Another YMCA swim season closed in Marshalltown over the weekend. Twenty-nine members of the Washington Watersharks Swim team competed last Saturday and Sunday in the 2017 YMCA State Swim Meet at the Linda Bloom Swim Natatorium. The Watersharks finished the year with multiple top five performances, including three championships in the boys 15-21 division.

Ben Berhow placed first in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:00.09. He won the event by a full three seconds. Berhow was a member of two state championship relay teams as well. The group of Noah Bruns, Berhow, Nic Rath, and Michael Kimball placed first in the 200 medley and 200 free relays. Their medley was clocked at 1:44.69, besting the 14-team field by less than four-tenths of a second. The free relay was timed at 1:32.56, topping the field by less than half a second.

Berhow and Bruns both placed in the top five of the boys 15-21 50 meter free. Berhow finished fourth overall at 22.56 seconds. Bruns finished one second behind Berhow for fifth place. Bruns took bronze in the boys 15-21 100 and 200 free. His 100 was clocked at 50.47 seconds and his 200 time was 1:54.47. Berhow placed fifth in the 100 free event with a time of 50.83 seconds.

In the boys 9-10 100 meter breaststroke, Brennan Westphal finished second overall with a time of 1:31.15. He finished 11 seconds out of first place. Westphal also placed fifth overall in the 50 breast at 42 seconds.

Alijah Beatty was the only female Watersharks swimmer to place in the top five at state. Her girls 12-21 200 fly time of 2:53.41 was the fifth best result.

The 2017 YMCA State Swim Meet featured over 900 swimmers from across Iowa. The state meet was broken down into three divisions based on the number of qualifying entries. The Watersharks were in Division III and placed third out of 19 teams.