A 500-point final score gave the Little Cyclones a 112-point win over Ankeny in second place.

Host Marshalltown took fourth place out of five teams with 153 points, beating Fort Dodge (139). A second-place showing in Tuesday’s diving event from Abby Tollefson helped the Bobcats a great deal — but there were some swims Thursday that really pleased head coach Angie Nelson.

“We had a lot of good right-at season bests or better,” Nelson said. “We’re really excited about tonight’s performance, it’s great to beat another team. It’s super to have good swims at your last regular meet.”

The first event of the night was the 200-yard medley relay, in which the Bobcats’ first telday finished in sixth. The group of Averie Wittkop, Taylor Jones, Lesli Waltermire and Maeve Janssen finished with a time of 2 minutes and .74 seconds. The ‘B’ relay team of Amaiaha Weatherly, Leticia Herrera, Hannah Case and Maggie Buseman finished ninth in 2:17.74.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Averie Wittkop comes away with an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke during Thursday’s CIML Iowa Conference girls’ swimming meet at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA. Wittkop logged a time of 1 minute, 5.19 seconds.

Wittkop finished ninth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:11.19.

The best runs of the night for Marshalltown came from Lesli Waltermire. In the 50 freestyle, Waltermire finished in fifth with a time of 25.69. But in the 100 freestyle, she wound up in the top three with a strong last 50 meters and a final time of 56.15 seconds. It was an impressive showing for the sophomore as she came in just behind Meghan Donald and Sophie McCorkle of Ames.

Nelson said the strong showings for Waltermire and some of the other varsity regulars was key to building some confidence ahead of regionals.

“We help them get stronger and help them become better swimmers, but where we sometimes struggle is mentally preparing for good races and mentally preparing for competition,” Nelson said. “That’s something that, you just gotta relax your mind and relax your body and let your muscle memory take over.”

Taylor Jones and sister Kate Jones finished in ninth and 11th place in the 50 freestyle, with times of 28.07 and 28.69 respectively.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Kate Jones swims her leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay during the final event of Thursday’s CIML Iowa Conference meet at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Janssen, Wittkop, Taylor Jones and Waltermire finished in fifth place with a time of 1:46.40, a best of the season for the group. Wittkop finished eighth in the 100 backstroke with a 1:05.19.

Taylor Jones set a season-best time in the 100 breaststroke of 1:19.86, and the team of Janssen, Riley Robinson, Kate Jones and Cassidy Wedemeyer finished in seventh place in the 400 freestyle relay. The group set a time of 4:27.75.

Now, the hard work begins for the MHS swimmers and divers who are taking place in regionals. Marshalltown is at Johnston for regionals, with diving taking place Thursday, Nov. 4 at Summit Middle School (5 p.m.) and swimming on Saturday, Nov. 6 at the same location starting at noon.

Nelson said it was “go time” for the Bobcats.

“We start to focus on some of the little things we can clean up,” Nelson said. “We’re going to be working a little bit more on speed production, we’re gonna be working on pull structure and what that looks like for them.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

CIML Iowa Conference Meet

At Marshalltown

Team Standings — 1. Ames 500, 2. Ankeny 388, 3. Mason City 182, 4. Marshalltown 153, 5. Fort Dodge 139.

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS placewinners only)

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. AMES (J. Kloth, Robertson, M. Kloth, Donald) 1:45.85; 6. MHS (Wittkop, T. Jones, Waltermire, Janssen) 2:00.75; 9. MHS (Weatherly, Herrera, Case, Stanley) 2:17.74.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Lauren Fisher, AMES, 1:55.62; 9. Averie Wittkop, MHS, 2:11.19; 11. Riley Robinson, MHS, 2:23.43.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Andra Robertson, AMES, 2:12.76; 10. Hannah Case, MHS, 2:43.02; 12. Leticia Herrera, MHS, 2:46.86.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Meghan Donald, AMES, 23.24; 5. Lesli Waltermire, MHS, 25.69; 9. Taylor Jones, MHS, 28.07; 11. Kate Jones, MHS, 28.79.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Mikayla Kloth, AMES, 57.68; 9. Case, MHS, 1:14.35.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Donald, AMES, 51.02; 3. Waltermire, MHS, 56.15; 11. Maeve Janssen, MHS, 1:00.38.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Fisher, AMES, 5:12.92.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. AMES (McCorkle, Horras, M. Kloth, Donald) 1:37.15; 5. MHS (Janssen, Wittkop, T. Jones, Waltermire) 1:46.40; 9. MHS (K. Jones, Robinson, Stanley, Wedemeyer) 2:02.11.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Jordan Kloth, AMES, 58.68; 8. Wittkop, MHS, 1:05.19.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Robertson, AMES, 1:06.76; 12. T. Jones, MHS, 1:19.86.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. AMES (McCorkle, Horras, Fisher, J. Kloth) 3:39.07; 7. MHS (Janssen, Robinson, K. Jones, Wedemeyer) 4:27.75; 9. MHS (Case, Herrera, Weatherly, Kodis) 4:48.16.