For the history books, the Pioneer boys’ swimming and diving team was in pursuit of one of the state’s most impressive records – a streak of six straight Finals titles won from 1977-82. Pioneer jumped into the pool last weekend at Holland Aquatics Center with four straight titles in the bank but couldn’t cash in number five, coming up a few strokes short.
SEC rival Saline, who finished second last year by just 30 points, flipped the script this year and edged Pioneer to the finish line. The Hornets finished with 291.5 points, edging Pioneer, who took second with 263 points. Northville was third with 224 points, Zeeland fourth at 176 and Detroit Catholic Central fifth with 175 points.
The Pioneers opened strong, winning the medley relay. The all underclassmen team of Cam Kline, Elijah Almeida, Edward Zhang and Henry Baumhover took first place with a time of 1:32.66.
Pioneer also had a very strong showing in the 200 freestyle. Zhang, a junior, took second in 1:38.33 while Kline, also a junior, was fifth in 1:42.0.
In the 200 IM, Pioneer sophomore Charles Knoepp was seventh in 1:55.04.
Pioneer’s Baumhover, a junior, was second in the 50 free in 20.91.
Pioneer sophomore Asher Morgan was third in diving with 353.9 points.
In the butterfly, Zhang touched second with a time of 50.37. Almeida took seventh in 51.89.
Baumhover continued his brilliant day by taking second in the 100 free in 45.20.
In the 500 free, Knoepp touched third with a time of 4:36.93. Kline was close behind him, touching fifth in 4:39.90.
Pioneer won its second relay of the day when the team of Zhang, Brighton Han, Knoepp and Baumhover won the 200 free relay in 1:24.66.
In the breaststroke, Almeida was third in 56.80.
The Pioneer team of Knoepp, Kline, Han and Almeida took seventh in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:13.37.
