Cranes Dominate D3 in Record Fashion
March 14, 2015
By Dan Stickradt
Special for Second Half
ROCHESTER HILLS — There was no one denying Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood’s repeat performance Saturday.
No one was even close.
After winning its first boys swimming and diving MHSAA championship in 2014, Cranbrook Kingswood made quite a statement in capturing its second straight Lower Peninsula Division 3 boys swimming and diving title at Oakland University.
Behind an uber-dominating team performance, Cranbrook Kingswood compiled an impressive 430 points and won by 130.5.
“It was a little more difficult this season, a lot more pressure,” said Cranbrook Kingswood coach Karl Hodgson, who has guided the Cranes to four top-five finishes in his stint at the school. “I knew we had a shot coming in, and we were in good position after the prelims. But I never thought we’d do this well. We had some incredible performances. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Not too many teams have won by that many and scored this many points.”
Since the MHSAA split from two divisions to three for boys swimming in 2008, the previous record for D-3 Finals points was East Grand Rapids’ 373 in 2008. Cranbrook scored 297 points in winning its first MHSAA title in 2014. No other D-3 school has eclipsed the 300-point barrier.
Chelsea finished in the runner-up slot for the second straight year, collecting 299.5 points. East Grand Rapids was third with 248 points, while Hamilton (215), Grand Rapids Christian (124), Milan (111), Detroit Country Day (104), Grand Rapids Catholic Central (94), Tecumseh (90) and Otsego (86) rounded out the top 10 in a field where 29 schools scored.
Cranbrook dominated from start to finish, opening the meet with an LPD3 meet record in the 200-yard medley relay and capping the day with another meet record in the 400 freestyle relay.
On the day, Cranbrook scored in 11 events, captured first places in five, had a runner-up finish, five third-place finishes and a trio of fourth-place finishes to showcase its top-tier talent.
The Cranes also had 14 of 16 competitors score points during their repeat performance.
“We came out and won the first relay, and it kind of amped us up,” admitted senior Frankie Misra. “We kind of (fed) off that energy. We wanted to win it again. We knew we had a strong team coming in, and we had some incredible swims in the prelims. I am so proud of our team — and even prouder today. I don’t think we could have imagined us doing so well.”
Misra, Mitch Buccalo, Andrew Guam and Giorgio DelGrosso joined forces for a 1:33.89 clocking in the 200 medley relay to set the tone. The Cranes continued to pile on the points after that point. Out of 176 total slots, Cranbrook had 27 placers spread over all events.
Buccalo set another LPD3 Finals mark in winning the 200 IM (1:50.55). Andrew Trunsky took first in the 500 freestyle (4:37.12), building a large lead by the midpoint and cruising to a win by nearly 3.5 seconds, while DelGrosso pulled away for a win in the 100 breaststroke (56.58).
Showing a three-second advantage at Friday’s prelims, the unit of Guam, Alessandro Guttilla, Misra and Buccalo put the finishing touches on the team title by winning the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay in 3:06.15, yet another LPD3 meet record.
“I think when us seniors came in, we helped take the program to another level, and now we have so many good swimmers on this team,” Buccalo said. “We trained so hard for this. We were second two years ago, and we won it this year and last year. We’re not just a (tennis and hockey school), yes sir. Our swimming program is very strong.”
East Grand Rapids’ Andy McGregor was in on three victories on the day, touching first in both the 200 freestyle (1:40.96) and 100 freestyle (46.09), while he teamed up with Braden Wiener, Christian Bart and Jack Filion for a meet-record time of 1:26.06 in the 200 freestyle relay.
“It’s pretty special being up there representing our school and coming in here and doing so well,” said MacGregor, who had a slow start in the 200 free only to pull ahead in the final two lengths. He also anchored the winning relay.
“I think the sprinting part is my strength. I always pick it up to finish strong,” added MacGregor.
Chelsea sophomore Joey Mangner won the 50 free (21.27), an event where six competitors broke 22 seconds.
“Last year I was 12th in the 50. I didn’t make it to the fast heat,” said Mangner. “Coming back this year I really wanted to get it, at least try to contend for the title.”
Chelsea’s Joe Smith captured the one-meter diving event (492.95 points), rising up from the second position after Friday’s prelims. The Bulldogs had four of the top 16 finishers in diving, including two of the top three placers.
“I really felt good in the Finals. It was one of my best performances,” Smith said. “I think it’s really special to have four of us from one team place at states in diving. I think it really helped push our team into second place.”
As a team, Chelsea put together another fine outing but still not enough to catch top-ranked Cranbrook. The Bulldogs still placed in the top 10 for the 24th time in 27 seasons.
“They are very good, very deep,” said Chelsea coach Dave Jolly about finishing second to Cranbrook for the second straight season. “We knew we could challenge for second but knew we couldn’t match up with their depth. But I am very pleased with how we competed. We had everyone swim season bests, and we did very well in diving. Having the best diving coach in the state of Michigan (Eric Burris) sure helps. This is the second straight year we had a state champion in diving. Being strong in that event really helped us finish second. We scored (50) points in that event alone.”
Hamilton’s Alec Nyboer repeated in the 100 butterfly, establishing a new LPD3 meet standard with a 49.15 clocking. Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Joey Puglessi won the 100 backstroke (50.45) to round out the winners.
“This was the goal all along,” Nyboer said. “I won it last season, too, and I have been down close to 50 (seconds) all season, so it was nice to go under and get the record. I think it would be sweet to get the all-division record next year. I have about two more seconds more to shave off. A lot of work to do.”
Puglessi earned his second title, pulling away during the last length to win by nearly a second. He also won the backstroke as a freshman in 2013.
