Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – City High sophomore Forrest Frazier lit up the boys state swimming meet Saturday at the University of Iowa’s Campus Wellness and Recreation Center, and his brilliance was a big reason the Little Hawks finished a surprising seventh in the team race behind champion Ames.

Frazier was named the meet’s Outstanding Swimmer after winning two individual events, setting a state record in one, earning All-American honors in both, and swimming on City’s runner-up 200 medley relay.

“He did really well,” City High coach Zane Hugo said in perhaps the biggest understatement of the day. “It really shows what a lot of hard work can do.”

Frazier came into the meet with the top seed times in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, and he didn’t wilt under the expectations. He won the fly in 49.01 seconds, well below his seed time of 50.59, and a second and a half ahead of the runner-up. The 49.01 qualified for All-American status.

“That race felt pretty good from the beginning,” he said. “I felt really fast going out. I felt it a bit the last 15 meters.”

Frazier has been up front about aiming at the state record time of 55.69 in the 100 breaststroke. That record was established in 2003 by Cedar Falls’ Sean Osborne, but Frazier shattered the mark with a time of 54.16 Saturday, winning by 2.62 seconds over Ames’ Dalton Lillibridge.

“It’s an honor,” Frazier said of claiming the record.

His time was easily an automatic qualifier for All-American status in the event.

“It felt pretty good from the beginning; I was pleased with it. It just felt good the whole way,” Frazier said. Or rather croaked. Turns out he was dealing with some kind of respiratory problem, and his voice was almost gone.

“I’m a little sick right now,” he conceded. “I don’t really think it affected me at all.”

Frazier got out to a great start and was still submerged off the blocks when his competitors had already come up for air.

 “Just from the beginning the whole race felt like (it was) put together,” he said. “I was fast right up front. It just felt like the speed carried wall to wall all the way to the finish.”

Frazier said a change in his event menu from last year probably helped him. Last year he swam the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, which are back-to- back events. He managed a ninth-place finish in the breaststroke a year ago.

But being a year older and more experienced was a key too.

 “I was a little bit more confident,” he said. “Confident in my training and in what I could do. I didn’t let my emotions get to me or anything.”

“Last year I think he was a little bit awestruck by the meet,” Hugo said. “He’s been to big events before, but I think he gained experience last year and it really paid off.”

Frazier led off the 200 medley relay and his team (Louis Stephan, Eric Thomas, Mickale Sadecky) was just touched out by Ames. City’s time was 1:34.28, a big improvement from its seed time of 1:36.93.

“We were four seconds faster in the medley than we were last year,” Hugo said. “Louis, Eric Thomas and Mickale Sadecky improved quite a bit from last year. It took all of them to do what it takes in the offseason. We really do train and compete for this meet. It’s really good to see them come together.”

“I’m really proud of our team,” Frazier said. “We got under our school record. I knew what they had in them. They all knew what they had in them. We’re all competitors. We weren’t surprised by that.”

Stephan, a sophomore, had an excellent meet as well, placing seventh in the individual medley in 1:57.35 and fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 57.94. He was also a member of the ninth-place 400 freestyle relay team, along with Sadecky, Thomas and Frazier.

City High was the highest-placing Mississippi Valley Conference team at the state meet, something of a surprise given its seventh-place finish at the MVC Super meet at the same pool on Jan. 20.

“It was really a fun meet for all of us,” Hugo said.

Boys State Swimming

University of Iowa Campus Wellness and Recreation Center

Team totals – 1. Ames 221; 2. WDM Valley 220; 3T. Bettendorf 166.5; 3T. Ankeny 166.5; 5.  Waukee 153; 6. Dowling 127.5; 7. Iowa City High 126; 8. Pleasant Valley 122; 9. Johnston 119; 10T. Cedar Rapids Washington 104.5; 10T. Linn-Mar 104.5; 12. Cedar Falls 101; 13. West High 79; 14. Fort Dodge 58; 15. Council Bluffs Lewis Central 53; 16. Sioux City 33; 17. Dubuque Hempstead 30; 18. Newton-Pella 24; 19. Davenport Central 23.5; 20. Mason City 23; 21. Decorah 20; 22. Carroll 18; 23T. Des Moines Roosevelt 15; 23T. Dubuque Senior 15; 25. Burlington 14.5; 26. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 12.5; 27. Boone 6; 28. Keokuk 5; 29. Marshalltown 4.5; 30. Des Moines East 3; 31. Southeast Polk 1; 32. Ottumwa 0.5.

Individual results

(Top eight and all local placewinners)

200 Medley Relay: 1. Ames (Ethan Johnson, Dalton Lillibridge, Misho Mahrous, Nick Matthews) 1:33.83; 2. City High (Forrest Frazier, Louis Stephan, Eric Thomas, Mickale Sadecky) 1:34.28; 3. West Des Moines Valley 1:34.49; 4. Cedar Rapids Washington 1:34.98; 5. Bettendorf 1:35.00; 6. Pleasant Valley 1:25.06; 7. Waukee 1:36.39; 8. Johnston 1:37.33; 10. West High (Izaak Hayek, Ben Berhow, Valeri Trussov, Brennon Keen) 1:37.83.

