Eight Cardinals ready to make big splash at state swim meet

Harper Barton wrote down the names and times of every swimmer in her individual events and posted them above her bed to see before she goes to sleep every night.

The Newton senior has one final chance to climb the podium at the state swimming and diving meet, and it’s the best opportunity she’s had in her prep career.

“It’s for motivation and to know what I need to reach my goal,” Barton said about the names and times above her bed. “I look at those girls and think to myself there’s no way they’re better than me.”

Eight Cardinals will swim in this year’s state meet, which moves the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center in Iowa City.

Barton, senior Tori White, sophomore Temple Barton and freshman Reid McCloud will compete in preliminary heats in individual events starting at noon Thursday.

That same foursome will be paired up for the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays, which takes place on Friday.

Newton also will compete in the 200 medley relay as juniors Emalee Weuve and Kimberlee Miller and sophomores Julia Nedder and Alexa Van Maanen secured one of the final qualifying spots.

The state alternates are senior Brilea Moffitt and sophomore Peyton Phillips.

Both Harper Barton and McCloud will compete in two individual events and two relays.

Harper Barton enters both the 50 and 100 freestyle races with the eighth-best qualifying time. The top eight advance to the ‘A’ final on Friday and the top six earn a spot on the podium.

“It’s exciting, but there’s more pressure because eighth is close to in and out. I like my heat and lane for both though,” said Barton, who has never made an ‘A’ final in her career. “The first goal is to make the ‘A’ final. Then it’s anyone’s chance after that.”

The third-best qualifier in the 50 freestyle is separated by only .5 seconds with the 10th fastest, while second and 10th in the 100 freestyle are separated by about 1 full second.

Temple Barton snuck into the state meet in the 100 freestyle. She had the 31st fastest qualifying time out of 32 qualifiers. But she left the regional meet thinking she was going to make it at all.

“I was so happy and so excited,” Temple Barton said. “Tori told me through text that I made it, and I was freaking out.”

White returns to the state meet in her best individual event, the 100 backstroke. And for the first time in her career, she qualified with a time fast enough to make the ‘B’ final, which includes the ninth through 16th-fastest swimmers in Thursday’s preliminary heats.

Her school-record time from last week sits in 16th out of 32 qualifiers. The difference from 11th and 17th is 1 second.

“I’ve never made a final before. Hopefully I can do that and go sub 1 minute,” White said. “Those are big goals, but I think I can get there. I think I can be faster after a bigger taper.”

Newton head swimming coach Kaylee Franke and assistant coach Kara Groenenboom put her athletes on different tapers at the end of the season.

Harper Barton, Temple Barton, White and McCloud did not taper as much going into regionals with the hopes of using a bigger taper later to fare better at state.

The girls on the 200 medley relay team needed a bigger taper to qualify for state, and that plan worked out for them, too.

“My medley team fights a little more injury so in order to be where they needed to be to qualify, we did a little more of a taper before regionals with that group,” Franke said. “Those girls were capable, but it was going to be tougher if they were fighting injury or illness that week.

We want to do things as a team, but in an individual sport, you also need to do things that best suit the athletes.”

McCloud has goals similar to Harper Barton when it comes to her two individual events. She enters the state meet with the ninth-best qualifying time in the 500 freestyle and the 17th-best time in the 200 freestyle.

In the 200, 10th through 20th are separated by 3 seconds and sixth through 14th in the 500 freestyle are 5 seconds apart.

“I want to make the finals in both events and beat one of my biggest competitors — Dowling Catholic’s Sassy Hassett,” McCloud said. “I’m close to her, and I think I can get her. If I get ‘A’ final in the 500, that would be really nice.”

McCloud swims against Hassett in both events, and the two will swim side-by-side in heat 3 of the 200 freestyle.

White, Temple Barton, McCloud and Harper Barton will team up in the 200 freestyle relay first on Friday. That group enters with the ninth-best time. They are .21 in front of 10th and less than a second behind Dowling Catholic in eighth.

“I want to make it on the podium so bad. I hope this year can be different,” White said. “We’re going for the school records, too. I think we have a really good chance in the 400 freestyle relay.”

