Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

MARION – A season of significant adjustments came to an end for the City High swimming team.

Tasked with adapting to the unpredictable force of coronavirus restrictions while simultaneously developing chemistry with a new coaching staff, the Little Hawks displayed an abundance of perseverance with a bevy of fast times at the Iowa High School Athletic Association swimming state championships Saturday at Linn-Mar Aquatic Center.

“It was good seeing some of the guys drop their times,” first-year City High Coach Mandi Kowal said. “There were some guys that were really on. We had a few, probably flat, performances and it is hard to know if it was because we have had such an inconsistent training situation, probably like everybody else, but thinking about what we were able to do and what we weren’t able to do, I was really pleased with how the guys … we just kept saying, ‘We can only control what we can control, so let’s just take care of that.’ I am really pleased with that. A lot of these guys love to race. It is so fun to see that.”

Kowal’s hiring was announced at the end of October, just a few days before the start of the season.

She replaced Zane Hugo, who left for an Aquatics Director position in Wisconsin and led the Little Hawks to a fifth-place finish at the state meet last season.

“I haven’t coached a team since I left the University (of Iowa) in 2012,” said Kowal, who built the Iowa rowing program and led it for 18 years. “So it was really fun to work with a team and make a difference for them. I am really lucky it fell into my lap, so it was a really cool thing.”

In any normal season, the arrival of a new coach and the graduation loss of a multiple state event winner like Forrest Frazier would be cause for a bit of an adjustment period.

But this was clearly no normal season.

Like its crosstown rival West High, the Little Hawks had their early season training regimen significantly interrupted when the Iowa City Community School District halted team athletic activities as it transitioned to online-only coursework.

“She’s a very good coach,” City High junior Caleb Coons said. “She adapted well to her new position and I think she is going to do very good in the coming years.”

No matter the uncertainty of the process, the Saturday’s results displayed both accomplishment and promise.

The Little Hawks posted points in seven of 11 events and finished seventh in the team standings with 120 points.

With 268.5 points, Waukee won the team title for the first time since earning back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017.

“I am actually really happy,” City High senior Isaac Weigel said. “This is the best rankings I have gotten this year or any of the years, and I have had fun. … I feel like this year everyone has realized how much they have missed and together we were like, ‘Let’s make it a great last year.”

Weigel closed his prep swimming career in style with a pair of runner-up finishes in individual events.

Weigel swam the 200 individual medley in 1:51.30 and placed second to Waukee junior Andrew Reiter (1:47.79).

After the first 20-minute break of the event, Weigel narrowly missed a state title in the 100 free, placing second in 45.24 seconds, just seven tenths of a second behind Alex Stone of Bettendorf.

“I’ll take it,” Weigel said. “It has been a weird season, so I was just here to have fun. I feel like it was a great senior year.”

Both times earned Weigel consideration for All-American status.

“That is really a great way to end,” Kowal said. “Because he got ripped off like all the seniors this last bit. But you know what? The amazing thing was, he never talked about it. He just came in and did his business. He comes in and he gets his work done. Whether it is mobility, whether it is strength, whether it is performance. He gets it done.”

Weigel also helped the Little Hawks open the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay by swimming the butterfly portion alongside Coons (backstroke), sophomore Kento Yahashiri (breaststroke) and Bryce Edens (freestyle).

Weigel then closed the day in the 400 freestyle relay, where he, Coons, freshman Joe Polyak and Edens placed sixth.

“Some of the things that were really cool were the individual performances of the kids,” Kowal said. “Some of the strongest that they have had were in the relay. … A really good thing to see and to see some guys get some confidence for some of the younger guys. We have one senior, so that is good for the future.”

As far as state meet point scorers go, Weigel will be the lone graduation casualty.

He is awaiting acceptance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where one of the best men’s swimming programs in all of Division III is eagerly awaiting his arrival.

“My Mom lived in Boston and she had great stories about MIT and the Boston area,” Weigel said. “My Dad has great stories about the area, so I felt like the location was fantastic and of course the academics.”

Coons figures to be a major contributor next season for City High.

He was seeded fifth in the 100 backstroke and used an improved tempo technique to charge ahead of the pack for the first 50 yards before finishing third in 50.40 seconds.

“I was very happy,” Coons said. “I was shooting for under the 49 mark, but considering the times and how much I got to practice in-season and whatnot, I can’t really complain. It was a great time drop and I am super satisfied.”

Polyak (200 IM, 500 free) and Yahashiri (100 breaststroke) also contributed points in individual events for the Little Hawks.

