Performance: Spring Lake's Cam Peel
March 15, 2019
Cam Peel
Spring Lake senior – Swimming & Diving
The record-setting sprint star capped his high school career Saturday with two individual titles and as part of two relay championships at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals, earning the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.” In addition to his championships, Peel became the first swimmer in Michigan high school history to break 20 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, swimming an all-Finals record 19.86 seconds in prelims and 19.91 in the championship race.
Peel had won the 100 freestyle as a junior and placed four more times in individual events before jumping into the Oakland University pool last weekend. In addition to winning the 50, Peel took the 100 in a meet record 43.94 seconds, anchored the 200 freestyle relay in a meet record 1:22.88 and also anchored the winning 400 relay in a meet record 3:03.66. Spring Lake as a team finished fourth, to go with finishes of 13th, fifth and third during his career. He will graduate with the school records in the 50 and 100, and also in the 200 freestyle (1:39.65), individual medley (1:54.14) and 100 butterfly (50.96).
Sprinting runs in the Peel family, at least these last two generations – his father Rob, also Spring Lake’s coach the last three seasons, won an NCAA Division III championship in the 50. Sister Meg Peel has reached the Division III Finals as well in the backstroke. Cam actually quit swimming during middle school, taking up football and lacrosse as his main pursuits instead. But he returned to the pool for high school, and will continue at University of Michigan. He carries a 3.85 GPA and plans to study business with an emphasis on property management or marketing.
Coach (and father) Rob Peel said: “I’m nothing short of amazed by Cam’s dedication these last few years. He’s earned everything that he’s accomplished, has worked so hard and sacrificed so much to go so fast. It was an experience for me both as a coach and especially his dad to watch him perform last weekend. It was one of those things, it made me try to hold it together when he’d swim so fast. I was thrilled when he got third at state a couple of years ago – it was a 46.99, I couldn’t have been more proud of that. And for him to go as fast as he has the last couple of years has just blown me away. It’s been inspiring I think to other kids on our team to see you can just put your head down and commit to excelling in a sport and get those kind of results, because I think there are other kids on our team that look at Cam and now say, I can have that – maybe not to that level, but I can be successful in this sport because it’s based upon your work and commitment and sacrifice, and they watched him every day do that.”
Performance Point: “I didn't know that no one had broken 20, so it was a little bit of a surprise for me,” said Cam Peel of his 50 record time. “It's a super high honor, and I'm really proud of it. After prelims, I was told they announced it at the other division state meets; it was pretty cool. … My biggest takeaway (from Finals) was probably that I had a lot of fun with my team. Fourth place, we were super close, one point away (from third), but I couldn't ask for a better way to go out with my brothers.”
Magic numbers: “I had been wanting to see 19 for a long time, too early than anyone thought I should. It was super relieving, and I was super buzzed I finally did it. … My freshman year at states – I only swam one event and I swam three relays – but I led off our 2(00) free relay and I went 22.40, and after that season I didn't set a number time, but I wrote a little note to myself and kept it in my room. I still have it to this day. It says I was gonna win states the following year in the 50, which didn't happen, But for that to finally happen (this year) was great.”
Spring Lake pride: “Our team swam great. We have Kevin Losee and Joey Wachter, two standout juniors that are coming back next year. They helped me train all year. That's what nobody seems to realize, is that they're pushing me every single day. And guys like Evan (Schock) and Sam (Sella) and Eric (Geschiere), the seniors, to make it to state there, it was a total team effort.”
Dad knew: “One thing he always said was find something you're passionate about. And before high school, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Then I found swimming, which I'd swam before, but I quit because it was hard and time-consuming. My dad had always said as long as I keep getting faster, I'm going to keep swimming. I guess I've been living by that, and I want to continue doing that as long as I can.”
