Cranes Continue D3 Dominance in 3-Peat
March 12, 2016
By Dan Stickradt
Special for Second Half
YPSILANTI — Located in talent-rich and depth-laden Oakland County, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood often has to depart the county’s borders to claim championships in boys swimming and diving.
Found lurking in the shadows of Division 1 and Division 2 state powerhouses such as Birmingham Brother Rice and Birmingham Seaholm, plus a host of other highly-regarded programs nearby, the Cranes have found state-meet success in Division 3.
Tons of success.
Cranbrook Kingswood added its long list of MHSAA titles Saturday inside the confines of Eastern Michigan University’s Jones Natatorium. The Cranes out-dueled East Grand Rapids to finish on top with 352 points and earn their third straight Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship.
“Swimming in Oakland County — we don’t win the county meet. But once we leave the county, we realize that we can swim with anybody in (Division 3),” offered Cranbrook Kingswood coach Karl Hodgson. “There are so many good teams there (in the county). It really does help prepare you for the state meet.”
On the strength of eight victories, East Grand Rapids finished second with 315 points. Chelsea, last year’s runner-up, swam third (195), while Holland Christian (188), Hamilton (127), Grand Rapids Christian (122), Otsego (118), Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (115), Detroit Country Day (107) and Milan (88) rounded out the top 10 in the team scoring.
A total of 32 schools reached the scoring column.
Cranbrook Kingswood landed finishers in 27 of the 192 total slots over the 12 events, including four top-16 placers in both the 100-yard breaststroke and 500 freestyle, which helped the Cranes take a lead they would not relinquish.
“I knew (depth) would be our only shot,” Hodgson admitted. “I knew EGR had the studs, and they sure proved that today, didn’t they? I tip my hat to them and their coach. They did a great job with (winning eight events). That’s what it came down to. But so did we. We swam so great (Friday) to put us in position. Really out of our minds. To duplicate it, I knew it would be tough. But the guys sucked it up and got it done.”
Cranbrook only won a single event, as senior Giorgio DelGrasso touched first in the 100 breaststroke in an LP Division 3 meet record time of 55.92. Cranbrook won in a landslide last season (430-299.5 over Chelsea), but had stiffer challenges this year, much like 2014 when the Cranes edged Chelsea (297-273.33)
“It feels really good, especially my senior year and (the fact) that it was my last high school race,” said DelGrasso. “But this is not about me. This is about my coaches and my teammates.”
“We knew it was going to be a good race because Christian Bart is a heck of a swimmer,” smiled Hodgson, who was dumped into the pool in celebration moments earlier. “But Giorgio wanted to break 56 (seconds) all year, and it was his last shot. He came through. That was good; we needed that hit. You could see the breaststroke was a big event for us; we had four guys there in the top eight. That was a big plus for us.”
East Grand Rapids won eight of the 12 events, including four of the first five in opening up a 125-122 lead.
The Pioneers have won more 100 MHSAA team titles across all sports, with more than 50 runner-up finishes going back to the 1920s — making East Grand Rapids one of the most storied high schools in MHSAA lore in terms of overall postseason success. But this time, a disqualification hurt the Pioneers’ chances.
“We swam great overall today in the finals,” said veteran East Grand Rapids coach Butch Briggs. “We had a lot of wins. But what I am really proud of is the way we bounced back. We were resilient. We were disqualified Friday in the 200 medley relay and lost those points. That was the first event. But we didn’t let it get to us. Instead, we came back and swam great in the finals.”
Andy MacGregor of East Grand Rapids defended his title in the 200 freestyle, breaking the 1:40-barrier with a 1:39.79 effort. MacGregor later added a win in the 100 freestyle (45.70).
“I didn’t put too much pressure on myself,” said MacGregor. “I went 1:40 in the prelims (of the 200 free) and I wanted to shave a few one-hundredths (of a second) and get down in the 1:39s. I wanted to swim faster on the final day and was able to accomplish that.”
Sophomore Christian Bart placed in four events (two individual and as part of two relays), including a win in the 200 individual medley (1:50.61).
“I think, being a sophomore, this is a great accomplishment for me. I didn’t expect it,” said Bart, who was a part of the Pioneers team last season that finished third. “Our goal was to have our best meet, go out there and swim the best we can. We were better than last year. We were third last year and second this year. We hope to contend next (season).”
Bart, Hein, MacGregor and Cade Vruggink teamed up for a win in the 200 freestyle relay (1:23.02), setting another meet record.
“We stacked this relay with our fastest swimmers,” smiled Hein. “We really wanted to win that event.”
In the final event, Vruggink, Christopher Steers, Joe Murphy and MacGregor joined forces for a 3:10.40 effort in the 400 freestyle relay for the Pioneers’ eighth win of the day.
Hein, a senior, out-sprinted a tight group to win the 50 freestyle (20.81) and came back to upend defending champion Alec Nyboer of Hamilton to win the 100 butterfly (49.18). Nyboer finished second in 49.24.
“I knew it would be close,” said Hein. “I really had to push. It feels great beating (the reigning champ).”
EGR’s Grant Williams continued his school’s trend by winning the one-meter diving competition with 443.45 points.
Chelsea, second as a team a year ago, pulled the first upset of the day. The Bulldogs stunned top-seeded Cranbrook in the 200 medley relay, as anchor Joey Manger used a strong kick to help his unit prevail with a 1:34.56 clocking.
Kurt Jolly, Zach Lee and Lee Argir joined Mangner on the medals stand. Cranbrook was second in 1:34.69.
“I knew that Joey Mangner is one of the best sprinters in the state and that he would catch him,” said Zach Lee. “We all did our part, and Joey finished it.”
