×

Bobcats repeat as Toreador Relays champs

Ethan Benscoter

BOONE — The Marshalltown boys’ swimming team scored 10 points fewer than a year ago but still won the 58th annual Toreador Relays for the second consecutive season in spite of a dose of adversity dealt the Bobcats on Saturday.

Two varsity swimmers — senior Nash Perisho and freshman JP Jones — were late scratches because of illness, so the Bobcats had to adjust their lineup on the bus ride to Boone and rise to the challenge once they hit the water.

The result was Marshalltown victories in six of the 11 events, a new meet record and a 24-point cushion in the final team standings.

“It was a little dicey going in,” said MHS head coach Mike Loupee. “We had breakfast on the deck at 7 a.m. and had two varsity swimmers who didn’t show up because they were sick. So we went with an alternative lineup, and I didn’t have an assistant coach too because she was home sick.

“The guys did really well. Boone is always tough because it’s the end of a three-meet week — three meets in five days — but we still had 22 season-bests and 10 lifetime-bests.”

Aaron Seberger

The Bobcats scored 69 team points to finish comfortably ahead of host Boone (45) and Carroll (44) in the six-team meet, but it didn’t truly materialize until the back half of the meet. Marshalltown claimed the top spot in the last five events to run away with the team title for the second year in a row.

“I think what it tells us is we had two varsity guys out of the lineup … and we still won the meet handily,” Loupee said. “That sends a message to our team that we’re a lot stronger team and we are not dependent on just one individual for our success. Hopefully this will add to our confidence and we can move forward from here.”

One of the highlights of the day for MHS was the 2×50-yard freestyle relay, where sophomore Aaron Seberger and senior Carson Beals broke a 13-year-old meet record in winning the event in a combined time of 45.12 seconds. The record was previously set in 2006 by Marshalltown’s Aaron Loupee and Zach Johnson.

“And they won by a tenth of a second,” coach Loupee said. “It was a great race.”

Beals and Seberger both were a part of three gold-medal performances and another silver. Beals was a part of both freestyle relay victories and was a runner-up with junior Ethan Benscoter in the 2×100 freestyle, while Seberger got gold for the 200 freestyle relay, the 2×100 backstroke alongside Dane Petty, and led off for the runner-up 200 medley relay team.

Benscoter finished with four top-three medals in all — two firsts, a second and a third — even though he wasn’t supposed to be nearly that busy on Saturday.

“Ethan was thrown into a more premier role than he thought when he got to the school on Saturday morning,” coach Loupee said. “He got a little bigger bite of the pie than he’d bargained for.

“I can’t say enough about Ethan’s performance today. He went from swimming one or two varsity events to getting four top-three finishes. He was thrown into the fire and responded really well. I’m very proud of him, he did a super job.”

Stephen Blom and Tyler Downey kicked off the second-half dominance for the Bobcats with their win in the 2×500 freestyle relay, and then Seberger, Marcus Barker, Benscoter and Beals won the 200 freestyle relay. Petty and Seberger scored gold in the 2×100 backstroke, Barker and Brock Keeler claimed the top spot in the 2×100 breaststroke, and the 400 freestyle relay foursome of Benscoter, Downey, Beals and Barker finished off the meet victoriously.

“In the back half we put the hammer down,” Loupee said. “It was really gratifying seeing Brock Keeler get a couple medals today. He’s worked really hard for four years.”

The Bobcats dive back into action with Thursday’s trip to Fort Dodge for a triangular including Spencer, and Marshalltown’s home invitational is next Saturday at the MHS pool.

“Hopefully we can get everybody healthy and available to compete, especially for our home invite, but I’m real pleased with where we’re at,” Loupee added.

Toreador Relays

At Boone

Team Standings — 1. Marshalltown 69, 2. Boone 45, 3. Carroll 44, 4. Williamsburg 26, 5. Atlantic 21, 6. Fort Dodge 19.

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS finishers)

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Boone (Kraft, Patterson, Thompson, Seeman) 1:48.76; 2. MHS (Seberger, Keeler, Blom, Downey) 1:53.33.

2×200 FREESTYLE — 1. Boone (Kraft, Patterson) 4:05.71; 3. MHS (Petty, Benscoter) 4:12.81.

2×200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Williamsburg (Strank, McGrath) 4:16.47; 2. MHS (Keeler, Barker) 4:35.60.

2×50 FREESTYLE — 1. MHS (Seberger, Beals) 45.12.

2×100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Williamsburg (McGrath, Strank) 1:50.15; 4. MHS (Blom, Downey) 2:08.70.

2×100 FREESTYLE — 1. Carroll (Dose, Danner) 1:40.53; 2. MHS (Benscoter, Beals) 1:43.83.

2×500 FREESTYLE — 1. MHS (Blom, Downey) 11:19.66.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Seberger, Barker, Benscoter, Beals) 1:33.29.

2×100 BACKSTROKE — 1. MHS (Petty, Seberger) 2:03.62.

2×100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. MHS (Barker, Keeler) 2:18.68.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Benscoter, Downey, Beals, Barker) 3:30.37.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today