200 Freestyle – 1. Jackson Allmon (CBLC) 1:39.11; 2. Andrew Fierke (Fort Dodge) 1:40.91; 3. Nick Chase (Dowling) 1:41.06; 4. Dylan Moffat (Cedar Falls) 1:41.12; 5. Trent Frandson (Ankeny) 1:42.11; 6. Charlie Bunn (Bett) 1:42.85; 7. Casey Bach (WDM Valley)1:43.16; 8. Evan Porter (WDM Valley) 1:43.18.

200 Individual Medley – 1. Caleb Aman (Bettendorf) 1:50.49; 2. Cameron Linder (Waukee) 1:53.30; 3. Scott Lair (Johnston) 1:54.06; 4. John Culver (Dowling) 1:55.13; 5. Connor Neils (Ankeny) 1:55.77; 6. Grant Lair (Johnston) 1:57.10; 7. Louis Stephan (City High) 1:57.35; 8. William Nash (PV) 1:58.30; 16. Eric Thomas (City High) 2:01.42.

50 Freestyle – 1. Jacob Keller (WDM Valley) 20.75; 2. Kevin Burke (PV) 21.11; 3. Mitchell Pollit (Waukee) 21.37; 4. Max Martin (Ankeny) 21.40; 5. Andrew Ottavian (Bett) and Matt Peng (Linn-Mar) 21.56; 7. Sebastian Pek (Carroll) 21.57; 8. Caleb Gaylor (Newton-Pella) 21.68.

100 Butterfly – 1. Forrest Frazier (City High) 49.01; 2. Dalton Lillibri (Ames) 50.49; 3. Matt Peng (LM) 50.60; 4. Izaak Hayek (West High) 51.03; 5. Gregg Lichinsky (Valley) 51.09; 6. Dalton Hammel (Dubuque Hempstead) 51.73; 7. Misho Mahrous (Ames) 52.37; 8. Cameron Briggs (Waukee) 52.63.

100 Freestyle – 1. Jackson Allmon (CBLC) 45.61; 2. Jacob Keller (Valley) 45.92; 3. Charlie Bunn (Bett) 46.60; 4. William Rankin (Sioux City) 46.71; 5. James Bentley (Ames) 46.77; 6. Casey Bach (Valley) 46.89; 7. Nathan McKay (PV) 47.13; 8. Brycen Snell (LM) 47.25.

500 Freestyle – 1. Dylan Moffat (CF) 4:27.77; 2. Trent Frandson (Ankeny) 4:32.42; 3. Andrew Fierke (FD) 4:32.94; 4. Cameron Linder (Waukee) 4:38.31; 5. Soma Szabo (Ames) 4:45.73; 6. Scott Lair (Johnston) 4:45.82; 7. Zach Kolker (CRW) 4:46.02; 8. Lane Griffis (West High) 4:46.05; 11. Isaac Wiegel (City High) 4:49.39.

200 Freestyle Relay – 1. Bettendorf (Charlie Bunn, Luke Nickles, Andrew Ottavianelli, Caleb Aman) 1:24.82; 2. West Des Moines Valley 1:25.17; 3. Ankeny 1:26.13; 4. Ames 1:26.21; 5. Dowling 1:26.21; 6. Waukee 1:26.96; 7. Linn-Mar 1:27.04; 8. West High (Michael Kimball, Valeri Trussov, Ben Berhow, Brennon Keen) 1:27.76.

100 Backstroke – 1. Nick Chase (Dowling) 49.48; 2. Caleb Aman (Bett) 50.81; 3. Evan Porter 51.24; 4. Kaleb Donels (CRW) 51.37; 5. Kevin Burke (PV) 51.66; 6. John Culver (Dowling) 51.86; 7. Cameron Briggs (Waukee) 51.99; 8. Ethan Johnson (Ames) 52.20.

100 Breaststroke – 1. Forrest Frazier (City High) 54.16; 2. Dalton Lillibri (Ames) 56.78; 3. Noah Faldet (Decorah) 57.36; 4. Louis Stephan (City High) 57.94; 5. Nick Matthews (Ames) 58.47; 6. Lane Griffis (West) 59.21; 7. Derek Johnson (Mason City) 59.81; 8. Jacob McCredie (PV) 59.93; 13. Ben Berhow (West) 1:00.38.

 400 Freestyle Relay – 1. West Des Moines Valley (Gregg Lichinsky, Evan Porter, Casey Bach, Jacob Keller) 3:06.87; 2. Ames 3:10.96; 3. Ankeny 3:11.15; 4.  Waukee 3:12.48; 5. Linn-Mar 3:12.68; 6. Pleasant Valley 3:12.71; 7. Cedar Falls 3:12.71; 8. Johnston 3:13.37; 9. City High (Mickale Sadecky, Eric Thomas, Louis Stephan, Forrest Frazier) 3:14.73.