Preview: Team Titles Too Close to Call
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 7, 2019
The races for team championships at this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals could, as a group, finish as the closest in recent memory.
Both Division 1 and Division 3 have a pair of teams tied for the top spot in the rankings heading into Friday’s preliminaries. Meanwhile, Dexter is the three-time reigning Division 2 champion but extended its streak with a slim victory a year ago.
Preliminaries are Friday and Finals are Saturday, with action beginning at noon for both. 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 see below for a number of team and individual contenders at all three meets.
LP Division 1 at Holland Aquatic Center
Reigning champion: Ann Arbor Skyline
2018 runner-up: Holland West Ottawa
2019 top-ranked: T-1. Holland West Ottawa, T-1. Detroit Catholic Central, 3. Birmingham Rice
Skyline won it first championship last season, breaking a four-year winning streak by Brother Rice. West Ottawa finished 67 points back, and a championship this weekend – the program’s first since 1971 – would be a crowning achievement for a senior class that has otherwise dominated. West Ottawa has 12 individual entries and all three relays seeded to score among the top 16, with five top seeds. Detroit Catholic Central has only one top seed, but 11 individual entries and all three relays seeded to score plus a diver. Rice has nine individual entries and three relays seeded to score, plus a diver. The Shamrocks are competing for their first MHSAA Finals title and finished seventh a year ago, while Rice finished third a year ago.
Hunter Gubeno, Howell junior – After taking fifth in the 500 last season, Gubeno is expected to climb the podium multiple times with the top seeds in that race by four seconds (4:33.82) and the 200 free (1:40.98).
Derek Maas, Holland West Ottawa senior – Maas won the 100 backstroke and finished third in the 200 individual medley as a junior and also swam on the champion 200 medley relay. He has the top seeds in the IM (1:52.73) and butterfly (50.23) and is expected to swim on the top-seeded medley relay (1:34.28) and fourth-seeded 400 free relay.
Liam McDonell, Birmingham Brother Rice senior – The top seed in the backstroke (51.93) also will swim the butterfly and on the 200 medley and 400 free relays. He finished 12th in the backstroke at last year’s Finals.
Henry Schutte, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior – The four-time Finals champion sprinter is looking to add a few more titles to his two in both the 50 and 100 freestyles won the last two seasons. He’s seeded first in the 50 at 20.35 seconds, 34 hundredths off his all-Finals record 20.01 swam last season. He’s also seeded first in the 100 at 44.27 and is expected to swim on the third-seeded 200 freestyle relay and ninth-seeded 200 medley relay.
Khadin Soto, Holland West Ottawa senior – Soto finished sixth in the breaststroke and also was part of that medley relay championship in 2018. He’s seeded first in the breaststroke (56.17) and sixth in the 200 freestyle, and is slated to swim on the 200 medley and fourth-seeded 400 freestyle relays.
Holland West Ottawa 200 freestyle relay – Senior Sam Smith, juniors Gavin Temple and Jamahl Hogan and freshman Kevin Maas enter with the top seed time of 1:25.16, 1.48 seconds off the meet record swam in 2015 by Ann Arbor Pioneer.
William Henry Schirmer, Ann Arbor Skyline senior – Schirmer is seeking to finish his high school career with his third straight Division 1 championship. His Regional score of 529.20 was nearly 47 points higher than the rest of the Division 1 field, and he should make a run at the meet record of 528.45 achieved in 2015.
Division 2 at Eastern Michigan University
Reigning champion: Dexter
2018 runner-up: Rochester Adams
2019 top-ranked: 1. Dexter, 2. Birmingham Seaholm, 3. Birmingham Groves.
Dexter has won three straight Division 2 championships, last season’s by 21.5 points. The Dreadnaughts have 10 individual entries and all three relays seeded to score this weekend, plus two divers competing. Seaholm, which finished fifth last season, has 11 individual entries and all three relays seeded to score. Groves was third last season, 50.5 points off the lead, and could make a move with eight individual entries and three relays seeded to score, including a top seed.
