Warriors finish 4th at state swim meet
MARSHALLTOWN -- The Washington Warriors had a strong showing at the boys state swimming meet, but not quite strong enough to slide a 28th trophy in the case. The Warriors mustered a fourth-place finish, with a score of 105.5 at the Marshalltown YMCA.
The Warriors were one of six teams that reached the 100 point mark. Muscatine led the way with 187.5 points and Dubuque Senior came in second with 141. Cedar Falls rounded out the top three with 135. Ames and Iowa City City High also broke triple digits. Jefferson and Linn-Mar had swimmers compete, but did not score.
With such a competitive field, Washington Coach Chris Cruise said he was pleased with the Warriors' performance.
“We had some phenomenal swims today, we had some disappointments here and there, but overall a very good day for the Warriors,” said Cruise. “We finished about in the middle of where we could have.”
The Warriors did not win an event, but they had plenty of strong swims. The 200-yard medley relay finished second leading off the meet, and junior Morgan Barnes was second in the 200 free and senior Mo Green second in the 100 butterfly.
“I thought we fought pretty hard,” Green said. “We were kind of undermanned today compared to some of the other teams. I mean, seven qualifiers is a good number, but it’s not that much. We placed really high all day, our top guys were up there on the podium. That’s what I like to see.”
Washington was in second place through the first nine events, but faded to fourth over the final two races.
“Some guys were disappointed and I can see where that comes from since we weren’t in the top three or whatever, but as a team we dropped time considerably since before districts,” said Barnes, who added a third-place finish in the 500 free.
That extended to the final race of the day, the 400 freestyle relay. The Warriors had already slipped out of second place, but they tried to stay loose and give it their best shot.
“We just went into it thinking, ’Have fun,’ because that’s what the sport is all about,” said junior Ian Ford, who swam on the 400 free and medley relays and also finished fourth in the 100 back and seventh in the 200 individual medley.
Something must have worked as they finished 11th, 3.65 seconds faster and four places higher than their qualifying position.
Some Warriors swimmers were experiencing the state meet for the first time. Junior Scott Allison, who says he is not a “serious swimmer” said that he didn’t expect to make it to state as recently as last year, but he tied for seventh in the 50 freestyle and tied for eighth in the 100 free. For him, the experience was a blast.
“(The crowd) was very energetic,” he said. “It was great, the crowd is cheering and when you go in the water, you don’t hear anything. It’s really calm.”
Whether it was their first or last time at state, however, this year's team will be hard to forget for Cruise.
“They were a great group of kids to work with all season long,” he said. “They had great attitudes, they were really team oriented kids. They worked really hard this year to make sure that they accomplished their goals and I think they need to hold their head high and be very proud of what they did today and the things they were able to accomplish this year.”
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 February 2011 22:01
