Brother Rice Rides Momentum To Top of D1
March 8, 2014
By Geoff Mott
Special to Second Half
UNIVERSITY CENTER – Birmingham Brother Rice coach Mike Venos realized his boys swimming and diving team had the talent to win an MHSAA title after the Warriors finished runner-up to four-time champion Saline at last year’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals.
“The way we ended last year gave us some big momentum,” Venos said. “You saw the look in their eyes. They were committed from that point into doing something special.”
Brother Rice cruised to its first LP Division 1 championship since 2007 on Saturday at Saginaw Valley State University’s Gerstacker Regional Aquatic Center, winning with 345 points. Livonia Stevenson finished runner-up with 202 while Holland West Ottawa finished third (191), Ann Arbor Pioneer fourth (185) and Bloomfield Hill fifth at 136 points.
Brother Rice won all three relays and took advantage of depth throughout its lineup to win the third championship in Venos’s 16th season as the Warriors coach. It’s the eighth boys swimming and diving title in Brother Rice history.
“We don’t shoot for state championships,” Venos said. “We shoot for our best times. We can only control what we can control.
“Every practice was a state meet. They beat each other up, and it showed how hard they’ve worked for this today.”
Joe Krause earned the lone individual title for the Warriors, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 20.63 seconds. He joined juniors Gust Kouvaris and Mark Blinstrub and sophomore Bobby Powrie in winning the 400 freestyle relay. The group broke the MHSAA all-Finals record with a 3:02.06 finish.
Krause also teamed with Powrie, senior Bradford Jones and junior Jack Kennedy in winning the 200 freestyle relay in 1:25.10, outkicking the Ann Arbor Pioneer relay team by a tenth of a second.
“We don’t go looking to win meets, just go out and swim our fastest to do the best that we can,” Krause said. “We had a fast week of practice, and we just wanted to swim to the best of our ability. We’ve shown the ability to excel all season.”
Krause credits the leadership he learned as a freshman in helping shape this Warriors team into a championship contender. Of the 33 swimmers and divers on the team, 16 are freshman.
“It’s been seven years since we’ve won a title, so this is pretty awesome,” Krause said. “When I was a freshman, those seniors had great leadership skills and they knew what it would take to get us back to the top, and that helped.
“I tried to emulate the peers before me. We had a challenge with so many freshmen, and they were ready for it.”
Kouvaris, Blinstrub, Jones and Drew Grady kicked off the Finals with a championship in the 200 medley relay, winning in 1:32.77.
Matching up relays was Venos’ greatest challenge.
“We have a very deep team and there can be a number of different options with the relay teams,” Venos said. “It made it pretty fun because we had all those options.
“A turning point this season came at the Oakland County Meet. We stepped up and I was really surprised at what we could do as a team. Once we got to this weekend, as coaches, we just got out of the way and let these guys have fun.”
Livonia Stevenson senior Nick Arakelian recorded an all-Finals record in the 200 individual medley, winning with a 1:47.47 to edge the previous record by nearly four-tenths of a second.
Arakelian went on to win the 500 freestyle with an LP Division 1 Final record time of 4:24.84. He also helped the Livonia Stevenson 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay teams to runner-up finishes.
“The records were definitely a goal that I kept in mind, but when I get here I got relaxed and had fun with my team,” Arakelian said. “I knew I had a shot, and I was a little jumpy during preliminaries. But I settled down.”
Arakelian, who will head to Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., next year to swim collegiately, was in seventh place after completing the butterfly portion in the first event of the 200 IM. He tied the leader after the backstroke and easily pulled away through the breaststroke and freestyle.
“You don’t see much of a crossover (for swimmers) in the 200 IM and 500 freestyle, so I’m pretty proud of myself,” Arakelian said. “I realized I needed to relax out there, and it worked.”
Holland West Ottawa junior Tabahn Afrik captured a pair of Finals titles that eluded him as a sophomore. After runner-up finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle events last year, Afrik won the 100 with an LP Division 1 meet record 43.9-second finish. He also won the 200 freestyle in 1:38.18 and helped West Ottawa to third-place finishes in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
The two individual titles were the first for West Ottawa’s program, and its third-place team finish was the highest in school history.
“Every single person has contributed to this,” Afrik said. “We are a big family at this school.
“And personally, I’m very proud of the two state championships because it’s never happened here. As a junior, I’ve helped push this team, and this day has been our goal. I’ve dreamed about this since I was a freshman, and the competition definitely helps. They pushed me to be my best today, and I’m grateful.”
The closest race of the day was the 100 backstroke, where Detroit Catholic Central junior Jack Walsh touched the wall four-hundredths of a second before Monroe sophomore Cameron Craig. Walsh won with in 49.08 seconds, while Craig – who set the LP Division I meet record with a 48.9 in the preliminary heat on Friday – finished with a 49.12.
