DeWitt's Thomas Blazes Swimming Path with Historic Finals Performance
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
April 4, 2024
Aaron Thomas easily could have decided that swimming wasn't going to be part of his life.
The DeWitt senior could've pieced together some combination of his other entertainment interests to fill his time. For instance, he could have spent more time with friends or immersed himself in video games. Or maybe devoted more time to a flirtation with golf or playing trumpet in the school band. Thomas also could have gained a head start on college and his ultimate goal of a degree in biomedical engineering.
Considering the lifetime of challenges he's faced in swimming, those seemed more tenable options.
Instead, Thomas chose the tougher path.
"My life is swimming," he said. "I've been in water so much, I've never looked back."
By "looking back," Thomas means ignoring a disability that would have turned many youngsters away from the pool. He was born without 65 percent of his pointer finger on his left hand and with a thumb that's only about 90-percent intact. The other three fingers stop at the top of the knuckle. As DeWitt coach Brock Delaney explains, much of a swimmer’s success comes from the power of fingers and subsequent strength in the hands – and without that combination, swimmers are at an immediate disadvantage.
But rather than letting those obstacles keep him high and dry, Thomas has excelled and finished this season with a historic first. He qualified for the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals in the 200-yard individual medley and finished 29th and also competed in the Paralympic 100 freestyle exhibition event and topped all divisions with a time of 54.07 seconds. In doing so, Thomas became the first competitor to swim that combination at a Finals meet.
Thomas additionally this winter made DeWitt's Century Club of swimmers who have amassed 100 points in a season for the second time, and he has earned National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) Paralympic All-American honors in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.64), 200 IM (2:08.21), and 500 free (5:11.58). He also competes in Paralympic swimming as part of the Mid-Michigan Aquatics Club.
To some, the quest for those achievements likely would seem a long and difficult path. But to Thomas, it's business as usual. A disability? What disability, offers Thomas, whose ultimate goal is swimming in the 2028 Summer Paralympics in Los Angeles.
"I've always loved swimming," he said. "When I'm in the water, I never worry about anything. I just feel free."
And Thomas has found a way to even the playing field, Delaney said.
"He's such a hard worker who has made up for a left-hand deficiency," Delaney said. "He's legit, a strong kid who loves to swim. "
But determination can take a swimmer only so far. Delaney said Thomas, classified as an S10 swimmer for Paralympic events, has developed physical strategies to increase his performance. In the backstroke, for instance, Thomas swims with his left hand underwater to help in propulsion. For speed, Thomas tries to keep his body on his "power side."
The rest, Delaney said, is simply heart.
"He moved here from Alma between his eighth grade and freshmen years," he said. "If not our hardest worker, he's in the top three. He's got something not all athletes have."
Thomas said one of the chief reasons he spends so much time around pools is the type of person he finds there. He describes people who combine encouragement and understanding with a will to compete despite any perceived physical shortcomings. What he's learned from them not only explains his swim career, but teaches valuable life lessons as well.
In fact, Thomas' career plans, beginning at Hope College in the fall, include securing a degree in biomedical engineering with an ultimate plan to help build prosthetics.
"Getting to know people in the prosthetic field really interests me," he said. "Swimming and prosthetics have been a nice tie-in with school. Prosthetics ties it all together for me."
Thomas said he can think of only a single instance where he questioned whether he should follow his love of swimming. But that thought quickly passed, and he's thrown himself into the sport ever since.
"I wouldn't trade my disability for the world," he said. "It's given me so many opportunities. The whole club and school thing and getting to the state meet never would have happened.”
Thomas will swim at Hope, and his goal is to qualify for the 200 IM at the Los Angeles Paralympic games. Thomas estimates he's within 15 seconds of qualifying in that meet's long course event.
"It's achievable," he said. "For sure it's doable."
Whether he makes it to Los Angeles or if his swim career quietly winds down, Thomas, who describes himself as competitive, said he still will have gained something for which everyone strives, athlete or not.
"Water has always been a safe spot for me," he said. "I think I've always used it as kind of a break from life. It helps clear my head.
“I've always been taught that you get out of work what you put into it. Work always pays off in the end. I've always remembered that.”
PHOTOS (Top) Aaron Thomas races for the DeWitt swimming & diving team. (Middle) Thomas posted the fastest time across all divisions in the Paralympic 100 freestyle exhibition at this season’s Finals. (Photos provided by the DeWitt swimming & diving program and Thomas family.)
Cranbrook Extends Finals Win Streak to 3; Farner, Otsego's Smith Claim Multiple Titles
By
Brad Emons
Special for MHSAA.com
March 15, 2025
YPSILANTI – Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood is no stranger to MHSAA boys swimming & diving championships.
