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Swimmers show promise, MHS diving record falls

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Lesli Waltermire makes her way to fifth place in the 100-yard butterfly during Saturday’s Bobcat Invite at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA. Waltermire finished the race in a time of 1 minute, 6.18 seconds.

Some of the state’s best swimmers showed up at the Marshalltown YMCA, particularly those from No. 5 Johnston — and while it made for a difficult meet, the Bobcat swimmers and divers more than acquitted themselves.

Marshalltown finished fourth in the team standings for the event with a score of 150 points, well behind Johnston’s 346 point total. But the Bobcats surpassed their own expectations heading into Saturday’s meet, including those of head coach Angie Nelson.

“I’m really excited,” Nelson said. “I didn’t know if she would break the top five or not, so I’m super excited for the girls’ performance, I’m thrilled with that.”

The meet began with diving in the morning, and the 11-dive event was won by sophomore Abby Tollefson for the Bobcats. The West Marshall diver broke the MHS record for an 11-dive meet, according to Nelson, with a total score of 474.55 to pace the field. She was followed up by Alexis Thompson of Grinnell with 460.45 points. Marshalltown’s Kaisa Stanley finished sixth and scored 355.25 points, while Kiersten Randall scored 300.15 and finished ninth.

In the first swim event of the day, the Bobcats earned a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Averie Wittkop, Taylor Jones, Lesli Waltermire and Maeve Janssen completed the event in a time of 2 minutes, 1.32 seconds and got Marshalltown off to a positive start. Wittkop finished 11th in the 200 freestyle and then Hannah Case got 11th in the 200 individual medley.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Averie Wittkop makes her way to second place in the 100-yard backstroke at the Bobcat Invite on Saturday at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA. Wittkop clocked in at 1 minute, 5.66 seconds.

Waltermire’s time of 25.94 was enough for a fourth-place finish. Janssen finished in eighth and Jones in 10th (the latter two finished one-two in their heat), giving the Bobcats three top-10 finishers in the event. Nelson was very pleased with the racing that went on between the two.

In the 100 butterfly, Waltermire came in fifth place at 1:06.18. Janssen led the charge for Marshalltown in the 100 freestyle with a seventh-place finish and a time of 1:00:43.

Another third-place relay finish came in the 200 free relay, a time of 1:47.38 from Jones, Wittkop, Janssen and Waltermire.

The Bobcats were in sixth place in the heat through the first three swimmers before Waltermire’s 25.53 split took them up to third.

Nelson was again pleased with the racing on display.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

“I love racing, and I love watching girls race,” Nelson said. “When they get that internal fire, that really makes them start really pushing on the competition, that’s fun to see. We need more of that, and we need everybody to start doing that because those are the races that are fun to watch.”

In the next event, Wittkop finished in second place in the 100 backstroke. She went up against Johnston star Olivia Swalley who came into the meet with a best time of 58.73. Finishing with a 1:05.66 in the race, Wittkop came in just over six seconds behind Swalley’s 59.23 time, something Nelson said would be good for Wittkop’s confidence.

Jones finished seventh in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:20:57.

Even without a win over the course of the meet, Nelson said this meet could be the foundation to help the Bobcats improve over the next few weeks before they have another Invitational.

“They’re still getting into shape and we’re still learning how to race well,” Nelson said. “It kind of varies each week because the competition is different each week. I love a good time-seeded meet because they have the opportunity to see what they’re next to, and gun for it. These are the meets where you’ll see the most significant time drops.”

Marshalltown hosts No. 7 Ankeny Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the YMCA.

Bobcat Invite

At Marshalltown

Team Standings — 1. Johnston 364, 2. Indianola 224, 3. Carroll 211, 4. Marshalltown 150, 5. Boone 143, 6. Ottumwa 94, 7. Grinnell 75, 8. Atlantic 63.

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS placewinners)

DIVING — 1. Abby Tollefson, MHS, 474.55; 6. Kaisa Stanley, MHS, 355.25; 9. Kiersten Randall, MHS, 300.15.

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Johnston (Warrick, Swalley, Frantum, Taylor) 1:54.09; 3. MHS (Wittkop, T. Jones, Waltermire, Janssen) 2:01.32.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Olivia Swalley, JHN, 1:55.44; 11. Averie Wittkop, MHS, 2:14.27.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Emma Myers, CAR, 2:20.03; 11. Hannah Case, MHS, 2:42.80.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Jenna Currier, CAR, 25.37; 4. Lesli Waltermire, MHS, 25.94; 8. Maeve Janssen, MHS, 27.02.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Currier, CAR, 1:00.75; 5. Waltermire, MHS, 1:06.18; 11. Riley Robinson, MHS, 1:18.90.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Anna Gute, BNE, 56.43; 7. Janssen, MHS, 1:00.43.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Lexi Reynolds, ATL, 5:42.04.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Carroll (Myers, Burns, Beagle, Currier) 1:44.52; 3. MHS (T. Jones, Wittkop, Janssen, Waltermire) 1:47.38.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Swalley, JHN, 59.23; 2. Wittkop, MHS, 1:05.66; 12. Robinson, MHS, 1:16.75.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Myers, CAR, 1:11.09; 7. Taylor Jones, MHS, 1:20.57.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Carroll (Beagle, Holt, Myers, Currier) 3:49.92; 8. MHS (Case, Weatherly, Wedemeyer, Kodis) 5:01.35.

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