NCMP’s big day leads to runner-up finish in Ames

AMES — The Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella girls swim team was as good as its maybe ever been on Saturday.

The Aquagirls finished second as a team at the regional meet for the first time since 2021 but scored more points than they did that season and five swimmers punched individual tickets to the state meet and two of them will represent NCMP in multiple individual events.

Throw in the fact that NCMP advanced to state in all three relays and the Aquagirls had quite the day in the Ames pool.

“A runner-up finish in such a competitive district feels great,” senior Addison Van Maanen said. “We all swam great today and really completed our mission for the year, which was to finish what we started. But we aren’t fully done yet.”

The five individual qualifiers and seven state tickets in an individual event are the most in one season since at least former head coach Sarah Patterson took over the program more than three decades ago.

No. 12 NCMP scored 355 points in second and was more than 100 points in front of third place Fort Dodge and fourth place Grinnell/BGM/Baxter, which once again finished 1-2 in diving.

Fifth-ranked Ames won the regional championship with 548 points. The rest of the top five after NCMP were No. 29 Fort Dodge (246), No. 25 Grinnell/BGM/Baxter (244) and No. 33 Boone (211). No. 32 Cedar Rapids Jefferson (203), No. 35 Oskaloosa (168), No. 49 Carroll (59) and No. 57 Vinton-Shellsburg (46) completed the nine-team field.

The Little Cyclones posted eight wins, finished 1-2-3 in the 200-yard freestyle and went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.

“To get second was really exciting especially because we got third last year and all of the other teams have diving,” junior Tori White said. “Grinnell went 1-2 in diving and the fact we were still able to beat them just goes to show how strong our team is and how hard we work in and out of the pool every day.”

Van Maanen and White were two of the five individual qualifiers for the Aquagirls. Van Maanan and junior Harper Barton will compete at state in the maximum four events, while White and seniors Peyton Ray and Alex Riney qualified in three events.

The Aquagirls did not secure a victory or an automatic state berth but placed second in both the 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay and Van Maanen was the runner-up in the 200 individual medley.

“It feels good to qualify in both individual events,” Van Maanen said. “I feel like I’m seeing the extra hours and hard work pay off. I think having great competition really pushed me. I think it also helped that I had two weeks to get prepared for this and get myself ready.”

In the 200 freestyle relay, the foursome of Ray, White, Riney and Barton nearly set the school record in a season-best 1 minute, 40.29 seconds. The runner-up 400 freestyle relay team featured Ray, Riney, Van Maanen and Barton and they finished in a season-best 3:41.74.

Ames won all three relays. The Little Cyclones won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:37.67 and their winning time in the 400 freestyle relay was clocked in 3:39.08. Five teams from the regional in both events qualified for the state meet.

White, Van Maanen and seniors Izzy Lane and Paige Benson combined to place third in the 200 medley relay.

They finished in a season-best 1:54.29 and trailed winner Ames (1:46.2) and Fort Dodge (1:51.98). Six teams from the regional advanced to state.

“I was proud of our relay as a whole,” Benson said. “We dropped a couple seconds off our best time, which was exciting. I feel like my swim went well personally. I got my goal split time, which I was really happy with.”

Van Maanen dropped 5 seconds off her 200 IM time and finished second in a career-best 2:17.51. White placed fifth in the event in 2:25.53. The top four finishers in the event advanced to the state meet.

“I feel like this is what I have been working for all season,” Van Maanen said. “It feels great to be ending my swimming career on such a high note with the maximum number of events you can swim at the state meet.”

Barton and Van Maanen will both represent NCMP at state in the 100 breaststroke. Barton was fourth at regionals in 1:07.78 and Van Maanen placed fifth in 1:08.62. Six swimmers from the regional advanced to state.

Barton was already auto qualified in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. She can only swim in two individual events at the state meet and decided to go with the 100 breaststroke and 50 freestyle.

She placed third in the 50 free at regionals in 24.74 seconds, while Riney also advanced to state after placing sixth in 25.14.

