NCMP wins nearly every event in road victory over Lincoln
Dec. 15—DES MOINES — Finn Martin was part of four wins, Clay Lamb, Ethan Comer and Eli Eekhoff all registered three victories and the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella boys swim team dominated Des Moines Lincoln on Tuesday.
The Cardinals won every event but one and dunked the Railsplitters 109-56.
NCMP's depth showed in the junior varsity races, too, as the Cardinals scored a 58-9 win at that level.
"Another good meet for the NCMP swimmers," NCMP head boys swim coach Sarah Patterson said. "A solid meet all the way around.
"We had a really hard leg workout in the pool Monday, but the athletes responded well at the meet and pushed hard."
The Cardinals were 1-2 in five events, finished 1-2-3 in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles and came in 1-3 in four events.
They were 1-2 in the 200 medley relay and 1-3 in both freestyle relays.
Martin anchored the Cardinals to wins in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and won the 200 and 500 freestyle races.
"Finn swam distance for us last night," Patterson said. "Those aren't his favorite events, but he knows why we put him in there. It's always good to condition and race over your normal racing distance."
The winning 200 medley relay team featured Drew Fuller, Comer, Lamb and MacK Copeland and they finished the race in 1 minute, 59.35 seconds.
Sean Bower, Brady Comer, Mason Gaulke and Kenny Skinner-Havens finished second in the event in 2:04.98.
In the 200 freestyle relay, Eekhoff, Brady Comer, Ethan Comer and Martin swam a winning time of 1:39.64. Gaulke, Skinner-Havens, Collin Buchli and Jonah Brown finished third in 1:53.69.
The Cardinals' winning 400 freestyle relay team of Eekhoff, Lamb, Copeland and Martin finished in 3:40.56. Brown, Skinner-Havens, Fuller and Gaulke came in third with a time of 4:07.03.
"We won all three relays and had pretty good splits for this time in the season," Patterson said. "I love to see them be aggressive in their races and not back down. We talked about being gritty and battling even when feeling season fatigue or soreness."
Martin won the 200 freestyle in 1:54.72 and Brown placed third in 2:13.49. Martin's winning time in the 500 freestyle was 5:24.9 and Copeland was second in a season-best 6:01.03.
Eekhoff, Brady Comer and Lamb were 1-2-3 in the 50 freestyle with times of 24.24 seconds, 25.46 seconds and 25.66 seconds, respectively.
Brown, Gaulke and Ethan Comer finished 1-2-3 in the 100 freestyle. They hit the wall in 59.72 seconds, 1:00.04 and 1:01.84, respectively.
In the 100 butterfly, Lamb edged Eekhoff at the wall. Lamb won the race in 1:00.22 and Eekhoff finished in 1:00.99.
"Seniors Eli Eekhoff, Clay Lamb and Jonah Brown won three events in a row for us," Patterson said. "Times were good for this time of the season but, more important, they had strong races and good back-half swims."
Fuller won the 100 backstroke in 1:07.8 and Bower finished third in 1:21.77.
Ethan Comer won the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.5 and Copeland came in third in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:38.78.
"Overall, we are buying in, training hard and swimming aggressively so I can't ask for more than that," Patterson said. "But, I will the next time practice rolls around."
