6 Hundredths Seal West Ottawa Title Win
By
Greg Chrapek
Special for Second Half
March 9, 2019
HOLLAND – In a matter of minutes, Holland West Ottawa senior Khadin Soto’s disappointment of placing second in the breaststroke was replaced by the euphoria of clinching his school’s first MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 swimming & diving championship.
Swimming the anchor leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay, Soto touched the wall a mere six hundredths of a second before Detroit Catholic Central’s anchorman, giving West Ottawa the race win and the overall team title – its first in any division in nearly 50 years.
Soto and his relay teammates Jamahl Hogan, Sam Smith and Derek Maas turned in a time of 3:05.84, edging the Catholic Central team of Matthew Kozma, Bennett Loniewski, Mario McDonald and Conor Brownell. The win proved to be the difference maker as the meet came down to the final race with West Ottawa totaling 248 points to edge Detroit Catholic Central’s 240.
“I knew the meet was within a few points, and I knew we had to win that race,” said Soto. “I knew I had to beat the guy next to me and I knew he was really fast. Since I didn’t win the 100 breaststroke like I thought I would, I just kept telling myself that I can’t get caught up in everything else. I just need to do what my teammates need me to do. Just swim like we have been all year. For the last lap I was telling myself I can’t be the one that loses it for everyone.”
That determination paid off as Soto’s finishing kick was enough to give the Panthers the win and wash away Soto’s disappointment.
“I was just super excited,” Soto said. “Before I looked up at the board, I kind of had this feeling that we won. Then just seeing it, I was overwhelmed with emotions. It was like the perfect ending.”
Soto had little time to prepare for his crucial swim as he placed second in the breaststroke, which took place before the 400-yard relay.
“Khadin was coming out of the breaststroke, so he was coming right off of a swim,” said West Ottawa coach Steve Bowyer. “We were hoping to give him a little bit of a lead. He didn’t have much of a lead, but he battled back there at the end.”
West Ottawa had finished second in 2018, as it just missed its first Finals title since winning three straight in Class B-C-D from 1969-71. Detroit Catholic Central was swimming for its first Finals championship in this sport and came on strong down the stretch.
“Detroit Catholic Central had an unbelievable meet,” Bowyer said. “They fought really hard today. We had about 14 points on them after prelims. They came back and fought hard today and brought it right down to the last relay. They don’t get any closer than six hundredths of a second. We feel very fortunate to be on the winning end of that relay.”
Soto is part of a memorable senior class that fueled the Panthers’ drive to the title. Derek Maas is the headliner of West Ottawa’s senior class. Along with swimming a leg of the 400 relay and the winning 200 medley relay, Maas also captured a pair of individual titles. Heading to the University of Alabama next season, Maas won the 200 IM and the butterfly. Having talented teammates to train with has been a key to his success.
“It all starts at our practices,” Maas said. “I always have my teammates with me. It’s way easier to train hard with guys around you that are pushing you. It’s awesome to go out like this as a senior, especially with how the season has gone with the team. Winning the state team title was the ultimate goal.”
Maas teamed up with Soto, junior Gavin Temple and his younger brother, freshman Kevin Maas, to win the 200 medley relay. A versatile swimmer whose main event at the college level will be the 200 breaststroke, Maas won the Division 2 title in the 100 backstroke last year.
“Being a versatile swimmer has helped me,” Maas said. “I have three of the four strokes down pretty good.”
Maas was not the lone dual winner at the Finals as Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior Henry Schutte capped his high school career by winning both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
Schutte, who is headed to the University of Virginia to continue his career, won the 50 in 20.46 and captured the 100 in 44.82 seconds.
Schutte closed out his prep career as a six-time Finals champion. Schutte won the 50 and 100 freestyles as both a sophomore and junior. He credited his fellow competitors from around the state for helping him achieve success during his high school career.
“It’s been a blast,” Schutte said. “The past three or four years it’s been awesome to be a part of such a great group of athletes. My competitors have everything to do with that. We push ourselves to be the best, and it’s such a great atmosphere. I love it.”
Howell junior Hunter Gubeno also finished the day as a dual winner, winning the 200 freestyle in 1:39.63 and capturing the 500 freestyle in 4:31.39.
Ann Arbor Skyline senior diver William Henry Schirmer closed out his career as a three-time champion. Schirmer won this time by almost 100 points as he totaled 514.55.
Schirmer, who will dive at Northwestern University, said he felt little pressure in going for the three-peat this season.
“I came in wanting to have a lot of fun with it,” Schirmer said. “It’s my senior year, and I just relaxed and focused on doing what I know I can do. I wanted to stay consistent and have fun with it. It’s my last time being at the state meet, and it’s a great feeling being here with my teammates.”
