NCMP finishes third at NCSC meet

BOONE — Finn Martin won twice and set a new conference and school record in the 200-yard freestyle, but the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella boys swim team managed only eight top-three finishes at the North Central Swim Conference meet on Saturday.

The Cardinals were third in the final standings for at least the third consecutive season. But NCMP was faster in several events than were when finishing third last winter.

Host Boone controlled the day, winning seven of the 11 events and going 1-2 in four of them.

The No. 12 Toreadors won two relays, set four conference records and won the NCSC championship with 543 points.

No. 22 Decorah, despite not winning a single event, was next with 432 points and the rest of the seven-team field included No. 23 NCMP (380), No. 29 Grinnell/BGM (249), No. 34 Oskaloosa (216), No. 38 Williamsburg (152) and No. 46 Vinton-Shellsburg (77).

Decorah edged Boone last season at the top of the standings and Grinnell/BGM was fourth for the second straight season.

Martin won a pair of individual events and is now a five-time individual champion at the NCSC meet. He won the 200 freestyle with a new conference-record and school-record time of 1 minute, 44.49 seconds. Caleb Punt gave the Cardinals a 1-2 finish as he was second in a career-best 1:59.84. Martin’s time ranks fourth in the state.

Martin also won the 100 butterfly. His season-best time of 51.54 seconds was .24 seconds off the conference record he set last season. It also ranks seventh in the state.

Martin shared the NCSC Swimmer of the Year award with Boone’s Isaac Clark, who set conference records in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

Ethan Comer scored a pair of runner-up finishes. He was second in the 200 individual medley with a career-best time of 2 minutes, 9.9 seconds. He won the race at last year’s meet with a 2:12.4.

Comer was second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:05.1. He won that race last year in 1:05.39.

Boone finished 1-2 in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

MacK Copeland was third in the 500 freestyle in a career-best 5:34.36 and Punt took fifth in the 100 freestyle in a career-best 52.38 seconds.

Hudson Meyer (1:01.76) and Drew Fuller (1:04.76) finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 100 backstroke. Clark set a new conference record with a time of 54.2 seconds.

Meyer (career-best 24.24), Copeland (career-best 24.5) and Evan Marshall (24.56) went 6-7-8 in the 50 freestyle. Clark’s conference record time of 20.95 seconds bettered Martin’s record time of 21.54 from last season.

The Cardinals were second in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and placed fourth in the 200 medley relay.

Martin, Comer, Marshall and Punt finished second in the 200 freestyle relay. Their time of 1:32.07 edged Grinnell (1:32.43) for runner-up. Boone set a new conference record with a time of 1:27.08.

NCMP’s time in the 200 freestyle relay was faster than what it swam in second the past two seasons.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Martin, Punt, Fuller and Copeland took second in a season-best 3:25.68. That time ranks 19th in the state.

That was 6 seconds faster than last year’s team and 3.5 seconds faster than the Cardinal foursome that won the race two years ago.

Boone set a new conference record in the 400 freestyle relay, too. The Toreadors finished in 3:16.55.

NCMP’s foursome of Fuller, Comer, Meyer and Copeland placed fourth in the 200 medley relay in 1:50.6. That was 5 seconds faster than last year’s fifth-place team.

Grinnell’s only win came in the 200 medley relay. The Tigers hit the wall in 1:43.14.