There was no way for Marshalltown girls swimming and diving coach Angie Nelson to predict where Ottumwa was going to put Piper Gevock in its lineup.

The best the Bobcats could do was to be competitive against themselves.

Ottumwa’s freshman phenomenon won both of her individual events but Marshalltown claimed the rest in a 122-27 triumph over the Bulldogs on Thursday night at the MHS pool.

Gevock ranks top-25 in the state in four events, so there was no way for Nelson to know how the Bulldogs planned to use her in Thursday’s Iowa Alliance Conference meet. In fact, Gevock won an event she had not yet swam this season, so Marshalltown had virtually no chance of predicting her place in the lineup correctly.

Instead, Nelson led her swimmers pick one of their events for Thursday night and she selected the other, making sure the Bobcats got a race from one another no matter where Gevock lined up.

The end result was nine event victories for Marshalltown (7-1, 5-1) and another lopsided win at home.

“We’re turning the corner, but at the end of the day, we still have a month and a half left to go,” said Nelson. “We’re kind of in that corner where we’re in this two weeks of tired, so we’re working hard but there’s more expectations upstairs in the classroom.

“We’re looking at two more dual meets and then we start working on conference.”

The Bobcats got event victories from 11 different individuals on Thursday night, highlighted by sophomore Adele Beek going 4-for-4. Beek won the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 28.40 seconds) and the 100 breaststroke (1:14.87) and was on the winning 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.

“I think tonight was a good opportunity because sometimes the kids have to swim the same thing over and over and we try to mix them up as much as we can,” Nelson said. “We had some good first-time swims. Ottumwa has some talent and you’re trying to figure out where they’re going to put that stud. We missed her tonight but that’s alright.”

Gevock won the 100 freestyle by nearly four seconds and the 100 backstroke by nearly nine seconds to power Ottumwa. She hadn’t competed in the 100 free before Thursday’s meet.

“We just tried to pair up our girl versus our girl just to make sure that somebody had a race in every event.”

The quartet of Emma Case, Rachel Case, Alex Lasack and Beek opened the swimming portion of the meet with a narrow medley relay victory over another Bobcat squad consisting of Addison Elmore, Morgan Bear, Maisie Gummert and Leia Hernandez.

In the 200 free relay, the group of Beek, Libby Meyer, Hernandez and Bear barely beat their Bobcat counterparts Rachel Case, Elmore, Emma Case and Bella Gard to the wall with respective times of 1:53.40 and 1:53.60.

The team of Meyer, Zoey Pals, Harlie Thatcher and Lasack closed the night with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay (4:48.42).

Gard won the 200 freestyle in 2:29.24, while Hernandez claimed the 50 freestyle in 26.16. Thatcher was the only diving competitor but won with a new season-high score of 201.50. Gummert got the top spot in the 500 freestyle (5:49.97).

Marshalltown goes back out on the road Tuesday for a dual meet at Des Moines Lincoln.

Marshalltown 122, Ottumwa 27

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion and MHS placewinners only)

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. MHS (E. Case, R. Case, Lasack, Beek) 2:08.60; 2. MHS (Elmore, Bear, Gummert, Hernandez) 2:09.68.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Bella Gard, MHS, 2:29.24; 2. Alex Lasack, MHS, 2:35.02; 3. Zoey Pals, MHS, 2:38.13.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Adele Beek, MHS, 2:28.40; 2. Emma Case, MHS, 2:31.93; 3. Libby Meyer, MHS, 2:48.49.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Leia Hernandez, MHS, 26.16; 2. Addison Elmore, MHS, 26.82; 3. Rachel Case, MHS, 27.38.

DIVING — 1. Harlie Thatcher, MHS, 201.05.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Piper Gevock, OTT, 56.35; 2. Elmore, MHS, 1:00.24; 3. Meyer, MHS, 1:03.77; 4. Lasack, MHS, 1:08.56.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Maisie Gummert, MHS, 5:49.97; 2. Serenity Holtsclaw, MHS, 7:42.22.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Beek, Meyer, Hernandez, Bear) 1:53.40; 2. MHS (R. Case, Elmore, E. Case, Gard) 1:53.60.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Gevock, OTT, 1:05.50; 2. E. Case, MHS, 1:14.23; 3. R. Case, MHS, 1:15.32; 4. Gummert, MHS, 1:17.67.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Beek, MHS, 1:14.87; 2. Bear, MHS, 1:34.59; 3. Thatcher, MHS, 1:39.00.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Meyer, Pals, Thatcher, Lasack) 4:48.42; 2. MHS (Gummert, Long, Holtsclaw, Gard) 4:55.34.