Nobody tossed Chris Cruise in the pool, took a victory lap or beat their chest Saturday, but don't get the wrong idea about the Cedar Rapids Washington boys swim team.

The Warriors were delighted to win their 49th straight district title at the Jefferson pool, extending an amazing streak that began in 1964 and shows no signs of ending.

The celebration wasn't subdued, just semi-professional.

"We're going to celebrate appropriately later on when we're not in front of a whole bunch of people," said Cruise, who has been Washington's head coach since 1999. "Our kids had a great meet today. They swam extremely well."

The Warriors began the day with a wary eye on Dubuque Senior, and for good reason. The Rams are ranked No. 5 in the Iowa Swim Coaches Association power ratings and the Warriors are No. 6, so on paper Dubuque Senior had a slight edge.

Washington nudged the Rams by only two points at the Mississippi Valley Conference meet in Waterloo two weeks ago, so a 49th district title was no sure thing.

The Warriors proved themselves to be the stronger club by winning six of 11 events and topping Dubuque Senior by a count of 298 to 277 in the eight-team meet.

Nonetheless, there were some anxious moments heading into Saturday with the streak on the line.

"There's a lot of unnecesssary anxiety, I guess," said senior Ian Ford, who won two individual events and swam on the winning medley relay. "We always kind of worry too much about it. It kind of hangs over us.

"It's been going on for almost half a century. It's kind of a duty we have to keep it alive."

All of Washington's district winners advance to the state meet in Marshalltown next Saturday, but the Warriors won't know who else qualified for the state meet until all the districts are finished. Two meets were postponed Saturday due to weather conditions in central Iowa and have been rescheduled for Monday.

Washington and Dubuque Senior combined to win all 11 events - six by the Warriors, five by the Rams - but Washington set the tone early by winning the first three races and jumping ahead.

Ford, Sami Scheetz, Jared Thorson and Scott Allison opened the district meet by capturing the 200 yard medley. Morgan Barnes and Josh Hughes then finished 1-2 in the 200 freestyle for the Warriors and Ford returned to take the 200 individual medley.

Thorson, a freshman, claimed the 100 butterfly for another gold medal. Barnes won the 500 freestyle and Ford took the 100 backstroke to put the Warriors in excellent shape coming into the final events.

"I was surprised by how big the lead was," said Barnes, who set a pool record in the 500 freestyle in 4:44.69.

Cruise wasn't sure what to expect Saturday after barely nudging Dubuque Senior at the MVC meet.

"It's a little tough to actually sit down and predict what's going to happen here and there until the meet gets going and you get a chance to see how things stack up," he said. "I thought we had some great swims out of our second and third-tier kids today.

"Scott Allison made some huge time drops, just like he did last year for the district meet. He was a big key to our success today, but top to bottom it was a total team victory."

Allison placed second in the 50 freestyle, helped the Warriors finish third in the 200 freestyle relay and placed fourth in the 100 freestyle in addition to swimming the anchor on the victorious 200 medley relay.

Hughes placed second in the 200 freestyle, took third in the 500 freestyle and helped the Warriors finish second in the 400 freestyle relay and third in the 200 freestyle relay.

Ford, Barnes and most of Washington's top swimmers have won district meets before, but it was a new experience for Thorson, a budding star as a ninth grader.

"I think it's pretty sweet," said Thorson. "I think it's pretty cool to have 49 in a row."

Barnes will be swimming at the University of South Dakota next year and has no regrets that he won't be around when the Warriors aim for their 50th straight district title.

"Nah, I've had my four years," he said. "It's been fun. But like Ian said, it's a lot of stress sometimes."

Kennedy placed sixth in the meet with 116 points. Dylan Casey (200 free) and Chandler Heisler (50 free) placed sixth for the Cougars. Kennedy finished third in the 400 freestyle relay, fourth in the 200 freestyle relay and sixth in the 200 medley relay.

Jefferson finished seventh in the standings with 102 points. Kristian Anderson took second in the 100 butterfly and placed fifth in the 50 freestyle. Lance Scallon swam third in the 100 backstroke. The J-Hawks took fourth in the 200 medley relay and fifth in the 200 freestyle relay.

Washington, Kennedy and Jefferson will find out Monday night which of their swimmers have qualified for state, once all the district meets are finished and statewide qualifying times can be compared.

The Warriors hope to use the district title as a springboard for high honors at state.

"It's hard to say where we'll finish at state," said Ford. "We've got some good swimmers. It's going to come down to how bad we want it. I think we have a lot of guys on our team who really want it and hopefully that pays off."

