Groves Accomplishes Year-long Goal in Earning 1st Finals Title Since 2010

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 11, 2023

HOLLAND – Birmingham Groves junior Angus McDonald remembers a phone call between teammates following last year’s fourth-place finish at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals.  

“I remember a year ago, we were on a call late at night saying that we could really win state next year, and we’ve been working for this the whole year,” McDonald said. “It’s something we’ve dreamed of for so long.” 

That dream became a reality Saturday as the Falcons claimed the Division 2 crown by a narrow margin over Detroit U-D Jesuit.

Groves finished with 274 points, while Jesuit had 267 points. Birmingham Seaholm (210) was third and Grosse Pointe South (207) placed fourth. 

The Finals win was the Falcons’ first since 2010. 

“We thought we had a chance to win the BIg Dance,” Groves coach Ricky Forrest said. “We knew it was going to be very tight. We knew it was going to be a dogfight, and it was. 

“We had a lot of kids step up, and our captains and our leadership on the team did a tremendous job.” 

Groves has steadily climbed the ladder at the Finals. The Falcons had placed ninth two years ago, and knew this feat was possible with the return of several experienced swimmers. 

Fenton’s Max Haney races to the 200 IM victory. “It was a goal that they had last March, and they put in the work,” Forrest said. “It's one of the most rewarding feelings in the world when you put in the work, and you get to see it. I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it right now.” 

McDonald won the 100-yard breaststroke (55.90) and was a part of the victorious 200 medley relay team that set the tone early. 

“We knew if any year was going to be the year, this was it, and we’ve been striving so hard to make it happen,” McDonald said. “U of D put up a great fight, and they’re a very strong team. We’re just so happy to come out with this, and this feels amazing.” 

Senior Ian Duncan, who clocked a winning time of 1:40.01 in the 200 free, became emotional as he clutched the championship trophy and talked about the journey to reach this moment. 

“In this sport more than anything, you have early mornings and late nights and you think about all the things that can get you through those hard practices when you really don't want to do it,” Duncan said. “Keeping your dreams alive, that one day you might get in the pool and win it all for your team and the school that you represented for four years. It's really something that keeps you going through the hard times. It's immeasurable.”

After Friday’s preliminaries, Groves set out to prove it had enough mettle to win it all. 

“We brought it together in our hotel room, and we thought we had a chance to do something special,” Duncan said. “We all looked each other in the eye, and we all knew if we could come together as a team and trusted each other then we were going to come out on top.” 

Grosse Pointe South’s Logan Hepner launches during his repeat pursuit in diving.Forrest said the little things made the difference. 

“Our boys swam outstanding yesterday and today, and it's really crazy how all the small things that we teach and we coach always matter when the races are so tight,” he said. 

Jesuit placed runner-up for the second-straight year. Last year the Cubs finished second to Ann Arbor Skyline. 

“We kind of knew all season that we were talented,” Jesuit coach Drew Edson said. “I didn’t realize we were going to be up like this, but our focus the entire season and this weekend was the team. 

“This is the best team around when it comes to being loving and appreciative for the successes they've had because they’ve worked for every amount of it.” 

Jesuit captured wins in a pair of relay events, the 200 and 400 free. 

“Top to bottom our kids did phenomenally,” Edson said. “Our relays were great, individually we were great and we had a lot of top-end speed. We were just missing a little bit of depth, and I think that’s where championships are won. Our kids swam their hearts out.”  

Fenton senior Max Haney became a two-time Finals champion winning the 200 IM (1:48.44) and the 100 back (48.92). 

Grosse Pointe South senior Logan Hepner recorded the top honor in diving for the second-straight season, this time by scoring 560.801 points. His father Chad had won a Finals championship in diving for the Blue Devils in 1993.

Byron Center's Austin Briggs (50 freestyle), Grosse Pointe south's Keiran Rahmaan (100 butterfly) and Troy Liu (100 free), and Walled Lake Northern's Seah Diffenderfer (500 free) also won championships, Diffenderfer repeating in that race.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Birmingham Groves celebrates its LPD2 team championship Saturday at Holland Aquatic Center. (Middle) Fenton’s Max Haney races to the 200 IM victory. (Below) Grosse Pointe South’s Logan Hepner launches during his repeat pursuit in diving. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)

Ambrose Era: Generations of Success

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

February 26, 2019

KENTWOOD – When Jock Ambrose began his coaching career during the mid 1970s, sports options were limited in the community he had recently moved to after college.

