Marler blitzes field

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John M. Steiner / The Sun Landon Ostlie was one of five swimmers to earn all-state honors in the backstroke Saturday at the Blue Jay Invite.

Talk about it

Willy Marler left no doubt who the fastest swimmer in North Dakota is on Saturday.

The Jamestown High School standout won the 50 and 100 freestyles at the Blue Jay Invite on Saturday, featuring every team in the state.

The Blue Jays finished seventh overall with 188 points. Minot easily won the team title with a score of 445.

Marler had the only two wins on the day for the Jays.

His times of 22.31 in the 50 and 49.08 in the 100 are the two fastest times in the state this season.

“I thought I swam good on Friday and I wanted to carry that over to Saturday when all the teams in the state were here,” Marler said. “I was hoping to win them both and I was able to come through.”

Considering the short distance, neither race was particularly close.

Minot’s Matt Schmike was second in the 50, but over a second back at 23.34.

West Fargo’s Jake Weible was second in the 100 in at time of 49.73.

“I was looking at it like a good test with all the teams in the state there, so to swim well was definitely a good thing,” Marler said.

The Blue Jays’ other star — Landon Ostlie — also had a good day.

The power-packed backstroke was one of the meet’s best races as the top three finishers each beat the all-state first team time of 57.82. Ostlie came just short of that, touching in 57.99 to place fourth. Fifth-place finisher Brandon Hamel (58.06) and Ostlie both qualified for second-team all state, although both had already done that this season.

Ostlie finished second in the 200 IM to North’s Obi Obembe in a tight finish, 2:04.70 to 2:04.99.

Chasen Miller held his own in the 200 and 500 freestyles against the state’s top distance swimmers.

The JHS junior was third in the 500 (5:14.69) and fifth in the 200 (1:57.27).

Miller, Philip Mangin, Ostlie and Marler combined for the Jays’ best result in the relays, touching third in the 400 free in 3:30.68. With Dave Reimers replacing Mangin, the same group was fifth in the 200 free relay (1:35.60).

Individually, Mangin was 11th in the 500 (5:37.35) and 13th in the 200 (2:01.02).

In the 100 fly, Logan Rasmussen (1:03.53) and Michael Syverson (1:04.75) were ninth and 11th, respectively.

Reimers was 15th in the 200 IM (2:23.65). The top 16 place at the state meet.

The Blue Jays head to Grand Forks on Saturday for the UND Invite.

Blue Jay Invite

Team results

Minot 445, West Fargo 351, Fargo North 276, Fargo South 251, Mandan 239, Williston 231, Jamestown 188, Bismarck Century 128, Bismarck 120, Grand Forks 96.

Individual results (Top 8)

1, Minot (Kalvin Brown, Brandon Hamel, Joe Burns, Matt Schimke), 1:42.58; 2, WF, 1:43.13; 3, Williston, 1:47.43; 4, South, 1:47.64; 5, Mandan, 1:47.94; 6, North, 1:48.94; 7, Bismarck, 1:51.80; 7, Century, 1:51.80; 8, Century, 1:53.24.

200 freestyle: 1, Dylan Sether, Century, 1:53.00; 2, Daniel Hulbert, WF, 1:53.23; 3, Adam Smestad, WF, 1:563.87; 4, Owen Kusick, Minot, 1:54.06; 5, Jake Reopelle, South, 1:54.82; 66, Chasen Miller, 1:57.27; 7, Steve Cox, Minot, 1:57.78; 8, Sam Ellison, Mandan, 1:58.25.

200 individual medley: 1, Obi Obembe, North, 2:04.70; 2, Landon Ostlie, JHS, 2:04.99; 3, Zdenek Skalicky, Minot, 2:10.66; 4, Ethan Doll, WF, 2:12.85; 5, Isaac Loegering, GF, 2:12.97; 6, Austin Keller, WF, 2:14.01; 7, Nathan Pepple, Williston, 2:15.23; 8, Lee Keller, Minot, 2:16.16.

