Cranes Emerge from Strong D3 Field
March 11, 2017
By Butch Harmon
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – The Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood boys swimming & diving team made it four straight championships at Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals, but this title took every point the Cranes could muster.
Cranbrook Kingswood finished first at the event that took place at the Holland Aquatics Center with a total of 268 points. Only 41 separated the top four teams. East Grand Rapids, last year’s runner-up, placed second with 255 points, followed by Holland Christian in third with 241.5 and Chelsea in fourth with 227 points.
Cranes coach Karl Hodgson knew coming in that any number of teams could come away with the first-place trophy.
“Division 3 is a lot tougher the last few years,” Hodgson said, “especially this year. In the past, there would be two or three teams that had a chance to win it. This year, there were four, five and even six teams that were very tough and had a shot at it.”
Making the task even tougher for Cranbrook Kingswood this season was the number of talented seniors who graduated from last year’s team.
This title was a major accomplishment for this year’s seniors.
“This is surreal,” said Cranbrook Kingswood senior captain Giorgio Guttilla. “It’s an awesome feeling to win it four years in a row.”
Guttilla credits the team’s can-do attitude for making the difference on the final day.
“The difference was we all had a great attitude going into the Finals,” Guttilla said. “We were determined to win, and it just showed.”
Balance also played a key role in Cranbrook Kingswood’s win. Al three of the Cranes’ relay teams placed in the top three. The 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Oliver Cafferty, senior Matthew Yang, junior Kevin Hao and senior Michael McLaughlin placed second, as did the 400 free relay team of junior Lucas Misra, Eric Youshao, Hao and Cafferty.
Cafferty claimed the lone individual title for Cranbrook Kingswood as he won the 100 backstroke by almost two full seconds with a time of 50.72.
“It was a phenomenal feeling,” Cafferty said. “It was crazy getting out of the pool and having everybody cheering.”
A sophomore, Cafferty has been a part of two team championships and points to his teammates’ camaraderie as being a key to success.
“Winning back-to-back state titles is a great feeling,” Cafferty said. “For the seniors it has got to be a crazy feeling. We put in tons of work this year. I think we worked harder this year than any other year. Everybody cheers each other on, and everyone wants to see each other succeed. I was not as sure that we would win it this year. I thought we might finish second or third, but to come in first feels amazing.”
East Grand Rapids provided Cranbrook Kingswood with its biggest challenge. The second-place Pioneers received a huge effort from junior Christian Bart. Bart not only won two events, but he also set multiple LP Division 3 Finals records in the process. Bart captured the 50 freestyle in a time of 20.64 and then won the 100 breaststroke in a time of 55.82.
“I’ve been working all year for this,” Bart said. “I’m very happy to have set the records. The competition was very tough, and that is why I posted those times. The races were so close and the times were so good because of the competition.”
East Grand Rapids also picked up plenty of points in the diving competition. Senior Grant Williams took first place as he scored a total of 456.65 points. Pioneers freshman Nick Merritt placed fourth with a total of 428.05.
Holland Christian gave the hometown fans plenty to cheer about as the Maroons placed third as a team.
Junior Skyler Cook-Weeks was one of two individual champions for Holland Christian. Cook-Weeks defended his championship in the 500 freestyle as he took first place with a time of 4:26.96. That time also broke his Division 3 Finals record set last year.
“Last year it was a surreal feeling for me,” Cook-Weeks said. “This year it was a different feeling. What made it special was having my teammate swimming with me. Luke Mason was right behind me, and he finished second so Holland Christian placed one-two.”
With two titles to his credit, Cook-Weeks not only has his sights set on another title next season but also a new record-breaking time.
“I want to try and get 4:19 next year,” Cook-Weeks said.
While Mason placed second to his teammate in the 500, the Holland Christian junior won his individual title earlier in the day. Mason, in his first year with the Holland Christian team after previously swimming on club teams, turned in a time of 1:52.79 to win the 200 individual medley.
“It’s just a great feeling,” Mason said. “It’s great being a part of a great team like this with great teammates. It’s been a great experience.”
Both Mason and Cook-Weeks were also part of a relay team that captured a title for Holland Christian. Along with sophomores Jacob Heeres and Riley VanMeter, Mason and Cook-Weeks helped the 400 free relay team to the win with a time of 3:07.25.
Senior Rudy Aguilar of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep also claimed a pair of individual titles and set a Division 3 record in the process. Aguilar won the 200 freestyle in a record time of 1:37.37 and also the 100 freestyle in a time of 45.71.
Aguilar edged a familiar face on his way to winning the 200, Cook-Weeks of Holland Christian by less than a second.
“I’ve known Skylar a long time and we’ve been swimming against each other in high school the last two years,” Aguilar said. “The atmosphere here is great and racing against each other made our times faster. I give all the glory to God. I also want to thank everyone who has helped me and my coaches and teammates at Notre Dame.”
Byron Center junior Nolan Briggs captured his first-ever Finals title when he won the 100 butterfly in a time of 49.85. The title was especially sweet for Briggs, who stopped swimming for a while before high school.
“I actually didn’t swim for a year,” Briggs said. “We moved from Holland to Byron Center and then coach Kimble (Don Kimble) got me back in it my freshman year. It was a great feeling being up on that podium. When I was younger I would come here for the Finals. To win my first state title is a great feeling.”
Chelsea was led to its fourth-place finish by its relay teams – the 200 medley relay as seniors Kurt Jolly, Zach Lee, Lee Argir and Joey Mangner turned in a time of 1:34.71, and the 200 free relay as the team of Lee, sophomore Wes Wickens, senior Collin Babycz and Mangner turned in a time of 1:25.21.
