Jake Thielen | MLive.com, March 08, 2013 6:37 p.m.
ROCHESTER – Strong performances from the state’s top boys’ swimming programs and a new Division 2 state record in the 100-yard breaststroke were the highlights of the 2013 MHSAA Division 2 preliminaries Friday afternoon at Oakland University.
Holland High School qualified first in the boys’ 200-yard medley relay (1:35.46), just 0.01 seconds ahead of second place Ann Arbor Pioneer. The Dutch also qualified first for the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:07.36), while seniors Kyle Doss (100-yard backstroke, 51.05) and Gage Mitchell (100-yard butterfly, 51:02) each won their respective heats to qualify.
Holland coach Don Kimble said his team can’t let up on its good performance going into Saturday’s finals.
“We came in with a lot of top seeds, and everybody didn’t panic, held their own and we had some guys move up; now we just have to do the work tomorrow,” Kimble said. “They did a good job today. You have to get your work done on Friday to have a shot on Saturday.”
Holland junior Thomas Rathbun qualified first in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.62) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:33.48). Kimble said he liked what he saw from Rathbun during the preliminaries.
“We’ve been working on some stuff, trying to get his turns better,” Kimble said. “He looked really good, and swam under control. It should be interesting tomorrow to see how fast we can go.”
Senior Jeremiah Morren qualified second in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle behind Midland Dow’s Jackson Goethe, and seniors Jonathon Maat, Connor Bos and Derek Bosko each qualified for individual events.
Other highlights from the preliminaries were Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Chris Klein setting a Division 2 record of 55.47 in the 100-yard breaststroke, and strong performances from the teams from Pioneer and Birmingham Seaholm.
Holland, Pioneer and Seaholm were the top three ranked teams in Division 2 in the final AP poll before the state championships.
Seaholm coach Tom Wyllie said he was encouraged by the speed his team displayed throughout the day in the preliminary heats.
“We broke a varsity record today in the 100 breaststroke, and our 400 free relay was our second fastest relay time since I’ve been coaching here and I’ve been here for 16 years,” Wyllie said. “We swam very well today.”
Wyllie said the team was focused and several of its members set personal-best times.
“We just stepped up and swam our own races and swam fast,” Wyllie said. “We didn’t let anything intimidate us, and the points are going to be what the points are. We can’t really control what anybody else does; it’s all what we do. That’s what I’m most excited about – they all stepped up and just went after it.”
OAA Report 