A pair of seniors closed out their careers by capturing individual state titles. Birmingham Brother Rice senior Liam McDonnell won the 100-backstroke in a time of 50.19. Northville senior Travis Nitkiewicz won the 100-breaststroke in a time of 55.27.
In the 200-freestyle relay, the Harrison-Farmington team of Tristan Strasberger, Trevor Jones, Jared Visser and Brody Jamieson took first place in a time of 1:25.24.
PHOTOS: (Top) Holland West Ottawa’s Derek Maas was part of four championships Saturday, two individually and as part of two relays. (Middle) Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central’s Henry Schutte launches from the blocks on the way to winning the 50-yard freestyle. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Ambrose Era: Generations of Success
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
February 26, 2019
KENTWOOD – When Jock Ambrose began his coaching career during the mid 1970s, sports options were limited in the community he had recently moved to after college.
The construction of a new indoor community pool, however, sent residents flocking to the water.
The Kentwood Public Schools Aquatic Center presented an opportunity for parents to introduce swimming to their children, and Ambrose would eventually reap the rewards.
“We did not have the ice arena, and soccer for boys and girls was not a sport yet,” Ambrose said. “Water polo wasn’t a high school sport either so there were fewer choices, but the draw of the pool was huge within our community.
“For eight to 10 years, young go-getter parents brought their kids a lot to swimming and it took off from there.”
Ambrose started coaching high school boys swimming in 1976, and after 38 seasons, he recently announced he would retire after this winter season after an illustrious career filled with success.
“‘I’m seeing that my energy level, as I get older, is not what it used to be,” said Ambrose, who retired from teaching four years ago.
“I never imagined I would coach forever, and my wife, Ann, and I want to do things with our kids and grandchildren. I’ve had a tremendous last year of teaching great students and great kids in the pool with wonderful parents.”
For the 65-year-old Ambrose, the decision to step down was made easier knowing that he’s leaving the program in good hands.
His successor won’t officially be named until after the season.
“We have a young man in the program who is more than ready to take over and continue to improve the program,” Ambrose said. “He’s ready to have a long career and is tremendous with the kids and parents. It would’ve been harder to walk away if I didn’t have someone like that, but I feel completely confident in where this program is going in the future and he is going to equal and surpass what we’ve had in the last several years.”
The East Kentwood boys swimming & diving program hit its peak during the 1980s, emerging as a perennial powerhouse.
The Falcons won Class A titles in 1983 and 1989 while also finishing as Finals runners-up in 1985, 1986 and 1988.
They finished in the top three seven consecutive years and became the benchmark for other programs to follow.
“There is no doubt in those years that we had some tremendous athletes,” Ambrose said.
Eric Gale was an All-American diver for East Kentwood and as a senior considered one of the top five divers in the country on the way to competing at the University of Tennessee.
Gale still holds several conference and meet records at the high school and has been the team’s diving coach the past 31 years.
“He is truly a class act, and it has been my honor to be one of the student-athletes under him and to have coached with him,” Gale said of Ambrose. “He is a tremendous human being and treats everyone he comes in contact with with respect and kindness, and that includes members of opposing teams he has faced.
“He’s the definition of what an educator should be, and he has positively affected thousands of lives in the swimming community and education.”
In 1997, Ambrose accepted the position of athletic director at East Kentwood and was away from coaching for five years.
He returned to the classroom and came back to the pool.
He also coached the girls team for three years during the 1990s, and that included coaching his youngest daughter.
As Ambrose’s coaching career continued, he began to see an influx of former athletes’ children.
“All the way through I’ve had tremendous family and community support for what we’ve tried to do, and I get one sibling after another,” Ambrose said. “Every year for the last 12 or 15 years I’ve had at least one person whose parent swam for me, and one year I had five boys on the team whose mom or dad swam for me in high school or within our club.
“It feels good when a parent brings their kid back knowing what they went through was a good place for them. The support of the parents helps you to continue the levels of success.”
East Kentwood athletic director Blaine Brumels said Ambrose has been a “true blessing to Kentwood Public Schools.”
“His hard work, dedication and commitment to our students in the classroom and the pool are unbelievable,” Brumels said. “We always have great stories about Jock, and they are always about his love of kids and being a Falcon. It is always about the students and love of the school and sport.”
Although Ambrose will remain with the program as an assistant coach for a couple years, his last MHSAA Finals directing it will take place in a couple weeks.
“We have a good group of seniors who are working hard, and we think we can get some kids to score and get to the second day,” Ambrose said. “It will be exciting for the entire program.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTO: East Kentwood coach Jock Ambrose revs up his team before the start of the 2009 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Eastern Michigan University.