T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - The Marshalltown girls’ swimming and diving team will compete in seven events at this weekend’s state meet at the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA. Pictured are: front row (from left) Libby Meyer, Emma Case, Kate Hauser and Adele Beek; back row: Maisie Gummert, Rachel Case, Leia Hernandez and Drea Ceren.

The future of Marshalltown girls swimming will be on display at this weekend’s state meet.

The Bobcats will compete in six events for Friday’s individual preliminaries and Saturday’s finals at the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA, with no seniors among the qualified swimming entries — senior Kate Hauser will compete for a state diving title on Friday night.

“It’s been a fantastic season,” MHS head coach Angie Nelson said. “We had a small team this year, but my goodness, were they able to accomplish some big things. … And they’ll have their whole community cheering them on, all eyes will be on them.”

Hauser, making her third appearance in state diving, enters with the potential of reaching the podium after winning a regional title in Waukee last week.

She scored a 421.95 in the qualifying meet, which has her seeded 10th amongst regional performances. Her best mark this season was a 454.70, which currently ranks fifth in the state, and Nelson said that’s around where Hauser will be striving to reach on Friday.

“We just want her to have a really solid 11 dives, where she’s fantastic across the board,” Nelson said. “We’re looking forward to a great meet for Kate.”

Hauser said she typically performs better when she’s not worrying about scores.

“I’m more focused on how it felt to me, focus on improvements in what I’m doing,” Hauser said. “Some of my best dives at regionals were my reverses, my reverse pike, reverse one and a half, and also my front two and a half where I scored almost 49 points, which was huge for me.”

Camryn Russell of Grinnell is the state leader with a 520.25 earlier this year; Iowa City West’s Kamila Swanson had the top regional score with a 494.20.

Hauser was 26th as a sophomore at state diving, and placed 19th as a junior.

“I want to do solid on every dive and just have confidence in myself,” Hauser said. “And it’s really exciting to have so many girls practicing with me, getting ready for state.”

On the swimming side, it’s a small, but mighty group — five of the seven swimming qualifiers qualified in at least two events, with three underclassmen qualifying in three events.

Emma Case, a freshman, will compete in Friday’s 100 butterfly preliminaries and race as part of the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays in Saturday’s finals.

“I didn’t expect to go to state, but getting there just brings our team closer together,” Case said. “I’m looking forward to getting better times, and just having more fun with the swim team and all the girls on the team.”

Emma and older sister Rachel add a little extra bond to a young Bobcat team that has had a lot of fun together this season.

“I’m proud of my sister,” Rachel Case said. “Making it in her first year is great, because she’ll get that experience and know what to expect when she makes it again next year.

“All of the freshmen definitely came in with a very cheery attitude that just brought some pep and fun to our meets.”

Emma and Rachel will compete together on opposite ends of the 200 medley relay, joined by Adele Beek and Maisie Gummert. The quartet is seeded 28th with a time of 1:58.15 at regionals.

“We’ve had all four Cases on the swimming program here, and they’re just a phenomenal family,” Nelson said. “Having them both make it is just another good indicator of how hard they work.

“There’s a couple [200 medley] teams up there that we’ve already beaten this year, so I’d like to see if we can’t improve a couple places there.”

When it comes down to competition in the swimming pool on Friday and Saturday, Nelson said the name of the game is moving up.

There’s plenty of room to improve — none of the six events qualified are seeded higher than 23rd and Emma Case and Adele Beek are seeded 32nd out of 32 entries in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, respectively.

“Whether it’s one place or 15 places, let’s see what happens,” Nelson said. “We’re making it a goal of moving up.”

Leia Hernandez was a fraction of a second away from reaching the second of the four preliminary heats on Friday in the 50 freestyle, seeded 25th in 25.19.

“She’ll be able to gun it out and hopefully she can stay out in front in that heat and see if we can’t squeak out a couple more places from that next heat.”

Beek will also be in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.

“She’s going to be fired up,” Nelson said. “She went from a high 1:12 to a 1:10 to make that last spot in the breaststroke, she really blossomed, and I’m excited to see what she can do.”

The 200 freestyle quartet will include Hernandez, Libby Meyer, Beek and Rachel Case. Nelson hopes to see a little bit more in the tank from the group that qualified 23rd in 1:43.93.

“Libby really carried that relay in the regional meet with her first 26-second split ever, and I think we even left a little bit on the table,” Nelson said.

Rachel Case added, “We want to get into that top 16 to score some points.”

The 400 freestyle relay consists of Gummert, Drea Ceren, Emma Case and Hernandez, seeded 26th in 3:51.86.

“I really want to get a 58 or under,” Gummert said. “I think we all just want to drop as much time as possible. This season has just been a lot of fun, I feel like we’re all a lot closer to each other, and it’s just been a really great season.”

Friday’s preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. The top 16 placers will compete again in Saturday’s finals along with the relay races, which starts at noon. State diving will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, with all events taking place in the Linda Bloom Natatorium at the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA.