Newton swimmers cruise past Williamsburg in home opener

A dominating night inside its own pool helped the Newton girls swim team to its first head-to-head win of the season on Tuesday.

And the Cardinals are inching closer to finding out who belongs on the ‘A’ relays when it comes to the postseason.

Newton won all 11 events, finished 1-2 in five of them and was 1-2-3 in the 200-meter freestyle as the Cardinals downed Williamsburg 114-54.

“I saw really good sportsmanship tonight. I saw a lot of places where our seniors stepped up and made home a fun place to be,” Newton head girls swim coach Kaylee Franke said. “I saw much stronger swims from our underclassmen than we’ve had so far this season, including the rookies.”

Tori White and Harper Barton were part of four wins, Julia Nedder and Reid McCloud won three times and Temple Barton and Emalee Weuve were victorious in two events.

But the story came with the team’s depth. The 1-2-3 finish in the 200 freestyle highlighted the night, but the Cardinals also were 1-2 in the 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay.

They also grabbed a 1-3-4 finish in the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle. Those wins came from seniors White and Harper Barton, respectively, while White also won the 100 backstroke and Harper Barton led the trio in the 200 freestyle.

“You typically don’t see us put most of our faster swimmers in that event in the same race, but we knew we had a chance to get good seed times for the rest of the season and we wanted to see how we can utilize that race and how we will use those four swimmers moving forward,” Franke said about the 200 freestyle.

Newton opened the night with a win in the 200 medley relay. White, Alexa Van Maanen, Nedder and Weuve won the race in 2 minutes, 18.33 seconds.

Harper Barton won the 200 freestyle in 2:13.56, but McCloud (2:18.32) and Temple Barton (2:22.57) came in after her for a 1-2-3 finish.

White’s second win came in the 200 IM. She won the race in 2:45.85. Van Maanen was third in 2:56.11 and Lillian Pifko took fourth in 3:20.87.

“Being 2 seconds off the personal best in a meter pool and only swimming it one other time this year, I’m pretty happy with it,” White said. “Harper told me (my breaststroke) was atrocious. So that needs work. But I can go a little faster in the backstroke to make up for it and then just continue to work at the breaststroke.”

Nedder won the 50 freestyle in 32.03 seconds and Madison Scott was fifth in 37.85.

Nedder went right back in the pool to win the 100 butterfly in 1:20.39 and Peyton Phillips was the runner-up in 1:33.33.

Harper Barton (1:00.98), Kimberlee Miller (1:10.21) and Weuve finished 1-3-4 in the 100 freestyle and McCloud (4:51.07), Phillips (5:52.25) and Scott (6:45.02) placed 1-2-4 in the 500 freestyle.

“The top of our roster, like we talked about last week, did really well like they always do,” Franke said. “But what stood out tonight is that our rookies are really catching on and our middle pack is catching the top pack.”

McCloud is one of the freshman who is shining early. She looked just as strong in the final laps of the 500 as she did in the early stages of the race.

“She’s been pivotal as a freshman,” Franke said about McCloud. “Not only has she worked for those times, swam well for those times and received those times, but through her times she’s making a statement to the upperclassmen that they do not hold the pool. If the younger swimmers can push for fast times, they will earn a spot on the relays. She’s helping to set the culture how we want it to be set as new coaches, too.”

The Cardinals won the 200 freestyle relay in 2:00.98 with Harper Barton, Miller, Weuve and McCloud. Newton originally finished 1-2 in the race, but the runner-up team was disqualified for leaving too early.

White led a 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke. She won the race in 1:12.04, which converts to a season-best 1:04.1 in yards. Weuve (1:23.2) and Brilea Moffitt (1:32.9) placed second and fifth, respectively.

White made one of her final attempts to break her own record in the event.

The coaching staff and the Newton YMCA got her name on the record board in time for her final season, too.

“It’s been pretty solid so far. I went a season best today,” White said.

The final individual win came from Temple Barton in the 100 breaststroke. She posted a time of 1:25.55 and Van Maanen took second in 1:31.12. Torrie Van Kley (1:45.02) finished fifth.

The one relay that is locked up is the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Harper Barton, White, Temple Barton and McCloud won the race in 4:20.89. Miller, Pifko, Moffitt and Phillips took second in 5:10.21.

“(Assistant coach) Kara (Groenenboom) and I have a couple of conversations to have in the next week because we want to have the ‘A’ relays established before next Thursday,” Franke said. “Tonight was a chance to give the relays a few more tries and to get solid splits so we can finalize the ‘A’ relays. That 400 is set, it’s strong and I don’t see a reason to change it and neither does (Groenenboom).”