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’Cats clock seven entries for state

Leia Hernandez, Adele Beek go 4-for-4 to lead Bobcat swimmers

By Ross Thede 5 min read

The Marshalltown girls swimming squad entered Saturday's regional meet without having guaranteed any events as qualified for the upcoming state championships.

Worry not, Bobcats.

Marshalltown emerged from its regional qualifier with three automatic berths and gained four more at-large entries into the Iowa Girls State Swimming and Diving Meet as announced by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union on Saturday night.

Sunday's heat and lane assignments confirmed the tentative list of qualifiers, securing seven entries for the Bobcats this week.

"We have I think maybe one or two bubble swims, but you know what, we've come out of this meet looking a little bit different than this," said MHS head coach Angie Nelson. "So this is really nice. Our relays placed really, really well."

Marshalltown qualified all three of its relays for state as at-large entrants, while two swimmers made up the other four entries in individual events. Senior Leia Hernandez went 4-for-4 in her last hurrah as a Bobcat, and junior Adele Beek also advanced all four of her races to state.

Beek's bubble didn't burst in the 200-yard individual medley, as she earned the 32nd and final qualifying spot for state. She's also going back to state in her best event -- the 100 breaststroke -- for the third time in as many seasons.

Beek secured the Bobcats' best finish of the day with her runner-up result in the 100 breaststroke, clocking in at 1 minute, 7.60 seconds to touch up under the 1:08.01 time standard. Bettendorf's Jaya Stacy had already qualified for state but still won the race in 1:04.95.

"We told Adele not to get caught in that trap," Nelson said. "This girl's already qualified, so don't get sucked into her time. Just go out there and do your own time, get out there and just rock it -- and that's what she did. It was a great swim."

Only the regional event champions and those to meet the time standard advanced to state automatically, and the rest of the 32 spots were filled on an at-large basis.

Hernandez, the only senior of the Bobcats' qualifying swimmers, made the standard in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events. She finished fourth in both with season-best times of 24.54 and 54.25, respectively, to slide in under the standards of 24.91 and 54.58.

"This entire week I was thinking that it's not about where I'm seeded, it's about my time, and my goal was to make state-cut times," Hernandez said. "Just opening up this meet with a 24.54 is mind-blowing -- I didn't think I could do it but then I hit the wall and I look up at the board and it's like 'wow, I did it.' It's kind of amazing."

Hernandez swam the anchor leg on both freestyle relays for the Bobcats. Marshalltown's 200 free relay team of Beek, Addison Elmore, Drea Ceren and Hernandez placed fourth in Saturday's regional with a time of 1:42.45, while the 400 free relay foursome of Elmore, Emma Case, Ceren and Hernandez took third in 3:50.26.

"Leia had great swims today," Nelson said. "She was in her races the whole time. This was her day. There was a lot of magic happening here."

Beek also swam the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay, joining Elmore (backstroke), Case (butterfly) and Ceren (freestyle) for third place in the regional with a time of 1:55.35.

Marshalltown had a near-perfect day in the pool, scoring season-best times in all but one event.

"This was a very competitive regional, a lot of fast swims," Nelson said. "But you've gotta get through today before you can think about tomorrow."

Some of the Bobcat swimmers scored serious time drops, but just not enough to advance to state. It started in the first individual swim, too, as freshman Lydia Beek chopped 14 seconds off her 200 freestyle time to finish 11th in 2:17.59.

Zoey Pals, a sophomore, put away seven seconds in the 200 individual medley to place 13th, Case edged her time down to 2:26.04 for eighth, and Adele Beek took five seconds off to get to 2:20.79 for seventh.

Hernandez nudged lower in the 50 freestyle, as did Silvia Mullen (28.55) and Frankie Long (28.62) on their way to 16th and 17th place, respectively. Alex Lasack eliminated three seconds to finish 13th in the 100 butterfly (1:09.87), Pals clocked her season best (1:09.84) for 12th, and Case did the same for 10th (1:05.81).

Elmore erased nearly a second off her 100 freestyle time (58.37) to place 11th, Ceren scored 10th in 58.26, and Hernandez knocked more than a second off her previous best (55.32) to meet the time standard.

Lasack (1:10.92) and Long (1:10.78) both lopped off four seconds to place 11th and 10th, respectively, in the 100 backstroke. Mullen made it in under her previous best time in the 100 breaststroke to place 14th in 1:28.03, while Lydia Beek notched a nearly three-second PR (1:23.97) to place 10th. Adele Beek bettered her time by 1.45 seconds to meet the state standard as well.

"Our girls turned up a little magic today, and we ended up alright and I'm really excited to see them swim next weekend," Nelson said.

The state swimming meet starts with the preliminaries on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 11 a.m. at the University of Iowa's Campus Recreation & Wellness Center, followed by the state diving competition at 3:30 p.m. Marshalltown senior Harlie Thatcher will be making her second straight appearance in state diving.

The swimming finals are Friday, Nov. 13, at 11 a.m.

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