It was a banner day for the Stormin' Vikes swim team as they registered their highest-ever finish at the North Central Swim Conference meet in Grinnell. The Vikes defeated Grinnell by 5 points to place second behind Decorah. On the day, the team turned in five Conference Championship performances out of the eleven events.

The day started out well with the 16th-ranked Medley Relay of Schlief, Kirtz, Allsup and Vrba racing to a one second win that they led from start to finish. Carter Kirtz kept the momentum in the day's third event capturing first in the 200 IM. Kirtz would later win the 100 Breast in program and Conference meet record time of 58.21 on his way to being named Conference Athlete of the Year.

Ian Allsup scored the other pair of event Championships with wins in the 50 and 100 Free. His win in the 50 was down to the wire with a margin of 2 hundredths of a second.

The 200 Free Relay of Kirtz, Vrba, Schlief and Allsup finished 3rd with a new school record, narrowly missing the team's sixth conference title by a mere quarter of a second. The 400 Free Relay of Vrba, Wesley Farrell, Weber and Schlef also medaled with a second place finish.

On the day, the team recorded an astounding 52 new personal best times with every swimmer recording at least two new bests.

Other top individual results were Bradyn Schlief in 2nd in the 50 Free, Wes Farrell 4th in the 500 and 100 back, Broden Farrerll 5th in the 100 Breast and 6th in the 200 IM, Aleric Weber 5th in the 100 Back.

The team edged out Grinnell for second by a mere five points. In a meet like that every single point mattered. Every performance mattered. Nearly every guy and every relay outswam its seeding. Senior Logan Zearley seeded 16th in the 50 Free and 13th in 100 Breast ended up 11th and 10th respectively. That alone added 8 points to our total. In the 200 Free Brayden Beck and Ryan Williams weren't seeded in the top 16 but added in 5 points with 13th and 16th place finishes. This was truly a team effort and team accomplishment.

Districts will be next Saturday at Linn-Mar as the team will face schools such as Linn-Mar, all Cedar Rapids schools and Marshalltown for the opportunity to go to Iowa's single-class state meet next weekend. The top 24 relay teams and 32 individuals qualify in each event.

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