Alexander Capizzo, Fraser junior – Capizzo won the 200 IM and 500 freestyle as both a freshman and sophomore. He’s the top seed in the IM (1:53.79) and the third seed in the 500 (4:41.08).
Niklas Eberly, Dexter senior – Eberly won the butterfly and 200 free last season and was on the winning 200 free relay. Switching things up a bit, he’s seeded second in the 50 (21.06) and first in the butterfly (49.13) and is expected to swim on the top-seeded 400 free relay (3:12.07) and fourth-seeded medley relay.
Jacob Grover, Byron Center senior – Grover is competing in Division 2 this weekend after finishing second in the breaststroke and fourth in the IM in Division 3 in 2018. He is seeded first in the breaststroke (57.61) and third in the IM (1:55.13) and will swim on the medley and 200 freestyle relays.
Eric Hieber, Walled Lake Western junior – After finishing ninth in the 200 free and fifth in the 500 last year, Hieber is expected to make a big jump. He’s seeded first in both races, at 1:40.68 in the 200 and by nine seconds in the 500 at 4:31.73. He also is expected to swim on the 200 and 400 free relays.
Luke Lezotte, Midland Dow junior – In his first season at Dow after moving from Florida, Lezotte will chase at least one meet record. He’s seeded first in both sprints – his 20.52 in the 50 is seven hundredths of a second off the record achieved in 2010 – and he’s seeded first in the 100 free (46.12) by more than a second. He’s also slated to swim on the top-seeded 200 free relay (1:27.38) and second-seeded medley relay.
Tyler Vo, Holland senior – Vo finished sixth in the backstroke last season but is seeded first in that race this weekend (52.23). He’s also seeded fifth in the butterfly (52.46) and expected to swim on the 200 free and medley relays.
Hunter Hollenbeck, Okemos junior – The reigning champion scored 548.40 to win his Regional by nearly 146 points, and his score was 90 higher than any other diver in Division 2. He scored 503.15 at last season’s Final and could make a run at the meet record of 537 from 2009.
Division 3 at Oakland University
Reigning champion: Holland Christian
2018 runner-up: East Grand Rapids
2019 top-ranked: T-1. Holland Christian, T-1. East Grand Rapids, 3. Spring Lake.
A year ago, Holland Christian broke Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood’s four-year hold on the Division 3 title. East Grand Rapids is hoping to break a streak of three straight runner-up finishes by taking the next step. Holland Christian is talented and deep, with 15 individual entries and all three relays seeded to score (with two top seeds) plus a diver competing. East Grand Rapids also has 15 individual entries and three relays seeded to score, plus a diver. Spring Lake has only seven individual entries with its three relays seeded to score – but six top seeds and an opportunity to make things interesting at the top.
Jonas Cantrell, Mason sophomore – Cantrell is seeded first in the 500 (4:41.86) after finishing 14th a year ago. He’s also seeded third in the 200 freestyle (1:45.44) and slated to swim on the 400 free relay.
Andrew Dobrzanski, Milan freshman – Heading into his first Finals, Dobrzanski is seeded first in the IM (1:57.08) by more than two seconds and the breaststroke (58.01) by more than a second. He’s also expected to swim on the 200 medley and 400 free relays.
Kevin Losee, Spring Lake junior – Losee finished fourth in the 200 and 500 freestyles and as part of two runner-up relays in 2018. He’s seeded first in the 200 (1:43.99) and second in the 500 (4:48.07) and expected to swim on top-seeded 200 (1:25.27) and 400 (3:07.52) freestyle relays.
Cam Peel, Spring Lake senior – Last season’s champ in the 100 free (and third-place finisher in the 50) is seeded first in both with a 20.85 in the 50 and by two seconds with a 44.81 in the 100. The 100 time is 16 hundredths of a second faster than the meet record he swam last season. He’s also slated to swim on the top-seeded 200 and 400 free relays.
Riley VanMeter, Holland Christian senior – He finished second in the butterfly and backstroke last season and swam on two winning relays, and could lead a repeat run entering as the top seed in the butterfly (49.75) and third in the backstroke (52.60) and with spots on the second-seeded 200 and 400 freestyle relays. His butterfly time is six tenths of a second off the meet record set in 2015.
