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.)
Performance: West Ottawa's Derek Maas
January 19, 2018
Derek Maas
Holland West Ottawa junior – Swimming
The Panthers’ standout won the 100-yard backstroke (52.02 seconds), took second in the 200 individual medley (1:56.80) and swam on winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays Saturday as West Ottawa – then ranked No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 1 – defeated No. 1 Ann Arbor Skyline 104-79 and No. 3 Birmingham Brother Rice 111-72. The victories moved the Panthers into top spot in the rankings this week, as Maas earned the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
Maas’ backstroke time from the weekend is the fastest in Michigan this winter, and his 1:56.08 at the East Grand Rapids Classic ranks sixth in the IM. He finished second in the backstroke and seventh in the IM at last season’s LPD1 Finals, with his times that day – 50.04 and 1:52.93 – his career bests at the high school level. He also owns the USA Swimming state age 15-16 record in the 200 breaststroke of 2:02.61, set as a member of the West Ottawa Swim Club at the USA Junior National Championships East in December.
The school records in both the backstroke (48.49) and IM (1:48.30) are held by Derek’s older brother Kyle, a 2016 West Ottawa graduate who finished LPD1 runner-up in both events as a senior and now swims at University of Alabama. Derek is considering joining his brother after high school among a number of potential southern college options, and also is a fan of University of Michigan athletics. Maas also played tennis as a freshman and sophomore and ran track as a freshman, and he might pick back up one or both of those sports after this swim season is complete. He carries a 3.94 unweighted grade-point average (4.49 weighted) and is considering studying medicine after high school; he lost his 4.0 when he got an A- in Algebra II – while taking the class as a fourth grader.
Coach Steven Bowyer said: “Derek has had a significant impact on the overall success of our program. Derek received all-state honors as a sophomore in the 200 IM and 100 back. In his junior year, he will play a significant role on our state meet relays, and his individual points will be key in helping our team achieve its goal of a top-4 state meet finish. … Derek's success has come from years of hard work and long hours in the pool. He understands both the amount and type of training that is required to excel at the highest level in this sport. He is also a student of the sport, spending time studying his stroke mechanics and researching ways to increase his efficiency. Derek's work ethic and technical understanding of the sport give him a combination of skills that make him tough to beat. … In pursuit of individual excellence, Derek has always placed team success over his own. Derek understands the better the team gets, the better he gets and vice versa. Our team is training at a very high level right now, in part to the example that Derek sets on a daily basis. Derek also sets an unprecedented example in the classroom; he defines the term student athlete. In addition to the hours he puts in at the pool, he maintains a rigorous schedule of advanced placement courses. We are very proud to have Derek representing our program.”
Performance Point: “I was happy about the 100 back time – it was my season best – and also our relays swam great,” Maas said. “A lot of us had the fastest splits, especially on that medley relay. We came pretty close to setting the pool record – we were like 0.06 (seconds) away, and that was a pretty good in-season time for us. … Our team was really excited for that meet, especially. That was a big confidence booster for us, and I think that everybody after that meet really realized that we have a chance to do really well at the state meet. So I hope that that will make us work even harder, and by the end of the season we’ll be able to accomplish our goals.”
Depth in the deep: “We just have a lot more depth than we had years in the past. A couple of years ago we had Tabahn (Afrik), and he won two events (at the 2014 and 2015 Finals), and then Spencer Carl did the last couple years. But besides just a couple top swimmers, they didn’t have the depth we do this year. This year we have a really solid group of 7-10 swimmers. We’ve all been excited, even starting at the end of last season and starting the summer season. We all were really excited for the state meet coming in March.”
Swim family: “Kyle’s at Alabama right now, and my sister (Jenna, a senior) is thinking about swimming in college. And I also have a younger brother (eighth-grader Kevin) who I think is going to be pretty fast. I think he’ll make a much bigger impact than I did my freshman year. … The best part is whenever I’m at a certain point in a season, I’ll know how I’m doing because I can compare it to my brother’s times. And also, whenever I talk to him about swimming, he always pushes me and gets me motivated. Even my younger brother and older sister do too. We all push each other. Last year I compared all of my times to Kyle’s, and I used to text him about that. He was like, ‘Let’s wait and see if you get my varsity records.’”
High flier: “My family really likes (U.S. world champion sprinter) Caeleb Dressel. I read in this one SwimSwam article that he had like a 42-inch vertical (leap), and that’s insane. You can see how that makes him way better on the walls, so that made me more focused on box jumps and dry land (training) and increasing my vertical leap than I had been in the past. I’ve worked on it a lot this year; I’m probably just average right now, but I’m trying to improve that. I can dunk, and Kyle can too.”
Paging Dr. Derek: “Both of my parents are doctors, and they’ve always told us we could be any kind of doctor we want, all four kids. Recently my dad has been opening up the options, but it’s most likely I’ll go pre-med, and that’s what Kyle is doing right now at Alabama. I haven’t looked into it a ton, but I know I’d like dermatology and maybe surgery.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
January 11: Lexi Niepoth, Bellaire basketball - Read
November 30: La'Darius Jefferson, Muskegon football - Read
November 23: Ashley Turak, Farmington Hills Harrison swimming - Read
November 16: Bryce Veasley, West Bloomfield football - Read
November 9: Jose Penaloza, Holland soccer - Read
November 2: Karenna Duffey, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North cross country - Read
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City Central golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Holland West Ottawa's Derek Maas competes during a meet this season. (Middle) Maas swims the butterfly. (Photos courtesy of the West Ottawa boys swimming & diving program.)