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Photo by Mary Kumbier
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Dexter's boys' swimming and diving team captured its 10th straight Southeastern Conference White Division title last weekend
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Dexter's boys' swimming and diving team came on strong to win its 10th consecutive Southeastern Conference White Division title last Saturday at Ann Arbor Pioneer. The Dreadnaughts regained the outright title after sharing it with Tecumseh last year.
In 2006-2007, the Dreads won the White Division championship meet, but lost to Tecumseh in dual meet competition during the regular season, making them co-champs. But this year, by winning both the regular season and championship meet, Dexter became the sole White Division champion.
In capturing first, the Dreadnaughts tallied 310 points. Tecumseh was second with 233 points, followed by Chelsea (124), Adrian (98), and Ypsilanti Lincoln (78).
Ann Arbor Pioneer, with 618 points, was the SEC Red Division meet champion, followed by Ann Arbor Huron (460) and Saline (404). Earlier in the season Huron defeated Pioneer in their dual meet, so the two teams are SEC Red Division co-champs.
Although there are two divisions, the meet is scored with all teams combined. Points are awarded for first through 16th place overall in each event. After totaling the scores, the rankings within division are then determined. Within each division the top three finishers for each event, either individuals or "A" relay teams, are awarded All-Conference honors.
Preliminaries were conducted last Friday, with the top 24 individuals and top 16 relays returning to swim in the Saturday finals. In the finals, the top two heats score while the third heat is a "bonus" heat. In diving, 16 divers advance from preliminaries to finals.
A new challenge this year was the addition of Huron to the SEC. Though the River Rats are in the other division, their team strength enabled them to capture three or four scoring places in every individual event, making it that much more difficult for other teams to score. But the Dreadnaughts rose to the occasion to grab their share of points.
"We had guys stepping up all over the place on Friday," said Dexter coach Michael McHugh. "People who weren't expected to score, were dropping time and scoring points for the team. We had a great day on Friday and really set ourselves up to win on Saturday."
In the 200 medley relay, the Dexter foursome of Stephen Sobczak, Taylor Verna, Ben Steavenson, and Walker McHugh swam a state qualifying time of 1:44.95 to place fifth overall and second in the White Division. Danny Rion, Jacob Wiltse, Liam Donevan, and Matt Cambridge went 1:50.19 to capture 12th overall and sixth in the division.
In the preliminaries, Kevin Butler, Shawn Greco, Jesse Claflin, and Austin Daugherty combined for 20th in a time of 1:56.02. Liam Ellmann, Ryan Aliapoulios, Jeff Pituch and Jake Aliapoulios were 27th at 2:03.01.
Dexter took the top three White Division spots in the 200 freestyle. Robert Spiegel swam a state qualifying 1:49.94 to finish first (sixth overall). Scott Dyer was second at 1:53.03 (11th overall). Tim Pituch took third in the division (13th overall) at 1:54.62, after dropping six seconds from his seed time to go 1:54.01 in the preliminaries.
In the preliminaries, Karl Kumbier finished 20th overall (1:55.36), Donevan 31st (2:02.05), and Brandon Verna 40th (2:10.66).
In the 200 individual medley, Steavenson lowered his state qualifying time to 2:05.53, good for second in the White and ninth overall. Also scoring was Wiltse, who dropped more than seven seconds to swim 2:12.02, placing 14th overall and fourth in the division.
In the preliminaries Cambridge finished 20th at 2:15.52, while Ryan Aliapoulious was 36th at 2:25.86.
Joey Sayre was the overall champion in the 50 freestyle sprint, lowering his state cut time to 22.41. McHugh earned his state cut with a time of 22.95, finishing second in the White and seventh overall. Sobczak dropped 0.84 seconds in the preliminaries to clock 22.88 and earn his state cut, then went 23.35 to finish third in the White and eighth overall.
Rounding out the Dexter sprinters were Daugherty in 27th (25.19), Greco in 42nd (26.82), Jeff Pituch in 44th (27.04), Jake Aliapoulios in 45th (27.19), and Evan Luoma in 47th (27.47).
