Preview: Finals Opportunities Abound for Swim & Dive Contenders
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 9, 2023
Even with two returning team champions expected to reign again, it’s fair to say there are abundant opportunities for first-time winners to climb the podiums at this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals.
Ann Arbor Pioneer and East Grand Rapids are pursuing third-straight team titles in Divisions 1 and 3, respectively. But the top-three ranked contenders in Division 2 either haven’t won a Finals or haven’t won in over a decade. And of 27 individual events across the three meets, only six will welcome back last year’s winners as the great majority graduated last spring.
Preliminaries at all three Finals sites begin at noon Friday, with Saturday championship events starting at noon as well. Both days of all three meets will be streamed live and viewable with subscription on MHSAA.tv. For information on purchasing tickets, plus psych sheets, dive orders and more, visit the Boys Swimming & Diving page – and see below for a glance at team and individual contenders to follow.
Lower Peninsula Division 1 at Calvin University
Reigning champion: Ann Arbor Pioneer
2022 runner-up: Northville
2023 top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Pioneer, 2. Northville, 3. Detroit Catholic Central
Pioneer has won the last two LPD1 championships, last year by 98 points with a total of 365. With 18 entries seeded to score and five top seeds – including all three relays – the Pioneers certainly are favorites to extend that streak. Northville’s runner-up finish last season was its highest at a Finals since winning its lone title in 1973, and the Mustangs have 13 entries seeded to score. Detroit Catholic Central placed eighth last season and is seeking its first championship, and has an intriguing mix with nine entries seeded to score including a top seed, plus two divers.
Olin Charnstrom, Oxford junior: After finishing 13th in the 100-yard backstroke and just missing the final heats in the 50-yard in 2022, he has an opportunity for a big move as the backstroke top seed (49.44 seconds) by a second and the third seed in the 100-yard freestyle (46.54).
Ryan Gurgel, Canton senior: Last season’s champion in the 100-yard butterfly and runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle is the first seed in both races this weekend in 50.64 and 1:42.16, respectively.
Luke Mychalowych, Detroit Catholic Central junior: He finished fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke and just missed the final heats in the 100 free last winter, but enters this weekend top-seeded in the breaststroke (57.25), eighth-seeded in the 200-yard freestyle and a possibility to swim on two top-four seeded relays.
Gabriel Sanchez-Burks, Ann Arbor Pioneer senior: After a big jump last season that saw him finish second in the 50, seventh in the 100 free and as part of championship and runner-up relays, he’s lined up for an even bigger finish to his high school career. He has top seeds in the 50 (20.25) and 100 (45.31) and is likely to swim on two of the three top-seeded relays, and his 50 seed time is only 24 hundredths of a second off the LPD1 record swam by Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central’s Henry Schutte in 2018.
Owen Stevens, Zeeland sophomore: He debuted at the Finals with a sixth place in the 200-yard individual medley and fourth in the 500-yard freestyle last year, and he returns as the top seed in the IM (1:54.30) and 500 (4:38.99) and possible swimmer on two top-three seeded relays.
Ann Arbor Pioneer 200 freestyle relay: The Pioneers have a seed time of 1:25.53, nearly two seconds faster than second-seeded Holland West Ottawa and about 2½ seconds off the LPD1 record of 1:23.25 swam by West Ottawa in 2021.
Julian Cardenas, Rockford junior: He was last season’s LPD1 diving runner-up, slightly more than 43 points back with a score of 413.55 – but he posted the highest LPD1 Regional score last week of 486.40 to clear his qualifying meet field by 70 points.
Alex Poulin, Waterford Mott senior: Last season’s diving champion with a score of 456.70 posted the second-highest LPD1 Regional score last week, 428.80, to win his qualifying meet by eight points.
Lower Peninsula Division 2 at Holland Aquatic Center
Reigning champion: Ann Arbor Skyline
2022 runner-up: Detroit U-D Jesuit
2023 top-ranked: 1. Birmingham Groves, 2. Detroit U-D Jesuit, 3. Grosse Pointe South.
Jesuit missed a first Finals championship in this sport last season by 25 points and will make another run following 14 entries seeded to score with four top seeds – including two relays – plus two divers. But favored this time is Groves, which finished fourth a year ago, second as recently as 2019 and is seeking its first championship since 2010. Groves has 19 entries seeded to score, with two top seeds. Grosse Pointe South is another regular contender and placed third last season, 53 points off the lead. The Blue Devils also are seeking a first championship and were runners-up in 2021. They have 11 entries seeded to score with three top seeds including a favored relay, and five divers including the reigning champion.
