Newton girls finish strong, down Lincoln on Senior Night

After an inauspicious start, the Newton girls swim team rallied past Des Moines Lincoln on Thursday.

The Railsplitters had a lead after three events and grabbed back some momentum in the 400-meter freestyle, but the Cardinals used four 1-2 finishes and a trio of 1-3 tallies to score a 91-76 come-from-behind victory at the Newton YMCA on Senior Night.

“The girls really rallied the second half and my varsity squad had the opportunity to learn exactly how vital to scoring they are all,” Newton girls swim coach Kaylee Franke said. “The girls got that reminder and stepped onto the blocks with that in mind.”

The program recognized a trio of seniors in Harper Barton, Tori White and Brilea Moffitt after the 200 freestyle relay. Barton was part of four wins, White contributed three wins and Moffitt swam on the runner-up 200 medley relay.

“It’s a hard group to say goodbye to,” Franke said. “Those three seniors embody the heart, soul and mind of a team, and it’s hard to tell them goodbye.”

Newton won seven events and finished 1-2-4-5 in the 100 freestyle. The Cardinals also were 1-2 in the 200 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke, 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle and secured 1-3 finishes in the 100 breaststroke and 200 freestyle.

“It’s extremely lucky, as a first-year high school coach, to have seniors who chase the sport in ways others want to emulate, juniors who want to honor that commitment, sophomores who will stand on their place in that legacy and freshmen who will rise to the occasion,” Franke said. “That’s exactly what I have in my first set of Aquagirls.”

Barton led a 1-2 finish in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. She entered the meet with the 14th-best times in both events in a yard pool and won them in Newton’s meter pool with times of 27.74 seconds and 1 minute, 0.7 seconds, respectively.

The school record in the 50 freestyle is 27.54, which was set by Samantha Hedrick in 2015. Barton was .2 seconds off that against Lincoln but will get one last shot in the team’s final home event in around two weeks.

She also was only a little more than a second off the 100 freestyle school record.

“I have to get it next time,” Barton said. “I think if I lift a little more and rest a bit before our next home meet, I can get that one.”

Reid McCloud returned to the lineup and finished second in the 50 freestyle in 30.1 and Temple Barton was the runner-up in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1:05.09.

White’s individual win came in the 100 backstroke. She broke her own school record with a time of 1:10.23. McCloud also was second in that one in 1:15.47.

“Doing it on Senior Night was the perfect night do it and a lot of my friends were here, too,” White said. “I had all good turns. That’s been my killer this season, but I knew if I was able to get good turns, I would have a good race.”

Temple Barton and Alexa Van Maanen grabbed the other two individual wins.

Temple Barton won the 200 freestyle in 2:18.83 and Peyton Phillips finished third in 2:40.66.

Van Maanen’s win came in the 100 breaststroke. She finished the race in 1:28.02 and Kimberlee Miller was third in 1:40.4.

The Cardinals capped their night with a win in the 400 freestyle relay. The foursome of McCloud, White, Temple Barton and Harper Barton won the race in 4:20.82, but Lincoln scored double points in second and third.

“I think we’re putting ourselves in a lot of stressful workouts and a lot of tension on our bodies so the times right now are pretty good, but we can still drop time when we taper later in the year,” Harper Barton said. “I think we can be really good.”

Newton’s 200 freestyle relay teams were 1-2. The winning foursome included Harper Barton, White, Temple Barton and McCloud and they finished in 1:56.04.

The runner-up team was Miller, Van Maanen, Julia Nedder and Emalee Weuve. They edged Lincoln’s top team 2:07.19 to 2:07.58.

Newton’s top 200 freestyle relay team came into the night with the ninth-best time in the state and the 400 freestyle relay team currently sits 12th.

“The 200 freestyle relay was close to top eight last year, and we’re close again,” White said. “We’ve been killing it in the 400 freestyle relay, too. We’re just really excited about both of those.”

The 200 medley relay teams were second and third. The runner-up foursome featured Weuve, Van Maanen, Nedder and Moffitt and they finished in 2:25.61. Lincoln’s winning time was clocked in 2:23.67.

The third-place team was Lillian Pifko, Torrie Van Kley, Nilaya McConnell and Madison Scott and they hit the wall in 2:49.67.

“I’m looking forward to districts, trying to enjoy the last times I have with this team and embracing everything I can,” Moffitt said. “I’m going to miss the girls, this atmosphere and the love we have for each other.”

Van Maanen also placed second in the 200 IM in 2:51.66, and Nedder was the runner-up in the 100 butterfly in 1:16.87.

White’s other two main individual events besides the 100 backstroke are the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly.

She was not in the 100 butterfly because it’s really close to the 100 backstroke and the 400 freestyle relay, and she wanted another crack at the backstroke school record.

White thought she was going to swim the 200 IM when the night began, but a communication mix up had her in a different event.

The meet official did not allow Newton to make a change to the lineup so to make sure she was able to swim the butterfly stroke on Senior Night, she competed in the 100 freestyle like it was a 100 IM and placed fifth in the event.

“The butterfly has been with me my whole swim career, and if I wouldn’t have done any tonight, Senior Night would have been incomplete,” White said.

Notes: Barton currently has the 12th best time in the state in the 100 breaststroke and the 14th best times in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. “It doesn’t feel real yet,” Harper Barton said about being a senior in her final six weeks of the season. “I don’t want it to be over. We’re on the back half of the season already. I just have to take every practice, every meet and every moment and soak it all in because I’m never going to get it back.” … Lincoln stayed close throughout the night after going 1-3-4 in the 200 IM, 1-2-3 in the 400 freestyle and 2-3 in the 400 freestyle relay. The Railsplitters also rallied for a win in the 200 medley relay and posted a win in the 100 butterfly. … The meet scored to five in individual events. Pifko was fifth in both the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke, Weuve finished fifth in the 100 backstroke, Nedder was fourth in the 50 freestyle, McConnell placed fourth in the 100 butterfly and Miller and White went 4-5 in the 100 freestyle. “It doesn’t feel real yet,” White said about her final weeks on the swim team. “Harper and I have done a lot of ‘this is our last one’ for the meets we’ve swam at. It was the last time tonight that we will have ‘race an Aquagirl.’ It hasn’t hit me yet. But I think state will hit me pretty hard.”