Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – When Zach Armstrong was hired to lead the West High boys swimming program last summer, he had a message for his guys.

The combination of hard work and the right pieces in place could net the Trojans a state record in the 200-yard medley relay.

One season in, and Armstrong’s pupils have made him look very smart.

“It was big,” Armstrong said after the quartet of Hayden Hakes, Winston Fan, Holden Carter and Max Gerke won the medley relay with a state-record time of 1:30.31 at the state swimming championships Saturday at the University of Iowa’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. “Everything fell in right. We worked hard. My staff worked with everyone and got it done. It was huge.”

The previous medley relay state record (1:30.87) was just two years old and, coincidentally, was also held by West High.

In fact, Carter was just a sophomore when he swam the butterfly portion on the 2022 unit that included Boyd Skelley, Jordan Christensen and Kirk Brotherton.

This year, Carter returned to the butterfly portion alongside Hakes (backstroke), Fan (breaststroke) and Gerke (freestyle).

“Right off the bat, we were in it, we were ready,” Carter said. “Just the overall atmosphere and mindset going into that race was phenomenal. We carried through, we got some really great splits, lifetime bests, PRs (personal records) all the way around. It was a fantastic start to the meet.”

West Des Moines Valley (235 points) won its first team title since 2010 and third overall. Winning the day’s opening event helped propel West High to a fifth-place finish in the team standings with 168 points.

“Just continue to grow this program,” Armstrong said. “I’m excited to see what comes next.”

After finishing fifth in the 100 butterfly at the 2022 state meet and runner-up last year, Carter took that coveted next step up the podium and won the state championship with a time of 48.57 seconds, which was six tenths of a second better than Linn-Mar’s Parker Macho.

“Being second best and finally being able to crack through was something I have been shooting for for a long time,” said Carter, who attends Liberty High and plans to swim at Columbia University in New York City next year. “Finally being able to do that was awesome.”

Gerke placed fifth in the butterfly and was fourth in the 50 free.

Carter posted a fourth-place finish of his own in the 100 backstroke.

West High junior Hayden Hakes was runner-up (4:28.63) in the 500 free, which was won for the third year in a row by Valley’s Jacob Pins, who broke the state record by over two-and-a-half seconds in 4:20.86.

“All props to Jacob,” Hakes said. “He crushed it. He did amazing. I’m very proud of him. I’m very happy with how I performed because it has been a pretty great season to be able to go best times, especially here.

There have been lots of challenges and I am just happy to be over them. I’m glad that I got to finish second.”

The West High foursome of Gerke, Hakes, Carter and – in a change from the district meet – Fan, closed the meet in style with a runner-up performance of 3:06.79 in the 400 free relay, more than three seconds behind event winner Pleasant Valley.

“The guys stepped up and worked hard,” Armstrong said.

State Swimming Meet

At University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center in Iowa City

Team scores – 1. West Des Moines Valley 235; 2. Waukee 219.50; 3. Linn-Mar 187.5; 4. Pleasant Valley 181; 5. West High 168; 6. Ames 152; 7. Bettendorf 131; 8. Cedar Falls 128; 9. Ankeny 113; 10. West Des Moines Dowling 90; 11. Cedar Rapids Washington 87.5; 12. City High 64; 13. Sioux City West 61; 14. Dubuque Hempstead 59; 15. Carroll 54.5; 16. Newton 37;  17. Boone 36; 18. Dubuque Senior 34.5; 19. Southeast Polk 33; 20. Keokuk 24; 21. Ottumwa 19; 22. Burlington 17; 23. Davenport Central 14; 24. Davenport West 12; 25. Johnston 8; 26. Decorah 2; 27. Centerville 1; 27. Muscatine 1.

200 medley relay – 1. West High (Hayden Hakes, Winston Fan, Holden Carter, Max Gerke) 1:30.31; 2. West Des Moines Valley 1:31.96; 3. Waukee 1:32.20; 20. City High (Lars Hackathorn, Drew Brown, Grant Bumsted, Charlie Pfohl), 1:42.12.

200 freestyle – 1. Jacob Pins (West Des Moines Valley) 1:37.78; 2. John Butler (Cedar Falls) 1:38.48; 3. Will Gorman (Pleasant Valley) 1:39.10; 32. Braydon Calonder (City High), 1:50.69.

200 individual medley – 1. Joe Polyak (City High) 1:46.35; 2. Dylan Nelson (West Des Moines Valley) 1:51.61; 3. Ian McCorkle (Ames) 1:52.85; 11. Winston Fan (West High) 1:55.27; 19. Philip Berry-Stoelzle (City High) 2:01.15.

50 freestyle – 1. Finn Martin (Newton) 20.31; 2. Nick Rounds (West Des Moines Dowling) 20.35; 3. Hudson Huberg (Linn-Mar) 20.79; 4. Max Gerke (West High) 20.92.

100 butterfly – 1. Holden Carter (West High) 48.57; 2. Parker Macho (Linn-Mar) 49.17; 3. Dylan Alt (Waukee) 49.54; 5. Max Gerke (West High) 49.94

100 freestyle – 1. Owen Chiles (Pleasant Valley) 43.42; 2. Finn Martin (Newton) 44.94; 3. John Butler (Cedar Falls) 45.45; 28. Philip Berry-Stoelzle (City High) 49.16.

500 free – 1. Jacob Pins (West Des Moines Valley) 4:20.86; 2. Hayden Hakes (West High) 4:28.63; 3. Josh Fisher (Ames) 4:33.69.

200 freestyle relay – 1. Pleasant Valley 1:22.95; 2. Dubuque Hempstead 1:24.87; 3. Bettendorf 1:25.04; 12. City High (Joe Polyak, Braydon Calonder, Grant Bumsted, Charlie Pfohl) 1:27.31

100 backstroke – 1. Owen Chiles (Pleasant Valley) 47.64; 2. Nick Rounds (West Des Moines Dowling) 48.71; 3. Dylan Nelson (West Des Moines Valley) 49.51; 4. Holden Carter (West High) 50.55; 28. Oliver Mikulski (West High) 55.30.

100 breaststroke – 1. Joe Polyak (City High) 53.42; 2. Klein Brock (Waukee) 55.62; 3. Kiefer Roemer (Bettendorf) 55.93; 10. Winston Fan (West High) 57.35; 20. Brennen Westphal (West High) 1:00.53.

400 free relay – 1. Pleasant Valley 3:03.06; 2. West High (Max Gerke, Hayden Hakes, Holden Carter, Winston Fan) 3:06.79; 3. Ames 3:08.14; 10. City High (Philip Berry-Stoelzle, Charlie Pfohl, Braydon Calonder, Joe Polyak) 3:11.51.

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