Holland Christian sophomore Skyler Cook-Weeks finished second in the 500 freestyle as a freshman and overpowered the pack this year to post a 4:31.48 effort, also a meet record.
“Last year I was second, so this year I really wanted to come here and win,” said Cook-Weeks. “I got down to around 4:31, so now I want go after 4:25 next year.”
Grand Rapids Catholic Central senior Joey Puglessi set the LP Division 3 Finals record in the prelims Friday in the 100 backstroke (49.89) and repeated as champion in the event Saturday with a 50.07 clocking.
“It feels great to get the record and defend my title,” said Puglessi, who has signed to swim at the University of Buffalo. “You always want to go out with a (great effort) at your last high school meet.”
PHOTOS: (Top) A Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood swimmer competes during Saturday’s LP Division 3 Finals. (Middle) A competitor swims in the backstroke championship race. (Below) The Cranes pose with their championship trophy. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Longtime Coach's Legendary Expertise Keeps Manistee Surging
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2021
Name any high school or community pool in Michigan, and odds are Corey Van Fleet has been there.
Perhaps it is true of any pool in the United States.
He might have even helped build it.
And, a little more odds. If the pool hosted an MHSAA Finals meet, one of Van Fleet’s teams likely participated. Although he won’t have any qualifiers making the trip to the Division 3 girls meet Friday, he’s been to championship weekend lots of times with Birmingham Seaholm and Manistee. His 1962-65 Seaholm boys teams won four straight Class A Finals, and his Manistee boys team is coming off a Finals trip last winter and its best season ever.
Van Fleet, now 85 years young, is in his 68th of coaching swimmers. He’s spent the last 13 with the boys and girls teams of Manistee High School. He started the program after helping build the pool.
The school utilizes the Paine Aquatics Center named after Bill Paine, who presented a proposal to the City of Manistee, the Manistee Area Public Schools and Van Fleet. Paine’s proposal called for the pool, which opened in July 2009, to be attached to the high school facilities.
“So I’m sitting in my office one day and this tall, lanky guy (Paine) walks in and closes the door and says my wife and I want to donate an aquatics complex in Manistee, and Sandy Saylor says you know something about swimming,” Van Fleet recalls. “‘Will you help me build it?’
“We talked about it for a while and I said yeah, I’d help him,” Van Fleet continued. “So we ended up with a nice eight-lane swimming pool in Manistee.”
Van Fleet, who also had coached at Florida State, coached and served as athletic director at Oakland University and then served as AD at Long Beach State (Calif.) during an illustrious career at the college level, took the next step naturally.
“The superintendent of schools at the time (Robert Olsen) said you build the darn thing, you might as well get some programs started,” Van Fleet recalled. “That was 13 years ago, and I’m still at it.”
At it, Van Fleet continues. He plans to stay with it until he just can’t do it anymore.
“I am still fairly healthy,” he said. “If I can find six people that can carry me out of church, I can think about quitting.”
During his tenure at Manistee, Van Fleet’s teams have dominated the Coastal Conference and produced multiple academic all-state swimmers. The boys team captured the 2020 academic all-state title with a 3.82 team grade point average.
“I am most proud, I think, about our academic progress,” Van Fleet said. “We take great pride in passing some classes.”
Van Fleet is also filled with pride when he reflects on all the swimmers he’s seen go on to become lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers and coaches.
“I am pleased with the number of kids who have gone on to do some pretty big things in the world off our swimming programs,” he said. “I’d like to think they might have learned lessons about goal planning and sticking to it and hard work and all that stuff.
“That’s what lights me up.”
Van Fleet’s initial high school coaching job was at Madison Heights in 1959. He’s coached at camps all over Michigan, including his first at Burt Lake in 1954. Today he owns and operates a summer swimming camp in Irons, 30 miles southeast of Manistee. He also built it.
Jeff Brunner, a veteran MHSAA official in multiple sports including swimming, and father of former members of the Traverse City high school swimming co-op, is among many singing praises of Van Fleet’s impact on the sport.
“Corey has a wealth of information that he has accumulated in his coaching career,” Brunner said. “If I was a high school swimmer, I’d want to learn all I could from him – swimming for him would be such a unique opportunity.”
Andrew Huber, principal of Manistee’s middle and high schools, agrees with Brunner.
“We're humbled to have had Corey as part of our school and community,” he said. “His wealth of experience, knowledge, and relationship building has helped create a foundation of well-being for students and adults alike.
“His enthusiasm for swimming is infectious, and his energy is amazing for anyone regardless of age,” he continued. “It's been truly impressive to observe him connect and inspire students for the many years he's been in Manistee, and realize his impact is generational.”
The Manistee boys swim team starts practice next week. The Chippewas, along with their girls squad, have battled through COVID. The pandemic is one of many changes through which Van Fleet has guided his athletes.
“We’ve seen changes in training methods,” he said. “We’ve seen changes in diet.
“We’ve seen changes in philosophies in terms of what’s important and what’s not important,” he went on. “Kids have changed, and parents have changed.”
Training methods have been modified the most, along with new multi-lane pools popping up in Michigan, Van Fleet noted.
“Swimming is more technical now,” he said. “The science of swimming has become paramount.
“It is not just going in and kick a few legs and swim a few hundreds and go home — we’ve gone the gamut,” he continued. “It is very specific now every time you want a kid to do something, and now our swimming pools are showplaces – they are magnificent.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Corey Van Fleet (far right) visits with his Manistee girls team the wall honoring him at Oakland University. (Middle) Van Fleet is in his 68th year coaching swimming. (Photos courtesy of the Manistee girls swimming & diving program.)