In a sport that measures progress by 100s of seconds, Indianola took big steps during the Iowa High School swim meet in Iowa City Saturday, finishing 18th in the field of 28 teams with 34 points.
Indianola swimmers at State
Jaxson Mahlstadt swims the backstroke in the 200-yard medley relay during the Iowa State Swim meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Collin Geurts splits a path during the 200-yard medley relay at the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Collin Geurts splits a path in the 200-yard medley relay at the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Oskar Reels splits a path in the 200-yard medley relay at the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Collin Geurts scoops the water past him in the 200-yard freestyle at the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Jaxson Mahlstadt leaps to start the 200-yard individual medley at the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Jaxson Mahlstadt backstrokes a lap in the 200-yard individual medley at the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Jaxson Mahlstadt slices through the 200-yard individual medley at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Jaxson Mahlstadt strokes through the 200-yard individual medley at the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Jaxson Mahlstadt with Indianola swim Coach Bobby Shepherd after being recognized as a District swimmer of the year during the Iowa State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Jaxson Mahlstadt strokes through the 100-yard butterfly, setting a new Indianola school record at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Indianola Swim Coaches Bobby Shepherd and Dave LaGrange keep an eye on times as their State swimmers turn in their best times at the state meet Saturday In Iowa City.
Brad LaGrange pushes his way through the 500-yard freestyle at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Brad LaGrange pushes his way through the 500-yard freestyle at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Brad LaGrange pushes his way through the 500 freestyle at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Jaxson Mahlstadt leads off the 400-yard freestyle relay at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Brad LeGrange strokes the 400-yard freestyle relay at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Oskar Reels reaches up for a breath of air during 400-yard freestyle relay at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Oskar Reels reaches up for a breath of air during 400-yard freestyle relay at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Oskar Reels reaches up for a breath of air the 400-yard freestyle relay at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Collin Geurts brushes the water aside in the 400-yard freestyle relay at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
Collin Geurts brushes the water aside in the 400-yard freestyle relay at the State Swim Meet in Iowa City Saturday.
The Indians set three school records, cut time in every event and Jaxson Mahlstadt earned two trips to the podium.
Mahlstadt had a sixth-place finish overall in the 200-yard individual medley in 1:57:14 to win his heat and an eighth-place finish in 52:73 in the 100-yard butterfly, breaking a 1990s school record of 52:78 held by Jason Lathrum.
“Everybody went faster today,” said coach Bobby Shepherd. “The boys came together as a team, focused as a team. They’re the leaders, they did it.”
“Everybody cut time on every single swim,” said assistant coach Dave LaGrange.
Mahlstadt said he had one regret — the time on the record-setting 400 freestyle relay. Mahlstadt, Brad LaGrange, Oskar Reels and Collin Geurts broke the record at their home meet and at districts, and they broke it again Saturday, swimming it in 3:18.12, cutting a second off their previous record of 3:19:21.
“I think we could have gone faster,” Mahlstadt said.
In other events, Collin Geurts swam the 200-yard freestlye in 1:48:64, good for fifth place in his heat, and almost a second better than his previous best, while Brad LaGrange of Winterset dropped almost two seconds on his time in the 500-yard swim, going from 5:02:17 to 4:59:85. Mahlstadt, LaGrange, Reels and Geurts also combined on the 200-yard medley relay, taking 16th plae and dropping from 1:47:87 to 1:40:89 on Saturday.
Shepherd said he was pleased just to have the team at State. Their last trip to State came in 2015, when they took one event.
“We finished 18th in the state,” said Dave LaGrange. “We had two juniors today, we’ll be back next year. The kids worked so darn hard this year. It makes it a real treat.”
Alternates Lane Bindel and Abram Wadle of Winterset also made the trip, but did not swim. Ankeny won the overall State title with 226 points.
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