T-R PHOTO BY ANNE VANCE - Marshalltown’s Nash Perisho competes in the 100-yard butterfly race during Thursday’s CIML Iowa Conference dual against West Des Moines Valley. Perisho won the race with a time of 55.53 seconds, but the ninth-ranked Tigers took down the No. 13 Bobcats, 95-75.

The Marshalltown boys’ swimming squad set 49 new season-best times and a whopping 25 lifetime-bests, winning six of the 11 events against West Des Moines Valley in Thursday’s CIML Iowa Conference dual meet.

In the end, however, it still wasn’t enough to get the Bobcats over the top.

Ninth-ranked Valley used its depth to outscore No. 13 Marshalltown 95-75 on Thursday to hand the host Bobcats their first dual loss of the season in spite of an inspiring performance, MHS head coach Mike Loupee said.

“Last year they beat us by over 50, so a marked improvement,” Loupee added. “[Valley] didn’t pull a whole lot of punches, so the guys can feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

The Bobcats took the top two spots in a pair of events, as Aaron Seberger and Ethan Benscoter got the gold and silver, respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle, and Nash Perisho and Carson Beals combined for a 1-2 result in the 200 freestyle.

The Bobcats fell to 9-1 overall and 3-1 in conference action.

“You always say it’s good to be humbled, but we can learn our lessons winning just as well,” Loupee said. “Certainly the overall competition top-to-bottom from Valley was better than we’ve seen up to this point, but again look at the score and looking at how our guys competed, our Nos. 2 and 3 guys did well.

“This was a much more solid performance up and down the lineup, probably the best we’ve had so far this year.”

Perisho picked up another individual victory in the 100 butterfly, clocking in at 55.53 seconds, and Beals won the 100 freestyle with a 49.80.

Both contributed in both winning Bobcat relays as Marshalltown’s quartet of Seberger, Marcus Barker, Perisho and Beals teamed up to take the 200 freestyle relay in 1:31.46 — the eighth-fastest time in the state this winter. In the 400 freestyle relay, Perisho, Tyler Downey, Barker and Beals touched up in 3:21.87.

Marshalltown has a week off now to prepare for their Jan. 23 trip to fourth-ranked Waukee.

Valley 95, Marshalltown 75

At Marshalltown

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS placewinners)

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Valley (Wallace, Copple, Shaner, Mills) 1:44.05; 3. MHS (Seberger, Keeler, Blom, Benscoter) 1:48.08.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Nash Perisho, MHS, 1:50.10; 2. Carson Beals, MHS, 1:51.93.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Reed Wallace, VAL, 2:06.39; 3. Marcus Barker, MHS, 2:08.63; 5. Stephen Blom, MHS, 2:15.86.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Aaron Seberger, MHS, 22.87; 2. Ethan Benscoter, MHS, 24.06.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Perisho, MHS, 55.53; 5. Brock Keeler, MHS, 1:00.83.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Beals, MHS, 49.80; 5. Benscoter, MHS, 52.63.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Allen Li, VAL, 5:10.03; 3. Blom, MHS, 5:23.84; 4. Tyler Downey, MHS, 5:25.80.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Seberger, Barker, Perisho, Beals) 1:31.46; 3. MHS (Jones, Hunt, Benscoter, Downey) 1:38.21.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Casey DeJong, VAL, 1:00.52; 3. Seberger, MHS, 1:00.92; 4. Dane Petty, MHS, 1:03.47.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Carson Copple, VAL, 1:04.39; 2. Barker, MHS, 1:07.82; 4. Keeler, MHS, 1:11.06.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Perisho, Downey, Barker, Beals) 3:21.87.