Boys State Swimming Meet

At Linn-Mar Aquatic Center

Teams – 1. Waukee 268.5, 2. Ankeny 238.5, 3. West High 208.5, 4. West Des Moines Valley 168.5, 5. Linn-Mar 155, 6. Bettendorf 131, 7. City High 120, 8. West Des Moines Dowling 108; 9. Pleasant Valley 103.5, 10. Sioux City Metro 98, 11. Ames 90, 12. Cedar Rapids Washington 82, 13. Johnston 80, 14. Davenport Central 64.5, 15. Dubuque Hempstead 45, 16. Carroll 31, 17. Decorah 30, 18. Ottumwa 25, 19. Muscatine 24, 20. Indianola 21, 21. Vinton-Shellsburg 17, 22. Marshalltown 16, 23. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 13, 24. Newton 9, 25. Spencer 8, 26. Mason City 7, 27. Des Moines Roosevelt 6, 28. Williamsburg 2.

200 medley relay – 1. West High (Boyd Skelley, Jordan Christensen, Holden Carter, Luke Nichols) 1:32.24; 2. Waukee 1:34.10; 3. Ames 1:34.63; 5. City High (Caleb Coons, Kento Yahashiri, Isaac Weigel, Bryce Edens) 1:36.20.

200 freestyle – 1. Trent Frandson (Ankeny) 1:36.46; 2. Cooper Callahan (Linn-Mar) 1:39.52; 3. AJ Abram (Waukee) 1:40.16; 12. Max Gerke (West High) 1:45.67; 19. Lukas Swanson (West High), 1:47.68.

200 IM – 1. Andrew Reiter (Waukee), 1:47.79; 2. Isaac Weigel (City High) 1:51.30; 3. Brek Stukerjurgen (Ankeny) 1:53.21; 6. Jordan Christensen (West High) 1:55.14; 12. Joe Polyak (City High) 1:59.22; 14. Nikolas Sung (West High) 1:59.49.

50 freestyle – 1. Alex Stone (Bettendorf) 20.67; 2. Ryan Boeding (Muscatine) 20.85; 3. Trevor Danner (Carroll) 21.02; 4. Kirk Brotherton (West High) 21.15; t7. Luke Nichols (West High) 21.45; 21. Bryce Edens (City High), 22.19; 30. Quinn Wubbena (West High) 22.62.

100 butterfly – 1. Andrew Reiter (Waukee) 48.68; 2. Lance Swanepoel (Ankeny) 49.34; 3. Kyle Hopewell (Davenport Central) 50.07; 8. Holden Carter (West High) 50.95; 19. Luke Nichols (West High) 52.67; 20. Caleb Coons (City High) 52.81.

100 freestyle – 1. Alex Stone (Bettendorf) 45.17; 2. Isaac Weigel (City High) 45.24; 3. AJ Abram (Waukee) 45.495; 5. Kirk Brotherton (West High) 46.54; 14. Boyd Skelley (West High) 47.44; 17. Bryce Edens (City High) 47.95.

500 freestyle – 1. Trent Frandson (Ankeny) 4:25.71; 2. Joey Hancock (West Des Moines Dowling) 4:30.40; 3. Cooper Callahan (Linn-Mar) 4:33.49; 11. Joe Polyak (City High) 4:47.11; 3. Max Gerke (West High) 4:47.71; 18. Andy Luo (West High) 4:51.23; 21. Lukas Swanson (West High) 4:53.11.

200 freestyle relay – 1. Ankeny 1:24.11; 2. West High (Kirk Brotherton, Boyd Skelley, Jordan Christensen, Luke Nichols) 1:24.50; 3. Waukee 1:24.51; 21. City High (Charlie Pfohl, John Weigel, Chase Loftus, Will Larsen) 1:32.23

100 backstroke – 1. Aiden Carstensen (Linn-Mar) 49.83; 2. Asher Havenhill (Waukee) 50.13; 3. Caleb Coons (City High) 50.40; 9. Boyd Skelley (West High) 52.25; 10. Holden Carter (West High) 52.61; 17. Andy Luo (West High) 54.25.

100 breaststroke – 1. Kohen Rankin (Sioux City Metro) 55.03; 2. Jordan Christensen (West High) 56.56; 3. Joshua Chen (Ames) 56.82; 2. Kento Yahashiri (City High) 1:01.11; 23. Nikolas Sung (West High) 1:02.79; 29. Chase Loftus (City High) 1:03.54.

400 freestyle relay – 1. Ankeny 3:04.22; 2. Bettendorf 3:06.80; 3. Waukee 3:08.16; 6. City High (Isaac Weigel, Caleb Coons, Joe Polyak, Bryce Edens) 3:09.91; 8. West High (Holden Carter, Max Gerke, Nikolas Sung, Kirk Brotherton) 3:11.43.

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