What we learned from Ames' district championship in boys swimming

The Ames boys swimming team qualified for state in all 11 events during the boys district swimming meet held at Dan Flannery Pool in Ames on Saturday.

The Little Cyclones won seven events in claiming the district championship with 494.5 points. Ankeny came in second out of eight teams with 438 points.

"I thought they all swam really well today," said Ames coach Joe Fisher. "I think we had a lot of great swims from guys who were fully rested and trying to get in (to state)."

The boys state swimming meet takes place this Friday and Saturday at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Here is what we learned from the Little Cyclones' district championship.

Ames shows off its depth

Ames showed it is building toward becoming an elite team by getting to state in every event.

Top swimmers Joshua Chen, Josh Fisher, Evan Feilmeyer, Chris Fisher, Ian McCorkle and Justin Shin all had to go with no rest. They are taking their rest this upcoming week in preparation for state.

More:Ames boys swim team took 8th at state last season. Little Cyclones want more in 2022-23.

Even without the rest they all qualified for state in multiple events and combined for five victories individually. Meanwhile, Coach Fisher decided to rest several other swimmers this week and it paid off as three other individuals — Tommy Flannery, Tristan Day and Nick Chen — all made it to state in at least one event.

"We had a few boys who were resting for this week to try to get into (state) and they swam phenomenally then we had a group that was resting for next week," Joe Fisher said. "That's one of the challenges is when you have those two groups because some guys feel they're swimming really well and others don't. But that's part of the fun of the sport."

Two Joshs lead the way for Ames

Josh Chen and Josh Fisher set the pace for Ames on Saturday.

Chen, a runner-up finisher at state during last year's 100-yard breaststroke, took first in the event as well as the 200 individual medley. He won the breaststroke with the fastest qualifying time in the state at 55.51 seconds and took the 200 IM with the 10th-best qualifying time at 1:58.38.

Chen also helped Ames win the 200 medley relay in 1:35.18 and take second in the 200 freestyle relay with a 1:29.91 showing.

"I felt alright," Chen said. "We haven't been resting much, so next week we're really going to go after it."

Fisher took first in the individual 200 freestyle after touching the wall in 1:43.10 and he won the 500 freestyle in 4:46.86, beating Marshalltown's Lincoln Baker and McCorkle by nearly nine seconds for the victory. He also was part of the 200 freestyle relay team and the Little Cyclones' winning 400 freestyle team that finished in 3:10.69.

"It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but we weren't rested," Josh Fisher said. "I'm just really excited for next week."

More:How Josh and Chris Fisher keep the family tradition of swimmers going strong at Ames

Feilmeyer also claimed victory for Ames in the 100 backstroke. He swam a 53.03 to beat out the 53.70 time of Ankeny's Brock Peterson for first.

Feilmeyer was also part of the victorious 200 and 400 medley relays and he was second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.59.

Other Little Cyclone swimmers step up

McCorkle and Day made up the rest of the winning 200 medley team and Feilmeyer and Josh Fisher were joined by Chris Fisher and McCorkle on the triumphant 400 freestyle relay.

Day and Chris Fisher teamed with Chen and Josh Fisher to swim the runner-up time in the 200 freestyle relay. Flannery and Evan McCorkle were second and third in the 200 freestyle individually with respective times of 1:48.90 and 1:50.18, Chris Fisher took second in the 200 IM with a 1:59.15 showing and fourth in the backstroke with a 55.67 effort and Day was third in the 50 and 100 freestyle races with respective times of 22.24 and 49.39.

Ian McCorkle swam a 4:55.32 in the 500 freestyle and he qualified for state in the 100 butterfly with a fourth-place time of 52.78. Shin and Nick Chen placed second and third in the breaststroke with respective times of 1:01.12 and 1:01.25.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames Little Cyclones claims district title in boys swimming