Finals Preview: Ready for Launch
March 7, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This winter so far has been one of repeat champions – be it all four during last weekend's MHSAA Cheer Finals, or in three of four divisions at the Team Wrestling Finals the week before.
Only Saline is expected to repeat as winner at an MHSAA Lower Peninsula Swimming and Diving Final this weekend. But the Hornets can become the first since Birmingham Brother Rice in 1998 to win at least four straight LP boys swimming and diving titles.
See below for team favorites and top individuals to watch at all three of this weekend's meets. Preliminaries are Friday, with championship races and diving Saturday. And if you can't attend, all three Finals will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv.
Click for lineups and seed times for all three meets.
Division 1 at Holland Aquatic Center
Team contenders: Top-ranked Saline will graduate one of the most impressive senior classes we've seen statewide in some time, and they’ll be pushing for a fourth-straight MHSAA title. The Hornets have seven top seeds – including in all three relays – plus three more entries seeded second or third. And that doesn't count senior diver Sam Blair, third last season as the top non-senior in that event at the 2012 D1 Final. Birmingham Brother Rice enters ranked No. 2 and with six entries – including two relays – seeded among the top eight in their respective events.
Saline 200 medley relay: Josh Ehrman, David Boland and Michael Bundas contributed to a Division 1 meet record of 133.95 last season, and those three with Lucas Allen have swum the race in 1:32.58 this winter. They’ll chase the all-division/class record of 1:31.94 set by Birmingham Brother Rice in 1997.
Saline 200 freestyle relay: Ehrman, Bundas, junior Matthew Sieffert and senior Adam Whitener have the top seed time of 1:25.29 and will try to make a run at the record of 1:24.34 set by Rockford a year ago.
Tabahn Afrik, Holland West Ottawa sophomore: He carries top Division 1 seeds in both the 50 freestyle (21.14) and the 100 freestyle (45.94), and is looking to make big jumps in both. He was sixth in the 100 last season and 11th in the 50.
Nick Arakelian, Livonia Stevenson junior: He’s got the top Division 1 seed times in both the 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley, 4:35.47 and 1:50:63, respectively.
David Boland, Saline senior: He’s won the D1 butterfly title the last two seasons, setting the meet record of 48.95 in 2011, and he’s got the top seed time again of 49.76. He also has the top backstroke seed time in the division, 51.05, which isn't far off the meet record of 50.8 swam in 2004. Boland also won the 200 individual medley last season.
Josh Ehrman, Saline senior: He was the brightest of a number of stars at last season’s Division 1 Final, winning the breaststroke in a D1 record time of 55.36 and also setting the D1 record in the 200 individual medley with a 1:49.34 in the prelim before finishing second in the Final to Boland. Ehrman has the top seed time in the breaststroke of 56.75 and the second best for the 200 IM of 1:51.22.
Adam Whitener, Saline senior: He’s won D1 championships in the 100 and 200 freestyles in each of the last two seasons, and could make it six individual titles for his career. Whitener has the top 200 seed time of 1:42.78, and his 100 seed time of 46.28 is second-fastest in the division.
Division 2 at Oakland University
Team contenders: Ann Arbor Pioneer moved into this division this winter, which could make things a little tougher to sort out Saturday. Birmingham Seaholm is ranked No. 1 and has 16 entries seeded among the top 16 in their respective events – including two relays and an individual entering with the second-best times. Holland and Pioneer are tied at No. 2 coming in – Holland entering with 17 top-16 seeds including six number ones, and Pioneer with 13 top-16 seeds including two number ones plus a diving contender in senior Tyler Leach.
Holland 200 medley relay: This appears to have the best chance of any relay in Division 2 to set a record. Its best time this season is 1:36.33, and the Division 2 Finals record is 1:35.32, swam in 2008.
Jackson Goethe, Midland Dow senior: The reigning D2 champion in the 50 freestyle has the third-fastest seed time this winter, 21.59. His seed time of 47.2 in the 100 freestyle is second-fastest; he finished runner-up in that race last season.
Chris Klein, Ann Arbor Pioneer senior: After posting a third-place finish in the breaststroke and a fourth in the individual medley at last season’s Division 1 Final, he’s favored to win both in Division 2 this weekend. His top breaststroke time this winter of 57.43 would approach the meet record of 57.25 swam in 2010, and he also has the top D2 seed time in the IM of 1:51.61.