Dowling Catholic, Johnston, Ankeny and West Des Moines Valley are the top four teams in the power rankings. All four of those schools swim in the CIML.

Hal Krizan was Washington's head coach when the district streak began in 1964. Jim Voss succeeded Krizan and kept it going, and now Cruise has pushed the streak to 49.

"It's great to have it in the books," said Cruise. "It was a great win for our team, but hopefully because it sets us up for next week."

DISTRICT SWIM MEET
At Cedar Rapids Jefferson

Team Standings
1. Cedar Rapids Washington 298, 2. Dubuque Senior 277, 3. Iowa City West 139, 4. Iowa City High 123, 5. Dubuque Hempstead 121, 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 116, 7. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 102, 8. Decorah 66.

200 Medley Relay
1. Washington (Ford, Scheetz, Thorson, Allison) 1:38.36.
2. Dubuque Senior (Martin, Gill, Duster, Franson).
3. IC West (Yao, Riley, Burrill, Lehnertz).
4. Jefferson (Scallon, Kleinheinz, Anderson, Inghram).
5. Hempstead (Warren, Nugent, Fuchs, Mueller).
6. Kennedy (Richardson, Holmes, Hanson, Heisler).

200 Freestyle
1. Morgan Barnes (CRW) 1:45.25; 2. Josh Hughes (CRW); 3. Harris Thompson (ICH); 4. Mitch Schroeder (DS); 5. Ben Colin (DS); 6. Dylan Casey (CRK).

200 Individual Medley
1. Ian Ford (CRW) 1:56.40; 2. Connor Huff (DS); 3. Carson Miller (ICW); 4. Kelly McNeilly (ICH); 5. Mitch Gill (DS); 6. Brien Nugent (DH).

50 Freestyle
1. Josh Gill (DS) 21.57 (pool record, old, 21.68, Strother, CRW, 1996); 2. Scott Allison (CRW); 3. Kaisen Yao (ICW); 4. Brady St. John (ICH); 5. Kristian Anderson (CRJ); 6. Chandler Heisler (CRK).

100 Butterfly
1. Jared Thorson (CRW) 53.18; 2. Kristian Anderson (CRJ); 3. Kaisen Yao (ICW); 4. Nick Durin (CRW); 5. Ben Martin (DS); 6. (tie) Logan Barnes (CRW); Justin Yuan (DS).

100 Freestyle
1. Josh Gill (DS) 47.70; 2. Brady St. John (ICH); 3. Anthony Lehnertz (ICW); 4. Scott Allison (CRW); 5. Buddy Franson (DS); 6. Jason Orvis (DEC).

500 Freestyle
1. Morgan Barnes (CRW) 4:44.69 (pool record, old, 4:48.42, Ross, Cedar Falls, 1993); 2. Harris Thompson (ICH); 3. Josh Hughes (CRW); 4. Ben Colin (DS); 5. Kelly McNeilly (ICH); 6. Mitch Schroeder (DS).

200 Freestyle Relay
1. Dubuque Senior (Gill, Duster, Franson, Huff) 1:25.77 (pool record, old,
1:28.38, CRW, 1996).
2. IC West (Miller, Yao, Lehnertz, Burrill).
3. Washington (Allison, Durin, M. Barnes, Hughes).
4. Kennedy (Moore, Holmes, Heisler, Casey).
5. Jefferson (Anderson, Scallon, Inghram, Kleinheinz).
6. Hempstead (Rutkowski, Pfiffner, Mueller, Warren).

100 Backstroke
1. Ian Ford (CRW) 53.04; 2. Jason Orvis (DEC); 3. Lance Scallon (CRJ); 4. Charlie Warren (DH); 5. Justin Yuan (DS); 6. Logan Barnes (CRW).

100 Breaststroke
1. Connor Huff (DS) 1:00.73; 2. Mitch Gill (DS); 3. Carson Miller (ICW); 4. Nick Durin (CRW); 5. John Kopec (CRW); 6. Sami Scheetz (CRW).

400 Freestyle Relay
1. Dubuque Senior (Gill, Duster, Schroeder, Huff) 3:13.46.
2. Washington (Hughes, M. Barnes, Thorson, Ford).
3. Kennedy (Heisler, Richardson, Moore, Casey).
4. IC High (St. John, McNeilly, Eyman-Casey, Thompson).
5. Hempstead (Mueller, Rutkowski, Pfiffner, Nugent).
6. Jefferson (Kleinheinz, Inghram, Scallon, Khorsand).

NOTE: Times for 2nd place through 6th place withheld at request of IHSAA pending completion of postponed district meets.