Marquette Dominates to Run Streak to 3
February 20, 2016
By Keith Shelton
Special for Second Half
MARQUETTE – Overwhelming favorites to begin the day, the Marquette Redmen might have surpassed even their own lofty expectations Saturday at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Swimming and Diving Finals in their home pool.
Marquette dominated to the point that they rendered the day a competition for second place, winning their third straight U.P. title with 326 points, followed by Houghton with 208 and Sault Ste. Marie with 205.
"We knew if they didn't disqualify in starts or turns, that they would dominate," Marquette coach Nate McFarren said. "We expected a lot from them this year, and they really tore it up today. It was pretty cool."
Senior Sam Williams had a day that any senior would love in his final sporting event. Williams broke three Upper Peninsula Finals records while capturing firsts in the 200-yard individual medley (1:57.11), 100 breaststroke (58.02) and as part of the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. His 200 IM time was nearly three seconds faster than the previous record, and his 100 breaststroke time was a full two seconds faster than the previous best in that event and six seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Williams also set the U.P. Finals record for the 100 freestyle while swimming on the 400 freestyle relay, with a time of 48.39.
Of the breaststroke, an event that proves difficult for many swimmers, Williams said, "The thing a lot of people don't understand is the breaststroke is not as much about power and speed. It's about decreasing the resistance. If you can get a good body line on every stroke, you're going to be better off than most people."
Williams began swimming competitively at age 10 and had a goal even then to win a U.P. title at the high school level before going on to swim in college. According to McFarren, the second part of Williams' goal is likely to be realized as well.
"Sam was quite a bit ahead of his closest competitor today, so we focused on him getting used to swimming by himself and visualizing his race with someone swimming next to him," McFarren said. "He's a very bright individual outside of swimming. He's number one in his class. To be with him for four years and watching him grow from a freshman to a senior, it's been my honor."
Marquette also had a standout in junior Andrew Kilpela, who earned a first as part of the 200 medley relay and was second in the 100 backstroke, arguably the best event of the day.
Gladstone junior Matthew LeClaire had an outstanding performance, highlighted by his victory in the 100 backstroke (54.33), which broke the previous U.P. Finals record of 54.91. Kilpela also broke the U.P. record with his time of 54.72. Throughout the race the two rivals pulled a hair ahead of one another, and the final 25 yards were neck and neck.
"Matt works very hard, and when he comes to this meet and swims against Andrew, that just seems to fire him up," said Gladstone coach Tom Desy. "That was about as close of a race as you can get. It was back and forth, definitely the race of the meet."
LeClaire, who will continue his rivalry with Kilpela next year, said he was battling his own thoughts prior to the race.
"It was tense getting ready for the race," LeClaire said. "The kid from Marquette was seeded ahead of me, and it was in my head. I was thinking oh man, I don't want to lose this; I can't lose this. I tried to hold it down and keep going."
LeClaire also won the 100 freestyle (50.64), which Williams did not race, and was part of the Braves' 200 medley relay team, which placed second.
Marquette's depth, however, was so pronounced that most of the other schools were simply seeing red for most of the day. The Redmen even had a 1-2 finish in the 200 IM, with Matt Kurin finishing second to Williams. Ben Luke won the 100 butterfly (57.77), Matthew Nykanen placed third in the 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle, and Ryan Glover was third in the 100 backstroke. The Redmen also won all three relays.
"We're lucky to have some serious depth on the boys team," said McFarren. "Some finished second or third to their own teammates. Being able to put together three relays that win isn't always heard of.
"I was really nervous about our relays today because I spread our talent out," added McFarren. "I wanted to go after it in all three relays, and I probably couldn't have done it without the help of Andrew and Sam. Having Sam lead off two relays and lead us to victory, and break that individual record in a relay, is pretty cool."
Marquette will lose Williams to graduation, but with its superior depth, will be in good position to go for a fourth straight title next season.
"Sam will be a huge loss, but we're only losing two seniors, and we had a really talented team this year, outside of Sam," McFarren said.
PHOTOS: (Top) A swimmer leads the butterfly during Saturday's Upper Peninsula Finals at Marquette. (Middle) Swimmers launch for another race. (Click for more from Jarvinen Photography.)
Longtime Coach's Legendary Expertise Keeps Manistee Surging
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2021
Name any high school or community pool in Michigan, and odds are Corey Van Fleet has been there.
Perhaps it is true of any pool in the United States.
He might have even helped build it.
