Neither the weather nor a computer malfunction could hold back the Stormin' Vikings Saturday as the team headed to Coe College to compete in the North Central Swim Conference (NCSC) Meet, coming away with a second-place finish for the second year in a row.

The 200 Medley Relay of Wes Farrell, Ian Vrba, Ian Allsup and James DeSmet announced its presence early with a comfortable, yet surprising win. Seeded third, Farrell put the team in an early lead with his 50 backstroke and each subsequent swimmer extended it to win the Conference Championship in a time of 1:44.71. This was the first of three Conference Championships for the day with Ian Allsup also winning the 100 Free and the 100 Back. Allsup's 100 back time of 54.33 broke the school record previously held by his brother Isaac as well as the Conference Meet record.

Other top finishes for the day included Wes Farrell with a second in the 500 Free and 3rdin the 500 back, Aleric Weber with a 4thin the 100 Back and 6thin the 200 Free, Broden Farrell was 2ndin the 200 IM and 4thin the 100 Breast, and Ian Vrba with a 5thin the 100 Breast.

Trailing Boone and Newton at the second break, the team took over in the 100 Back and 100 Breast events. The trio of Ian Allsup, Wes Farrell and Aleric Weber - seeded 2nd, 3rdand 5thproceeded to finish 1st, 3rdand 4thto score 51 points. Vrba, Broden Farrell and Ryan Williams added 36 more points in the Breast with 4th, 5thand 10thplace finishes. These two events gave the Stormin' Vikes enough cushion to withstand a Newton win in the 400 Free Relay and still edge the Cardinals for second by a mere 5 points.

The real stories on the day from a team perspective were guys outswimming their seeds and the depth of the team. Starting with the 3rdand 12thseeded Medley Relay A and B teams finishing 1stand 9th(16 extra points), guys up and down the line-up continued to significantly better their seeds. On the day, the team netted an incredible 61 new personal best times, scoring 51 points above what their seed times would have indicated.

A big part of this came from the depth of the team. Up and down the lineup you can find examples of guys who did enough extra to make the difference between 2ndand 4th.

  • Ian Allsup at the top won two events for which he was seeded second to capture 6 extra points himself.
  • His brother, freshman Andrew Allsup placed 13thin the 200 IM and 11thin the 500 free to score 10 team points.
  • Broden Farrell was seeded 7thin the 200 IM and 6thin the 100 Breast yet turned in 2ndand 4thplace finishes to add an additional 7 points.
  • Seniors Ryan Williams and Blake Soquet contributed 7 and 2 points respectively.
  • The various B relays were projected to score 34 points based on their seeds but turned in 44 points on the day. Those 10-points from guys like Senior Gabe Marzen, Ryan and Spencer Williams, and Hunter Kempton, were absolutely critical.

The team returns to the practice pool now to prepare for the season's key meet, Districts in Dubuque this Saturday. There they will face Dubuque Senior and Hempstead, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Iowa City West, Decorah and Clinton. However as a single-class sport, the Stormin' Vikings will compete with the rest of the state for 32 individual qualifiers and 24 relay teams per event.

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