Preview: Oakland Powers Seek 4-Peats
March 10, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Only one Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving program has won at least four straight MHSAA Finals championships over the last two decades.
Birmingham Brother Rice in Division 1 and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in Division 3 have the opportunity this weekend to join the Saline teams from 2010-13 in building such a remarkable streak.
Both the Warriors and Cranes are going for their fourth straight MHSAA titles as action begins both Friday (preliminaries) and Saturday at noon at three sites. See below for team favorites and top individuals to watch at all three meets.
All three Finals also will be streamed live and can be watched with subscription on MHSAA.TV. Click for lineups and seed times for all three meets and below for direct links to broadcasts of all three meets.
Division 1 - Division 2 - Division 3
LP Division 1 at Oakland University
Top-ranked Birmingham Brother Rice has won the last three Division 1 titles, but this isn’t necessarily a one-team race. The Warriors have two top seeds, but only 13 other entries seeded to score among the top 16. Second-ranked Skyline, the 2015 runner-up in Division 2, is seeking its first championship and has 17 top-16 seeds and a strong diver. Saline and Novi tied for third in the final state ranking and should be in the mix, Saline with 12 seeded to score and Novi with 14 and a diver.
Spencer Carl, Holland West Ottawa senior – The reigning champion in the butterfly and 200-yard freestyle is expected to close his career with at least one more title; he’s seeded first in the 200 (1:39.77) and second in the 500 (4:37.67.) and is expected to swim on two top-five seeded relays.
Jonathan Lee, Detroit Catholic Central junior – He moved up from 13th in the breaststroke as a freshman to fourth last season and also took sixth in the individual medley; he’s seeded only ninth in the IM (1:56.43) but first in the breaststroke (56.54).
Alex Margherio, Birmingham Brother Rice junior – Margherio was part of Finals champions last season in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays, and he also took second in the butterfly and third in the backstroke. Both relays are seeded among the top five and the medley (1:33.26) has the top seed, and individually Margherio is seeded second in the butterfly (50.17) and first in the backstroke (50.97).
Camden Murphy, Novi senior – One of the most highly-regarded swimmers his age in the country, Murphy decided to swim for his high school team as a senior and has the top seed time in the IM (1:49.10) by nearly three seconds and the top butterfly seed time (47.94) by more than two; his butterfly time would break the LP Division 1 Finals record and approach the all-Finals record of 47.51. He could also swim on any of three top-five relays.
Benjamin Rojewski, Livonia Stevenson sophomore – He placed seventh in the 500 last season as a freshman, but carries the top seed in that race (4:36.49) by more than a second and is seeded fifth in the 200 freestyle (1:42.94).
Henry Schutte, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central sophomore – He took second in both the 50 and 100 freestyles last season as a freshman, and enters this weekend with the top 50 seed (20.87) and third-fastest in the 100 (46.36).
Gabriel Trevino, Zeeland senior –
After taking fifth in the 50 and 100 last season as a junior, he’s seeded second in the 50 (20.95) and first in the 100 (46.09) and could also swim on any of three qualified relays.
LP Division 2 at Eastern Michigan University
Top-ranked Ann Arbor Huron has four MHSAA titles during a highly-regarded history, but is seeking its first since winning Division 1 in 2008. The River Rats were 10th in Division 1 last season and have 12 individuals and all three relays seeded to score. Dexter is the reigning champion and has won this division two of the last five seasons; it also has 12 individuals and all three relays in scoring position. Groves is tied with Dexter for the No. 2 ranking and finished fifth a year ago. It has 11 individual seeds among the top 16 and also all three relays in position to score, plus a diver competing.
Alexander Capizzo, Fraser freshman – At his first Finals, Capizzo enters with the fastest seed in the 500 (4:32.05) by more than three seconds and third-fastest in the IM (1:55.80).
Niklas Eberly, Dexter sophomore – After finishing 16th in the 200 freestyle and seventh in the 500 last season for Pinckney, he enters this weekend seeded first in the butterfly (51.32) and sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:45.11) and potentially part of any of three top-six relays.
