NCMP dominates Grinnell, Williamsburg in home opener
Aug. 28—Peyton Ray was part of four wins, Lillie Ray and Maylei Ruggles totaled three victories and the Newton-Colfax-Mingo-Pella girls' swim team cruised past Williamsburg and Grinnell at the Newton YMCA on Thursday.
The Aquagirls dominated Grinnell 158-23 and dunked Williamsburg 156-29 during the team's season and home openers.
"I thought we swam really well for a first meet," NCMP head coach Sarah Patterson said. "We had a few little bumps, but we swam aggressively and posted solid times for early season.
"My big takeaway is we still need to push ourselves in our training sessions and work on our legs and our back-half races."
NCMP was victorious in every event and finished 1-2 in eight of them.
Peyton Ray, Lillie Ray and Ruggles all were part of the winning 200- and 400-meter relays. They were joined by Brooke Linahon.
Peyton Ray also won the 100 and 200 freestyle races, Lillie Ray swam to a win the 50 freestyle and Ruggles claimed a victory in the 100 butterfly.
"Peyton Ray works hard every single day at every single practice," Patterson said. "I'm excited to see what she does this season.
"Lillie is such an exciting swimmer to watch. Maylei is an incredibly versatile athlete on our team."
The other individual winners were Alex Riney, Anna DeVries, Tori White and Harper Barton.
"Alex works really hard and has a competitive streak I love," Patterson said. "Anna showcased her outstanding endurance and strong work ethic. Tori and Harper both won varsity events in their debuts and scored big points for us."
The Aquagirls opened with a win in the 200 medley relay. The team of Riney, Barton, Izzy Lane and Paige Benson won the race in 2 minutes, 15.61 seconds.
NCMP finished 1-2 in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
In the 200 freestyle relay, Ruggles, Linahon, Peyton Ray and Lillie Ray won in 1:58.8. Barton, Benson, Lane and Riney were second in 2:03.21.
Lillie Ray, Peyton Ray, Linahon and Ruggles were victorious in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:24.2. Riney, Lane, DeVries and White were second in 4:43.01.
Peyton Ray's winning time in the 200 freestyle was clocked in 2:22.66. DeVries was the runner-up in 2:35.3.
Peyton Ray won the 100 freestyle in 1:04.83 and Linahon was second in 1:08.17.
Lillie Ray won the 50 freestyle in 29.27 and Benson finished second in 31.37.
Riney's win in the 200 individual medley was timed in 2:45.69.
NCMP also was 1-2 in the 400 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke.
In the 400 freestyle, DeVries won in 5:28.05 and Avery Meyer was the runner-up in 5:34.25.
White (1:16.14) and Addison VanMaanen (1:18.18) were 1-2 in the 100 backstroke, Barton (1:22.02) and Estella Allen (1:30.45) finished 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke and Ruggles (1:14.79) and White (1:18.72) were 1-3 in the 100 fly.
Lauryn Garrett was part of three wins and one second-place finish to lead JV competition. Allen claimed two victories.
"We had a ton of strong JV swims and all of our new people showed so much potential," Patterson said. "We have a big group of new swimmers and it's been so much fun to watch them grow into the sport.
"Starting the season with two wins feels pretty good, but we've got to put them in our back pocket and keep working hard in practice."
