Sports : V-S Men\'s Swim Team begins season with third place finish

The Vinton-Shellsburg men’s swim team team kicked off the 2011/12 season with a number of new faces Tuesday night at CoeCollegeas they battled large, talented squads from Linn-Mar and Cedar Rapids Kennedy. While the Vikings have a relatively robust squad of 17 swimmers this year, injuries and illness left the team with only eleven competitors Tuesday night.

Nonetheless, the Vikings fared well while finishing third against perhaps some of the toughest competition they will face this season. John Levis turned in a first place performance in the 100 Butterfly, surging from a body-length down in the final 20 yards to edge a Kennedy swimmer. He also registered a second place finish in the 200 Free. Brandon Tharp turned in strong individual performances capturing second in the 100 Breast and fourth in the 50 Free. The 200 Free Relay team of Levis, Tharp, Drake Tilson and freshman John Eden scored a fourth place finish in the Vikings top relay performance.

More important than the individual placing was the tremendous amount of improvement made across the board. Of the team’s 17 swimmers, eleven are new to the team and swimming. The progress that many of these young men have mad in just three weeks has been amazing. This year’s squad, while short on experience, is laden with guys who are excited to swim and compete and will continue to make significant improvement. In addition to the new swimmers who have made great jumps in their ability, Senior Tyler Naughton had a superb night. Despite being just three weeks into the season, he dropped his personal best time in the 50 free by two seconds and shaved more than 3.5 seconds off his best 100 backstroke time.

The Vikes next take the pool Saturday in Newtonwhere they will face host Newtonas well as Grinnell, Decorah and Indianola.

Times and results from Tuesday night are below:

Medley Relay A: Tyler Naughton, Anthony Dickerson, Drake Tilson, Matt Lash, 5th Place, 2:22.37

Medley Relay B: Marshall Mullenix, Ben Weekly, John Eden, Garrett Wilson, 6th Place, 2:38.10

200 Free: John Levis 2nd Place, 2:02.47

50 Free JV

Marshall Mullenix, 5th Place, 32.56

Garrett Wilson, 8th Place, 36.81

50 Free

4th Place: Brandon Tharp, 25.83

8th Place :Tyler Naughton, 28.38

9th Place :Matt Lash, 33.20

100 Fly

1st Place: John Levis, 1:01.25

100 Free JV

7th Place: Wilson, 1:29.86

100 Free

7th Place: Eden, 1:04.69

8th Place: Lash, 1:19.20

9th Place: Dickerson, 1:20.17

500 Free

6th Place: Tilson, 7:47.17

200 Free Relay A

4th Place, 1:46.88, Levis, Tharp, Naughton, Eden

200 Free Relay B

6th Place: Mullenix, Weekly, Dickerson, Tilson, 2:10.73

100 Back

7th Place: Naughton, 1:19.18

100 Breast

2nd Place: Tharp, 1:10.45

8th Place: Dickerson, 1:46.33

400 Free Relay A

5th Place: Levis, Eden, Tilson, Tharp, 4:17.38

400 Free Relay B

6th Place: Lash, Wilson, Mullenix, Weekly, 5:51.13