A clean sweep and a nice round number.
The Marshalltown boys' swim team won every event to defeat Ottumwa, 90-57, on Thursday and land its coach a milestone.
The victory was the 100th career dual meet win for MHS head coach Mike Loupee.
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T-R PHOTO BY TRAVIS HINES
Marshalltown High School’s Nate Menuey swims the 100-yard freestyle during the Bobcats’ 90-57 dual meet victory Thursday at the MHS pool over Ottumwa.
"It's gratifying in the fact that it probably reflects longevity and my passion for the sport," said Loupee of the 100-win plateau. "I think first and foremost it reflects the opportunity over a span of 15, 16 years to work with a lot of great kids and a lot of kids that were dedicated to swimming."
Connor Dilger and Sam Carter were both individual two-time individual event winners on the night.
The sophomore Carter won the 200-yard freestyle in 2 minutes, 4.74 seconds and the 500 free in 5:39.47.
"He was close to a season-best (in the 500) without being pressed at all," noted Loupee. "Much improved on his turns."
Dilger took the 200 IM in 2:15.05 and the 100 butterfly in 1:00.41.
As a whole, the Bobcats posted more than 30 career-bests on the night despite the fact they were rarely pushed by Ottumwa.
"We haven't let up on training a whole lot and for them to continue to improve and drop their times, that's encouraging," Loupee said. "The coaching staff talks about how our primary goal is always to take care of our lane. We can't control what goes on in other lanes. We can control what goes on in our lane.
"That means best effort every time you hit the water regardless of what's going on around you. They're learning to control their lane."
Glenn Van Staalduine (24.47) won the 50 free and Nate Menuey (54.37) the 100 free.
Van Staalduine (54.92) was second in the 100 and Menuey (24.57) the runner-up in the 50.
"Technically they did a lot of things better," Loupee said of the pair, "so that's an encouraging thing to see."
John Mahlstede took gold in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1 minute, 2.24 seconds.
"John Mahlstede's backstroke looks better and better every time," said Loupee. "His times remain the same, but technically he's doing a lot of things better."
Raymond Dulaney also captured a blue ribbon with his time of 1:09.81 in the 100 breaststroke.
Dulaney teamed with Mahlstede, Blair Van Staalduine and Glenn Van Staalduine (1:50.14) to place first in the 200 medley and with Dilger, Menuey and Glenn Van Staalduine in the 200 free relay (1:40.59) for another first-place showing.
The quartet of Hunter Barnard, Carter, Menuey and Blair Van Staalduine touched the wall first in 3:52.07 in the 400 freestyle relay.
Loupee is now 100-49 in dual meets since taking over the MHS program in 1996.
Thursday night's milestone came with his twin infant sons, Nathan and Jacob, in a playpen and wife Rachel on the pool deck.
Family has become a big part of the MHS swim program.
"The best reflection I've got and the thing I probably find the most gratifying thing is over the years, these guys have invited my wife Rachel and I to their weddings," said Loupee. "Number one, they want Coach to be a part of that and number two, you always see at least two of their Bobcat high school swimming teammates standing up with them on the most important day of their young lives."
"I've been extremely fortunate and blessed to work with the kids I've had here in Marshalltown and that's the families as well," he added. "It's been just a great, supportive group of people through the years. That's very gratifying."
"Something that we've been able to create here carries with these kids for a lifetime," he continued.
"That's very special to me."