The Maroons took first in every event on the way to a 140-46 dual victory, including junior Katie Broderick leaving her mark by setting a new pool record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.59, which broke Valley swimmer Alexa Mehesan’s old record of 1:55.58 from back in 2007.

MHS head coach Angie Nelson said she wasn’t concerned with what Dowling did on the night, and she was thrilled with how her girls competed in the first meet of the season.

“We had a couple of goals tonight and that was to get a great meet off, do the best that we can and when we have the opportunity to race we’ll take it. They did that and I am really proud of them,” Nelson said. “We have a couple of girls who are starting faster than they were last year at this time of the season and we have some freshmen who have an awful lot of potential. Saw some great things on the diving board and I am excited about where we can go from here.”

The Bobcats came away with four second-place finishes on the night. Alli Trowbridge placed second in the diving competition with a 237.45, just behind Avery Markowski’s 243.50. Shakira Herrera was second in the 100 butterfly with a 1:04.31, and the 200-freestyle relay of Herrera, Taylor Hrabak, Kelsey Bartles and Cori Jorgenson and 400-freestyle relay of Jorgenson, Hrabak, Herrera and Erin Stanley both came in second.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Nelson said Trowbridge looks good in her first meet of her senior year, and she got a little extra motivation following narrowly to Markowski.

“They are friends and also rivals and they know that their lists are similar,” Nelson said. “Knowing that you are walking into a list of similar degree of difficulty, that’s a good start.”

It was actually the third-place finisher on the diving board in Hannah Taylor with a 214.20 that Nelson said stuck out the most in that event.

“That was her first 200 or above, so that’s amazing and what an improvement,” Nelson said. “She has put a lot of hard work and effort into that and you can tell.”

In the pool, Nelson said girls like Herrera and Hrabak — who took third in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle — and Jorgenson — who was the top placer in the 50 freestyle — whom she was most encouraged by.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“Taylor in the 100 freestyle was a little bit faster than where she would be at the beginning of the season, so that was an excellent race for her,” Nelson said. “Cori Jorgensen had a pretty fast time to put up at the beginning for her in the 50 free. Shakira is faster to start the season in the butterfly than where she was before, so that’s good.”

One of the largest groups of athletes on the team this season is the freshman class, and Nelson said they all did well in their first taste of high school competition.

“We’ve got some newcomers who put up some good times, I don’t have a lot to compare it to yet but I think in a couple of weeks we definitely will see some growth,” she said.

Next up the Bobcats will hit the road to take on Des Moines East on Thursday evening.

“It’ll be a much more competitive meet for us so we will swim a little bit more standard lineup against East,” Nelson said. “We don’t have diving points against East, so that puts it on a little bit more of an even playing field, but our divers will be swimmers for the night and we will see some fun things.”

That dual between the Scarlets and Marshalltown is set for a 5:30 p.m. start on Thursday.

Dowling Catholic 140, Marshalltown 46

At Marshalltown

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS placewinners)

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. DC (Quass, Broderick, Clark, Carlson)1:58.54; 4. MHS (Stanley, Bartles, Manis, Wedemeyer) 2:24.79.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Katie Broderick, DC, 1:54.59 (new pool record, old record Alexa Mehesan, Valley, 1:55.58, 2007); 3. Taylor Hrabak, MHS, 2:08.69; 5. Kelsey Bartles, MHS, 2:37.34.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Meg Susil, DC, 2:21.19; 4. Shakira Herrera, MHS, 2:30.97; 5. Emily Manis, MHS, 2:52.20.

50 FREESTYLE — Mary Martin, DC, 25.12; 4. Cori Jorgenson, MHS, 27.51; 5. Cassidy Wedemeyer, MHS, 33.60.

DIVING — 1. Avery Markowski, DC, 243.50; 2. Alli Trowbridge, MHS, 237.45; 3. Hannah Taylor, MHS, 214.20; 5. Aaliyah Afuya, MHS, 140.65.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Berit Quass, DC, 57.72; 2. Shakira Herrera, MHS, 1:04.31; 5. Erin Stanley, MHS, 1:21.01.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Mary Sweetman, DC, 55.67; 3. Taylor Hrabak, MHS, 59.49; 5. Taylor Jones, 1:15.31.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Maddie Grant, DC, 5:27.88; 4. Klaudia Hernandez, MHS, 6:30.77; 5. Cori Jorgenson, MHS, 6:47.89.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. DC (Eure, Schultz, Carlson, Croyle) 1:49.73; 2. MHS (Herrera, Hrabak, Bartles, Jorgenson) 1:54.54.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Anya Koenigsfeld, DC, 1:07.35; 4. Erin Stanley, MHS, 1:16.52; 5. Emily Manis, MHS, 1:18.88.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. 1. Maggie Carlson, DC, 1:19.71; 4. Kelsey Bartles, MHS, 1:28.95; 5. Carissa King, MHS, 1:43.43.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. DC (Haus, Martin, Rounds, Tuazon) 4:02.56; 2. MHS (Jorgenson, Hrabak, Herrera, Stanley) 4:11.45.