By Becky Walz,
Isaac Knaack finished with four gold medals Friday for the Vikes, including the 200 medley relay, the 100 free, 100 back and the 200 free relay. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)
The lanes were full Friday night at the Luther College pool as the Decorah boys’ swim team hosted its only home meet of the year.
Competing with the Vikes were Vinton-Shellsburg, Waterloo, Grinnell and Mason City with Decorah taking the top spot with 228 points.
Decorah won all three relays and claimed seven individual golds.
The meet started with the 200 medley relay. Isaac Knaack, Mason Cote, Simon Kutz and Dylan Hogan touched the wall first, in 1:45.24, six seconds ahead of second place.
Dom Bigalk paced the 200-yard freestyle field to win gold in 2:00.39, nearly 14 seconds ahead of teammate Will Robinson. Bigalk also won the 500-yard freestyle, posting a winning time of 5:28.25.
Kutz won back-to-back golds in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. In the 50-yard freestyle, Decorah actually swept the top three spots, with Kutz winning in 23.65 seconds, just ahead of Hogan and Cote. Kutz then finished the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.95.
Then it was Knaack’s turn to win a pair of individual golds. The senior claimed the title in the 100-yard freestyle in 50.69 seconds, then the 100-yard backstroke in 56.02 seconds.
Cote was the final individual gold medalist of the night, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:06.42.
Knaack, Hogan, Bigalk and Kutz teamed up in the 200-yard freestyle relay to win in 1:35.05, with the night capping off with the 400-freestyle gold. Members of that winning team were Bigalk, Hogan, Ian Giddings and Cote in 3:39.23.
“It was a great night for our team as we honored our seven seniors and swam extremely well as a team,” said Coach Loran Storts. “Highlighting the evening was 10 first-place efforts, with most of the team swimming season-best efforts. Next up…lots of swimming and a little breather from competition until after the holidays.”
The Vikes are off until Tuesday, Jan. 4, when they are at Vinton-Shellsburg at 4:30 p.m.
Team scores
1. Decorah 228; 2. Vinton-Shellsburg 86; 3. Waterloo 72; 4. Grinnell 71; 5. Mason City 60
Varsity race results
200 medley relay – 1. Isaac Knaack, Mason Cote, Simon Kutz, Dylan Hogan, 1:45.24; 3. Ethan Casper, Reid Kuehner, Nat Roberts, Ian Giddings, 1:58.11
200 free – 1. Dom Bigalk 2:00.39; 2. Will Robinson 2:14.02; 3. Tommy Hammel 2:17.94
200 IM – 2. Kuehner 2:22.62; 4. Max Grimstad 2:27.51; 6. Roberts 2:34.76
50 free – 1. Kutz 23.65; 2. Hogan 23.91; 3. Cote 24.08
100 fly – 1. Kutz 1:00.95; 5. Roberts 1:06.58
100 free – 1. Knaack 50.69; 5. Giddings 56.41; 7. Hammel 1:01.11
500 free – 1. Bigalk 5:28.25; 3. Grimstad 6:08.28; 6. Keaton Vobr 6:46.17
200 free relay – 1. Knaack, Hogan, Bigalk, Kutz, 1:35.05; 4. Giddings, Robinson, Oliver Bollinger, Kuehner, 1:43.34
100 back – 1. Knaack 56.02; 4. Landyn Hook, 1:14.72; 6. Casper 1:18.78
100 breast – 1. Cote 1:06.42; 4. Kuehner 1:10.99; 5. Robinson 1:12.68
400 free relay – 1. Bigalk, Hogan, Giddings, Cote, 3:39.23; 3. Grimstad, Roberts, Hammel, Vobr, 4:06.17
Submit A Comment
Fill out the form to submit a comment. All comments require approval by our staff before it is displayed on the website.