That’s where the Marshalltown boys’ swimming team ended up Saturday afternoon in the CIML Iowa Conference meet, hosted by the Bobcats at the Marshalltown YMCA.

Sure, third-place finishers Ames left a few of its varsity swimmers back home to ease COVID concerns ahead of the upcoming district meets. But nonetheless, it was a strong showing for the Bobcats, who scored 416.5 points to finish less than 40 points behind Ankeny, one of the state’s top teams.

Coach Mike Loupee was impressed with how some of his swimmers performed while tired.

“The fact that they’re competing well, they’re swimming at or near season-best times and they’re disappointed they’re not swimming faster?” Loupee said. “Those are all great indicators we’re going to have a really good taper.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Dane Petty picks up a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle event during Saturday’s CIML Iowa Conference swim meet at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.

The Bobcats started the meet with a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, led by Dane Petty, Andrew Kodis, JP Jones and Stephen Blom. Kodis had four lifetime bests and made an impression on Loupee with his speed, the coach said. As a team, the Bobcats had 30 season bests and 26 lifetime bests.

Petty followed up that with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, swimming a 1:55.27.

This meet was a big opportunity for Marshalltown to try and show it was ready to begin tapering for the upcoming district meet, held Feb.6 and hosted by Johnston. The Bobcats have been performing well the past few weeks, and won their past four events before Saturday’s races.

The Bobcats’ first individual conference champion came in the 50-yard freestyle, when Aaron Seberger sneaked to the finish line in 22.79 seconds to win by 9-hundredths of a second over Mason City’s Trevor Torkelson. JP Jones finished seventh in the event.

Marcus Barker got his own individual conference title in the 100-yard freestyle, beating out Seberger by 23-hundredths of a second with a 49.50 time for the win. The Bobcats won one other meet in the 400-yard freestyle relay, taking the crown after the Ankeny A team was disqualified. The group of Ethan Benscoter, Seberger, Blom and Barker finished the event in 3:20.94, an impressive time despite Loupee saying they left a few seconds in the pool.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Loupee said he’s excited to see how the team reacts to tapering and to rest days later in the week after a busy two-plus weeks of competing in meets and tournaments.

“We’re set up well, we’re set up to compete,” Loupee said.

Now with a road meet against Indianola scheduled for Tuesday and then over a full week of preparation time, Marshalltown has its eyes set high.

Loupee stressed that health will play an important factor in how the Bobcats perform at districts.

“We always talk about staying healthy during cold and flu season, and COVID just amplifies that concern,” Loupee said. “So as long as our guys stay smart and do the things they’re supposed to do, as far as COVID goes and COVID protocols, we’re set up for a fun districts and state.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

CIML Iowa Conference Meet

At Marshalltown

Team Standings — 1. Ankeny 451, 2. Marshalltown 416.5, 3. Ames 316.5, 4. Mason City 310, 5. Fort Dodge 193.

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS placewinners)

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. ANK (Stukerjurgen, Deaton, Miner, Bennett) 1:40.64; 3. MHS (Petty, Kodis, Jones, Blom) 1:53.20.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Brek Stukerjurgen, ANK, 1:47.46; 2. Dane Petty, MHS, 1:55.23; 5. Drake Stalzer, MHS, 2:05.06.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Will Bennett, ANK, 2:03.88; 2. Marcus Barker, MHS, 2:06.24; 5. Ethan Benscoter, MHS, 2:17.17.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Aaron Seberger, MHS, 22.79; 5. Carter Hunt, MHS, 24.30.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Owen Schwebach, ANK, 53.95; 5. JP Jones, MHS, 1:02.05.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Barker, MHS, 49.50; 2. Seberger, MHS, 49.73; 4. Benscoter, MHS, 52.07.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Stukerjurgen, ANK, 4:55.86; 3. Stephen Blom, MHS, 5:08.13.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. ANK (Frandson, Bennett, Schwebach, Swanepol) 1:28.86; 2. MHS (Benscoter, Seberger, Hunt, Barker) 1:32.18.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Trent Frandson, ANK, 56.99; 3. Petty, MHS, 1:00.06; 5. Blom, MHS, 1:01.04.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Ryan Korthals, MCHS, 1:03.47.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Benscoter, Seberger, Blom, Barker) 3:20.94.