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IOWA CITY – Byron Butler joked by the end of a long day that he “probably wasn’t making much sense.”

Butler had more to do than just coach his team during Saturday’s Mississippi Valley Conference boys swimming meet at the University of Iowa Recreation and Wellness Center.

As West High was the host, Butler had a few other duties, but it did nothing to distract his team from defending its team title.

The second-ranked Trojans won six events to take the title with 444.5 points, easily outdistancing No. 4 Linn-Mar (355).

“It never gets old,” Butler said of defending the title they last won in 2020 (there was no MVC meet last year due to COVID-19 protocols). “I was able to see all our races and I was really, really happy with how we performed. We got there and we were in the fastest pool in the state in my opinion and for the first time this year, we had our entire team together.”

In one of the premier showdowns of the day West High’s Kirk Brotherton avenged a loss to Linn-Mar’s Aiden Carstensen in the 50-yard freestyle in a meet earlier this year, coming home in 20.93, just ahead of Carstensen, who finished in 21.33.

“We’ve been swimming against each other for a long time,” Brotherton said of his win. “It is just an honor to swim against Aiden and I’m hoping to have one more against him (at the state meet).”

Brotherton also won the 100 freestyle and was on the Trojans’ winning 200 medley and freestyle relays on his way to being named the Mississippi Valley Division Athlete of the Year.

“That was quite an honor,” he said. “It’s a great award, but none of it would be possible without my teammates. It is all about the team and winning today was the most important thing.”

West High’s 200 medley that also included Boyd Skelley, Jordan Christensen and Holden Carter set a new meet record of 1:33.89.

Carter, a sophomore, set the other meet record, posting a time of 50.59 in winning the 100 butterfly.

“He broke the record (50.76) of a state champion (former Trojan Izaak Hajek in 2020),” Butler said. “It’s really exciting to see him doing these things as a sophomore. He missed breaking the record by 1/100th of a second last year and I know it is something he really had his eye on all season.”

Christensen also had an individual win, taking the 100 breaststroke in 56.83

City High finished in fifth place with 207 points.

Joe Polyak had a pair of second-place finishes for the Little Hawks in the 200 and 500-yard freestyles.

Kento Yahashiri was runner up in the 100 breaststroke.

Mississippi Valley Conference Meet

At University of Iowa Recreation and Wellness Center

Team scores – 1. West High 444.5; 2. Linn-Mar 355; 3. Cedar Falls 218; 4. Dubuque Hempstead 213; 5. City High 207; 6. Cedar Rapids Washington 204; 7. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 133; 8. 10. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 100; 9. Dubuque Senior 94; 10. Waterloo 75

Event winners; area placewinners

200 medley relay – 1. West High (Boyd Skelley, Jordan Christensen, Holden Carter, Kirk Brotherton) 1:33.89; 4. City High (John Weigel, Grayson Willis, Joe Polyak, Will Larson) 1:43.93.

200 freestyle – 1. George Holesinger (DH) 1:44.75; 2. Max Gerke (ICW) 1:44.79; 4. Damon Conzemius (ICW) 1:49.38; 5. Lukas Swanson (ICW) 1:49.67; 8. Kento Yahashiri (ICH) 1:54.73,

200 individual medley – 1. Cooper Callahan (LM) 1:58.82; 2. Joe Polyak (ICH) 1:54.95; 3. Jordan Christensen (ICW) 1:57.79; 5. Nik Sung (ICW) 2:02.36

50 freestyle – 1. Kirk Brotherton (ICW) 20.93; 4. Barrett Coffey (ICW) 22.48; 5. Quinn Wubbena (ICW) 22.62; 8. Will Larson (ICH) 22.86

100 butterfly – 1. Holden Carter (ICW) 50.59; 2. Andy Luo (ICW) 54.75; 7. Sam Ruelas (ICW) 1:00.26

100 freestyle – 1. Kirk Brotherton (ICW) 46.35; 4. John Weigel (ICH) 48.26; 5. Boyd Skelley (ICW) 48.99; 8. Quin Wubbena (ICW) 51.28

500 freestyle – 1. Cooper Callahan (LM) 4:41.15; 2. Joe Polyak (ICH) 4:46; 4. Max Gerke (ICW) 4:56.13; 6. Lukas Swanson (ICW) 5:00.86; 7. Damon Conzemius (ICW) 5:02.18

200 freestyle relay – 1. West High (Kirk Brotherton, Jordan Christensen, Max Gerke, Boyd Skelley) 1:26.20; 4. City High (Kento Yahashiri, Will Larson, Chase Loftus, Joe Polyak) 1:31.43

100 backstroke – 1. Aiden Carstensen (LM) 50.85; 3. Holden Carter (ICW) 53.39; 4. John Weigel (ICH) 54.40; 5. Boyd Skelley (ICW) 55.99; 7. Andy Luo 58.07

100 breaststroke – 1. Jordan Christensen (ICW) 56.83; 2. Kento Yahashiri (ICH) 1:01.10; 8. Nik Sung (ICW) 1:04.40; 10. Chase Loftus (ICH) 1:05.54

400 freestyle relay – 1. Linn-Mar 3:12.72; 2. West High (Max Gerke, Holden Carter, Nik Sung, Damon Conzemius) 3:15; 5. City High (Will Larson, Chase Loftus, Kento Yahashiri, John Weigel) 3:24.

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