Noah Frassrand, Ann Arbor Huron senior – He finished seventh in the IM and 10th in the breaststroke in Division 1 last season for Ann Arbor Pioneer, and enters this Division 2 Finals fourth in the breaststroke (59.01) and top-seeded in the IM (1:54.43) and as part of two top-seven relays.
Jacob Krzciok, Midland Dow junior – He’s back after finishing 10th in the 100 freestyle and swimming on three top-nine relays in 2016, and he’ll have a chance to contribute even more seeded first in the 50 (20.89) and second in the 100 (46.51) while possibly swimming on any of three top-11 relays.
Ryan Lawrence, Birmingham Seaholm senior – He was part of championship 200 and 400 freestyle relays last season and also took second in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the backstroke. This weekend, he’s seeded second in the 50 (21.14), first in the 100 free (46.49) and those two relays also are seeded first at 1:27.49 and 3:13.24, respectively.
Zach Milke, Warren DeLaSalle junior – In addition to finishing third in the backstroke and eighth in the IM last season, Milke was part of the champion medley relay and third-place 400 relay. He’s seeded third in the 50 (21.23) and first in the backstroke (50.88) this time, and that medley relay (1:36.74) is seeded first while the 400 is seeded second (3:13.53).
Graham Miotke, Rochester Adams junior – The reigning champion in the 500 also took fourth in the 200 last season and finds himself seeded second in both races with a 1:43.41 in the 200 and 4:35.29 in the 500.
Patrick Seidel, Birmingham Groves junior – He’s expected to take another jump after finishing sixth in the breaststroke and 11th in the IM last season; he’s seeded first in the breaststroke (58.78) and sixth in the IM (1:58.48) and could swim on two top-seven relays.
David Turner, Pinckney senior – He’s looking at a strong finish to his career after taking ninth in the 200 freestyle and 11th in the 100 last winter. Turner is seeded first in the 200 (1:43.34) and third in the 100 (46.89).
LP Division 3 at Holland Aquatic Center
After trailing East Grand Rapids in the first three state rankings this season, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood grabbed a tie for the top spot with the Pioneers in the final listing as the Cranes go for a fourth straight championship. They have all three relays and 14 individuals with top-16 seeds. East Grand Rapids, last season’s runner-up, has only three relays and nine individual entries seeded to score, but also the reigning diving champion and another contender in that event. Chelsea finished runner-up in both 2014 and 2015 and has three relays and 11 individual entries among the top 16 seeds in those events, including three top seeds and two second seeds.
Rudy Aguilar, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior – He’s looking to add to the relay championship he won for Brother Rice as a sophomore, and is favored as the top seed in the 100 freestyle (45.71) and 200 freestyle (1:39.93). He finished second in the 100 and fourth in the backstroke for Notre Dame Prep last season.
Christian Bart, East Grand Rapids junior – He added a championship in the IM and runner-up finish in the breaststroke to two second places as a freshman; this weekend he’s seeded first in the breaststroke (57.17) and second in the 50 (21.18) with spots on two top-seven relays as well.
Skyler Cook-Weeks, Holland Christian junior – Cook-Weeks made good on his top seed in the 500 last season with the title and finished second in the 200 as well; he’s seeded first in the 500 again (4:33.98) and second to Aguilar in the 200 (1:40.67) while swimming on possibly any of three top-six relays. The 400 freestyle relay is seeded first (3:10.63) by nearly a second.
Joey Mangner, Chelsea senior – The 2015 champion in the 50 false-started in the Final last season but did finish fourth in the 100 and anchored the champion medley relay. He’s seeded first in the 50 (20.78) with a time that would tie the meet record, and second to Aguilar in the 100 (46.50) while possibly swimming on the top-seeded 200 freestyle (1:26.86), second-seeded 400 freestyle (3:11.41) or top-seeded medley (1:35.59) relays.
Luke Mason, Holland Christian junior – He enters this weekend seeded second to Cook-Weeks in the 500 (4:44.17) and first in the IM (1:56.26) and potentially could swim on any of three top-six relays as well.
Ben Puglessi, Grand Rapids Catholic Central junior – After finishing seventh in the 200 freestyle and 10th in the backstroke as a sophomore, Puglessi enters as the third seed in the 200 (1:44.73) and second in the butterfly (51.29).