“I wanted to swim the 100 breaststroke to prove to myself that I can do it,” Barton said. “I hadn’t really tapered this last week so I’m excited to see what I can do for state.

“It feels good to qualify in four events. I’m really proud of the work I have put in up to this point. I want to shock the world this weekend and see my work pay off.”

Riney swam on all three relays last year but will compete at the state meet in an individual event for the first time in her career. Seven swimmers from the regional advanced to state in the 50 freestyle.

“I have been swimming the event since I was 8 years old,” Riney said. “It felt like all these years of swimming had paid off since I finally qualified.

“I think reality sat in today. Thinking it could be the last time I ever swim the 50 freestyle so I just swam as hard as I could.”

The final two individual state qualifiers will be Ray in the 100 freestyle and White in the 100 backstroke.

Ray placed third at regionals in 54.77 and freshman Temple Barton was sixth in 57.51. Four swimmers from the regional made the state meet.

The NCMP duo also finished fifth and seventh in the 200 freestyle. Ray posted a time of 2:03.36 and Temple Barton finished in 2:05.58. The final state qualifying times were in the high 2:01s.

Ray is back at state in an individual event after qualifying in the 100 freestyle as a sophomore. She’s the only senior to have qualified for the state meet in all four of her prep seasons.

She also had much better results with this year’s taper plan than she did last year.

“I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity all four years. I feel like I nailed my turns and had a lot of confidence in myself going into the event,” Ray said. “I feel like this year’s taper plan definitely worked better for me. It’s hard to balance between too much and not enough taper, but I think putting in the extra meters helps me to feel more prepared.”

White entered the regional meet on a bit of a downer in the 100 backstroke. But she flipped the script at the right time and qualified for state for the second straight season in the event.

White placed fifth in a season-best time of 1:02.41 and Hailey Dickerson was seventh in 1:07.39. Five swimmers from the regional advanced to state in the 100 backstroke.

“I’ve had a bad couple of meets when it comes to the 100 back so I’m just glad I could get back in the 1:02 range and get a season best,” White said. “I think really focusing on it throughout the whole week, working on my stamina and really making sure all my flip turns are fast while not getting sloppy while racing helped me today.”

Lane will swim in the 200 medley relay, but her season as individual is over as she finished seventh in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.6. Emmalee Weuve (5:54.36) and Avery Meyer (5:58.15) also went 7-8 in the 500 freestyle.

The final state qualifying time in the 100 butterfly was 1:03.64 and 5:37.66 was the final state qualifying time in the 500.

“I think my swim relay went well, but my 100 fly wasn’t where I wanted it to end the season,” said Lane, who has battled back issues all season. “I swam the best I could.”

Baxter’s Camryn Russell qualified for the state diving meet for the third time in her career. She won the regional title and her 11-dive score of 430.6 is the fifth-best state qualifying score.

Notes: The Aquagirls finished second at the regional meet in 2021 but only scored 342.5 points. ... Harper Barton, Riney, Benson, White and Van Maanen all will be competing in their third state meet on Saturday. ... Fort Dodge claimed three victories on the day and Julia Eastman won two of them. ... Ames’ Andra Robertson and Ellie McCorkle each won two events for the fifth-ranked Little Cyclones. ... Fort Dodge edged Grinnell/BGM/Baxter despite being ranked four spots lower than the Tigers in the power rankings. Boone also finished above its power ranking slot. ... Ray was on the NCMP team in 2021 which also finished second at regionals. She was part of the 400 freestyle relay team with her older sister and now NCMP assistant coach Lillie Ray. “Finishing second as a team is awesome,” Peyton Ray said. “I don’t know if we’ve ever placed that high in a while at districts, and I feel like we were all focused and in it to win it today.” ... The Iowa High School Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships begin with individual swimming preliminary heats at 11 a.m. on Friday at the Marshalltown YMCA in Marshalltown. The state diving competition starts at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and the swimming finals and relays begin at noon on Saturday.