In one-meter diving, Scott Crompton tallied a score of 304.80 points for 11 dives to claim second in the White and sixth overall. Sean Kilian scored 255.50 points to place fifth in the division and 14th overall. Corey Presley and Devin Bergeson finished 21st and 22nd in the preliminaries, with scores of 145.95 points and 140.15 points, respectively, for eight dives.
Rion captured third in the White division (13th overall) for the 100 butterfly, going 1:00.04. Donevan also scored, finishing fourth in the division and 14th overall, with a time of 1:01.47. Claflin, touching in 1:03.82, was sixth in the division and 23rd overall. Brandon Verna finished 33rd in the prelims at 1:07.59. The Dexter flyers all dropped between two and four seconds from their previous bests.
Four Dexter swimmers scored in the 100 freestyle. Sayre earned his second White Division first place (third overall), lowering his state cut time to 48.98. Spiegel earned his state cut with a 50.24 in the preliminaries, then went 51.07 in the finals to take second in the White and eighth overall. Dyer (51.29) and McHugh (51.30) finished fourth and fifth in the White Division (13th and 14th overall). Taylor Verna went 51.55 to finish seventh in the division and 18th overall.
In the preliminaries, Jake Aliapoulios (1:01.38) and Luoma (1:02.68) finished 50th and 54th.
The Dreadnaught distance swimmers achieved big time drops to score in the 500 freestyle. Steavenson dropped nearly five seconds untapered to go 5:00.65 in the preliminaries, then swam 5:02.91 to claim first in the White Division and seventh overall. Kumbier went 5:10.96 to capture second place in the division, vaulting to 10th overall from 16th after prelims, and dropping more than 14 seconds. Tim Pituch cut almost 10 seconds to go 5:15.91, finishing fifth in the division and 14th overall. In the preliminaries, Jeff Pituch lowered his time nearly 20 seconds to swim 5:43.95 and finish 31st.
Dexter's 200 freestyle relay team of McHugh, Spiegel, Dyer, and Sayre swam a state qualifying 1:32.35 to win the White Division and place third overall. Tim Pituch, Daugherty, Butler and Kumbier clocked a time of 1:37.67 to finish 12th overall and sixth in the division.
In the preliminaries, Brandon Verna Jake Aliapuolios, Donevan and Greco touched in 1:45.08 to finish 23rd, and Ellmann, Crompton, Luoma, and Kilian teamed up to go 1:47.68 and finish 25th.
Sobczak was the White Division champ in the 100 backstroke (fourth overall) with a state qualifying time of 56.77. Rion, at 1:02.17, placed fourth in the division and 15th overall. Claflin cut over three seconds to go 1:03.25 and finish 22nd, while Butler went 1:04.35 to finish 24th. In the preliminaries Ryan Aliapoulios swam 1:07.46 to finish 30th.
The Dreads scored four breaststrokers in the top 16. Taylor Verna, at 1:06.01, placed second in the White Division and 10th overall. Wiltse swam 1:06.67 to earn third place in the division and 11th overall. Cambridge went 1:07.68 to take fourth in the division and 13th overall, while Daugherty touched in 1:10.27 to place fifth in the division and 16th overall.
In the preliminaries, Greco finished 25th in 1:12.47, a two second drop, while Ellmann finished 32nd at 1:14.73, nearly a five second drop.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the quartet of Spiegel, Dyer, Sayre, and Verna lowered their state qualifying time to 3:24.42, winning the White Division and placing fourth overall. Tim Pituch, Steavenson, Kumbier, and Wiltse teamed up to swim 3:32.90 and finish seventh in the division and 13th overall.
In the preliminaries, Kumbier, Cambridge, Butler, and Rion finished 15th in 3:40.60, while Jeff Pituch, Brandon Verna, Ryan Aliapoulios and Claflin went 3:59.08 to finish 28th.
"This group of guys worked extremely hard the entire year and I am so happy for them that they captured their 10th straight SEC White division title," McHugh said "We now turn our focus towards the state championship on March 7th and 8th. We have 7 swimmers that will be competing and our goal is to finish in the top 10."
The Division II state championship will be held at Eastern Michigan University, with preliminaries on March 7 and finals on March 8. Competition begins at noon each day.
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