NCMP takes third at LHC meet

INDIANOLA — The NCMP girls’ swim team won three individual races, finished first in two of the three relays and ended up third in the team standings at the Little Hawkeye Conference meet on Tuesday night.

The No. 19 Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella-PCM Aquagirls scored 355.5 points at the Indianola YMCA pool.

No. 15 Norwalk ended NCMP’s run at the top of the conference. The Warriors scored 381.5 points to win the title, while No. 34 Indianola was second with 365.

Grinnell (134) and Oskaloosa (77) completed the field.

“We swam really well and were pretty happy with our swims and diving scores,” NCMP head coach Sarah Patterson said. “It ended up being a really close meet.”

The Aquagirls won the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

In the 200 freestyle relay, NCMP’s foursome of juniors Hannah Nedder, Grace Benson and Maggie Garrett and sophomore Lillie Ray won the race in 1 minute, 45.67 seconds.

The 400 freestyle relay included Ray, Benson, senior Natalie Boll and Nedder and they won the race in 3:55.3.

“Our 200 and 400 freestyle relays both swam very aggressively and are looking great at this point in the season,” Patterson said.

Garrett, Ray and Nedder all won individual races.

Garrett was the LHC champion in the 50 freestyle. She won the race in 26.95 seconds, while junior Emma Curry was fourth in 27.68.

“Maggie Garrett was our first individual champion,” Patterson said. “She was out in the front from the beginning and never looked back.”

Nedder was victorious in the 100 butterfly. She finished in 1:00.19.

Ray’s win came in the 100 freestyle. Her winning time was clocked at 55.43 seconds, and Benson tied for fourth in 1:00.16.

“Nedder was our second champion, and she dominated the fly,” Patterson said.

“Lillie Ray then won the next event to become our third conference champion. She has started to develop a little more of a hard-nosed competitor attitude and I love it.”

The Aquagirls were second in the 200 medley relay and finished 2-3 in 1-meter diving.

The 200 medley relay included Curry, Garrett, Nedder and Ray and that foursome finished in a season-best time of 1:57.13. Norwalk won the race in 1:56.97.

“Our medley relay was very strong,” Patterson said. “Lillie Ray drove into the finish and almost caught the Norwalk swimmer at the wall and posted a fast split of 24.97.”

In the diving competition, senior Mikayla Creech was second and senior Kenleigh Jack finished third.

Creech scored 158.8 points, while Jack tallied 151.6 points. Grinnell’s Trista Thompson won the event with 199.25.

“There are so many people to mention — I can’t mention them all,” Patterson said. “But I do want to shout out our divers Mik Creech and Kenleigh Jack, who both dove really well and posted great scores. They gave our team a combined 25 points.”

Garrett, Boll and Benson were all fourth in an individual event.

Garrett finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:17.97 and Benson took fourth in the 200 individual medley in a personal-best time of 2:34.84.

Boll placed fourth in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. In the 200 freestyle, she recorded a time of 2:15.71.

Boll finished the 500 freestyle in a season-best time of 6:04.02, while senior Arabella Eide was sixth in 6:22.43.

It was the first time Eide swam in the 500 this season.

“We had so many great swims and almost all of our JV swimmers dropped time and had season or personal bests,” Patterson said. “It’s their last meet of the season, so that was fun to see. We are so proud of this team and these girls.”