NCMP finishes second at NCSC meet

DECORAH — The Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella girls’ swim team started the North Central Swim Conference meet with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay.

But the Aquagirls finished second on the day after being limited to three total wins.

Decorah was 29 points better than NCMP and it scored 28 points in diving.

“Overall, we had a fun trip to Decorah and swam well,” NCMP coach Sarah Patterson said. “We battled hard.”

Decorah claimed five victories and scored 350 points to win the conference title. NCMP scored 321 points in second and the rest of the seven-team field included Boone (227), Grinnell/BGM/Baxter (127), Vinton-Shellsburg (102), Oskaloosa (80) and Williamsburg (74).

The Aquagirls’ winning 200 medley relay team featured Tori White, Harper Barton, Lillie Ray and Maylei Ruggles and that foursome finished in a season-best time of 1 minute, 56.09 seconds.

Barton claimed one of the two individual wins for NCMP. She won the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.2 and Estella Allen finished third in 1:16.4.

“Harper finally broke 1:10, and we were really happy with that swim,” Patterson said.

The third victory for the Aquagirls came from Alex Riney in the 200 individual medley. She won the race in a personal-best 2:22.95. Addison Van Maanen (2:28.38) finished fourth and White (2:31.65) was fifth.

“Alex looked so strong,” Patterson said. “And she had to battle it out to the finish.”

NCMP was second in the 400 freestyle relay and third in the 200 freestyle relay.

In the 400 relay, the team of Peyton Ray, Ruggles, Riney and Lillie Ray was second in 3:52.03.

Barton, Peyton Ray, Paige Benson and Lillie Ray were third in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:45.97.

Aside from the 1-4-5 finish in the 200 IM, the Aquagirls also were 3-4-6 in the 100 freestyle and 2-5-6 in the 100 backstroke.

In the 100 backstroke, White was the runner-up in 1:05.23. Riney (1:07.07) and Van Maanen (1:07.78) were fifth and sixth, respectively.

In the 100 freestyle, Peyton Ray led NCMP in third with a time of 57.13. She edged Barton, who was fourth in 57.49. Evelyn Munk also placed sixth in 59.72.

Ruggles grabbed the other runner-up finish. That came in the 100 butterfly and her time was clocked in 1:06.44. Benson finished sixth in 1:12.16.

“Maylei looked strong. That one went right down to the wire with a Grinnell swimmer,” Patterson said.

The Aquagirls were 3-4 in the 200 freestyle and 3-5 in the 50 freestyle.

In the 200 freestyle, Peyton Ray (2:07.35) finished third and Munk (personal-best 2:11.47) came in fourth.

Lillie Ray (25.65) placed third in the 50 freestyle and Ruggles (26.45) was fifth.

Avery Meyer registered the final top-six individual finish. She was fourth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 6:08.03.

“Avery had a very strong showing in the 500,” Patterson said. “She’s another one that works hard, and I’m excited for her to have a chance to taper.”

Notes: Baxter’s Camryn Russell placed third in diving with 410 points as part of the Grinnell/BGM/Baxter squad.