The order for that relay will be McCloud, Temple Barton, White and Harper Barton. They posted the seventh-best qualifying time, which is .28 seconds and .30 seconds in front of eighth and ninth but more than 3 seconds back of sixth.

“It feels good. I’m really excited to do it with Harper and Tori,” Temple Barton said. “I’ve swam with them for a long time and it’s the last time I’ll have the chance to get those records with my sister.”

It will be the first time swimming at state for Temple Barton, McCloud, Van Maanen, Miller, Nedder and Weuve. Harper Barton and White are four-time state qualifiers.

Weuve, Van Maanen, Nedder and Miller will open Friday in the 200 medley relay. They come into state with the 31st-best qualifying time, which is .54 seconds ahead of Spencer and .26 seconds back of Sioux City West.

“We just want to drop as much time as we can, show how much hard work we’ve put in and prove that we deserve to be here,” Van Maanen said.

Van Maanen and Nedder said they both found out at home with their family as they were refreshing their computers every few minutes.

Weuve found out in the Home Depot parking lot with assistant coach Groenenboom and Miller was contacted on her way home from dinner that night.

“I found out in the parking lot of Home Depot,” Weuve said. “I jumped into coach’s arms and everyone around us probably wondered what my problem was. They were all laughing at me.

“We’re one of the best in the state, and it’s fun to be there so I’m excited for that. We’ve all been focusing on the taper and doing our best.”

Nedder joins her two older siblings as a state swimming qualifier. She made a strong push in the butterfly at the end of the season to help make state a reality for the group.

“This was the goal all season. We knew we were close,” Nedder said. “I really wanted to make it to state so I tried to give it my all and hopefully it was enough to make it.”

Nedder and Van Maanen were part of last year’s group who attended the state meet, but Miller has only watched on TV and Weuve was unable to attend last year’s final event in Marshalltown due to a family emergency.

“I’m really excited to hang out with the team and get to experience the state meet,” Miller said. “I was coming back from dinner and got a call from Coach Kaylee and a bunch of the girls ended up screaming in my ear. I was shocked we made it.”

Unlike past seasons, the Newton coaching staff established the swimmers for the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams pretty early in the season.

While it may not have been the way to do it in past seasons, White thinks it was the right choice for this year.

“Last year we couldn’t have done that with the large number of seniors we had,” White said. “Establishing the four early on this year’s team was the right decision for us. We were able to continue to work at it all year. We’ve dropped time all season and that’s the goal again.”

McCloud is excited to see how much the freestyle relays can improve at state.

She hopes to be able to recover enough for the 200 freestyle relay after swimming in the 500 to help her team move up in the standings. And the school record in both events is within reach.

“Our 400 freestyle relay is close to podium coming in,” McCloud said. “Moving up or down could depend on one single stroke or one single second.”

It will be the final time sharing a pool in prep competition for the Barton sisters. That makes Harper a little sad, but she’s ready for a few big final races.

“It’s going to be sad. I’ve already cried,” Harper Barton said. “I loved swimming with her this season and all summer. She’s my training buddy. We swam all summer together here. Every time I went, she went. It was usually just her and I and we just did what we were told. “Getting podium would be amazing and so fun. Hopefully we can break those records, too.”

For Franke, it won’t be about school records or podium finishers. She just wants her swimmers to walk away proud of their races.

“I won’t deny that I want them to be on that podium as much as they do, but my pride as a coach will come from them having a race they are all proud of,” Franke said. “I want good for all of them, but we have two seniors who are actively getting scouted and I really would like an ‘A’ final spot for both of them.

“Harper will be a collegiate swimmer, and I want her to have the kind of exposure that an ‘A’ final will bring her.”

The state swim meet begins at noon on Thursday in Iowa City and the finals for all swimming events will start at noon on Friday.

Baxter’s Camryn Russell will compete in her fourth state diving meet as part of the Grinnell/BGM/Baxter team starting at 3:30 on Thursday.

The defending champion comes into the meet with the top qualifying score of 480.4. She’s the favorite to win her second state title after placing in the top seven her first two prep seasons.