Coach’s Son: “He's been a great coach. I always get a bunch of flak from the other swimmers about being the coach's son, but it kinda comes along with it. My name changed from Cam to "Coach's Son" pretty much the whole year. And my dad would joke around; we’d ask after swim meets, ‘Do we have to warm down coach?’ I'd be in the mix, and my dad would say, ‘Yeah, you have to warm down, but Cam you don't have to do anything.’ It was just a joke. … He tells me when I ask (for advice). He doesn’t feed me with information, but it’s cool too to look back at stuff he’s done. We have old videos of (his races), and he has an awesome mind in the sport. So I’m learning as much as I can now, and I think it’s going to benefit me in the future. His best events were the 50, 100 and 200, but mostly the 50 – his short course time was 19:83. He was three hundredths of a second faster (than me) in the 50, but I think I have him in the 100 and 200.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2018-19 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard recognizes a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Past 2018-19 honorees
March 7: Jordan Hamdan, Hudson wrestling - Read
February 28: Kevon Davenport, Detroit Catholic Central wrestling - Read
February 21: Reagan Olli, Gaylord skiing - Read
February 14: Jake Stevenson, Traverse City Bay Reps hockey - Read
February 7: Molly Davis, Midland Dow basketball - Read
January 31: Chris DeRocher, Alpena basketball - Read
January 24: Imari Blond, Flint Kearsley bowling - Read
January 17: William Dunn, Quincy basketball - Read
November 29: Dequan Finn, Detroit Martin Luther King football - Read
November 22: Paige Briggs, Lake Orion volleyball - Read
November 15: Hunter Nowak, Morrice football - Read
November 8: Jon Dougherty, Detroit Country Day soccer - Read
November 1: Jordan Stump, Camden-Frontier volleyball - Read
October 25: Danielle Staskowski, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep golf - Read
October 18: Adam Bruce, Gladstone cross country - Read
October 11: Ericka VanderLende, Rockford cross country - Read
October 4: Kobe Clark, Schoolcraft football - Read
September 27: Jonathan Kliewer, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern soccer - Read
September 20: Kiera Lasky, Bronson volleyball - Read
September 13: Judy Rector, Hanover-Horton cross country - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Spring Lake's Cam Peel launches during a relay at Saturday's Division 3 Finals. (Middle) Peel stands atop the awards podium at Oakland University. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Byiringiro's Journey Now Includes Arrival Among State's Diving Champions
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 20, 2025
KENTWOOD – Fidele Byiringiro remembers lounging in a middle school lunchroom shooting the breeze with friends and discussing the range of topics that interest most teenage boys.
Stuff about the toughest class in school. A favorite teacher. Who had a couple extra bucks they could blow. Maybe a serious conversation of who the cutest girl at Valleywood Middle School happened to be.
But when a few of Byiringiro's buddies began extolling the virtues of being on the school’s swimming & diving team, they might as well have been talking about what it’s like to live on Mars.
Born in a Rwandan refugee camp in the Republic of the Congo, Byiringiro said water was thought of more as a critical life-saver than something associated with sports. Still, talk of diving’s somersaults, twists and flips intrigued Byiringiro, who at the time had designs on becoming a professional soccer player.
"I heard about it at a lunch table, and I said, 'I can do that,'" he said.
So Byiringiro, whose parents escaped the horrors of the Rwandan genocide which by several estimates claimed nearly 1 million lives in 1994, decided to follow up on this diving idea. He joined the Kentwood Middle School swim team as an eighth grader and quickly became hooked on the sport.
"I just liked flipping," Byiringiro recalled of why he opted to dive. "I'd do it in my free time after practices. I just kept doing flips."
And how's this for a flip: Five years later, Byiringiro has gone from complete novice to just the second boys diving Finals champion during the 50-plus year history of East Kentwood High School, and the first since 1997.
As he climbed the Holland Aquatic Center podium at Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet to receive his first-place medal, Byiringiro capped a story few athletes in any sport can match.