PHOTOS: Cranbrook Kingswood’s Oliver Cafferty swims the 100 backstroke Saturday. (Middle) East Grand Rapids’ Christian Bart works toward a meet record in the 100 breaststroke. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Pioneer Meets Lofty Expectations with Another Trophy Finish
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2022
HOLLAND – Nothing gets the attention of Ann Arbor Pioneer’s swimmers quicker than a glance up at the state championship banners in their home facility.
The piercing whistle of Pioneers coach Stefanie Kerska might be a close second, however.
Pioneer’s boys swimming & diving team made some more noise this weekend at Holland Aquatic Center, capped by another championship in runaway fashion at the MHSAA’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals on Saturday.
On the strength of their depth and relays, the Pioneers amassed 365 points. Northville was runner-up with 267 points, followed by Holland West Ottawa in third (195), Saline fourth (187.50) and Macomb Dakota fifth (157).
It was the second-straight boys Finals title for Pioneer and Kerska. The Pioneers’ girls team, also coached by Kerska, captured a second consecutive championship in November at the Holland facility.
“They walk in every day to a facility that has multiple, multiple, dozens of banners on the wall and they know. We have alumni come back to speak about the program and what it means. There is a lot of pressure – people don’t realize that,” Kerska said about her boys team.
“There is a daily pressure on these guys to not only be the best here, but to live up to what’s come before them. I know I feel it, walking into my office every day. I’ve got a picture of Liz and Denny Hill on my desk, and I just try to be what they were.”
Under the Hills, Pioneer captured 15 Division 1 or Class A Finals titles in boys swimming and 16 more on the girls’ side. Kerska and the Pioneers certainly have kept that championship tradition afloat with four more titles between the boys and girls teams the last two years.
Kerska also learned from Denny Hill, her mentor, how handy the shrieking whistle across a noisy natatorium can be. When she does it, the Pioneers tend to stop in their tracks on the pool deck. They can hear her in the pool, too, and take their cues.
“I’ve been doing it for a long time. Actually, Denny Hill tried to teach me how to do it without my fingers, which is probably the better way, especially with COVID, to do it,” Kerska said with a smile. “I’ve been doing it for years and years and years. Although, I think I do have the same shrillness and tone that he did, so I’m trying to follow in his footsteps.
“We kind of do, like, the Von Trapps: Wherever they are on the pool deck, when they hear my whistle, they look. It comes in very handy with 17 boys.”
Kerska’s boys answered the call. Seniors Ryan Hume and Jack Wilkening led the way for Pioneer.
Hume repeated in the 200-yard individual medley (1:49.44) and he also won the 500 freestyle (4:26.65) after finishing runner-up in the latter event last year. Wilkening captured first place in the 100 free (45.06) and swam a leg on the victorious 200 medley relay (1:31.91) along with seniors Robert Yang and Alex Farmer plus junior Gabriel Sanchez-Burks.
Hume and Wilkening also joined Yang and senior Harrison Sanders on the Pioneers’ winning 400 free relay (3:03.99), which closed the Finals meet with an exclamation point.
Pioneer senior Teodor Jaworski captured the title in the 200 free (1:39.45), and he took second in the 500 free behind teammate Hume. Wilkening also placed second in the 100 backstroke.
“It’s all about the team. I had to have (a strong) relay for the team and I was performing for the team at that point,” said Wilkening, who signed to swim at University of Michigan.
As a member of back-to-back state title teams, Wilkening said this one was a little more special, mostly because things were a lot closer to “normal” in comparison to 2021.
Last season was shortened amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last year was a crazy year for swimming in particular, men’s swimming, just because of how shortened our season was, how different everything was – the training, too,” Wilkening said.
“We really got to become a team again, I think. That’s what really set this one apart. We actually got to bond as one, be as one in total, more than last year.”
As Wilkening put it, being surrounded by the “greatness” of high-achieving coaches and peers has driven him and his teammates to achieve at this high level.
Sanchez-Burks can vouch for that. He is not a year-round swimmer like many others in the Pioneer program, as he also focuses his attention to water polo – but he played a key role for his team.
Sanchez-Burks was especially pleased by his runner-up finish in the 50 free, which established a school record with a time of 20.60.
“It’s been a struggle for me to keep up with everybody,” Sanchez-Burks said. “In practice, I always try to push myself to stay with all the year-round swimmers and I always try to push myself to stay with all the people I’m competing against today. It’s a lot of fun.
“All the relays, I think that’s where we strive because we have such a diverse team – we spread out so many good swimmers.”
Other first-place finishes belonged to West Ottawa senior Kevin Maas in the 50 free (20.58), Saline senior Joshua Brunty in the 100 breaststroke (55.85), Rochester senior Jack VanHowe in the 100 backstroke (48.13), Canton junior Ryan Gurgel in the 100 butterfly (49.34), Waterford Mott junior Alex Poulin in 1-meter diving (456.70), and Northville’s 200 free relay team (1:23.88) of Evan Scotto-DiVetta, Kyle McCullough, Nate Obrigkeit and Leonardo Simoncini.
Maas, who also is taking his swimming talents to U-M, was a back-to-back winner in the 50 free. Last year, he swam on the winning 200 free relay and tied for second in the 100 free.
On Saturday, VanHowe repeated in the backstroke.
“It was super emotional and super electric in so many ways,” Maas said about his performance Saturday in a venue that’s very familiar to him. “I never knew I could be so happy and so energetic after dropping only 0.02 (in the 50 free), but just to get the ‘W’ for the team and repeat for my team and my family, it meant a lot to me and I was emotional.
“That was the happiest I’ve ever been, and it felt so good.”
PHOTOS (Top) Robert Yang swims the third leg of the winning 200 medley relay for Ann Arbor Pioneer. (Middle) Pioneer’s Teodor Jaworski pulls to the front on the way to winning the 200 freestyle. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)