Marshalltown boys swimming brings some familiar faces back to the pool this winter.

All five of last year’s Bobcat state qualifiers are back in the water as MHS hopes to wield that experience to great success for the 2024-25 campaign.

Four of those five returning qualifiers are part of an experienced, eight-deep senior class, including multi-time state qualifiers Lincoln Barker, Charlie Gilbertson, Sam Greazel and Michael Lechnir. Hayden Daters was a state alternate last season as a junior.

“They’re a good bunch of kids,” MHS head coach Mike Loupee said of his seniors. “They’ve been through the program now and are hard-working, good, positive leaders. We’re excited to see how some of these guys go through this last hurrah, and we’re hoping for some big things to see them finish their careers with some strong success.”

Lechnir, Greazel, Gilbertson and Barker were 19th at state last season in the 200 medley relay; Lechnir, Gilbertson and Barker were also joined by now-junior Kade Randall at last year’s state meet in the 400 freestyle relay, placing 21st in Iowa City.

While the pieces are all there for the relays, there may be some reorganizing in order, especially for the 200 medley relay where Barker anchored the race.

“He’d anchor that and then crawl out of the water just to go back in for the 200 freestyle,” Loupee said. “That didn’t serve him well for state-qualifying — anytime you ask a swimmer to swim back-to-back at that level of competition, that’s asking a lot. In a perfect world we’d have Lechnir anchor that medley instead of swimming backstroke leading it off — we’re looking at a couple possibilities to see if we can insert a backstroke for there. We’ll look for that relay to be competitive.”

There’s plenty of competition for the 4×1 relay as well, and Loupee wants to see MHS return to form in the 200 free relay as well.

“That was not as strong as it has been in years past, and we didn’t qualify that last year,” Loupee said. “A goal of ours is to find four guys that are quick enough to see if we can qualify that as well. … I think Kade Randall is ready to take a big step forward on the state stage as well.”

Gilbertson was an individual qualifier in the 100-yard butterfly, Barker in the 500 freestyle and Greazel in the 100 breaststroke. None of the trio were able to climb out of the prelims — Greazel had the best finish in 26th for Friday’s preliminary round of the breaststroke.

“They certainly expect a return, and they don’t just want to show up — they want to score,” Loupee said. “They want to improve their state finishes from last year.”

Loupee will also be having an eye on an incoming freshman class with a mixture of experience levels. Joe Greazel and Thomas Stanley will be making their Bobcat debuts after finding success as part of the Blue Wave swim team at the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA; but the other freshman are part of a group of eight swimmers that are new to competitive swimming.

“To not have that experience and then jump in this pool is a real eye opener,” Loupee said. “But I and coach [Ray] Dulaney have been unduly impressed with their willingness to work and to be coached. I should have filmed them from day one, because to see them even two weeks later, the difference is phenomenal already. We’re excited to see how far they’ll come in their first year.”

Bobcat fans wanting to see the team in action at home will have limited opportunities, as MHS has just four total home meets on their schedule this season.

After a home opener with Ames to kick off the season on Nov. 26 and the Bobcat Relays almost two weeks later on Dec. 14, the boys won’t be back in the home pool competing again until Jan. 9, 2025 against Des Moines Lincoln — the final home meet will be Jan. 23 against Ottumwa.

“Our goal is to only lose one dual meet this year, and that’s a lofty goal as we’ll have a couple that are going to be very close,” Loupee said. “But I think we’ve got a lot of reasonable, attainable goals, and it’s not going to happen without a lot of hard work.”

MHS BOYS SWIMMING

Tuesday, Nov. 26 AMES, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 5 at Des Moines Roosevelt, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 7 at Boone Toreador Relays, 10 a.m.

Saturday, Dec. 14 BOBCAT INVITE, Noon

Thursday, Dec. 19 at Fort Dodge, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 2 at Newton, 5:30 p.m. Newton YMCA

Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Mason City, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 9 DES MOINES LINCOLN, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 16 at Des Moines East, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 23 OTTUMWA, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 25 at Iowa Alliance Conference, Noon Mason City HS

Tuesday, Jan. 28 at Indianola, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 8 State Qualifying Meet, TBD

Friday, Feb. 14 State Meet

Saturday, Feb. 15 Stat Meet University of Iowa