And, a little more odds. If the pool hosted an MHSAA Finals meet, one of Van Fleet’s teams likely participated. Although he won’t have any qualifiers making the trip to the Division 3 girls meet Friday, he’s been to championship weekend lots of times with Birmingham Seaholm and Manistee. His 1962-65 Seaholm boys teams won four straight Class A Finals, and his Manistee boys team is coming off a Finals trip last winter and its best season ever.
Van Fleet, now 85 years young, is in his 68th of coaching swimmers. He’s spent the last 13 with the boys and girls teams of Manistee High School. He started the program after helping build the pool.
The school utilizes the Paine Aquatics Center named after Bill Paine, who presented a proposal to the City of Manistee, the Manistee Area Public Schools and Van Fleet. Paine’s proposal called for the pool, which opened in July 2009, to be attached to the high school facilities.
“So I’m sitting in my office one day and this tall, lanky guy (Paine) walks in and closes the door and says my wife and I want to donate an aquatics complex in Manistee, and Sandy Saylor says you know something about swimming,” Van Fleet recalls. “‘Will you help me build it?’
“We talked about it for a while and I said yeah, I’d help him,” Van Fleet continued. “So we ended up with a nice eight-lane swimming pool in Manistee.”
Van Fleet, who also had coached at Florida State, coached and served as athletic director at Oakland University and then served as AD at Long Beach State (Calif.) during an illustrious career at the college level, took the next step naturally.
“The superintendent of schools at the time (Robert Olsen) said you build the darn thing, you might as well get some programs started,” Van Fleet recalled. “That was 13 years ago, and I’m still at it.”
At it, Van Fleet continues. He plans to stay with it until he just can’t do it anymore.
“I am still fairly healthy,” he said. “If I can find six people that can carry me out of church, I can think about quitting.”
During his tenure at Manistee, Van Fleet’s teams have dominated the Coastal Conference and produced multiple academic all-state swimmers. The boys team captured the 2020 academic all-state title with a 3.82 team grade point average.
“I am most proud, I think, about our academic progress,” Van Fleet said. “We take great pride in passing some classes.”
Van Fleet is also filled with pride when he reflects on all the swimmers he’s seen go on to become lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers and coaches.
“I am pleased with the number of kids who have gone on to do some pretty big things in the world off our swimming programs,” he said. “I’d like to think they might have learned lessons about goal planning and sticking to it and hard work and all that stuff.
“That’s what lights me up.”
Van Fleet’s initial high school coaching job was at Madison Heights in 1959. He’s coached at camps all over Michigan, including his first at Burt Lake in 1954. Today he owns and operates a summer swimming camp in Irons, 30 miles southeast of Manistee. He also built it.
Jeff Brunner, a veteran MHSAA official in multiple sports including swimming, and father of former members of the Traverse City high school swimming co-op, is among many singing praises of Van Fleet’s impact on the sport.
“Corey has a wealth of information that he has accumulated in his coaching career,” Brunner said. “If I was a high school swimmer, I’d want to learn all I could from him – swimming for him would be such a unique opportunity.”
Andrew Huber, principal of Manistee’s middle and high schools, agrees with Brunner.
“We're humbled to have had Corey as part of our school and community,” he said. “His wealth of experience, knowledge, and relationship building has helped create a foundation of well-being for students and adults alike.
“His enthusiasm for swimming is infectious, and his energy is amazing for anyone regardless of age,” he continued. “It's been truly impressive to observe him connect and inspire students for the many years he's been in Manistee, and realize his impact is generational.”
The Manistee boys swim team starts practice next week. The Chippewas, along with their girls squad, have battled through COVID. The pandemic is one of many changes through which Van Fleet has guided his athletes.
“We’ve seen changes in training methods,” he said. “We’ve seen changes in diet.
“We’ve seen changes in philosophies in terms of what’s important and what’s not important,” he went on. “Kids have changed, and parents have changed.”
Training methods have been modified the most, along with new multi-lane pools popping up in Michigan, Van Fleet noted.
“Swimming is more technical now,” he said. “The science of swimming has become paramount.
“It is not just going in and kick a few legs and swim a few hundreds and go home — we’ve gone the gamut,” he continued. “It is very specific now every time you want a kid to do something, and now our swimming pools are showplaces – they are magnificent.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Corey Van Fleet (far right) visits with his Manistee girls team the wall honoring him at Oakland University. (Middle) Van Fleet is in his 68th year coaching swimming. (Photos courtesy of the Manistee girls swimming & diving program.)