AMES — It looked like a lopsided loss, but it felt like a win in many ways for the Marshalltown boys’ swimming squad.

The Bobcats lost a 107-63 dual meet on Thursday night against top-ranked Ames, but the time cuts made by MHS told a different story according to head coach Mike Loupee.

“I am very pleased, we had 41 season-best times and 23 lifetime-best times,” Loupee said. “It’s been three weeks since we had a meet, they worked hard over Christmas break, and the work is paying off.”

Marshalltown managed to win three individual races and one relay, led on this night by Aaron Seberger. The Bobcat junior collected a victory in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.45 seconds, his season best, and led a 1-2 MHS finish in the 100 freestyle. Seberger and junior Marcus Barker both broke the 50-second mark for the first time to take the top two spots in 49.86 and 49.89, respectively.

“That’s huge, that’s a big deal,” Loupee said. “Just up and down, to have these kinds of personal-bests and lifetime-bests — they had morning practice, so they’re swimming tired — this is really encouraging. They should all be very excited.”

Another junior, Stephen Blom, beat the field to the wall in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:08.75 — less than half a second off his season-best time — and the Bobcats closed out the dual meet by smashing their top clocking in the 400 freestyle relay.

The MHS foursome of Ethan Benscoter, Seberger, Blom and Barker tallied a new season-best with their winning 3:23.20, lopping a whopping seven seconds off their previous mark thanks to season-best splits for each swimmer.

The same quartet took another 1.5 seconds off their time in the 200 freestyle relay, finishing second in 1:32.89.

Marshalltown senior Drake Stalzer moved the most time on the stopwatch, Loupee said, by setting four lifetime-best times in the meet. Stalzer dropped 14 seconds off his 500 freestyle time, finishing fourth in 5:40.12, and had never broken one minute in the 100 free before opening the 400 freestyle relay with a 57-second split. Stalzer also came in third in the 200 individual medley with a four-second time drop of 2:24.90.

“We had that kind of stuff all over the place,” Loupee said of the team’s times.

The Bobcats also showed their sympathy for the family of Dan Flannery, the former Ames High swim coach who passed away suddenly in July 2020 from a brain aneurysm. Loupee said his swim parents sent flowers to Flannery’s widow, Judi, as a show of compassion as Flannery’s sons, Joe and Tommy, competed in the meet for the Little Cyclones.

“It was a great show of support and sportsmanship,” Loupee said. “You can’t imagine those two boys swimming on their dad’s team without their dad.”

The Bobcats return to action with home meets next week against Des Moines East on Tuesday and Mason City next Thursday.

Ames 107, Marshalltown 63

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS placewinners)

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. AMES (Ning, Flannery, Houseman, Drury) 1:44.20; 3. MHS (Petty, Benscoter, Hunt, Case) 1:56.66.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Quentin Strohm, AMES, 1:49.61; 3. Stephen Blom, MHS, 1:53.77; 4. Dane Petty, MHS, 2:02.15.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Eli Houseman, AMES, 2:04.52; 2. Marcus Barker, MHS, 2:06.10; 3. Drake Stalzer, MHS, 2:24.90.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Aaron Seberger, MHS, 22.45; 4. Carter Hunt, MHS, 24.82.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Houseman, AMES, 53.88; 4. Ethan Benscoter, MHS, 1:01.59; 5. Hunt, MHS, 1:08.76.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Seberger, MHS, 49.86; 2. Barker, MHS, 49.89.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Blom, MHS, 5:08.75; 4. Stalzer, MHS, 5:40.12.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. AMES (Feilmeyer, Flannery, Ning, Houseman) 1:31.45; 2. MHS (Benscoter, Seberger, Barker, Blom) 1:32.89.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Adam Feilmeyer, AMES, 56.36; 4. Petty, MHS, 1:00.39; 5. Kaden Case, MHS, 1:10.45.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Flannery, AMES, 1:06.91; 4. Andrew Kodis, MHS, 1:18.72; 5. Cohen Thatcher, MHS, 1:20.07.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Benscoter, Seberger, Blom, Barker) 3:23.20; 3. MHS (Stalzer, Hunt, Case, Petty) 3:48.34.