The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Dexter tankers seventh at Spartan Invitational
PUBLISHED: January 11, 2007
Dexter's boys' swimming and diving team traveled to Battle Creek Lakeview last Saturday to compete in the Spartan Invitational. The Dreadnaughts came away with a seventh-place finish.
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The host team captured first place with 489.5 points. Portage Central was second with 358 points, followed by Holland Christian (342 points), and Bloomfield Hills Lahser (278 points).
Flint Powers Catholic finished fifth at 261.5 points, followed closely by Alma (248 points) and Dexter (244 points), with Portage Northern tallying 104 points. Points were awarded up to 16th place in each event to determine the scoring.
"The Spartan Invitational is a great meet, with only Division II schools invited," said Dreadnaught coach Michael McHugh. "It gave us the opportunity to compete against other teams that we typically wouldn't see until the state meet."
Despite coming off heavy training over winter break, the Dreadnaught swimmers turned in some strong performances with a number of swimmers achieving significant time drops or personal bests.
"I was really impressed with the way the guys swam," said McHugh. "They just finished up two weeks of intense training, with each swimmer swimming nearly 100 miles over the break."
The team of Danny Rion, Kirk Kumbier, Robert Spiegel, and Taylor Verna placed seventh in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:49.12. Nate Cook, Shawn Greco, Jesse Claflin, and Matt Cambridge combined to place 11th, while Kevin Butler, Sean Kilian, Johno Wilson, and Walker McHugh placed 12th.
In the 200 freestyle, Derek Wooton led the charge, placing 11th in 2:00.26. Scott Dyer and Jacob Wiltse placed 15th and 16th, respectively, with only a hundredth of a second between them. Tyler Steeb finished 24th for the Dreads.
Kumbier captured third in the 200 individual medley, recording a state cut time of 2:08.04. Cambridge placed 16th, Wilson finished 17th, and Ryan Aliapoulios was 24th.
Joey Sayre placed 15th in the 50 freestyle, touching the wall in 24.39. Cook finished 19th, while Karl Kumbier was 23rd and Tim Pituch 25th.
In one-meter diving, Dexter's Scott Crompton accumulated 277.92 points for 11 dives to take eighth place. Corey Presley placed 16th.
In the 100 butterfly, Kirk Kumbier swam 59.07 to place fifth. Spiegel touched 10th, just ahead of Rion in 11th place. Jesse Claflin finished 20th.
Verna paced the Dreadnaughts in the 100 freestyle, placing 10th in 53.34. Sayre placed 13th and McHugh 15th, while Karl Kumbier finished 21st.
Dyer clocked a 5:27.28 to place 11th in the 500 freestyle. Wooton picked up 14th place, Pituch finished 17th, and Liam Donevan came in 23rd.
Dexter sprinters Verna, Spiegel, McHugh, and Sayre teamed up to earn fifth in the 200 freestyle relay, touching in 1:37.70. Cambridge, Wiltse, Steeb, and Butler placed 13th, while Claflin, Greco, Donevan, and Aliapoulios placed 16th.
In the 100 backstroke Butler and Cook tied for 11th place at 1:04.86. Rion added points in 14th place, while Aliapoulios came in 17th.
In the 100 breaststroke, Verna placed sixth with a time of 1:07.85. Wilson placed 10th for the Dreads, Kilian placed 16th, and Greco finished 17th.
The foursome of Kirk Kumbier, Sayre, Spiegel and Dyer went 3:35.12 to place sixth in the 400 freestyle relay. Karl Kumbier, Cambridge, Kilian, and McHugh joined forces to place 13th. Pituch, Steeb, Donevan, and Wiltse rounded out the Dexter scoring in 16th place.
"I am starting to see some major improvements in this team as a whole," said McHugh. "The guys are really close to each other and really bonded over break. I think the break actually brought the team together."
The Dreadnaughts next face Ann Arbor Pioneer and Toledo St. Francis at Pioneer Thursday at 6 p.m.
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