Adam Hunter has swam the 400-meter freestyle race before. He said he usually comes in fourth or fifth.
Not on Tuesday. The NCMP sophomore pulled away from the field in the dual swim meet against Des Moines East to win in 4 minutes, 54.31 seconds. Zane Pettis of East was second in 5:11.96. NCMP’s Jacob Nedder finished fourth in 5:30.64.
“It’s an event I normally swim, but it felt good to win it,” Hunter said after the meet. “I felt a lot stronger swimming it tonight. My pace was a lot better.”
NCMP’s Cardinals were the smaller team — number-wise — Tuesday as the Scarlets’ depth pushed them to a 106-66 win at the Newton YMCA. The Cardinals won four individual events and made all three relay races close.
“Even though we didn’t win any of the relays tonight, we were really close,” Hunter said. “I swam the backstroke in the medley relay, which I’ve never done before. It was cool to watch Caleb (Gaylor) come back and almost help us win the two freestyle relays.”
Gaylor claimed first in the 200 freestyle race in 2:05.29 and in the 200 butterfly in 1:05.45. He swam the anchor legs on the NCMP 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
Clay Trotter turned in the fastest time in the shortest race of the night, the 50 freestyle, winning in 26.78 seconds. Trotter was the anchor on the 200 medley relay to start the night and led off the 200 freestyle relay for the Cardinals.
In the medley relay race, Nedder, Carter Briggs, Mason Lee and Trotter finished second in 2:06.70. The NCMP team of Hunter, Paul Maharry, Clay Meyer and Logan Zaabel placed fourth in 2:23.43.
Trotter, Maharry and Logan Heisdorffer had NCMP close to East in the 200 freestyle relay when Gaylor took over in the pool. East’s anchor swimmer Parker Bartz out-touched Gaylor, 1:48.41 to 1:48.89. NCMP’s other relay team of Lee, Briggs, Izaak Miller and Nedder was third in 2:00.46.
The 400 freestyle relay was much the same as East had the lead with NCMP’s Heisdorffer, Hunter and Nedder staying close. Gaylor was able to close the gap in the final 50 meters. East won the race in 4:12.06 to NCMP’s 4:12.99.
NCMP’s other 400 freestyle relay foursome of Meyer, Miller, Zaabel and Lee took fourth in 5:06.21.
“We were outmanned tonight. With 14 guys, it was tough, and we had some guys who weren’t feeling the greatest tonight,” NCMP head coach Sarah Patterson said. “Before the meet, we told the guys when you’re feeling good, that’s when it is easy. When your tired and not feeling your greatest, you have to just work through it, and we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”
Patterson said East had a lot of depth with three strong places in most of the races. She said they mixed up the lineup a bit with swimmers gone because of illness.
Maharry swam his first 200 individual medley of the season finishing ahead of his best time of the event a year ago. Hunter placed fourth in the individual medley race in 2:50.37 and Maharry was fifth in 2:54.23.
Heisdorffer placed fourth in the 200 freestyle in 2:27.45 while Lee was fourth in the 50 freestyle in 28.89 seconds and Meyer was sixth in 32 seconds. Trotter took third in the 100 freestyle in 1:03.18 and Heisdorffer was fourth in 1:04.57.
Meyer turned in a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke in 1:24.40. Briggs and Maharry went 2-3 in the 200 breaststroke race in 1:20.60 and 1:24.70, respectively. In the 100 butterfly, Briggs placed fourth in 1:22.94 and Miller was fifth in 1:37.36.
“There’s little things we need to work on. The guys have to do that. We coaches can’t do it for them,” Patterson said. “Overall, it was a pretty good meet. We have a stretch here where we have a lot of meets right now. We have to stay focused and keep competing.”
In the junior varsity division, East beat NCMP, 109-18.
Zaabel placed second in the 400 freestyle race in 7:11.42. The 200 medley relay team of Parker Sherwood, Miller, Spencer Elbert and Joe Busch was second in 3:05.70. The same foursome took second in the 200 freestyle really in 2:42.30.
Busch was fourth in the 50 freestyle in 40.90 seconds with Sherwood in fifth at 41.35 and Elbert in sixth at 44.57. Sherwood placed fourth in the 100 freestyle in 1:36.40 followed by Elbert in fifth at 1:37.33 and Busch in sixth at 1:40.98.
The NCMP Cardinals host Boone at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Newton YMCA. They will compete in Saturday’s Marshalltown Invitational.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com