. Miller, 1:06.25, 4. Dawson, 1:18.48.

100-yd freestyle: 2. Prendergast, 59.14, 4. Jenkins, 1:03.15.

500-yd freestyle: 2. Zahn, 6:09.43, 6. Inskeep, 6:29.38.

200-yd freestyle relay: 1. NCMP (Blommers, Zahn, Inskeep, Miller), 1:50.70, 3. NCMP (Altman, Michener, Urias, Colville), 1:57.47.

100-yd backstroke: 2. Jenkins, 1:10.45, 3. Prendergast, 1:10.90.

100-yd breaststroke: 1. Blommers, 1:09.47.

400-yd freestyle relay: 2. NCMP (Inskeep, Jenkins, Miller, Prendergast), 4:07.49, 3. NCMP (Michener, Dawson, Colville, Zahn), 4:17.90.

Junior Varsity

200-yd medley relay: 2. NCMP (Erika Van Sickle, Altman, Balek, Hill), 2:24.38, 4. NCMP (Courtney Ingle, Liv Barnes, Molly Coy, Molly Lamb), 2:55.87.

200-yd freestyle: 1. Thomas, 2:30.25, 4. Mariah Petro, 2:50.29.

200-yd IM: 2. Erika Van Sickle, 2:49.12, 3. Altman, 2:59.54.

50-yd freestyle: 2. Hill, 29.76, 4. Urias, 30.33.

100-yd butterfly: 1. Balek, 1:22.40, 2. Altman, 1:23.14.

100-yd freestyle: 1. Colville, 1:03.39, 4. Urias, 1:07.62.

500-yd freestyle: 1. Erin Van Sickle, 7:34.32, 2. Kaitlyn Barnes, 7:34.62.

200-yd freestyle relay: 1. NCMP (Hill, Schlosser, Teague, Erika Van Sickle), 2:06.90, 3. NCMP (Hayley Sinclair, Ingle, Liv Barnes, Jordon Pritchard), 2:30.98.

100-yd backstroke: 1. Prime, 1:17.61.

100-yd breaststroke: 3. Pie Pandumrong, 1:33.41, 4. Teague, 1:58.91.

400-yd freestyle relay: 1. NCMP (Urias, Hill, Thomas, Erika Van Sickle), 4:34.25, 4. NCMP (Kaitlyn Barnes, Petro, Erin Van Sickle, Miranda Ervin), 5:28.35.

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