“I really tried to challenge in my race and see what I could do,” said Puglessi. “I set some high standards for myself and it seemed to pay off today. It’s nice to see all of the hard work pay off and to represent your school in this way.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood’s Giorgio DelGrosso moves ahead of the pack during Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals. (Middle) Chelsea’s Joe Smith prepares to touch water during one of his title-winning dives. (Below) Hamilton’s Alec Nyboer repeated and set a meet record in the 100 butterfly. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Dexter Extends Finals Win Streak to 4
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
March 9, 2019
YPSILANTI – It was only fitting that Casey Dolen was the last swimmer in the pool for Dexter on Saturday at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Boys Swimming & Diving Finals at Eastern Michigan University.
He was a member of the Dreadnaughts’ 2016 championship team. And he was there in 2017 and 2018 as well.
Dolen was the first to touch the wall in the 400-yard freestyle relay, helping his team win the event and lock down the program’s fourth straight Division 2 championship. He, along with senior Niklas Eberly and sophomores Michael Baumann and Clayton Kinnard, finished in a time of 3:06.84, comfortably beating out runner-up Birmingham Groves – which finished second overall in the team standings.
“This is a great group of kids, and to send these seniors out with four in a row is really special,” said Dexter head coach Michael McHugh, whose program has won five Finals titles since the 2012 season. “That’s our goal all year, but we never take anything for granted.
“The guys really stepped up. We knew Groves was going to come out strong. Our job was to not panic, not overreact and keep doing what we were doing. We knew we had a little bit of a lead (entering Saturday), so as long as we were mistake-free, we’d be OK.”
Groves did indeed come out strong. The Falcons quartet of senior David Helton, juniors Nolan Kamoo and Jackson Gugni and senior Hunter Reilly upended Dexter’s top-seeded 200 medley relay team to start the meet. Their time of 1:34.70 was the best of the weekend and gave their team an early six-point lead over the Dreadnaughts.
But it didn’t take long for Dexter to make its move. A runner-up finish by Dolen in the 200 freestyle helped cut Groves’ lead to three points – and it seemed to get the ball rolling for the Dreadnaughts.
Kinnard’s eighth-place finish in the next race, the 200 individual medley, gave his team an eight-point lead, one which it would not relinquish the rest of the day.
Dexter finished with 239 team points, besting Groves (203) and third-place Birmingham Seaholm (181.5). Midland Dow (162.5) and Grosse Pointe South (149) rounded out the top five.
Eberly was the star of the meet for Dexter. He won both the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly events. His 20.40 seconds in the 50 matched his preliminary time and beat runner-up Luke Lezotte of Midland Dow by a tenth of a second.
His time of 47.79 in the 100 butterfly helped him repeat in the event. Walled Lake Northern’s Zane Rosely was a distant second, with a time of 49.94.
“It was definitely a goal of mine, since I started high school, to break 47,” Eberly said. “You don’t see a lot of high schoolers do it. It really sets you up well going into college like that. I knew I could do 47.5 if I really tried. I fell a little bit short, but I’m unbelievably happy with 47.7. I think it’s a phenomenal time.”
Eberly was one of the top swimmers entering the finals and knew he needed to swim up to those high expectations if his team was to have a chance to four-peat.
“I was super happy to be able to hold my places and help the team,” he said. “My situation is definitely different than other kids’. A lot of them have to step up, climb up, maybe they’re seeded eighth or 16th and they have no place to go but up. Going into states, I have nowhere to go but down. So it really adds a lot of pressure.”
Joining Eberly as a two-event winner was Fraser junior Alex Capizzo, who was victorious in both the 200 IM and 500 freestyle, a pair of events he also won a year ago. He beat out Rosely in the IM and Walled Lake Western junior Eric Hieber in the 500.
Hieber easily won the 200 freestyle, beating out Dolen by more than 1½ seconds.
Dolen did pick up an individual title, narrowly edging Lezotte by two hundredths of a second in the 100 freestyle.
Other individual winners included Jack Hamilton of Berkley, whose time of 50.51 in the backstroke helped him beat out runner-up Ben Conroy of Gibraltar Carlson by nearly a second. And Byron Center senior Jacob Glover bested the field in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in a winning time of 56.38
Midland Dow’s Che Collin, Zach Fewkes, Hans Dehn and Lezotte swam a time of 1:25.13 to take first place in the 200 freestyle relay.
In the diving competition, Okemos junior Hunter Hollenbeck repeated as champion, scoring 462.95 points. Rochester Adams sophomore SooDong Kim and Wyandotte Roosevelt freshman Hudson Hill finished second and third, respectively, both eclipsing 400 points.
Groves, which finished third behind Dexter and Rochester Adams a year ago, is losing a few key seniors to graduation, but returns a good nucleus of athletes, which has head coach Ricky Forrest excited for what lies ahead for his team.
“(Dexter is) an experienced team, and I’ve got a lot of respect for what Mike does with his guys. Every single year, no matter where they’re at on the psych sheet, every team here knows that they’re going to bring it,” Forrest said. “We had an outstanding day during the prelims on Friday and a really good day (on Saturday). We’re going to be missing a lot of (senior) leadership and we’re going to need some boys to step up next year, but we’ve still got a really good core and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Rochester Adams finished sixth overall with 138 points, with Gibraltar Carlson (120), Detroit U-D Jesuit (102.5), Walled Lake Western (91) and Temperance-Bedford (86.5) rounding out the top 10.
PHOTOS: (Top) Dexter senior Niklas Eberly swims the winning butterfly during Saturday’s Division 2 Finals at Eastern Michigan University. (Middle) Finishers in the 100 freestyle, including Dexter champion Casey Dolen, look to the scoreboard after their race. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)