Boys Swimming: Segal breaks Huron pool record in breaststroke as Pioneers swim past River Rats

The Pioneer boys’ swimming and diving team defeated city-rival Huron 136-44 in an SEC dual-meet on Thursday at Huron HS. It was a very fast dual-meet with several D-1 state cuts and a pool full of MISCA cut times in the books.

One of the highlights of the meet came near the end in the 100 breaststroke when Pioneer’s Matthew Segal broke the Huron pool record. Segal, only a junior, went a blistering 56.36 seconds to finish first and put his name in the Huron history books. The previous 100 breast record at Huron was held by Skyline’s Michael MacGillivray (56.62).

Segal helped get the Pioneers rolling from the opening splash as the visitors won the medley relay in 1:40.50 – a D-1 state cut time. Joining Segal were teammates Vaughn Hajra, Koa Williams and Jack Shemke in the winning relay.

Huron’s foursome of Eli Atkinson, Kevin Zhou, AJ Stewart and Brian Moskus took second in 1:42.21. Pioneer’s group of Justin Su, Gabriel Almeida, Luke Packard and Jack DeBona were third in 1:46.77.

The 200 freestyle was a fast race with Pioneer’s Robert Yang taking first with a D-1 state cut time of 1:46.47. The Pioneers landed in the top four spots with Cameron Williston second (1:47.86), Caleb Rice third (1:50.27) and Alec Lipham fourth (1:50.85). Huron’s Noah Flott was fifth (1:51.68). Pioneer’s Ryan Hume had a MISCA cut time of 1:47.36.

Pioneer took the top four spots in the 200 IM with Hajra first (2:02.00), Samuel Fonte second (2:03.46), Teodor Jaworski third (2:06.04) and Almeida fourth (2:09.99). Zhou was fifth for Huron (2:10.29).

Segal sprinted to a first-place finish in the 50 free with a D-1 state cut time of 21.67. Pioneer’s Alex Farmer was second (22.82), Huron’s Atkinson was third (23.13) and Pioneer’s Shemke fourth (23.35).

In diving, Pioneer’s Cole Tremewan was first with 286.25 points. Teammate Max Rolla-Mullis was second with 204.05 points.

Stewart took first for the River Rats with a time of 53.93 in the butterfly. Pioneer grabbed the next three spots with Williams (55.91), Su (56.48) and Labadie (57.27).

The Pioneers took the top four spots in the 100 freestyle. Yang was first in 49.55 followed by Farmer (49.79), Hajra (50.37) and Shemke (51.03). Huron’s Brian Moskus was fifth in 52.20.

Pioneer’s Hume swam a D-1 state cut time of 4:52.81 to finish first in the 500 free. Huron took the next two spots with Drew Lindstrom (4:54.11) and Hires (5:01.96). Pioneer’s Lipham was fourth in 5:04.27 followed by teammates DeBona (5:11.14) and Tristan Serr (5:22.46).

The Pioneers took the first two spots in the 200 free relay. The team of Yang, Fonte, Lipham and Segal took first in 1:32.15 while the foursome of Labadie, Kenji Wagner, Hume and Hajra were second in 1:32.21. Huron (Flott, Zhou, Hires and Atkinson) was third in 1:33.77.

The backstroke was another fast race. Both Jack Wilkening (54.85) and Rice (55.19) swam D-1 state-cut times for the Pioneers. Williston swam a fast 55.47 to take third and Su went 1:00.47 to take fourth. Huron’s Stewart was fifth in 1:00.67.

In the breaststroke, Segal was first with pool record followed by Huron’s Atkinson (1:03.54), Pioneer’s Almeida (1:04.69) and Huron’s Tyler Gibbs (1:11.88). Pioneer’s Young Jun was fifth (1:13.25) and teammate Hyeonyeop Kim sixth (1:18.28).

Pioneer (Hume, Jaworski, Lipham and Rice) won the 400 free in 3:19.26. The Pioneer team of Yang, Farmer, Shemke and Williston was a very close second in 3:19.36. Both were D-1 state cut times. Huron (Flott, Lindstrom, Sean Underwood and Stewart) was third in 3:32.86.

MAIN PHOTO: Pioneer’s Luke Packard and Ryan Hume. Photo by Bethany Williston