“I felt like I was right next to him for the final 25 yards,” Craig said. “I had a couple people tell me that I had won. It was that close. Now I’ve got to train harder to beat him next year.”
Craig didn’t leave empty-handed. He won the 100 butterfly in 48.95, edging Brother Rice’s Kouvaris.
“I think I had a good finish,” Craig said. “I didn’t finish with my best times, but I put a lot of effort into this meet. I’ve been training since last year for it.”
Oakland University-bound John Schihl captured a 100 breaststroke in 55.39 seconds, missing the LP Division 1 meet record by eight hundredths of a second. Schihl finished second last year in the event in Division 3 while swimming for Lahser before it and Andover merged this fall.
“I had higher expectations, but this was bigger of a meet than we are used to,” Schihl said. “I did pretty well at keeping my focus. I knew this would be tough when we moved up to Division 1. It was a hard transition and a lot of practice to get here.”
Rockford sophomore Jake Herremans won the diving title with a personal-best score of 458, while Saline freshman Dakota Hurbis finished runner-up with 433.25 points. Herremans finished ninth at the meet as a freshman.
“I was one away from all-state and all-conference honors last year,” Herremans said. “I knew I’d be toward the top this year. I didn’t miss a dive after the preliminary dives.”
PHOTOS: (Top) A swimmer celebrates after finishing a race Saturday at Saginaw Valley State University. (Middle) The Brother Rice swimming and diving team celebrates with its championship trophy. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
Talented Pioneer Dominates with Depth, Extends Team Title Streak to 4
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 9, 2024
ROCHESTER — Just when it seemed like the dynasty that is the Ann Arbor Pioneer boys swim & dive program couldn’t come up with another method for winning a state title, the Pioneers did so at Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Oakland University.
It was something Pioneer head coach Stefanie Kerska said she hadn’t even seen from her team before.
“We didn’t win a single event, and we didn’t win a single relay,” Kerska said.
But that didn’t stop Pioneer from winning a fourth straight title, using its supreme depth to collect a meet-best 275 points.
Saline was the runner-up with 245 points, edging third place Detroit Catholic Central’s total of 243.5. Northville (226) and Zeeland (136) rounded out the top-five.
“For every single person to play their part and do their job, it’s just a really special feeling for this team,” Kerska said.
If Pioneer managing to finish first despite not winning an event was not deflating enough for opponents, it may be even worse for them to consider the Pioneer dynasty looks like it will continue for the foreseeable future – with its longest streak of six straight Finals titles won from 1977-82 potentially approached by this group.
“Ten of 17 had never been here before,” Kerska said. “Our 400 free relay was made up of freshmen and sophomores. We are a fairly young and inexperienced team.”
Individually, two standouts ruled the day.
The first was Oxford senior Olin Charnstrom, who first followed up a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle from last year by winning the event Saturday in a time of 45.03.
“I really have a drive for freestyle,” Charnstrom said. “Last year, I had a really bad prelims and a good finals. This year, I made sure to come in and leave nothing behind.”
A short time later, Charnstrom took the pool again and defended his title in the 100 backstroke, winning that event in a time of 48.10.
“It feels great,” said Charnstrom, who will swim at Wayne State. “My progress from my freshman year to now, every single year I’ve gotten better and put in more work. It’s so nice to see all that pay off.”
The other standout was Zeeland junior Owen Stevens, who defended his titles in both the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle.
Stevens, who has committed to Louisville, swam the IM in a time of 1:49.68 and the 500 in a time of 4:27.48.
“This year I came in with more expectations,” Stevens said. “There was some pressure there. It was a little nerve-wracking. But I had a lot of fun, and it was some good swimming. I felt better about the 500 more than the 200 IM. I was little off from where I wanted to be in the 200 IM. But it was still a very good time I dropped from last year.”
Other individual winners were Catholic Central senior Luke Mychalowych in the 200 freestyle (1:37.98), Northville senior Phillip Zhavoronkov in the 50 freestyle (20.65), Rockford senior Julian Cardenas in diving (537.95 points), Rochester senior Lucas Hosch in the 100 butterfly (49.80) and Brighton senior Luke Newcomb in the 100 breaststroke (54.56).
Catholic Central also won the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:32.61 and the 200 freestyle relay in 1:24.61. Holland West Ottawa won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:08.65.
PHOTOS (Top) The championship heat of the 50-yard freestyle, including Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Henry Baumhover and Christopher Leuciuc, launches Saturday. (Middle) Oxford’s Olin Charnstrom swims to a repeat championship in the backstroke. (Below) Zeeland’s Owen Stevens swims to the win in the 500 freestyle. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)