Swimming: Pioneers break THREE Hill Pool records in win over Dexter

Breaking a pool record is a big deal, especially at a school like Pioneer where records are of a rather special kind considering their history in water sports. So to break one requires a rather special kind of effort.

On Thursday night, the Pioneer boys’ swimming and diving team welcomed SEC Red rival Dexter to town and broke THREE Hill Pool records in the process. Maybe the Dreadnaughts bring out the best in people.

Pioneer certainly gave their best with a 138-42 victory over Dexter, a program that won four consecutive Division 2 state championships starting in 2016. The Pioneers, the defending Division 1 state champions, set Hill Pool records in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Senior Ryan Hume broke a pool record in the 200 individual medley.

Let’s jump into the pool and get into this…

The Pioneer foursome of Matthew DeBona, Gabriel Almeida, Robert Yang and Gabriel Burks touched first with a time of 1 minute, 42.75 seconds in the medley relay. Pioneer (Teodor Jaworski, Brighton Han, Alex Farmer and Jensen Wood) also took second in 1:45.81.

Dexter’s team of Stuart Bovich, Adam Hauser, Eric Smaby and Tristan Lorincz took third in 1:51.59.

The Pioneers showed off their incredible depth by taking the first eight spots in the 200 freestyle. Keep in mind that Dexter is a very, very good program. The Dreadnaughts came into the meet with a 5-2 record, with the losses to Huron and Skyline. Pioneer is just performing at a different level than everyone else these days.

Jack Wilkening won the 200 free in 1:45.63 with Caleb Rice second (1:48.15) and Alec Lipham third (1:48.79).

Hume broke the Hill Pool record in the IM with a time of 1:50.92. Dexter’s Adam Hauser was second (2:08.06) and Pioneer’s Han was third (2:10.55).

Harrison Sanders led Pioneer with a first-place finish in the 50 free in 22 seconds. Teammates Gabriel Almeida (second, 23.76), DeBona (23.90) and Mathieu Ruelle (24.25) were right behind him. Dexter’s Smaby was fifth (25.06) and Bovich sixth (25.30).

Dexter’s Cole Warren won the diving with 266.05 points for the Dreadnaughts. Pioneer’s Gabriel Mercier was second (218.30).

Pioneer’s Isaac Almeida won the butterfly with a time of 57.41. Wood was second (59.59), Young Jun third (1:01.49) and Han fourth (1:01.88) for the Pioneers. Dexter’s Lucas Greatorex was fifth (1:03.42).

Wilkening won the 100 free (46.28) followed by Burks (48.27), Jaworski (49.48), Lipham (51.11), Kenyon Neal (53.73) and Jackson Willmer (54.97). Dexter’s Otto Krueger was seventh (56.34).

Hauser won Dexter’s only swimming event of the meet when he touched first in 5:04.01 to win the 500 freestyle. Su was second (5:11.31), Zach Edwards third (5:17.67) and Christopher Leuciuc fourth (5:17.73) for Pioneer.

Pioneer’s foursome of Wilkening, Rice, Farmer and Burks took first in the 200 free relay in 1:24.92. The Pioneer team of Yang, Wood, Jaworski and Lipham took second in 1:32.38. Dexter’s team of Matthew Resende, Ben Curtis, Greatorex and Hauser took third in 1:36.02.

The Pioneers took the top three spots in the backstroke with Sanders (57.43), Gabriel Almeida (1:00.05) and Ruelle (1:00.08). Resende was fourth for Dexter in 1:00.24.

In the breaststroke, Rice took first in 1:02.34 followed by Jaworski (1:08.29), DeBona (1:09.99), Coen Boutell (1:11.97) and Jack Fagan (1:13.00). Dexter’s Devon Durliat was sixth (1:13.70).

Pioneer’s 400 free relay team of Yang, Wilkening, Sanders and Burks touched first in 3:06.02. The foursome of Su, Leuciuc, Lipham and Jun took second in 3:27.06. Dexter (Greatorex, Jack Haidl, Dylan O’Connor and Resende) took third in 3:41.05.