Highlight Reel: LP Swim & Diving Finals
March 14, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
This season’s Lower Peninsula Swimming and Diving Finals were completed at three sites Saturday.
Below are a highlight from each MHSAA Final, with links for watching the meets in full.
CLOSE FINISH IN THE 100 FLY – The closest finish of the Division 1 L.P. Boys Swimming & Diving Finals was in the 100-yard butterfly, where Lake Orion’s Devon Nowicki out-touched Gust Kouvaris of Birmingham Brother Rice to win in 48.92 seconds. Watch the entire LP Division 1 meet and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
MORK MAKES HIS MARK – Midland Dow's Nehemiah Mork claimed the 50-yard freestyle at the MHSAA Division 2 L.P. Boys Swimming & Diving Finals, edging Nick Ross of Birmingham Seaholm with a winning time of 20.8 seconds. Watch the entire LP Division 2 meet and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
TIGHTEST FINISH OF THE DAY – The 50-yard freestyle was the tightest race of the Division 3 L.P. Boys Swimming & Diving Finals, as Joey Mangner of Chelsea turned in 21.27 seconds to nip Nathan Hein of East Grand Rapids. Watch the entire LP Division 3 meet and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
PHOTO: Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Joey Puglessi swims to the LPD3 championship in the backstroke. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Moment: West Ottawa Clinches in Finale
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 31, 2020
Holland West Ottawa long has had one of the most renowned high school boys swimming & diving programs in Michigan. But MHSAA Finals team championships had been elusive – the Panthers fell just shy again with a second-place finish in Lower Peninsula Division 1 in 2018.
How much difference can a few tenths of a second make? On March 9, 2019, enough to see West Ottawa win its first Finals championship since 1971.
Jamahl Hogan, Sam Smith, Derek Maas and Khadin Soto swam the relay in 3:05.84, besting Detroit Catholic Central’s time by six tenths of a second and giving West Ottawa a final eight-point edge in the team standings over the runner-up Shamrocks.
Said Soto, who anchored the relay: “I knew the meet was within a few points, and I knew we had to win that race. I knew I had to beat the guy next to me, and I knew he was really fast. Since I didn’t win the 100 breaststroke like I thought I would, I just kept telling myself that I can’t get caught up in everything else. I just need to do what my teammates need me to do. Just swim like we have been all year. For the last lap I was telling myself I can’t be the one that loses it for everyone.”
Click for Second Half’s coverage – 6 Hundredths Seal West Ottawa’s Title Win – and watch the race below with coverage from the NFHS Network.