Austin Briggs, Byron Center senior: He finished 10th in the 50 and 11th in the 100 free last season but will push toward the front entering this weekend seeded first in the 50 (20.94) and second in the 100 breaststroke (58.34), with his time in the latter only one-hundredth of a second behind the top seed.
Sean Diffenderfer, Walled Lake Northern senior: The reigning champion in the 500 and fourth-place finisher in the 200 free is seeded fifth in the 500 and 10th in the 200 this weekend.
Ian Duncan, Birmingham Groves senior: He was third in the 200 free and fourth in the 500 in 2022 and should contend again in both seeded third in the 200 (1:43.45) and first in the 500 (4:41.78) while also likely to swim on two of the team’s three top-five seeded relays.
Max Haney, Fenton senior: Last season’s butterfly runner-up and fifth-place finisher in the IM could cap high school in a big way seeded first in the IM (1:51.38), by more than a second, and second in the backstroke (50.48).
Angus MacDonald, Birmingham Groves junior: Another Groves standout, he’s seeded first in the breaststroke (58.33), third in the IM (1:53.35) and also likely will swim on two of those contending relays. He finished runner-up in both the IM and 500 last season.
Keiran Rahmaan, Grosse Pointe South senior: He finished third in the backstroke, fourth in the butterfly and led off the LPD2 Finals record-setting 200-yard medley relay last season, and he also was part of a relay champ in 2021. He could add substantially to those accomplishments; he’s seeded first this weekend in both the butterfly (49.61) and backstroke (49.91) and likely will swim on the top-seeded 400 freestyle relay (3:10.14).
Evan Tack, Detroit U-D Jesuit sophomore: His Finals debut last season included a sixth place in the IM, 10th in the breaststroke and two top-three relay finishes. He enters this weekend seeded first in the 100 (46.24) and 200 frees (1:41.25) and as part of two top-two seeded relays including the favorite in the 200 freestyle (1:27.09).
Logan Hepner, Grosse Pointe South senior: Last season’s diving champion by more than 49 points went 618.85 to set the pace across LPD2 at last week’s Regionals, although Birmingham Seaholm senior Grayson Davis was his runner-up and the only other to break 600 (or 500) with a 601.90.
Lower Peninsula Division 3 at Oakland University
Reigning champion: East Grand Rapids
2022 runner-up: Holland Christian
2023 top-ranked: 1. East Grand Rapids, 2. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3. Holland Christian.
The last two seasons have finished the same way at the top with EGR first and Holland Christian second. The Pioneers are favored again on the strength of 13 entries seeded to score – including two top seeds – and two divers competing. Holland Christian – most recently champion in 2019 and 2018 – doesn’t have a top seed but also has 13 entries seeded to score plus two divers. Cranbrook is seeking its first championship since winning four straight from 2014-17, and has the people to do so with 15 entries seeded to score, including three top seeds, and a diver.
Carter Kegle, East Grand Rapids junior: He finished first in the 500, second in the 200 free and swam on two top-three relays last season, and he returns as the top seed in the 500 (4:40.95), second seed in the 200 (1:43.81) and expected to swim on two top-three seeded relays.
Alec Lampen, Manistee junior: He finished sixth in the backstroke and helped all three Manistee relays place last season, and he should be a major point scorer again seeded first in the 50 (20.92) and backstroke (51.40) and swimming on two top-seven seeded relays.
London Rising, Adrian freshman: He’ll make his Finals debut as the top seed in the 200 free (1:41.71), by two seconds, and the fourth seed in the butterfly, plus he’s expected to swim on two second-seeded relays.
Ethan Schwab, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood senior: He’ll look to add to a relay championship he helped win in 2021, seeded first this time in the IM (1:53.99) and breaststroke (55.92) and as a possibility to swim on two of three top-six seeded relays including the favorite in the 400-yard freestyle (3:13.77). He finished second in both the 500 and breaststroke last season.
Liam Smith, Otsego freshman: Another standout freshman, he enters the weekend seeded first in the butterfly (50.54) and second in the IM (1:55.25).
Ben Sytsma, Grand Rapids Christian junior: The reigning champion in the 100 free and runner-up in the 50 – and champion as well as part of 200 and 400 freestyle relays – is the top seed in the 100 (45.88), the second seed in the 50 (20.95) by just three-hundredths of a second and could swim on the top-seeded 200 free relay plus another.
Mitch Brown, Chelsea junior: Last season’s diving runner-up to record-setting senior Charley Bayer from East Grand Rapids is in position to ascend after positing a division-best 538 to win his Regional last week – clearing the rest of LPD3 by 61 points.
PHOTO Swimmers launch during a Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals race in 2022. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
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.)