Members of the Sidney Marching Band pose for a picture after a Class 1A championship Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Southwest Iowa Band Jamboree in Clarinda.
Members of the Sidney Marching Band pose for a picture after a Class 1A championship Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Southwest Iowa Band Jamboree in Clarinda.
Shenandoah senior Ali Hansen (left) and junior Lyla Mather (right) show off their state tournament medals after competing Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the Class 1A Individual State Tournament in Waukee.
Shenandoah senior Ali Hansen (left) and junior Lyla Mather (right) show off their state tournament medals after competing Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the Class 1A Individual State Tournament in Waukee.
Two Clarinda High School juniors have spent the fall sports season competing on Lewis Central’s swim team.
Ellie Carter and Bailey Neal have been members of Clarinda’s Red Tide Swim Club for several years and wanted to continue to pursue the sport in high school. To do that, the pair makes the trip from Clarinda to Council Bluffs twice weekly for practice, plus traveling to meets, which includes road trips to the Des Moines metro and Sioux City.
This is the second year both have been part of the Lewis Central team, and they are enjoying it quite a bit again this season.
Clarinda juniors Ellie Carter (left) and Bailey Neal (right) enjoy their time on the Lewis Central Swim Team.
“Our coaches have helped me with technique and speed,” Carter said. “Our workouts are very hard, though, which was a big jump from our club team workouts. It’s about a 2,000-meter difference. It was difficult moving from club workouts to high school workouts, but it’s been great and so worth it.”
Bruce Schomburg is the head coach of the Titans with Wendee Brown and Hannah Steinmetz serving as assistants. Schomburg said having Neal and Carter in the program has been huge.
“We have a very small program, and they have done a lot for us,” Schomburg said. “They have improved tremendously since they have been with me for the last couple years, giving them help with their strokes. We know that they can only get here a few days a week, but we send them practices to do at Clarinda and they have improved a lot.”
Clarinda isn’t the only school that is part of the Lewis Central swim team, as the Titans welcome athletes from Abraham Lincoln, Treynor and Glenwood as well to make up a roster that is about 15 athletes deep.
“It’s really nice with all of those different schools and all of those different experiences,” Neal said. “It’s kind of weird swimming for them in a way,” Neal said, “because you’re having conversations with these girls and their high school experience is so much different than ours in Clarinda. It’s hard for those big schools to give attention to each and every one of their students and student athletes and I think we do a really good job here in Clarinda giving that attention.”
Neal and Carter practice six days a week, although four of those take place at their home pool, inside Clarinda’s Lied Center. The other two days they make the 70-plus mile one-way trip from Clarinda to Council Bluffs to practice with their teammates.
“We’ll leave around 1:30 and drive all the way up there,” Neal said, “and then we’ll do about 4,000 to 4,500 yards of work there and then drive back home, getting home around 7.”
Neal said swimming practice is just like most other sports, starting with some stretching and a warm-up period before drill work.
“Drills are about slowing things down,” Neal said, “you’re focusing on where you’re pulling the water at and how you’re kicking, and then we get into our workout.”
Neal said while some swim teams separate athletes into more of a specific workout, depending on their events, Schomburg prefers to group them all together.
Carter said most everything in practice is timed and she appreciates that even if you’re not able to make the time, something she regularly wasn’t able to do last year, but has improved quite a bit this season, that Schomburg and the staff work with you to make sure you’re getting the work in.
“I always encourage people to go out for swimming,” Carter said. “It’s kind of hard if you’re jumping in as a freshman or sophomore but if you can’t make time, he’ll modify things so you can do the whole workout. That’s great because not everybody can keep up.”
Neal said she’s been swimming since she can remember and has continued each year from Red Tide through junior high, to competing for Atlantic as a freshman to these last two years at Lewis Central. Carter and family moved from Missouri in 2019 and said she didn’t really start swimming until 2020 but fell in love with it quickly.
“I went to swim team the following year and it was a big jump for me,” Carter said. “I had never been in sports before, and it was about building new friends. I met Bailey and it was easy to connect with more friends. I also work with the younger kids now in coaching (at Red Tide) and get to work there. I have met some of my lifelong friends through swimming and it’s been great.”
Alexa Connell leads the Red Tide Swim Club, and Carter and Neal said having Connell leading the way throughout their swim careers has been outstanding.
When not in the pool, Carter and Neal are busy elsewhere.
Carter was part of the Clarinda FFA’s state-winning parliamentary procedure team that will compete in nationals in August. Neal is an officer for Clarinda’s FCCLA chapter and was a national qualifier there. She’s the president of Clarinda’s Activities Council and is a distance runner on the track team. Both are taking multiple college classes and Neal also holds two jobs.
In the pool, a lot of the meet schedule takes place on Saturdays with duals and three-team events but some multi-team tournaments as well. They agreed that the smaller events, like the Mickey Olsen Invite in Sioux City, which took place Saturday, Oct. 3, and had the Titans matched up with Sioux City West and Spencer, can mean multiple events in a short amount of time.
“My first event was the 200 freestyle, which is fine,” Carter said looking back at Saturday’s meet. “It was at the beginning but then my other three events were back-to-back-to-back. So, I would get out and go to my lane and it’s crazy.”
Meets can be difficult and exhausting, said Neal, who said she put up a good time in the 500 freestyle in Sioux City and then had to go right from that distance event to a relay. Both agreed, though, that meets are an enjoyable experience and they are so happy to be part of the team, which is having a good season, according to Schomburg.
"We have had quite a few meets already and all the girls have been very competitive,” Schomburg said. “They have been swimming different events and improving.”
The two Cardinal/Titans are looking forward to a strong finish to their junior season in the pool at Lewis Central and while neither expects to compete in the sport at the next level, both plan on much more time in the pool.
“It’s a good workout,” Carter said, “and I think in college, I would definitely swim for workouts. I enjoy swimming and like the friendships I have made. It’s a great workout and works every part of your body.”
Neal adds swimming has to be one of the harder sports, but it’s non-contact and a good workout without a lot of wear and tear on the body.
Neal, Carter and their Titan teammates host an invitational and a dual Oct. 24 and 27, before the state qualifying meet Saturday, Nov. 7.
