That might not have been enough to catch Ames in Tuesday’s dual at the MHS pool, but it’s a sign of good things to come for the Bobcats.

The Little Cyclones claimed the dual, 96-74.

“They’ve got some top-end swimmers that are elite caliber,” Loupee said. “But I thought for our first meet, only two weeks of practice, our boys competed very well, and I’m seeing some really good starting times.”

The Bobcats won two events — Lincoln Barker claimed individual gold in the 100 freestyle in 53 seconds flat and Landon Stanley, Sam Greazel, Charlie Gilbertson and Hayden Daters won the 200 medley relay in 1:52.19.

“Sam was under 30 seconds in his breaststroke split and last year it took him until the third or fourth meet to break 30 last year,” Loupee said. “Charlie might have been a hair slower today on the fly than what he did at the state meet last year, and Landon led that off with a 30 which was two seconds better than he did at time trials on Saturday.

“Aaron Hunter had three lifetime bests, Parker Christen had three lifetime bests, so our younger and developing guys are even coming in better than they’ve ever been.”

Gilbertson added a couple of second-place times in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke; Greazel scored silver in the 100 breaststroke.

The 200 freestyle relay of Jacob Seberger, Hayden Daters, Barker and Kade Randall clocked in at 1:42.12 for runner-up and Randall, Gilbertson, Barker and Greazel closed out the meet with a second-place clocking in the 400 free relay in 3:38.72.

“The 200 free relay, I was hoping we’d be closer to 1:40,” Loupee said. “But Randall’s anchoring that four minutes after he swam the 500 freestyle, so we’ve got some guys to move around and check some splits to get to a pecking order. … 400 free I was hoping we’d be under 3:40 because our first relay last year was around 3:43, 3:44, and everybody just about to the man was a second faster. And that’s with pulling Greazel out from the breaststroke into that anchor, not a lot of recovery time when we don’t have that conditioning under our belt. Those splits are going to come down as we get some more conditioning, but it’s a good starting point.”

Marshalltown travels to Des Moines Roosevelt next Thursday.

“I’m pleased,” Loupee said. “For our first meet, I thought we were very solid.”

Ames 96, Marshalltown 74

EVENT RESULTS

(Champions plus MHS placewinners)

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. MHS (L. Stanley, S. Greazel, Gilbertson, Daters) 1:52.19; 3. MHS (Hunter, J. Greazel, T. Stanley, Stupp) 2:05.77.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Chris Fisher, AMES, 1:47.07; 3. Lincoln Barker, 1:56.96; 4. Kade Randall, 2:02.96; 5. Parker Christen, 2:17.93.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Ryan Fisher, AMES, 2:09.54; 3. Sam Greazel, 2:18.63; 4. Jacob Seberger, 2:24.83; 5. Isaac Seberger, 2:29.24.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Kenan Taintor, AMES, 24.11; 3. Joe Greazel, 26.39; 4. Hayden Daters, 27.28; 5. Zander Stupp, 27.85.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. C. Fisher, AMES, 53.90; 2. Charlie Gilbertson, 55.69; 4. I. Seberger, 1:05.72.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Barker, MHS, 53.00; 4. Landon Stanley, 58.48; 5. Daters, 1:03.41.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Evan McCorkle, AMES, 5:07.56; 3. Randall, 5:51.03; 4. Aaron Hunter, 6:11.40; 5. Thomas Stanley, 6:17.49.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Ames (C, Fisher, Terry, Taintor, Fowler), 1:35.18; 2. MHS (J. Seberger, Daters, Barker, Randall), 1:42.12.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. R. Fisher, AMES, 57.80; 2. Gilbertson, 1:02.11; 4. Hunter, 1:10.58; 5. L. Stanley, 1:11.28.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Terry, AMES, 1:07.13; 2. S. Greazel, 1:08.19; 3. J. Seberger, 1:10.50; 5. Christen, 1:16.87.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Ames (McCorkle, Fowler, R. Fisher, C. Fisher), 3:28.26; 2. MHS (Randall, Gilbertson, Barker, S. Greazel), 3:38.72; 3. MHS (I. Seberger, J. Greazel, Christen, J. Seberger), 4:01.80.