Swimming: Skyline, Huron both shine at competitive SEC championships

The SEC hosted its annual conference boys’ swimming tournament on Friday and Saturday and the Ann Arbor schools did what they do best – dominate in water sports. The three local teams finished in three of the top four spots in the Red Division event held at Pioneer High School.

And there was no surprise at the top. Pioneer took first with 602 points, dominating from the opening splash to the final touch.

Saline took second place, beating out a strong Skyline team by just 10 points. The Eagles finished with an impressive 397 points as they posted plenty of outstanding times.

Speaking of outstanding, Huron racked up 314 points to finish in fourth place.
Bedford was fifth (284) and Monroe took sixth (112).

How fast was this meet? In the 50 freestyle, the top 12 placers recorded D-1 state cut times. Not that is impressive.

Here is a look at how Skyline and Huron did this past weekend:

In the medley relay, the Huron team of Ji Ung Hyun, AJ Stewart, Dylan Schmitzerle and Brian Moskus took fourth in 1:38.52. The Skyline all-classes team of sophomore Ben Deininger, senior Derek Mrachko, junior John Evangelista and freshman Jack Staunton took fifth in 1:41.26.

Huron’s Ben Hires went 1:48.89 to finish fifth in the 200 freestyle. Teammate Noah Flott was seventh in 1:49.86.

Skyline sophomore Ben Kurniawan took third in the IM with a D-1 state cut time of 1:56.50. Huron senior Dylan Schmitzerle was sixth with a D-1 state cut time of 2:00.63.

In the aforementioned 50 free, Skyline went 5-6-7 and all with D-1 state cut times. Sophomore Matthew Lee was fifth (22.05), sophomore Evan McKelvey was sixth (22.12) and senior Atticus Dewey was seventh (22.16). Huron junior AJ Stewart was eighth with a D-1 state cut time of 22.05 and Skyline senior Derek Mrachko was 12^th with a D-1 state cut time of 22.49.

In diving, Skyline freshman Charlie Andrew-Vaughan was eighth with 272.25 points. Skyline freshman Soren Nielsen was 10^th with 242.90 points.

Kurniawan took first in the 100 butterfly with a D-1 state cut time of 50.66. Lee was third for Skyline with a D-1 state cut time of 52.19.

Skyline’s McKelvey was fifth in the 100 free with a D-1 state cut time of 48.47. Huron’s Flott was eighth in 49.59.

Swimming: Pioneers dominate SEC championships, head to States swimming with confidence

In the 500 free, Huron sophomore Drew Lindstrom was third with a D-1 state cut time of 4:48.97 while teammate Hires touched fifth with a D-1 state cut time of 4:53.60.

Skyline’s team of Dewey, Kurniawan, McKelvey and Lee took second overall with a with a D-1 state cut time of 1:27.75. They lost to Saline by less than a second (the Hornets won with a time of 1:27.23). Huron’s team of Stewart, Flott, Schmitzerle and Brian Moskus took fourth with a D-1 state cut time of 1:30.43.

In the backstroke, Skyline’s Deininger was third (54.05) and Dewey fourth (54.57) as both swimmers recorded D-1 state cut times. Huron’s Hyun was ninth (56.47).

In the breaststroke, Huron senior Schmitzerle took first overall with a D-1 state cut time of 59.00. He beat Pioneer’s Vaughn Hajra by just .06 seconds to take the gold. Skyline’s Derek Mrachko was sixth (1:01.37).

The Eagles ended the meet with an impressive first-place finish in the 400 free relay. The team of Lee, Dewey, McKelvey and Kurniawan won with a D-1 state cut time of 3:10.44. Huron (Lindstrom, Flott, Hires and Sean Underwood) was fifth in 3:24.92.

Main Photo: By Suzanne Devine.