The biggest competition for the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella girls swim team on Thursday came from the Aquagirl teammates themselves.
NCMP had no issues with Tipton or Williamsburg. But if it learned one thing in the season opener, it’s that depth is aplenty and who swims in what at the varsity level is still pretty unknown.
“I didn’t expect to see that many close races. But I’m happy about that,” NCMP head swim coach Nick Shelton said. “We got to see a lot of competition within the team, which helps us push each other. That’s the best part of the night.”
The Aquagirls finished 1-2 in all but one event at the varsity level and Harper Barton and Tori White each were part of four wins as NCMP defeated Tipton 116-32 and dunked Williamsburg 115-48. Williamsburg scored a 103-46 win over Tipton in their matchup.
The large senior class also started their final season in the pool with a trio of wins from Peyton Ray, Alex Riney and Addison Van Maanen. Paige Benson was part of two relay victories, too.
“It feels weird. It felt like a normal meet, but the seniors lead the pre-meet cheers. That’s now us up there,” Ray said about being a senior.
The Aquagirls had the top two times in every event except the 200-meter individual medley. And one of their junior varsity relay teams also swam faster than a foursome made up of all seniors.
NCMP started the night with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. The winning team of Riney, Van Maanen, White and Benson finished in 2 minutes, 11.49 seconds. The runner-up team of Hailey Dickerson, Anna DeVries, Izzy Lane and Avery Meyer stopped the clock in 2:24.08.
The JV 200 medley relay team of Emalee Weuve, Temple Barton, Julia Nedder and Alexa Van Maanen finished in 2:22.88.
Ray, Riney, Benson and Harper Barton won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:55.76 and Lane, Dickerson, DeVries and Meyer were second in 2:09.87. The top JV team of Temple Barton, Nedder, Alexa Van Maanen and Peyton Phillips had the third-best overall time of 2:10.35.
Ray said the 1:55.76 time her foursome won with is only 2 seconds off the school record meter time.
“That’s what we want,” Shelton said. “That friendly competition between one another. It’s going to be a good season. I think we are going to have a big year.”
The 400 freestyle relay team of Ray, White, Addison Van Maanen and Harper Barton won in 4:19.34 and Lane, Dickerson, Meyer and DeVries were second in 4:48.59.
Harper Barton also won the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, while White scored wins in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.
“Our starts, our turns and our relay exchanges can all get better,” Shelton said. “We can improve the little things still. We can clean up that stuff. I think breathing into the wall can be improved, too. Fundamentally, we are there though.”
Harper Barton won the 200 freestyle in 2:16.71 and Ray was second in 2:17.47.
Barton’s winning time in the 100 breaststroke was 1:18.12 and Addison Van Maanen was the runner-up in 1:21.08.
White won the 100 fly in 1:15.13 and Lane was next in 1:16.60. White’s winning time in the 100 backstroke was clocked in 1:12.6 and Dickerson was second in 1:20.83.
“I was good with my fly because I haven’t trained for it much,” White said. “The most I’ve done with that is three 50s and that was (Wednesday). The backstroke wasn’t good in my opinion. I’m not sure what happened with that one. It felt fast. I thought it could be record time. It was definitely not that.
“It’s a good baseline to start. I have two more meets to break it. I need to work on my foot turns and streamlining longer. My third turn and last turn could be way better. That will cut the time down.”
Ray’s individual win came in the 100 freestyle. She won the race in 1:02.03 and Riney was second in 1:06.29.
“I think it was my fastest time ever besides districts,” Ray said. “Or at least close to it. We’ve done a lot of hard training and my turns have improved so that helped quite a bit.”
Riney won the 50 freestyle in 29.72 seconds and Benson was the runner-up in 32.35.
Weuve swam to a win in the 400 freestyle. She was the winner in 5:32.34, which edged Meyer (5:32.49) at the wall.
Addison Van Maanen grabbed an individual win in the 200 IM. She hit the wall in 2:41.62 and Benson was third overall and second against Tipton in 2:51.34.
“It’s a big group who feeds off each other and holds each other accountable really well,” Shelton said about the large senior class. “That helps the rest of the team hold themselves accountable.
“Last year wasn’t bad, but there’s more leadership because of the large number of seniors. That can only help us.”
Notes : The NCMP JV defeated Williamsburg 96-41 and downed Tipton 96-12. Phillips won both the 100 and 200 freestyle, while other individual wins came from Kimberlee Miller (200 IM), Alexa Van Maanen (50 freestyle), Nedder (100 fly), Weuve (100 backstroke), Haylee White (400 freestyle) and Temple Barton (100 breaststroke), who edged DeVries by .04 seconds. Weuve, Nedder, Alexa Van Maanen and Temple Barton won the JV 400 freestyle relay, too.
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