Norwalk sophomore Mallory Betts will compete at the State Swimming and Diving Meet in Marshalltown today, anchoring Des Moines Lincoln’s 200-yard medley relay. Competition begins at noon inside the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.

Lincoln’s medley relay includes Samantha Douds in the backstroke, Haylee Shaffer in the breaststroke and Madelline De Meyer in the butterfly prior to Betts anchoring with a 50-yard freestyle leg. The Rails qualified for state with the 24th-ranked time of 1:56.74 at last week’s regional meet.

Betts is competing in her first state meet for Lincoln, which shares its program with Norwalk and Carlisle. Betts tells KNIA Sports that her favorite race is the 100 butterfly. The 50 free ranks low on her list of favorites, but she likes the speed of the race and is excited to anchor for the Rails at state. Betts adds that the team is hoping to improve on their regional time by one or two seconds when they compete in Heat 2 of today’s timed finals out of lane 8.