Riley VanMeter, Holland Christian sophomore – VanMeter carries the top seed in the butterfly (51.15) and backstroke (52.65) into this Finals and likely will swim on at least one of those highly-seeded relays as well.
Grant Williams, East Grand Rapids senior – After jumping from 16th in diving as a sophomore to win the championship last winter, he enters this weekend after finishing second at his Regional (448.85) 10.5 points back of Hamilton senior Nolan DeJonge.
PHOTO: Swimmers launch last season at the start of the 400-yard freestyle relay at the LP Division 3 Finals. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
John Glenn Solo Diver Aiming To Stand Alone Atop Finals Podium
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 27, 2022
Jamie Miller is getting used to working alone.
As the lone diver on the Bay City John Glenn swimming & diving team, he spends his practice time by himself, working on the dives he hopes can get him a few steps higher on this year’s Finals podium.
“I’ve worked with plenty of really great coaches, and I’ve been to so many good camps,” Miller said. “I know a lot, and I actually know how to coach. I have a little TV, a little TiVo that records my dives, so 20 seconds later, I can walk up and watch it and see how to fix it. I’m a huge introvert, so I don’t have to talk to anyone and don’t have to worry about anyone.”
So far, so good for the senior, who is off to a strong start after finishing sixth at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals a year ago.
He recently won the Tri-Cities championship at Saginaw Valley State, finishing with a two-day, 11-dive total of 454.5, which would have placed third at this past year’s Finals. He’s also broken the Oscoda pool record, scoring 273.55 for six dives to break the previous mark set in 1989.
“I think it’s going pretty well,” Miller said. “I had had a lot of time off because of COVID, but because of how hard I worked in middle school and my early years of high school, I just jumped right back in where I left off.”
Miller has been diving since seventh grade, although he discovered his skill and love for the sport almost by accident.
“I joined the swim team because it was the only sport I could pick that wasn’t a scary contact sport,” he said. “I started swimming and I got a really bad cramp and was like, ‘This kind of sucks. I’m going to try this other thing.’ Then I actually started to like it.”
He began working with Bay Aquatics Diving and coach Janet Beattie, which he said helped him to grow a lot as a diver. While the pandemic forced him away from the club, the lessons learned have helped him continue to improve.
He was also fortunate to have a strong teammate in Trevor Post, who placed fourth as a senior at the 2021 Finals.
“Trevor’s the kind of guy – you know the saying, ‘Work hard, because someone out there is working harder than you?’ Trevor was that guy, and I got to dive with him every day,” Miller said. “We got so competitive, and if we weren’t on the same team, we would not have been as successful as we were.”
Without Post pushing him daily at practice, Miller said it can sometimes be tough to be self-motivated. But anytime he needs a push, he looks up at the record board in front of him.
“The record I’m trying to beat this year at the schools, it’s been there since 2004, it’s 300 points,” he said. “My highest score is 275, so it’s a reach. We’ve only had two dual meets, and I’ve only got to dive at one of them. We have eight more, so that’s what I’m really going for. It’s going to be close.”
Miller is not only looking to motivate himself every day, he’s also constantly having to get over the fear that creeps in when he’s on the board and prepares to dive. While he considers the sport to be very fun, he’s not afraid to admit it is also “horrifying.”
“I have to get over it every single time I get in the water,” Miller said. “It’s kind of like diving is like a constant mental battle. It’s not a physical sport, it’s all mental. You have to convince yourself of things. You can really learn a lot about your mind with diving.”
As he learns about himself and how to stay motivated, Miller does have a greater goal ahead of him. Only three of the top eight divers from last year’s Division 3 Finals graduated, including two of the top five. Miller has crunched the numbers, and as he sees it, if all remains the same, he will move into the top three this year.
He’s not satisfied with that, though.
“I think the least I can shoot for is top three,” he said. “I should be shooting for first. I should just continue forward, shooting for first for the rest of the season. I know a couple kids who are really good. If nobody (else) just completely shines in their first year and beats me, then I should take third if everything stays the same. But I’m going to shoot for first.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Bay City John Glenn’s Jamie Miller dives during a meet this winter. (Middle) Miller, leading a line of divers on the pool deck, recently won the Tri-Cities diving competition. (Photos by Kent Miller.)