Ben Martin, Midland Dow senior: The reigning champion in the 200 individual medley has the third-fastest seed time in D2 this winter of 1:54.37. He also finished seventh in the butterfly last season and has the third-seeded time in that race, 52.29.
Jeremiah Morren, Holland senior: The reigning champion in the 100 freestyle is poised to win both sprints. He has the top seed times in both — 46.77 in the 100 and 21.22 in the 50. He also finished ninth in the 200 freestyle last season.
Thomas Rathbun, Holland junior: Michigan swimming has been great to Rathbun since he moved from Iowa before this school year. He comes into this weekend with the top D2 seed times in the 200 freestyle (1:42.35) and 500 (4:37.12).
Jason Wesseling, Jenison junior: He finished second in Division 2 in the backstroke last season to Okemos’ Adam Marsh, who also is back. But Wesseling enters this weekend with the top D2 seed time in the event, 51.22, and the fourth-best of 21.62 in the 50. He also finished eighth in the 100 freestyle in 2012.
Division 3 at Eastern Michigan University
Team contenders: East Grand Rapids is hoping for its first championship since 2009, but third in six seasons, and is the No. 1-ranked team. The Pioneers have 16 entries with top-16 seeds, plus five divers. But No. 2 Bloomfield Hills Lahser should make a strong push with 15 top-16 seeds including three number ones. And No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood also has 16 top-16 seeds.
Bloomfield Hills Lahser 200 medley relay: John Schihl, Jack Ramonat and Joe Finn also swim on the top-seeded 400 freestyle relay, but could start the Division 3 meet with a classic race as Lahser’s top-seeded time of 1:37.49 in the medley is only 18 hundredths of a second faster than that of East Grand Rapids.
Ryan Beezhold, Grand Rapids Christian senior: He finished fourth in the 50 freestyle and second in the 100 at last season’s Division 3 Final. He’s got the top D3 seed times in both races heading into this weekend — 21.7 in the 50 and 46.95 in the 100.
Parker Cook-Weeks, Holland Christian junior: The reigning Division 3 champion in the 500 freestyle has the fastest seed time in his division of 4:40.19, but perhaps more impressive is his top seed time of 142.04 in the 200 — more than three seconds faster than the field. He also finished fifth in the 200 IM in 2012.
Matt Hooper, East Grand Rapids senior: The reigning breaststroke champion after winning the race both in 2012 and 2011, he’s swam it in 58 seconds flat – which would break the current meet record, although it is the second-fastest seed time in this division. He also has the third-best seed time in the IM of 1:58.19.
Matt Liu, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood senior – He has the second-fastest D3 seed time in the IM of 1:58.09 and also the second-fastest in the butterfly of 53.57. He finished second in both the IM and the breaststroke at the 2012 Final.
John Schihl, Bloomfield Hills Lahser junior: After finishing third in the 100 breaststroke and ninth in the 100 freestyle in Division 3 last season, he’s in line to break a meet record. His seed time in the breaststroke is 57.72, which would erase the meet record of 58.15 swam in 2008. Schihl also has the fourth-lowest seed time in the 50 of 22.17.
Henry Swett, Marshall sophomore: He’s continued to build on winning the Division 3 championship last season with a score of 435.65. He’s the favorite again this weekend.
PHOTO: Swimmers launch during a race at last season's Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final at Oakland University. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Picking Up Seconds All Over, Cranbrook Picks Up Points to Climb Podium
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
March 11, 2023
ROCHESTER — Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood edged top-seeded East Grand Rapids by one hundredth of a second Saturday in the 200-yard medley relay at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals at Oakland University.
The Cranes celebrated their victory in the meet’s first event like they had just won the state championship. Little did everyone in attendance know that when all was said and done, that razor-thin margin would in fact be the difference, as Cranbrook captured its first Finals title since 2017. The Cranes totaled 271 team points, beating out the two-time reigning champion Pioneers (259) by 12 points.
“I’m one of those coaches, I score out the psych sheet, I score out the entries and EGR was 11 points up on us coming into today,” Cranbrook head coach Paul Ellis said. “(Winning) that first relay, that was a 12-point swing. That got the snowball rolling, and we continued to feed off that and go fast.”
Freshman A.J. Farner, senior Ethan Schwab and sophomores Sean Lu and Joe Wiater got the win for Ellis’s team. Schwab and Wiater swam the top splits in their legs, with Wiater rallying his team to victory in the final freestyle leg.
