The Spartan boys swim team came within two points of winning a second consecutive district title last weekend at Clinton High School, but fell short to Bettendorf 417-415. The meet was crucial, as its success earned the team a qualification for the state meet on February 10 at the University of Iowa.
“Despite losing by two points, that really wasn’t the whole story,” head coach Stacey Zapolski stated. “We had some amazing swims, and we got as many if not more kids than we ever could have hoped for to go to the state.
“I think Saturday’s meet was our best meet yet in the three seasons I’ve been coaching the team. The boys swam faster than I would have predicted,” Zapolski said. “There’s only us and three other schools with nine kids going to the state meet. So that’s a huge accomplishment.”
Kevin Burke, a junior, won the maximum of four events at districts, scoring many valuable points for the Spartans. He also walked out of the meet with two school records, one in the 200 medley relay and another in the 50 freestyle
The 200 medley relay got the meet off to a hot start. The team of Nate Martell, Jacob McCredie, Burke and Nathan McKay won the event with a time of 1:36.36. This broke the previous 12 year school record by almost two seconds. ¨The 200 medley relay is the first race of the meet and that was definitely a race between us and Bettendorf that came down to the wire. It was a great way to start off the meet,¨ said Zapolski. ¨In the process of winning, we got the school record and that pool record as well, so that set the tone for the rest of the meet. It was just exciting to see the swims after that.¨ The relay team heads into this weekend as the second seed behind the team from Ames.
Up next came the 200 freestyle with senior Austin Hedgren and junior Dominik Gnad finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. The next pair of state qualifiers came from the 200 individual medley. Junior William Nash´s time of 1:58.69 was enough to finish second and get him the eighth seed at state. Just behind him finished sophomore Nate Martell with a time of 2:01.50 to land him in the sixteenth seed at state.
The fourth event of the day was the 50 freestyle. Sophomore Brett Little finished in the third heat with a time of 23.21 while senior Alessandro Lomaestro and junior Kevin Burke were in the final heat. Lomaestro’s time of 23.02 was enough to land him in fifth place. Kevin Burke was crowned champion with another school record breaking performance of 21.49, putting him in the fourth seed at state.
Lomaestro got a break during the first two heats of the 100 butterfly but then was right back to work, finishing in third place with a time of 54.44, enough to earn him the twenty second seed at state. Nathan McKay then placed second in the 100 freestyle with a 48.01, landing him in the eighth seed this weekend. “Whenever I’m at a big meet like districts, my focus zeroes in on each individual race,” McKay said. “I think about it and I just imagine exactly how I’m going to race it. That’s a little different from when I normally just try to look at who’s right next to me and beat them.”
The longest event of the day took place next, the 500 freestyle. Freshman Jack Peterson finished in sixth place with a time of 5:13.37. Dominik Gnad finished fifth with a 4:59.25 and William Nash finished third at 4:55.31, putting both of them through to the state meet. Despite placing fourth with 1:31.15, the 200 freestyle relay team of Lomaestro, McCredie, Gnad and McKay did not qualify for the state meet.
The 100 backstroke has two contenders this weekend. Nate Martell finished in fourth place with 55.09 to land him in the 22nd seed. Kevin Burke won his third race of the day with a time of 52.46, putting him fourth going into state.
The next event also produced two state competitors. Spencer Clark finished fourth with 1:02.52 and Jacob McCredie won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:00.75. Clark will compete in heat one of three and McCredie in heat two.
The meet closed out just the way it started, neck and neck with Bettendorf. The 400 freestyle relay team of Nash, McKay, Hedgren and Burke prevailed with a time of 3:13.39, just 1.3 seconds away from another school record, getting them the fourth seeded spot for this weekend.
This swimmers will now start preparing for the biggest meet of the season. “This week is what we’ve been preaching for a while now which is attention to the finer points, so really focusing on their turns, their underwaters, their stroke count and most importantly how they feel in the water,” Zapolski said. “This is obviously our best of our best; most of these kids have been swimming for years, so they have a pretty good feel for what their body needs for rest and for speed work this week. It’s very individualized this week,” she added.
The University of Iowa will be hosting the fastest swimmers in the state this weekend, nine of them being from Pleasant Valley. Zapolski said, “It’s like no other meet; the energy in the air is just very evident. You can just sense the excitement in all the boys that are there.” The boys have been practicing nine times a week for months for a chance at state. “The kids who get a chance to go are just thrilled to represent Pleasant Valley in the best way possible,” she added.
Teammates, parents, and PV fans all await the weekend’s excitement with high hopes for some Spartan victories.
