Pioneers Make Every Second Count in D3
March 9, 2013
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
YPSILANTI – Rarely has a fifth-place finish meant more than it did Saturday afternoon to East Grand Rapids at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals at Michael H. Jones Natatorium on the campus of Eastern Michigan University.
East Grand Rapids went into the final event – the 400 freestyle relay – needing to finish fifth to guarantee the overall meet championship. A sixth-place finish paired with a first place by Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood would have left East Grand Rapids in second place.
Incredibly, Cranbrook-Kingswood tied Bloomfield Hills Lahser for first place in the final relay, and East Grand Rapids got the fifth-place finish it needed to win the Final championship by four points (278-274). It was the 10th championship for East Grand Rapids, which won the Division 3 title in 2008 and 2010 and won the Class B-C-D title every year from 1976-82.
“This is cool. Very cool,” said East Grand Rapids coach Butch Briggs, who has coached the Pioneers to all 10 MHSAA championships. “We had to hold fifth place (in the 400 freestyle relay), and they did a great job.
“They haven’t quit all year. We won our conference meet by a half-point, so these kids have been tough all year long.”
For a while, it looked like Cranbrook- Kingswood would not pull off first place in the 400 freestyle relay. The Cranes were third for the majority of the race before Matthew Liu finished the final 100 yards in stirring fashion. Earlier, Liu had won the 100 butterfly in 51.60 seconds.
Cranbrook-Kingswood came into the 400 freestyle with just the sixth-fastest prelim time of the eight finalists, but sliced 3.47 seconds off that time, finishing in 3 minutes, 12.99 seconds.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Cranbrook-Kingswood coach Karl Hodgson said. “They all dropped about the same amount of time across the board. It was a total team effort.
“We knew we had an outside shot. We were like a 3:21 coming in, and we end up going 3:12. That’s crazy fast for us.”
East Grand Rapids, meanwhile, was seventh after the first 50 yards and stayed between fourth and sixth after that. The Pioneers were fifth when Kurt Swieter dove into the water for the final 100 yards. He knew what he had to do.
“That last relay, we knew if Cranbrook was to get first, we couldn’t fall back, so I just went into that relay with the mindset that we were going to win,” said Swieter, a junior who was joined on the relay team by sophomore Jack Filion and freshmen Nathan Hein and Andy MacGregor. “I knew that we were fifth, and I knew that Cranbrook was moving. I saw them swimming in before I dove, and I wasn’t going to let it go.”
East Grand Rapids senior Matt Hooper had just successfully defended his individual MHSAA championship in the 100 breaststroke when the 400 freestyle relay was held, and all he could do was watch the drama unfold.
“Our guys were super stoked,” Hooper said. “We had two freshmen on that relay, and to see them step up like that was awesome. I believed in them from the start. We have a really fast freshman class, and they really got it done. We couldn’t have done it without them for sure.
“Our butterflier really stepped up big, and our backstroker was a full second faster than (Friday). We all had to get together and do it as a team, and that was the big thing, the team. Everyone showed up, and everyone performed well.”
Hooper certainly showed up and performed well. He helped the Pioneers win the first event – the 200 medley relay – and then not only defended his title in the breaststroke but broke the LP Division 3 meet record for the second day in a row after breaking it on Friday. Hooper’s winning time was 56.12 seconds.
“It was nerve-wracking,” he said. “I was telling my coach I think this meet was truly one of the only times I can say my heart was beating out of my chest before a race. I couldn’t swallow before the race.”
In the 200 medley relay, Hooper swam the breaststroke as East Grand Rapids won in 1:35.58 – breaking the school record set by the Pioneers two years ago with Hooper as a member of the relay.
Hooper’s day ended with a team championship, an individual championship complete with a meet record, and a relay championship, also complete with another meet record.
“It’s a really big honor to be on a team with these guys and to help out Coach Briggs get one more state championship before I’m done,” Hooper said. “It’s a heck of a way to go out. I couldn’t have asked for a better season or a better four years.”
There were several other outstanding efforts in addition to Hooper and East Grand Rapids. Parker Cook-Weeks of Holland Christian repeated as champion in the 500 freestyle in 4:38.27 and also won the 200 freestyle in 1:41.21. David Alday of Chelsea won the 100 freestyle in 46.85 and the 200 individual medley in 1:52.88, narrowly missing the LP Division 3 meet record of 1:52.80.
Alday won both of his races in come-from-behind fashion as he passed the leader in the final 25 yards.
“That’s how I like to do it,” Alday said, “lay back and see what I can do late in the race. In the last 25 (of the individual medley) I didn’t breathe once. I just stuck my head down.”
The victory in the individual medley was especially gratifying to Alday, who was limited last year after breaking his back when, as he put it, “I had a large kid jump on me.” Alday was limited to just freestyle events at last year’s MHSAA Final.
Cook-Weeks had a different challenge in winning his MHSAA titles. In both races, he had to battle his good friend Swieter, who swam the final leg of the 400 freestyle for East Grand Rapids. Cook-Weeks beat him by nearly a second in the 200 freestyle, and then the two had a virtual match race in the 500 freestyle as they finished within 1.35 seconds of each other but nearly five seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.
“Kurt and I are longtime friends, and we always have a battle and stay with each other,” Cook-Weeks said. “Kurt’s a great swimmer, no doubt about that, and we stuck together and fought it out. It was an iron man race.
