In a strange, challenging and oftentimes difficult season, the Skyline and Dexter swimming and diving teams made their final splash of the season an impressive one. The two SEC rivals landed top five in a very competitive field this past weekend at Jenison.
Birmingham Seaholm won Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 meet despite winning only one event all day. Seaholm finished with 267.5 points to 222 for runner-up Grosse Pointe South. Detroit U-D Jesuit was third with 180 points.
Skyline took fourth overall with 179 points and Dexter landed fifth with 153 points. It was a great finish for two great programs that enjoyed successful 2021 seasons in the highly competitive SEC (which had Pioneer taking first by more than a few laps and Saline third at the Division 1 State Finals). Dexter finished first in its final season in the SEC White – they join the SEC Red next season.
Skyline opened with a fourth-place finish in the opening medley relay. The team of Ben Deininger, Daniel Osterholzer, Lucas Caswell and Matthew Lee finished in 1 minute, 35.66 seconds. Dexter’s team of Lucas Greatorex, Adam Hauser, Stuart Bovich and Matthew Resende took 17th in 1:41.48.
Dexter’s Clayton Kinnard won the 200 free (1:39.72), out-touching Aidan Boldt (1:41). Kinnard, a senior, was a top-16 Finals placer as a freshman and sophomore in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke before he opted not to compete last winter. He was glad he found the desire to compete again and represent his school.
“I used to put pressure on myself to do good; people expected me to do well,” he said. “I stopped swimming because I felt like I was swimming for other people. But my friends wanted me to do it this year for fun, and I did have a lot of fun. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had. I just let loose, and it was the best I’ve ever swam. I’m proud of this.”
Dexter teammate Leo Varitek, a senior, was 10th in 1:44.62.
Skyline also had a strong showing in the 200 free. Junior Evan McKelvey was fifth (1:42.47) and senior Daniel Koselka was 22nd (1:49.17).
Junior Ben Kurniawan was fifth (1:54.58) and freshman Lucas Caswell was eighth (1:57.03) in the 200 IM for Skyline. Dexter’s Adam Hauser was 23rd in 2:03.21.
Dexter senior Zach Norris sprinted to a third-place finish in the 50 free with a time of 20.87. Skyline’s Matthew Lee was 12th (21.54).
Dexter’s Cole Warren completed his excellent junior season with a third-place finish in diving with 451.70 points. Skyline sophomore James Andrew-Vaughan was 31st with 121.35 points.
In the butterfly, Skyline’s Ben Kurniawan was fifth with a time of 50.68. Caswell was 11th (51.64) for the Eagles.
Skyline’s McKelvey was seventh (46.69) in the 100 free with teammate Daniel Koselka taking 14th (48.16). The 100 free also was a strong showing for the Dreadnaughts. Norris took eighth (46.74) and Varitek was 12th (48.08).
In the 500 free, Adam Hauser was 18th (4:58.95) for the Dreadnaughts.
Seniors led the way for Dexter in the 200 free relay. The team of seniors Kinnard, Norris and Varitek along with freshman Resende took a very close second with a time of 1:25.45. The winning time was 1:25.24 from Grosse Pointe South.
Skyline’s team of McKelvey, Koselka, Kurniawan and Lee took fourth in the 200 free relay in 1:25.75.
Skyline’s Deininger was 11th in the backstroke with a time of 53.64. Chris Kurniawan was 33rd (57.02) and Owen Schadler was 35th (57.51) for the Eagles. Dexter sophomore Lucas Greatorex was 18th (55.16) and Stuart Bovich was 38th (58.44).
Kinnard finished his strong individual showing with a third-place time of 55.62 in the breaststroke. Skyline’s Daniel Osterholzer was 18th (1:01.06), Lewis McCammon was 19th (1:01.07), Jack Staunton was 25th (1:02.30) and Conor Pyle was 27th (1:03.11).
Skyline finished the meet strong. The team of McKelvey, Ben Kurniawan, Koselka and Lee took second in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:08.22. Dexter’s team of Norris, Varitek, Resende and Kinnard took fifth in 3:09.33.
Steve Vedder (Second Half) contributed to this report