His parents and siblings had fled Rwanda to the refugee camp, where his mother worked as a nurse and his father repairing water distribution facilities. Byiringiro was born in the camp, and with the help of Christian organizations, eventually immigrated with the family to Philadelphia in 2015. The family wound up in Grand Rapids, and Byiringiro entered school in the Kentwood system and was encouraged by friends to join the swim team.
Since he had never been around lakes or pools in Rwanda, adapting to water wasn't exactly a stroll in the park. But guided by his fascination with turning flips, he eventually became good enough to place in a couple middle school events.
At first, Byiringiro by his own admission wasn't very good. But he stuck with it, eventually getting hooked up with Falcons diving coach Eric Gale as a freshman. While Gale could plainly see Byiringiro was raw, he also believed that with a little teaching, dedication and experience-building – both mentally and physically – there might be something there.
"Things like a half-somersault and maybe adding a twist," Gale said of his first impressions of Byiringiro.
So Byiringiro began to get serious about the sport and slowly improved. He scored at the conference meet as a freshman, qualified for the MHSAA Finals but didn't place as a sophomore, and last year took eighth in Division 1 while placing fourth in the conference.
Nice credentials to be sure, but nothing yet to indicate visions of a state title.
Even the start of his senior year wasn't enough for Byiringiro to become a household name among state divers. It wasn't until he swept the conference meet and finished first at his Regional qualifier at the end of the season that the first tepid thoughts of a Finals title emerged. Byiringiro said the difference between his first 3½ varsity seasons and the final couple of weeks before the LPD1 championship meet can be summed up in a single word.
"It was mental," he said. "Coach has told us never go into a meet focused on winning. Go in and just do what you're capable of. At the conference meet I learned how to believe in myself and what confidence can do for you. It begins with confidence."
So true, Gale said.
"I saw at least a year earlier that the talent was there and that he wanted to get better," said Gale, East Kentwood's diving coach for 37 years and still the school's record holder in the 6 and 11-dive events.
"I would see greatness every day, and I just kept harping to him to be more consistent."
Right up until the Finals meet, there were doubts Byiringiro would pull off his rags-to-riches story. But a late conversation with legendary Falcons swim coach Jock Ambrose boosted his confidence level. He said Ambrose talked about being surrounded by greatness, and while athletes are constantly plagued with the "what if" question, Ambrose stressed "why not?"
"He said there was no reason not to do my best," Byiringiro said. "It kind of woke me up."
Based on season finishes, Byiringiro was the 34th of 36 divers to participate in Friday's prelims. He had an outstanding prelim with 321 points which seeded him first going into the final rounds. With three dives to go Saturday, the title was Byiringiro's to lose.
He proceeded to nail a front one-and-a-half twist, an inward one-and-a-half and finished off his day with an inward two-and-a-half. He won the meet with a 448.80.
"I knew I wasn't favored to win," he said, "but I knew anything could happen."
Like many athletes who compete individually at a high level, Byiringiro said he was flooded with emotion as he stood on the Holland podium. He flashed for a second on how far he'd come from a Rwandan refugee camp, an unlikely original attraction to diving, putting in hours of hard work and ultimately walking away with the top prize in high school diving.
His reaction was predictable.
"I was probably more relieved than happy, but I definitely was happy. Things all went blurry," he said. "It took a couple days to sink in."
There could be a couple chapters left in Byiringiro's story. He wants to dive in college and schools such as Oakland University, Grand Valley State University, Davenport University and Kalamazoo College have recruited him.
Gale said any of those schools would be getting a diver who works diligently to improve his craft. That attitude, Gale said, should lead to additional success at the next level.
"He got a late start to diving, so he really hasn't bloomed yet," Gale said. "Each year he's gotten better, and we're just now seeing what he can do. With good coaching, he could really blossom."
PHOTOS (Top) East Kentwood’s Fidele Byiringiro stands for a photo recently at his school’s pool. (Middle) Byiringiro dives during last weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Holland Aquatic Center. (Click for more Finals photos from High School Sports Scene.)