“That win by one one-hundredth really set the tone for the meet,” Schwab said. “It was great to come out with my team and have fun in the first relay and then bring the energy into the next event.”
Schwab brought the energy to all four of his swims at the Finals. The Michigan-bound Schwab won three of the races he entered and set LP Division 3 Finals records in both the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke this weekend. His time of 1:48.23 in Saturday’s IM beat the record he set just a day earlier in the prelims. He then finished with a 54.31 in the 100 breaststroke, beating out Wayland’s Zachery Jenison by more than two seconds but falling just short of his record-setting time of 54.04, set in Friday’s preliminary round.
Schwab was named Swimmer of the Meet by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association for his efforts, which also included a runner-up finish as part of the 400 freestyle relay.
Cranbrook’s 200 freestyle relay team of sophomore Robbie Sarle, senior Christos Tzoumakas, Wiater and junior Will Farner beat out top-seeded and 2022 event champion Grand Rapids Christian for the win. It was one of four victories for the Cranes.
“It was just a phenomenal team effort from top to bottom,” Ellis said. “Everyone did their part. Everyone nickel and dimed their way into the top 16 and nickel and dimed their way by moving up a little bit in each final swim that we had.
“We had huge swims from Will Farner, A.J. Farner and Sean Lu. Joe Wiater was injured last year. He came back and was consolation in the 50 and top eight in the breaststroke. It was a whole bunch of guys from all different classes that did it for us. I’m thrilled with everything they did.”
East Grand Rapids, which came in having won the Division 3 title in both 2021 and 2022, actually took slim leads over Cranbrook after eight events and again after 10. Junior Carter Kegle won the 500 freestyle for the second-straight year, beating out Plainwell freshman Sam Harper by five seconds. The win helped his team take a 10-point lead over Cranbrook. Kegle would finish second in the 200 freestyle and helped his Pioneers win the 400 freestyle relay to end the day. Junior Micah Spitzley and seniors Ted Turnage and Logan McCahill joined Kegle on the winning relay.
“We swam great. We broke three or four school records, and we were in the hunt,” East Grand Rapids head coach Milton Briggs said. “Give credit to Cranbrook. They beat us in that (medley) relay and they won the 200 free relay, which they weren’t supposed to. They had a great second day. They swam out of their minds. They’re a very, very good team.”
Grand Rapids Christian junior Ben Sytsma won the 50 freestyle and finished runner-up in the 100 freestyle. He won the 50 in a time of 20.57 seconds, edging Manistee junior Alec Lampen by three tenths of a second.
Lampen rebounded to win the 100 backstroke in a time of 50.30 seconds.
Chelsea’s Mitch Brown rolled to victory in the 1-meter diving competition. The junior scored 522.25, outdistancing second-place Gryffin Porter of Haslett (428.75). DeWitt freshman Carson Reynolds was third with 419.65 points.
Fremont senior Matheus Garcia won the 100 freestyle, touching the wall in a time of 44.75 seconds. He beat out Sytsma (44.96) and McCahill (45.20).
The state saw a glimpse of the future, as a pair of freshmen walked away with championships. Otsego’s Liam Smith won the 100 butterfly, and Adrian’s London Rising was tops in the 200 freestyle. Smith entered the weekend with the top-seeded time but was second after Friday’s preliminaries to Holland senior James Baer.
“I always put pressure on myself,” said Smith, who won the final with a time of 49.74. “I came in as the 1-seed so I felt like I had to finish as the 1-seed. But at the same time, I have three more years to come in and do it all over again. It feels awesome.”
Rising, who was second to Kegle after the prelims, said he was stressing out heading into the prelims and all night Friday.
“All night, I was just visualizing my race,” said Rising, who also finished third in the 100 butterfly. “When I came back, I was more nervous than excited but after I won, it was a big weight lifted off my shoulders. Today, I just focused on myself and didn’t underestimate anybody. I thought it was going to be a good race, and it was.”
Holland Christian finished third with 161 points, and Adrian (135) and Grand Rapids Christian (110) rounded out the top five.
PHOTOS Cranbrook Kingswood’s Ethan Schwab launches into one of his races Saturday at Oakland University. (Middle) Adrian’s London Rising celebrates his victory in the 200 freestyle. (Below) Chelsea’s Mitch Brown completes a dive on the way to claiming the title in that event. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)