The construction of a new indoor community pool, however, sent residents flocking to the water.

The Kentwood Public Schools Aquatic Center presented an opportunity for parents to introduce swimming to their children, and Ambrose would eventually reap the rewards.

“We did not have the ice arena, and soccer for boys and girls was not a sport yet,” Ambrose said. “Water polo wasn’t a high school sport either so there were fewer choices, but the draw of the pool was huge within our community.

“For eight to 10 years, young go-getter parents brought their kids a lot to swimming and it took off from there.”

Ambrose started coaching high school boys swimming in 1976, and after 38 seasons, he recently announced he would retire after this winter season after an illustrious career filled with success.

“‘I’m seeing that my energy level, as I get older, is not what it used to be,” said Ambrose, who retired from teaching four years ago.

“I never imagined I would coach forever, and my wife, Ann, and I want to do things with our kids and grandchildren. I’ve had a tremendous last year of teaching great students and great kids in the pool with wonderful parents.”

For the 65-year-old Ambrose, the decision to step down was made easier knowing that he’s leaving the program in good hands.

His successor won’t officially be named until after the season.

“We have a young man in the program who is more than ready to take over and continue to improve the program,” Ambrose said. “He’s ready to have a long career and is tremendous with the kids and parents. It would’ve been harder to walk away if I didn’t have someone like that, but I feel completely confident in where this program is going in the future and he is going to equal and surpass what we’ve had in the last several years.”

The East Kentwood boys swimming & diving program hit its peak during the 1980s, emerging as a perennial powerhouse.

The Falcons won Class A titles in 1983 and 1989 while also finishing as Finals runners-up in 1985, 1986 and 1988.

They finished in the top three seven consecutive years and became the benchmark for other programs to follow.

“There is no doubt in those years that we had some tremendous athletes,” Ambrose said.

Eric Gale was an All-American diver for East Kentwood and as a senior considered one of the top five divers in the country on the way to competing at the University of Tennessee.

Gale still holds several conference and meet records at the high school and has been the team’s diving coach the past 31 years.

“He is truly a class act, and it has been my honor to be one of the student-athletes under him and to have coached with him,” Gale said of Ambrose. “He is a tremendous human being and treats everyone he comes in contact with with respect and kindness, and that includes members of opposing teams he has faced.

“He’s the definition of what an educator should be, and he has positively affected thousands of lives in the swimming community and education.”

In 1997, Ambrose accepted the position of athletic director at East Kentwood and was away from coaching for five years.

He returned to the classroom and came back to the pool.

He also coached the girls team for three years during the 1990s, and that included coaching his youngest daughter.

As Ambrose’s coaching career continued, he began to see an influx of former athletes’ children.

“All the way through I’ve had tremendous family and community support for what we’ve tried to do, and I get one sibling after another,” Ambrose said. “Every year for the last 12 or 15 years I’ve had at least one person whose parent swam for me, and one year I had five boys on the team whose mom or dad swam for me in high school or within our club.

“It feels good when a parent brings their kid back knowing what they went through was a good place for them. The support of the parents helps you to continue the levels of success.”

East Kentwood athletic director Blaine Brumels said Ambrose has been a “true blessing to Kentwood Public Schools.”

“His hard work, dedication and commitment to our students in the classroom and the pool are unbelievable,” Brumels said. “We always have great stories about Jock, and they are always about his love of kids and being a Falcon. It is always about the students and love of the school and sport.”

Although Ambrose will remain with the program as an assistant coach for a couple years, his last MHSAA Finals directing it will take place in a couple weeks.

“We have a good group of seniors who are working hard, and we think we can get some kids to score and get to the second day,” Ambrose said. “It will be exciting for the entire program.”

Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.

PHOTO: East Kentwood coach Jock Ambrose revs up his team before the start of the 2009 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Eastern Michigan University.