DES MOINES — In its final meet before the postseason, the Ottumwa boys swimming team put together one of its best efforts of the season. The Bulldogs took home several medals, including a pair of golds for winning races, while gaining 257 points to finish second at the CIML Metro Conference meet as Des Moines East.

Des Moines Roosevelt took home the Metro crown, scoring 379 points. Ottumwa head boys swimming coach Bruce Trapp was more than happy to finish in the runner-up position with several underclassmen leading the way.

“Our sophomores, our freshmen, they’re swimming hard and they’re swimming good,” Trapp said. “Taking second is better than we’ve done all season. We are as thrilled as any team in taking second.”

The Bulldogs picked up a relay win behind the joint effort of Adam Mueller, Seth VanderHorst, Nick Shepperd and Travis Schombert kicking off the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay. VanderHorst and Schombert then pushed each other to a 1-2 finish in the 50 freestyle with VanderHorst holding off Schombert by .05 seconds with a time of 23.33.

Overall, several different Bulldog swimmers led the way to collecting 13 total top-six finishes in the conference meet.

“The great thing about this was that it looks like we don’t have B and C swimmers anymore,” Trapp said. “We’ve only got B swimmers who are coming on pretty strong.”

Swimming at their best is exactly what Ottumwa will hope to continue next week as the Bulldogs seek to earn spots at the state meet in Marshalltown. To do that, Ottumwa will compete in one of the six district meets scheduled for next Saturday at the Bulldogs will swim at Southeast Polk.

“Next week, we’ve got districts at the brand new pool at Southeast Polk,” Trapp said. “We should be in pretty good shape for that.”

CIML Metro Conference Boys Swimming Meet

1/29/11

Team Scores — 1. Des Moines Roosevelt 379, 2. Ottumwa 257, 3. Des Moines Lincoln 221, 4. Des Moines East 164, 5. Des Moines Hoover/North 95.

Results

200 Medley Relay — 1. Ottumwa (Adam Mueller, Seth VanderHorst, Nick Shepperd, Travis Schombert) 1:48.16.

200 Freestyle — 1. Ross Turner (DMR) 1:50.84, 4. Tim Micheals (O) 2:05.35, 7. Nick Brcka (O) 2:09.33.

200 Individual Medley — 1. Max Ward (DMR) 2:05.19, 5. Mueller (O) 2:26.75, 6. Riley Hammel (O) 2:30.5, 10. Caleb Copple (O) 2:36.24.

50 Freestyle — 1. VanderHorst (O) 23.33, 2. Schombert (O) 23.38, 6. Max Zimmerman (O) 26.6.

100 Butterfly — 1. Ward (DMR) 55.11, 3. Schombert (O) 1:00.09, 5. Shepperd (O) 1:01.48, 8. Hammel (O) 1:07.34.

100 Freestyle — 1. Sam Stephens (DMR) 52.15, 2. Micheals (O) 53.51, 6. Zimmerman (O) 55.06, 12. Grant Gillion (O) 1:01.82

500 Freestyle — 1. Brady Edwards (DML) 5:28.09, 7. Micheal Etnyre (O) 5:52.56, 9. Brcka (O) 6:13.6.

200 Free Relay — 1. Des Moines Roosevelt (Stephens, William Day, Max Ward, Turner) 1:32.4, 2. Ottumwa (Schombert, Zimmerman, Micheals, VanderHorst) 1:34.98.

100 Backstroke — 1. Turner (DMR) 58.58, 7. Mueller (O) 1:09.01, 8. Copple (O) 1:10.99, 11. Micheal Wagner (O) 1:18.6.

100 Breaststroke — 1. Lewis Arais (DML) 1:04.86, 2. VanderHorst (O) 1:07.17, 7. Shepperd (O) 1:12.84, 11. Etnyre (O) 1:16.96.

400 Free Relay — 1. Des Moines Roosevelt (Stephens, Wesley Clark, Ward, Turner) 3:26.04, 3. Ottumwa (Zimmerman, Shepperd, Brcka, Micheals) 3:46.46.