Joey Wachter, Spring Lake junior – After finishing fifth in the backstroke and ninth in the 100 free last season, Wachter also is expected to surge. He’s seeded first in the backstroke (51.15) and second in the 50 (21.09) and also will swim on the 200 and 400 free relays.
Spring Lake 200 freestyle relay – Wachter, senior Sam Sella, Losee and Peel enter with a 1:25.27 seed time, 2.25 seconds off the meet record achieved in 2016.
Spring Lake 400 freestyle relay – Freshman Charles Brown along with Losee, Wachter and Peel have a seed time of 3:07.52, exactly three seconds off the meet record swam by Holland Christian a year ago.
Caden Petrak, St. Johns senior – The reigning champion won his Regional with a score of 467.85, although it was only the second-highest in Division 3 behind that of East Grand Rapids’ junior Nicholas Merritt (478.45).
PHOTOS: Swimmers prepare to launch at the start of a championship race at the 2017 Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Groves' MacDonald Caps Career with Individual Swim Sweep, Team Repeat
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2024
It can be amazing sometimes how winning can completely change an athlete’s mind.
Such was the case for Birmingham Groves senior swimmer Gus MacDonald when he was 13 years old.
While swimming at an event for his club team, his coach decided “for fun” — according to MacDonald — to put him in a breaststroke event.
Never mind that MacDonald up to that point had mainly swum in the backstroke and wasn’t particularly good in the breaststroke.
Then, something unforeseen happened.
“I ended up winning by a few seconds and dropping multiple seconds off of my time,” MacDonald said.
And so MacDonald’s racing transformation began.
Opponents probably wish they could go back in a time machine and prevent that coach from inserting MacDonald into that breaststroke race, because ever since MacDonald has established himself as one of the state’s best in the event regardless of division.
MacDonald successfully repeated as champion in the 100-yard breaststroke at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Saturday, claiming first place in a time of 54.88.
“I find breaststroke more fun because it works on specific muscles and doesn’t wear me out as much in total,” MacDonald said. “My mom was also a breaststroker, so I think I’ve picked up some of the breaststroke genes from her.”
Oh, but MacDonald did even more.
He also tried his hand this year in the 200 individual medley and won that event Saturday in a time of 1:46.51.
Then, saving his best for last, MacDonald swam the anchor leg for Groves’ winning team in the 400 freestyle relay, which provided the most dramatic ending possible.
Thanks to a first-place finish in that event, Groves ended up repeating as team champion by one point ahead of rival Birmingham Seaholm.
If there was a more storybook ending to a high school career, it’s hard to imagine.
Despite his victory in the IM, MacDonald likely will continue to swim breaststroke in college. He chose to swim for Notre Dame over Michigan and Wisconsin, and he said Notre Dame coaches already are envisioning him being a breaststroke specialist once he arrives in South Bend.
In addition to being a leader in the pool for races, MacDonald and the rest of the Groves seniors took on the task of guiding the rest of the team through a coaching transition this winter.
Nick Valice took over the program, and the transition was smooth from both the perspective of the new coach and the swimmers.
“It’s been easy sailing,” Valice said.
Valice said the hardest adjustment initially with MacDonald in particular was learning what training methods he prefers.
“I spent the first couple of weeks trying to figure out what he’s capable of running versus the caliber level of kids I’ve coached beforehand,” Valice said. “He is definitely able to do a little more. He responds to stuff a little differently, so it’s just been tweaking workouts that benefit him specifically as opposed to the whole team or your generic run-of-the-mill swimmer. I will say he will eat up any workout you throw at him.”
MacDonald certainly proved that with a terrific high school career, especially with the two breaststroke Finals titles.
That’s pretty good for someone who didn’t know he liked the event until he was 13.
“I was terrible at it,” MacDonald said.
Not anymore. Not at all.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS Birmingham Groves’ Angus MacDonald stands for a photo after receiving his medal for winning the 100 breaststroke Saturday at Eastern Michigan University. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)