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RECORD DAY

Seniors Cole Davis and Mitchell Emery made sure their last meet in the Fort Dodge pool would be a memorable one, as the duo helped guide the Dodgers to a runner-up finish in Saturday’s district meet.

Davis and Emery each won two individual events and were part of the Dodgers’ lone relay to capture a district championship.

Fort Dodge finished second to Sioux City in the final standings with 366 points. The Spartans finished with 398. Cedar Falls was third in the eight-team field with 320.

The day was especially gratifying for Emery, who lowered his recently-set school record in the 100 butterfly, clocking 51.01 Saturday. He also won the 50 freestyle in 21.96.

Emery broke Rob Leigh’s mark in last week’s CIC Iowa Division meet, swimming 51.58 to win the butterfly.

“It’s such a sense of accomplishment to beat it last week then do it again,” said Emery. “I am so proud of my teammates. We have been working hard to get our times to where they are.

“I just felt like this is my last shot. I had nothing to lose, so I had to give it my all.”

For his efforts, Emery was named district swimmer of the year.

The Sioux City coaches were named coaching staff of the year. Former Dodger state qualifier Nick McBride is an assistant at Sioux City. Eric Hoak is the Spartans’ head coach. It was the first ever district crown won by a Sioux City program.

Davis clocked 2:01.76 to win the 200 individual medley for the Dodgers — a drop of more than three seconds. He also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.03, a drop of more than two seconds.

Davis and Emery both swam legs on the Dodgers’ 400 freestyle relay that won in 3:14.96 to set a new school record. Junior Landon Getting and sophomore Cole Pearson filled the other two legs.

Fort Dodge qualified nine total events for state, including seven individuals and two relays.

Emery will go to state with the fastest qualifying time in the butterfly, and he’s 7th in the 50.

Davis advanced in the two events he won, while Pearson qualified in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke and Andrew Fierke advanced in the 500 freestyle.

Fort Dodge also qualified for state in the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

“It was an incredible day,” said FDSH head coach Joel Greathouse. “I don’t know what to say. I’m just so happy for everything we got in. We dropped time in everything.

“The kids put in the work and it paid off.”

Fort Dodge earned four runner-up finishes. Pearson clocked 1:46.63 in the 200 freestyle and 55.01 in the 100 backstroke; Fierke swam 4:51.49 in the 500 freestyle and the Dodgers were second in the 200 free relay in 1:28.52 with Emery, Trent Woodhouse, Getting and Pearson swimming.

Fierke added a third in the 200 free (1:48.67); Woodhouse was third in the 100 butterfly (55.92); and the Dodgers’ 200 medley relay was third (1:43.36) with Davis, Eli Asay, Woodhouse and Shane Greve. The Dodgers dropped nearly four seconds off their seed time.

All three of those events just missed the state cutoff.

“Next week, we just have to get in there and go,” said Greathouse.

“Mitch definitely has a chance to be a state champion. I think he’s still got more time to drop.”

Sioux City won three events, including two relays. The Spartans captured the 200 medley in 1:39.80 and the 200 free relay in school-record time of 1:27.43. Sioux City’s lone individual win came from William Rankin in the 100 (48.60).

The Spartans leaned on their depth to capture team gold. They had three of the top four finishers in the 50 free, two of the top five in the butterfly, the top two in the 100 free and a pair of top-four finishes in both the backstroke and breaststroke.

Sioux City, Fort Dodge and Cedar Falls were the only schools to win events Saturday. The Tigers got first-place finishes from freshman Dylan Moffatt in the 200 (1:441.01) and 500 (4:38.06) freestyle and junior Sam Reinart in the backstroke (54.92).

Saturday’s state meet will start at 12:30 p.m. inside the Marshalltown YMCA.

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