MHS swimmers drop Ottumwa in Alliance dual
Mike Loupee knew Marshalltown boys swimming couldn’t win every race on Thursday night against Ottumwa.
But the MHS head coach figured there’d be toss-ups where the Bobcats could find a way to make every point count.
The Marshalltown swimmers scored when they needed the points most and grabbed a 94-76 win over Ottumwa at Marshalltown High School.
The Bobcats only won four of the 11 races on Thursday, but had the depth to take down the Bulldogs.
“Everybody has a role to play on the team,” Loupee said. “Take the breaststroke, we didn’t win it, but Sam Greazel is second and right at a season best, Jacob Seberger is third and Parker Christen is fourth, we go 2-3-4 and we win the event. They win the race, we win the event. It went that way quite a bit tonight.”
Lincoln Barker accounted for three Bobcat golds, winning the 200 freestyle in 1:58.48 and 500 freestyle in 5:19.57, then anchoring the winning 200 freestyle relay team along with Michael Lechnir, Jacob Seberger and Kade Randall with a winning time of 1:38.35.
Charles Gilbertson was the other Marshalltown winner, clocking in at 54.82 in the 100 butterfly.
The 200 freestyle relay event was a big swing for the Bobcats as the “B” relay of Hayden Daters, Landon Stanley, Parker Christen and Isaac Seberger beat Ottumwa’s “A” relay to the finish by just under a second for a 1-2 finish.
“Ottumwa’s got three top-end swimmers that have been on the podium at state and we knew they’d win whatever event they were in,” Loupee said. “It was a bit of a chess match of where they were going to be and we kinda guessed where they’d be and tried to trade points there. They didn’t load that 200 free relay and I told the kids beforehand it’d be huge if we went 1-2. … (The B relay) stepped up, and that was huge, which gave us coaches an opportunity to take a breath and relax a bit.”
Marshalltown swimmers had 20 personal best times and nine lifetime bests on Thursday, even as the grind to the taper portion of their schedule continues.
“The guys are telling me their arms are heavy, they feel dead,” Loupee said. “And for them to be swimming at our near their best tonight, I’m excited for the taper. They just have to understand that the light is at the end of the tunnel, and we just need to keep the pedal to the metal for about eight or nine more days.”
The Bobcats take on the Iowa Alliance Conference Meet in Mason City on Saturday.
“You’ve got Ames, Roosevelt, and Ottumwa; we beat Ottumwa and Ames and Roosevelt beat us in duals by about 20 points,” Loupee said. “So in a championship format where maybe those places get spread out a bit I’d certainly hope that we can get Ottumwa again and maybe give Ames and Roosevelt a little bit of a scare, see how it rolls.”
Marshalltown 94, Ottumwa 76
EVENT RESULTS
(Champion plus MHS placewinners)
200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Ottumwa (Miller, Gevock, Manary, Zimmeht) 1:45.32; 2. MHS (L. Stanley, S. Greazel, Gilbertson, Lechnir) 1:46.92; 3. MHS (Hunter, J. Seberger, T. Stanley, Daters) 1:58.34.
200 FREESTYLE — 1. Lincoln Barker, MHS, 1:58.48; 3. Parker Christen, MHS, 2:11.37; 4. Aaron Hunter, MHS, 2:11.48.
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Ashton Gevock, OTT, 2:03.41; 2. Sam Greazel, MHS, 2:12.73; 4. Kade Randall, MHS, 2:15.33; 5. Jacob Seberger, MHS, 2:20.93.
50 FREESTYLE — 1. Cameron Manary, OTT, 23.67; 2. Michael Lechnir, MHS, 23.75; 4. Joe Greazel, MHS, 25.58.
100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Charles Gilbertson, MHS, 54.82; 2. Isaac Seberger, MHS, 1:01.69; 5. Joe Greazel, MHS, 1:07.67.
100 FREESTYLE — 1. Jonathan Miller, OTT, 50.02; 2. Lechnir, MHS, 53.15; 3. Randall, MHS, 54.85; 5. Landon Stanley, MHS, 57.18.
500 FREESTYLE — 1. Barker, MHS, 5:19.57; 4. I. Seberger, MHS, 5:53.75; 5. Thomas Stanley, MHS, 5:56.11.
200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. MHS (Lechnir, J. Seberger, Randall, Barker) 1:38.35; 2. MHS (Daters, L. Stanley, Christen, I. Seberger) 1:42.89.
100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Miller, OTT, 53.95; 2. Gilbertson, MHS, 1:00.90; 3. L. Stanley, MHS, 1:06.61; 4. Hunter, MHS, 1:08.10.
100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Gevock, OTT, 1:00.31; 2. S. Greazel, MHS, 1:06.36; 3. J. Seberger, MHS, 1:11.26; 4. Christen, MHS, 1:15.67.
400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Ottumwa (Miller, Manary, Zimmeht, Gevock) 3:27.81; 2. MHS (Gilbertson, Randall, Barker, S. Greazel) 3:35.12; 3. MHS (I. Seberger, J. Greazel, Daters, Christen) 3:57.96.