Women’s swim team places 4th at State

From the first 6 a.m. practice the CFHS women’s swimming team had aspirations of being able to stand on the final podium at the State meet in Marshalltown when the season came to an end. Five points kept them from that goal as they fell into fourth place just behind West Des Moines Valley.

While the Tigers were kept off the podium this time, they were still proud of the team’s hard work and accomplishments. Junior Martee Grainger, who swam in four events including the 200 free and 200 medley relay teams, said she thought she and her teammates had a chance to do better: “We came in aiming high but fourth is still good. I know that if the team, myself included, could have done a little better in a few races, we would be standing on the podium with a top three finish, so it’s a little frustrating.”

Junior Brittany Moffatt had one of the most impressive days at state as she made the podium on all four races she entered. “My goal going into state was to make podium, so meeting that goal was a really great feeling” Moffat said.

The top two teams finished with scores that didn’t allow competition from the teams chasing them. Ames finished in first place for the fourth straight year, 53 points ahead of second place Pleasant Valley, who finished 67 points ahead of third place West Des Moines Valley.

Teams third through fifth were a different story. West Des Moines Valley finished just 16 points ahead of fifth place Lewis Central and a mere five points ahead of Cedar Falls.

The Tigers who had just seven swimmers compete, are losing seniors Shelby Cline, Catherine Sell and Hannah Brummel to graduation. Cline recently decided to walk on at the University of Kentucky to swim and Catherine Sell is also looking in to swimming in college, possibly at the University of North Dakota.

Many varsity members return from this year’s team such Natalie Shimp, who currently owns the school record in the 100 breaststroke. She will help lead next year’s seniors along with Moffatt and Grainger.

Shimp said she believes that expectations will remain high after falling short of a top three state finish in each of the last two years. “We’ve worked really hard these last few years, and it will be my last year, so I’ll be giving it all I’ve got to accomplish our goal of getting top three. We are really aiming for top two,” Shimp said.

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