NCMP advances four events to state swim meet

JOHNSTON — Newton senior Clay Lamb has never been a part of the high school boys’ state swim meet before.

But he wasn’t at all nervous about whether or not any of the Cardinals’ relays did enough to make it to Iowa City next week.

“I’m not nervous at all. I think we are in for at least one of them,” Lamb said. “I’ll have faith the whole time. These past two weeks we kept dropping time more and more. I feel good about where we are.”

Finn Martin also was confident in his squad, and Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella head boys swim coach Sarah Patterson knew her guys did all they could to clinch state berths during a district meet held at Summit Middle School on Saturday.

Martin led the way for NCMP, but the Cardinals also qualified for state in a relay for the first time in four seasons.

There are no automatic qualifiers in boys’ swimming. The top 32 times in each individual event and the 24 fastest times in each relay from districts around the state qualify for the state meet, which takes place on Friday and Saturday at Campus Recreation and Wellness Center at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Martin qualified for the state meet in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, Brady Comer advanced to state in the 100 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay team of Eli Eekhoff, Lamb, MacK Copeland and Martin also qualified.

“It was a really good day. So many great swims and we swam together,” Patterson said. “We only had nine swimmers competing. I think we surprised some people. That was fun. I love that.”

Patterson and her assistant coach Lucas Warner also were named the district’s coaching staff of the meet. They will be recognized on Friday during the preliminary rounds of the individual events at the state meet.

Patterson guided the No. 20 Cardinals to a fifth-place finish and 206 total points. Last year, NCMP was seventh with 113 points at the same site.

“It was really unexpected because Valley’s coaches are great and they have a great team,” Patterson said. “It feels really good. I have had so much love and appreciation from the parents and kids. That’s not why you do it, but it makes me feel happy that the families enjoyed it as much as the athletes did.

“I love coaching with Coach Warner. He can motivate the guys in a different way than me. We complement each other. It’s been a fun year.”

Second-ranked West Des Moines Valley won the district championship with 477.5 points. The rest of the field included third-ranked Dowling Catholic (401), 13th-ranked Johnston (303), 24th-ranked Council Bluffs Lewis Central (220.5), No. 20 NCMP (206), No. 43 Des Moines East (119.5), No. 44 Centerville (93) and No. 41 Atlantic (74.5).

The top six finishers at the district meet earned a spot on the podium. NCMP scored six podium finishes on Saturday after not having a single one at last year’s meet.

“We have a team placing goal and we wanted to punch some tickets to next week,” Patterson said. “My goal was just fast times, PRs and being happy with your swims. It kind of unfolded exactly how I thought it would honestly.”

The state-qualifying 400 freestyle relay team included Eekhoff, Lamb, Copeland and Martin and they finished fifth in a season-best 3 minutes, 25.22 seconds. It was a fast time for the season by nearly 4 seconds. It was the 22nd fastest qualifying time.

It will be the first state meet experience for all four swimmers.

“I have been swimming for a long so to finally peak at state my senior year in my last shot to get in feels pretty nice,” Lamb said.

Martin had the top finish for the Cardinals. He won the 100 freestyle in a career-best time of 47.48 seconds. He posted the eighth-fastest qualifying time in the event.

In the 50 freestyle, Martin placed fourth with a career-best 21.87, which was the 15th fastest qualifying time.

The 100 freestyle featured a dramatic finish. Valley’s Charlie Bishop was in lane 5 for the race and led most of the way until Martin out-touched the Tiger at the wall.

“It was a super good race. That kid from Valley in lane 5 is a super-talented swimmer,” Martin said. “He was in front of me the whole time, but I was able to catch him at the end. He was really fast. I think I just out-touched him, but it was a great race overall.”

Martin was hoping for a better finish in the 50 freestyle, but his time was plenty fast enough to advance.

“I was expecting to do a little better and I wanted to definitely finish higher,” Martin said. “I could have had a better start and a better underwater. I’m still happy about it.”

Martin could have swam in the 100 butterfly and qualified for state, but Patterson chose the 100 freestyle because he was seeded first overall and likes the event better.

“The butterfly and 100 freestyle are back-to-back,” Patterson said. “He’s not only better at the 100 freestyle and seeded higher, but he also likes it better. And you can’t do both.”

Comer turned in an impressive career-best time in the 100 breaststroke to advance to state. He finished fourth in the event, but his 1:01.26 was his best time by 4 seconds. He qualified with the 24th fastest time.

“I have been working towards this goal of making it to state for eight years,” Comer said. “At the beginning of the year, I told all of my teammates I was going to make it to state in the 100 breaststroke. I knew I was going to make that happen.

“I was able to find that extra drive within me to go that extra mile. Having good competition is always beneficial, too.”

The next two best places for the Cardinals came in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

In the 200 medley relay, the team of Jonah Brown, Comer, Eekhoff and Mason Gaulke finished fourth in 1:46.45. It was a season-best time by nearly 2 seconds.

The team of Martin, Lamb, Comer and Eekhoff placed fifth in the 200 freestyle relay. Their time was clocked in a season-best 1:32.99. The final state qualifying time was 1:32.69.

Eekhoff placed seventh in the 100 freestyle and his time of 50.33 was a career-best. He also missed out on a state berth by only .20 seconds.

Lamb finished eighth in the 100 butterfly and his career-best time of 57.52 was 1.4 seconds back of a state berth.

In the 200 individual medley, Gaulke was second in his heat and 10th overall with a time of 2:18.34. That was a career-best time by 4 seconds.

“Our senior leadership has been amazing,” Patterson said. “They went after it, they had courage and they went hard and that’s all I can ask for.

“You give everything you have and there are no regrets. I couldn’t have asked anything more from them. To watch them want it together is the biggest joy of all.”

Notes: Copeland finished 11th in the 500 freestyle, but his time of 5:40.5 was a career-best by 11 seconds. … Gaulke (1:04.55), Lamb (1:56.85) and Brown (1:04.79) were 12th in the 100 fly, 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, respectively. Lamb had a career-best time by 4 seconds and Gaulke posted a 3.5-second PR. … Ethan Comer finished 13th in the 100 breaststroke in a career-best time of 1:11.32 and Brady Comer placed 15th in the 50 freestyle in a career-best 24.11 seconds. … NCMP was without Drew Fuller, who was absent due to illness.