The Marshalltown boys’ swimming team won fewer than half of the events, but the Bobcats’ depth was too much for Mason City.

A 1-2-3 sweep of the 100-yard breaststroke propelled Marshalltown to a 90-80 victory in Tuesday’s Iowa Alliance Conference dual meet at the MHS pool, bringing the Bobcats back from the holiday break with a win.

Marshalltown (2-2) won five events while visiting Mason City (2-1) claimed six, but the Riverhawks were handed their first dual defeat of the season.

“Great meet and effort from all our boys,” said MHS head coach Raymond Dulaney. “Going in we knew it was going to be a close one and the team took on the challenge and raced hard. After a hard two weeks of training over break, we had a ton of lifetime bests and season bests. I am proud of the effort this team showed and the energy they had all meet.”

The Bobcats won two of three relays and got a momentous boost from their breaststrokers, who swept the top three spots in the next-to-last event to make Mason City’s comeback impossible.

Jacob Seberger, Parker Christen and Elliot Kodis captured the medals in the 100 breaststroke to give Marshalltown a 16-point lead going into the final event. Mason City won the finishing 400 freestyle relay, but the meet was already out of reach.

Along with Seberger’s breaststroke victory, Marshalltown got individual event wins from Kade Randall in the 200 individual medley and Eli Randall in the 100 butterfly.

The Bobcat quartet of Aaron Hunter, Seberger, Eli Randall and Jack Nelson opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay, while the foursome of Seberger, Christen, Eli and Kade Randall captured the 200 free relay.

Boys prevail, girls defeated in MHS bowling dual

The Marshalltown boys’ bowling team improved to 4-1 in dual meets with a decisive victory over Mason City on Tuesday night at Wayward Social.

The Bobcats got out to a 402-pin lead after individual play and expanded it from there, winning 3,184-2,682. Jayden Beichley had a match-best 253-256–509 series to lead MHS, followed by Aiden Cowan (177-256–433), Gage Grieves (210-213–423), Porter Niedermann (219-203–422) and Cayden Slifer (196-187–383).

Marshalltown nearly matched its Baker average of 208.24 — which ranks third in Class 3A — with a 202.8 average to pull away from Mason City.

The Bobcat girls were defeated in their dual against Mason City, 2,392-2,032. The Riverhawks led by 181 pins after individual play and pulled away in Bakers.

Grace Wilson (418) and Kylie Novak (411) led the Riverhawks individually. Marshalltown was paced by Camillya Thomas with a 162-193–355 series. Bailey Damman (320), Aubrey Webber (293), Ariana Villagomez (257) and Ray Massa (219) also contributed for the Bobcats.