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.)
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.)