“We just battled, and the last 50 I tried kicking it in because I just knew that I could do more. I wanted to make my parents, my family and my coaches proud and show that I can defend my title in the 500.”
Ollie Smith of Milan won the 50 freestyle in 21.04, and freshman Joey Puglessi of Grand Rapids Catholic Central took the 100 backstroke in 52.75. Detroit Country Day won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:26.61.
In 1-meter diving, Marshall sophomore Henry Swett outdistanced his nearest competitor by more than 20 points as he repeated as champion. Swett, who said he has trained on the trampoline with his brothers, said becoming a four-time MHSAA champion is one of his goals – but it comes with a price as he seemingly is the favorite whenever he competes.
“It puts more pressure on me, but I kind of like it that way,” said Swett, whose total of 431.20 fell just short of his winning total of 435.65 a year ago.
PHOTOS: (Top) East Grand Rapids' Matt Hooper swims to his third straight MHSAA championship in the 100-yard breaststroke Saturday. (Middle) The Pioneers celebrate their first team title since 2010. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Cranbrook Pulls Far Ahead for Repeat, GR Christian's Sytsma Adds to Title Total
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 9, 2024
HOLLAND – The Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood boys swimming & diving team cleared a major hurdle last year in winning the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals by a narrow margin.
This year, the role of favorite suited the Cranes just fine as they rolled to a repeat Saturday at Holland Aquatic Center.
Cranbrook put forth an impressive all-around effort and finished with 380 points to overwhelm the rest of the field.
East Grand Rapids (243) edged Holland Christian (211) for second place, while Adrian (151) finished fourth.
“I think last year, when we got over that hump and we won the meet, we saw what we had coming back,” Cranbrook coach Paul Ellis said. “I feel like the boys were a lot more relaxed all season. We didn't have that ‘we’re chasing it’ mindset, and it was about widening the gap and the boys did a phenomenal job.
Cranbrook won two individual events with seniors Andrew Delzer (100-yard breaststroke) and Colin Zexter (100 backstroke) and collected relay titles in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle.
“We had great leaders on our team,” Ellis said. “We had a couple seniors come in that haven't swam for us before, and they really helped bring us all together. They are all team players, they care about their teammates and they bust their butt and set a good example that helped everyone make a huge step forward in terms of training and in bringing that team atmosphere together.
“It helped in how they swam. We had so many lifetime bests this weekend and throughout the season, and it was really fun. It was an enjoyable season.”
Delzer and Zexter joined Joseph Wiater and Will Farner on the 200 medley and AJ and Will Farner on the 400 relay.
“All of our seniors stepped up and were scoring points, and we had a blast,” Delzer said. “There definitely was a target on our back, but we weren't going to let anyone hunt us down. It was a privilege to be in that position, and we had a great time doing it.”
This was Zexter’s first year on the Cranbrook team after swimming club previously.
“This one was amazing, and it's my first one,” Zexter said. “I did high school just to have fun, and the whole team this season was like family. We were so close, and to have the perfect season and be undefeated is the best feeling.”
Grand Rapids Christian’s Ben Sytsma was named Swimmer of Meet by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association after a dominating performance to cap off an illustrious career.
Sytsma added two more individual titles to his career total by winning the 50 and 100 freestyle events. He also helped the Eagles to a victory in the 200 freestyle relay and a runner-up effort in the 400.
His time of 43.87 in the first 100-yard leg of the 400 relay was an LP Division 3 Finals record. He finished his high school career with four individual championships and having been part of three relay winners.
“I really just wanted to go out with a bang,” Sytsma said. “The boys and I worked really hard, and I was really proud of how they did.
“We really wanted to win those relays. We came up short in the 400, but beat our school record so I think we are all very satisfied with how it ended up.”
Sytsma recorded a time of 19.98 in the 50 and became only the second swimmer in meet history to break 20 seconds.
“That was Cam Peel (in 2019), and I always looked up to him as an idol and followed his career,” Sytsma said. “I wanted to be like him in that 50, break 20, and I wasn't the first to do it, but I was the second one so I’m happy with that.
“There were definitely goals I had coming into this meet, state records I was looking at. I came up short in the 50 and that 100 record in the final relay was really emotional for me. I was happy with myself.”
East Grand Rapids placed runner-up for the second straight year.
“Second place in this year’s meet is all you could hope for,” Pioneers coach Milton Briggs said. “Cranbrook is definitely far and away better than all of us, so for us to come in and take second among this talent, you have to feel good about that. We knew it was going to be close between us and Holland Christian.”
East Grand Rapids was led by senior Carter Kegle, who won the 500 for the third consecutive year and claimed top honors in the 200 freestyle.
Otsego sophomore Liam Smith won two individual titles. He repeated in the 100 butterfly (48.02) and also swam to victory in the 200 IM (1:48.64).
Chelsea senior Mitch Brown defended his diving title. He recorded a score of 503.05 to finish ahead of runner-up Carson Reynolds of DeWitt.
PHOTOS (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood celebrates its victory Saturday at Holland Aquatic Center. (Middle) Grand Rapids Christian's Ben Sytsma looks to the scoreboard and celebrates. (Below) Otsego's Liam Smith, bottom, pulls away for the win in the butterfly. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)