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.)
John Glenn Solo Diver Aiming To Stand Alone Atop Finals Podium
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 27, 2022
Jamie Miller is getting used to working alone.
As the lone diver on the Bay City John Glenn swimming & diving team, he spends his practice time by himself, working on the dives he hopes can get him a few steps higher on this year’s Finals podium.
“I’ve worked with plenty of really great coaches, and I’ve been to so many good camps,” Miller said. “I know a lot, and I actually know how to coach. I have a little TV, a little TiVo that records my dives, so 20 seconds later, I can walk up and watch it and see how to fix it. I’m a huge introvert, so I don’t have to talk to anyone and don’t have to worry about anyone.”
So far, so good for the senior, who is off to a strong start after finishing sixth at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals a year ago.
He recently won the Tri-Cities championship at Saginaw Valley State, finishing with a two-day, 11-dive total of 454.5, which would have placed third at this past year’s Finals. He’s also broken the Oscoda pool record, scoring 273.55 for six dives to break the previous mark set in 1989.
“I think it’s going pretty well,” Miller said. “I had had a lot of time off because of COVID, but because of how hard I worked in middle school and my early years of high school, I just jumped right back in where I left off.”
Miller has been diving since seventh grade, although he discovered his skill and love for the sport almost by accident.
“I joined the swim team because it was the only sport I could pick that wasn’t a scary contact sport,” he said. “I started swimming and I got a really bad cramp and was like, ‘This kind of sucks. I’m going to try this other thing.’ Then I actually started to like it.”
He began working with Bay Aquatics Diving and coach Janet Beattie, which he said helped him to grow a lot as a diver. While the pandemic forced him away from the club, the lessons learned have helped him continue to improve.
He was also fortunate to have a strong teammate in Trevor Post, who placed fourth as a senior at the 2021 Finals.
“Trevor’s the kind of guy – you know the saying, ‘Work hard, because someone out there is working harder than you?’ Trevor was that guy, and I got to dive with him every day,” Miller said. “We got so competitive, and if we weren’t on the same team, we would not have been as successful as we were.”
Without Post pushing him daily at practice, Miller said it can sometimes be tough to be self-motivated. But anytime he needs a push, he looks up at the record board in front of him.
“The record I’m trying to beat this year at the schools, it’s been there since 2004, it’s 300 points,” he said. “My highest score is 275, so it’s a reach. We’ve only had two dual meets, and I’ve only got to dive at one of them. We have eight more, so that’s what I’m really going for. It’s going to be close.”
Miller is not only looking to motivate himself every day, he’s also constantly having to get over the fear that creeps in when he’s on the board and prepares to dive. While he considers the sport to be very fun, he’s not afraid to admit it is also “horrifying.”
“I have to get over it every single time I get in the water,” Miller said. “It’s kind of like diving is like a constant mental battle. It’s not a physical sport, it’s all mental. You have to convince yourself of things. You can really learn a lot about your mind with diving.”
As he learns about himself and how to stay motivated, Miller does have a greater goal ahead of him. Only three of the top eight divers from last year’s Division 3 Finals graduated, including two of the top five. Miller has crunched the numbers, and as he sees it, if all remains the same, he will move into the top three this year.
He’s not satisfied with that, though.
“I think the least I can shoot for is top three,” he said. “I should be shooting for first. I should just continue forward, shooting for first for the rest of the season. I know a couple kids who are really good. If nobody (else) just completely shines in their first year and beats me, then I should take third if everything stays the same. But I’m going to shoot for first.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Bay City John Glenn’s Jamie Miller dives during a meet this winter. (Middle) Miller, leading a line of divers on the pool deck, recently won the Tri-Cities diving competition. (Photos by Kent Miller.)