Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – In two months the West High swimming team will close out the season at the 2020 state meet.

On Saturday the Trojans wrapped up 2019 with what they saw as a mini-state meet in the Little Hawk Invitational.

If Saturday’s showing is any indication of how the state meet goes West High should be in for an exciting end of the season.

West High won three events and finished runner-up in five others on its way to the team title at the eight-team Little Hawk Invite at Mercer Park Aquatic Center.

“We knew that this was going to be kind of our mini state, that’s kind of the idea coming into it,” West High senior Izaak Hajek said. “We wanted to make a statement and swim our butts off and do great at this meet and it really meant a lot to show up and execute well.”

Hajek and fellow senior James Pinter each set meet records while winning individual titles and were part of West High’s winning 200 medley relay team that set a meet record.

Four West High swimmers combined for five runner-up finishes in individual events as the Trojans finished with 426 team points to easily outdistance defending state champion Ankeny by 68 points.

Last year’s third-place state finisher Bettendorf was third with 291 points while Pleasant Valley was fourth with 257 and City High was fifth with 250.

“This meet kind of what sets the stage for our championship season,” Pinter said. “We have the top finisher last year in Ankeny and the third-place finisher last year in Bettendorf here so coming out on top with those two teams here is a pretty big deal to us. Hopefully we showed that this year something is happening with West High.”

Pinter, Hajek, Jordan Christensen and Diggory Dillingham started the meet by teaming up to the win 200 medley relay in a meet record time of 1:35.62.

That was just the start for Pinter who was runner-up in the 200 freestyle in 1:44.22 and broke a 10-year old meet record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.73.

“It’s a good feeling especially when we have such a really good history of backstrokers in the last 10 years,” Pinter said. “It’s a good benchmark. I am happy with where I am and it shows that I am doing something right in training and in practice.”

Hajek had his own strong day breaking a meet record that had stood since 2006 with a time of 50.83 in the 100 butterfly.

The winning time for Hajek was nearly a second faster than the time Hajek posted at the Little Hawk Invite last season when he went on to win the state title in the event in 39.45.

“I was ecstatic,” Hajek said. “I was just going for a 50-point but when I got out my coach said that it was a meet record and I was super excited.”

Freshman Diggory Dillinghamwas runner-up in the 50 freestyle and sophomore Damon Conzemius was second in the 500 freestyle for West High.

“It was fun to see our guys step up and race,” West High coach Byron Butler said. “Our guys swam amazing on Tuesday and a lot of guys went even faster today after the hardest practice of the season I have thrown at them on Thursday. It’s fun to see them compete.”

Christensen, a sophomore finished runner-up to City High standout Forrest Frazier in both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.

Frazier won the 200 IM in a time of 1:53.97 and shattered his own meet record set in 2017 in the 100 breaststroke by nearly two seconds.

The University of California signee posted a state-leading time of 56.22 in the breastroke.

“It was a good meet for us and its good to have Forrest back, everybody kind of seems to rise up and compete with him so that was good,” City High coach Zane Hugo said. “When they are competing with him and against him they kind of step up just a little bit more. Everybody is trying to keep up with him and that really shows especially when we get to these kinds of meets.”

Little Hawk Invite

Team scores – 1. West High 426; 2. Ankeny 358; 3. Bettendorf 291; 4. Pleasant Valley 257; 5. City High 250; 6. Cedar Falls 183; 7. Ottumwa 108; 8. Oskaloosa 75

200 medley relay – 1. West High (James Pinter, Jordan Christensen, Izaak Hajek, Diggory Dillingham) 1:35.62; 2. City High (Caleb Coons, Forrest Frazier, Isaac Weigel, Bryce Edens) 1:37.47

200 freestyle – 1. Trent Frandson (ANK) 1:43.49; 2. James Pinter (ICW) 1:44.22; 3. Isaac Weigel (ICH) 1:45.13; 7. Damon Conzemius (ICW) 1:50.6; 8. Bryce Edens (ICH) 1:52.14; 10. Andy Luo (ICW) 1:53.58

200 IM – 1. Forrest Frazier (ICH) 1:53.97; 2. Jordan Christensen (ICW) 2:00.87; 4. Izaak Hajek (ICW) 2:03.02; 6. Luke Nichols (ICW) 2:06.14

50 Freestyle – 1. Charlie Bunn (BET) 21.17; 2. Diggory Dillingham (ICW) 21.82; 6. Michael Kimball (ICW) 22.79; 9. Kirk Brotherton (ICW) 23.23

100 butterfly – 1. Izaak Hajek (ICW) 50.83; 3. Isaac Weigel (ICH) 53.57; 5. Luke Nichols (ICW) 54.61; 8. Caleb Coons (ICH) 55.72

100 freestyle – 1. Charlie Bunn (BET) 46.75; 3. Diggory Dillingham (ICW) 48.87; 8. Boyd Skelley (ICW) 50.74

500 freestyle – 1. Trent Frandson (ANK) 4:51.17; 2. Damon Conzemius (ICW) 4:56.62; 3. Bryce Edens (ICH) 4:57.18; 4. Andy Luo (ICW) 5:03.64; 9. Joe Kueter (ICH) 5:14.71

200 freestyle relay – 1. Ankeny 1:27.97; 3. West High (Michael Kimball, Boyd Skelley, Diggory Dillingham, Luke Nichols) 1:28.83; 4. City High (Forrest Frazier, Isaac Weigel, Caleb Coons, Bryce Edens) 1:29.19

100 backstroke – 1. James Pinter (ICW) 51.73; 5. Caleb Coons (ICH) 55.9; 6. Parth Patel (ICW) 57.55; 7. Boyd Skelley (ICW) 57.7

100 breaststroke – 1. Forrest Frazier (ICH) 56.22; 2. Jordan Christensen (ICW) 59.43; 3. Gavin Keeney (ICW) 1:04.54; 5. Tate Happel (ICW) 1:05.57; 9. Kento Yahashiri (ICH) 1:07.42

400 freestyle relay – 1. Ankeny 3:13.7; 3. West High (Kirk Brotherton, Izaak Hajek, Luke Nichols, James Pinter) 3:16.94; 6. City High (Mark Krysan, Joe Kueter, Chase Loftus, Kento Yahashiri) 3:35.98

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