50 freestyle: 1, Willy Marler, JHS, 22.31 (AS2); 2, Schimke, WF, 23.34; 3, Jared Sykora, WF, 23.41; 4, Elliott Radebaugh, North, 23.54; 5, Joey Rasmus, South, 23.58; 6, Jordan Hahn, Williston, 23.59; 7, Blake Wiedmann, North, 23.60; 8, Brandon Hamel, Minot, 23.72.

Diving: 1, Jordan Barth, Mandan, 439.20; 2, Andrew Wangler, BHS, 385.15; 3, Jordan Laske, Mandan, 330.45; 4, Jayden Azure, Minot, 311.20; 5, Joe Haaland, Mandan, 303.15; 6, Nathan Donnelly, Williston, 282.15; 7, Josh Helbstad, Mandan, 280.90; 8, Zach Johnson, Minot, 269.95.

100 butterfly: 1, Joe Burns, Minot, 54.65 (AS1); 2, Keller, WF, 57.34; 3, Rasmus, South, 57.63; 4, Sykora, WF, 57.74; 5, Pepple, Williston, 58.03; 6, David Stockdill, Mandan, 1:00.72; 7, Kusick, Minot, 1:00.85; 8, Sean Rider, North, 1:01.56.

100 freestyle: 1, Marler, JHS, 49.08 (AS2); 2, Jake Weible, WF, 49.73 (AS2); 3, Reopelle, South, 51.11; 4, Alex Lucy, Minot, 51.62; 5, Ian Ballantyne, BHS, 52.27; 6, Bolinske, Williston, 52.79; 7, Matt Nilson, Minot, 53.33; 8, Matt Stiner, South, 53.62.

500 freestyle: 1, Dylan Sether, Century, 5:07.83 (AS2); 2, Ethan Doll, WF, 5:09.27; 3, Miller, JHS, 5:14.69; 4, Matt Wenzel, North, 5:25.52; 5, Gabe Ellison, Mandan, 5:25.94; 6, Steven Cox, Minot, 5:26.96; 7, Shane Fisher, North, 5:28.45; 8, Cale Schafer, Mandan, 5:29.10.

200 free relay: 1, South (Pat Duncan, Reopelle, Michael Duncan, Rasmus), 1:33.29; 2, Minot, 1:34.95; 3, Williston, 1:35.15; 4, North, 1:35.31; 5, JHS (Miller, Reimers, Ostlie, Marler), 1:35.60; 6, Mandan, 1:36.97; 7, WF, 1:37.01; 8, Bismarck, 1:38.99.

100 backstroke: 1, Weible, WF, 55.82 (AS1); 2, Burns, Minot, 57.01 (AS1); 3, Obembe, North, 57.36 (AS1); 4, Ostlie, JHS, 57.99 (AS2); 5, Hamel, Minot, 58.02 (AS2); 6, Ben Bolinske, Williston, 59.24; 7, Smestad, WF, 1:00.07; 8, Brown, Minot, 1:00.09.

100 breaststroke: 1, Ballantyne, BHS, 1:04.14 (AS2); 2, Hulbert, WF, 1:04.61; 3, Tanner Olson, North, 1:05.15; 4, Collin Kemmesat, Century, 1:06.37; 5, Stockdill, Mandan, 1:06.75; 6, Skalicky, Minot, 1:07.43; 7, Ben Heinle, North, 1:07.59; 8, Jeff Kleven, Williston, 1:08.41.

400 free relay: 1, Minot (Kusick, Brown, Hamel, Burns), 3:22.94; 2, WF, 3:23.75; 3, JHS (Mangin, Miller, Ostlie, Marler), 3:30.68; 4, South, 3:34.61; 5, North, 3:38.76; 6, Williston, 3:39.25; 7, GF, 3:42.07; 8, Mandan, 3:42.14.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com

Tags: high school, sports, swimming, jays, marler, ostlie