Martin sets another record, Lincoln’s depth too much for NCMP

Four different Cardinals won an individual event and Finn Martin set another school record on Tuesday, but the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella boys’ swim team lost the battle of depth during its matchup with Des Moines Lincoln.

NCMP won six events and finished 1-2 in the 400-meter freestyle, but the Railsplitters scored double points in all three relays and tripled up in four individual events during their 97-70 win at the Newton YMCA.

Besides not having as much depth, NCMP head coach Lucas Warner identified the finish as something his swimmers need to get better at.

“We’re looking good, but we need to improve our finishes,” Warner said. “That last length of the pool, we need to improve that. We are really powerful out of the gate, but that last 25 meters I can tell we start to taper off more than we should right now. But we can fix that with a few more meters in practice.”

The head-to-head meet with Lincoln also was Senior Night as Cody Klein was recognized during the meet.

The team’s lone senior was part of the Cardinals’ runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay, but NCMP won the 200 freestyle relay earlier in the night.

Martin won the shortest individual race and the longest during the meet, while Ethan Comer swam to a victory in the 100 breaststroke, MacK Copeland won the 200 freestyle and Mason Gaulke grabbed a win in the 100 butterfly.

Martin set a new school record in the 400 freestyle as his winning time was clocked in a career-best 4 minutes, 22.71 seconds. Copeland was the runner-up in 5:12.46.

The previous school record of 4:26.65 was set by Caleb Heiar in 2016.

Martin’s winning time in the 50 freestyle was 23.94 seconds. That was a bit slower than his school-record swim from earlier this season, but it was fast enough to win the event by more than 4 seconds.

Klein placed third in the 50 freestyle with a time of 30.18.

“(Martin) either has amazing starts and turns or they lack just a little bit,” Warner said. “It’s consistency on those starts. Once we get the consistency down, we’ll be in an even better spot. He held his streamline a tad too long in his 50 today and that might have slowed him down just a bit. We just have to step that up.”

Comer won the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.4, but Lincoln finished 2-3-4 in the event.

Comer also was the runner-up in the 200 individual medley. His time was clocked in 2:29.28, but Lincoln went 1-3 to score double points.

“I think I’m in a good spot (with my breaststroke) for this part of the season,” Comer said. “I still need to work on my endurance, but I think I’ve gotten better with my stroke and stretching out more.

“I am slow in the butterfly for the IM. The key is to do it more in practice even though I don’t like that stroke that much. I usually fall behind during the fly and catch back up in the breaststroke. So I need to work on the fly to make that race better.”

Warner shares Comer’s opinion that endurance is something all of his swimmers need to work on.

“The butterfly tires him out really quick and he gives all he has in the breaststroke,” Warner said about Comer. “That hurts his freestyle and he struggles to keep up because he’s tired from the butterfly. We’ll keep putting meters in on the butterfly, get him ready and get him healthy. That kid has come so far this season. His future is bright, and I think he’s going to make a big jump here soon.”

Copeland began his night with a win in the 200 freestyle. He finished the race in 2:24.16, but Lincoln tripled up in 2-3-4.

The final individual win came from Gaulke in the 100 butterfly. There were only three swimmers in the race and Gaulke won with a 1:14.14, but the Railsplitters grabbed the other two spots.

Caleb Punt took second in the 100 freestyle and third in the 100 backstroke.

His time in the 100 freestyle was 1:03.48 and he hit the wall in 1:20.42 in the backstroke. Lincoln was 1-3-4 in the 100 freestyle and 1-2-4 in the 100 backstroke.

Martin currently ranks around the top 10 in the state in the 50, 100, 200 and 400/500 freestyle. All four events are realistic options for the Cardinal sophomore when it comes to the postseason.

Warner knows what he has in his top swimmer. He’s using the early-season meets to determine what his other athletes do best.

“I have to see other guys in the 100 freestyle or other events to see what they can do because Finn can only be in two individual events come postseason,” Warner said. “If I don’t have space in the 400 freestyle relay for instance, I can put some of my other guys in the 100 open. I know Finn is going to be in the relays. I don’t need to see his 100 time every meet.”

The Cardinals’ winning 200 freestyle relay team featured Martin, Comer, Punt and Copeland and they won the race in 1:50.09. Lincoln was 2-3 in the event.

NCMP opened the night with a runner-up finish in the 200 medley relay. That group included Punt, Comer, Gaulke and Derek Wermager, and they finished in 2:13.81. Lincoln placed 1-3 in this race.

In the closest race of the night, the Cardinals came up just short in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Copeland, Gaulke, Klein and Martin finished second in 4:06.31. Lincoln won the race in 4:04.28 and also had a foursome finish third.

“The relays are good. We get tired quickly so a lot of our later relays are slower than what we would like right now,” Comer said. “I think they could be faster. We all need to work on endurance.”

Warner said he’s rotating six swimmers through all three relays trying to find the best combinations for later in the season.

It may be the most challenging part of his job as a first-year head coach.

“I’m trying to figure out the best combinations and trying to determine who should go first, second, third and last,” Warner said. “We have looked at all the options. There are so many different aspects that I have to look at, and as a first year head coach I don’t have the experience of what to look for. I have had to do lot of thinking and breaking things down to see where we are going to be at our best.”

Notes: The Newton YMCA pool was packed with fans on Tuesday. Whether it’s because Martin is setting records nearly every night he swims or not, Comer is happy to see so many friends in attendance. “It’s exciting,” Comer said. “Finn is fun to watch. It’s cool to see so many people in here.” … Warner likes his mixture of Newton and Pella athletes on this year’s squad. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and those seem to mesh well. “I’m so glad we have both schools because together they mix well,” Warner said. “I have butterfly guys from Pella, breaststrokers from Newton, backstrokers from Pella and freestylers from both. They just mesh super well, we get a lot of benefits from everyone and they all play their part. And they get along super well, which helps me not have to manage two sides of the situation.” ... Lincoln entered the night 23rd in the power rankings.

NCMP edges Scarlets in road matchup

DES MOINES — Martin got his first crack at the 100-yard butterfly last week, and the Cardinal sophomore posted the ninth fastest time in the state so far.

Martin won two individual events and anchored the 400 freestyle relay to a victory to lead NCMP to a 48-46 win over Des Moines East on Dec. 5.

The Cardinals and Scarlets also faced Boone in the double dual, and the Toreadors came away with the sweep. Boone downed NCMP 61-32 and defeated East 66-28.

NCMP is 30th in the state’s power rankings, while Boone sits 19th and East is 37th.

Martin won the 50 freestyle and 100 fly, Comer swam to a victory in the 100 breaststroke and the Cardinals ended the night with a triumph in the 400 freestyle relay.

The winning relay featured Copeland, Gaulke, Punt and Martin and they finished in a season-best 3:37.89.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Martin, Comer, Derek Wermager and Copeland finished second in 1:41.89.

In the 200 medley relay, the team of Punt, Comer, Gaulke and Wermager took third in 2:02.09.

Martin won the 50 freestyle in 21.99 seconds, which was a little bit off his best time this season. The runner-up finished the race in 23.79.

The winning time for Martin in the 100 fly was clocked in 52.63, which was more than 8 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Comer’s winning 100 breaststroke time was 1:09.37 and he also was second in the 200 individual medley in 2:20.26.

Copeland was third in the 200 and 500 freestyle races. His 200 time was 2:11.14 and his 500 time was clocked in 6:13.28.