And the Cranes, led by junior standout A.J. Farner, made it three straight Saturday and seven overall scoring a team-high 357 points to reach the podium. They finished ahead of runner-up Holland Christian (282.5) and third-place East Grand Rapids (264) at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals at Eastern Michigan University’s Jones Natatorium.
Farner figured in four firsts to lead the way, winning the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.15) and 100 backstroke (49.54) while also being part of victorious relay teams in the 200 medley (1:33.78) and 400 freestyle (3:07.95).
Senior teammate Joseph Wiater also brought home a first in the 100 breaststroke (56.57).
“I didn’t know what to expect coming in, but because of great coaching things went my way, so no complaints,” Farner said. “I have (had) mononucleosis for the past three months. My coaches have done a really good job kind of limiting me and limiting what I’m doing. I didn’t know what to expect, but the team and the coaches did a really good job preparing me. It went my way and better than I expected.”
Cranbrook coach Paul Ellis said Farner has a special quality that can’t often be duplicated.
“A.J. is an incredibly talented kid,” Ellis said. “The reason he is able to come out and do this is he’s a great example of a kid that puts in all work in the offseason. Yes, he’s got a lot of genetic gifts, but that doesn’t set him up without training his tail off and working his butt off. ... He puts in the work out of season, so when he gets here, he can rely on that training even though he runs into a hiccup like mono. He couldn’t do any more than 3,000 yards the past three months and yet he came out here, relied on his training and was incredibly successful in all his races.”
In his final hurrah as a prep swimmer, Wiater earned his first individual Finals title.
“It was exciting. I swam with so much pride,” Wiater said. “It was just a great time. I’m officially done with swimming. I’m not going anywhere to (swim) college or anything, so I’m super excited that I pulled it off.
“First, I was telling myself, ‘This is it. It’s my last race ever.’ We are competing with Holland Christian for first place and we needed the first. I told myself, ‘I just got to get this. This is my last four lengths, and I’m done the rest of my life.’”
Coming out of Friday’s prelims, Cranbrook boasted a total of 20 individual qualifiers – the most of any school – heading into consolation and finals heats.
Cranbrook’s second-seeded 200 medley relay got the team off to a roaring start by winning going away as freestyle anchor leg Calvin Meeker brought it home in 1:33.78, teaming up with Farner, Wiater and Ethan Xu for a repeat championship in the event.
Another of the meet’s individual stars was Otsego junior Liam Smith, who repeated as champion in the 200 individual medley (1:49.07) and 100 butterfly (48.68). His performance in the 200 IM was an All-American automatic time, while his butterfly clocking earned All-America consideration.
“Obviously last year was exciting, this year was exciting, the state meet is always exciting,” Smith said. “You always want to perform your best. I didn’t go my best time, but you can’t complain about winning. I’m good with that.”
Smith, who brought the team’s wooden hammer to the victory podium after winning the 100 butterfly, boasts five individual Finals titles for his career, including three straight in the butterfly.
“Anyone who gets on the podium gets the hammer,” Smith said. “I was a little disappointed in my times, but you can’t do your best every time. I can be happy about winning. It never gets old. It’s awesome.”
In one of the most competitive races of the day, junior Jack Higgins of Detroit Country Day clocked a first-place time of 21.01 in the 50 freestyle to hold off Holland Christian’s Basil Ledesma and Adrian’s Kade Opsal, who tied for second with identical times of 21.26.
Higgins was runner-up a year ago in 20.79 to Grand Rapids Christian senior Ben Sytsma, who went 19.98. Last school year the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Higgins also played football, but decided to concentrate solely on swimming for 2024-25.
“This year was more open for me,” said Higgins, who does plan to play golf this spring for the Yellowjackets. “I’ve been thinking about winning ever since then. I just feel really good to do it. I’ll really reflect on everything after the meet is over, but I just feel really good right now.”
Higgins was also the top seed in the 100 freestyle and became the meet’s second double individual winner with a first-place clocking of 45.95 to better his 46.17 prelim time from Friday.
Meanwhile, Plainwell junior Sam Harper was seeded second in the 500 freestyle but overcame Flint Powers Catholic senior Liam Seifert, the top seed, and touched the wall first in 4:34.62, almost five seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Harper was fourth a year ago in 4:39.90, while Seifert was third in 4:38.03. The two have had a spirited and friendly rivalry.
“Me and Seifert go back-and-forth, race-to-race, it has been for a while now,” Harper said. “He’s a good guy, but it’s all good to take this one home. The prelims I was going strong and steady, just making sure I had enough gas in the tank the next day.”
Grand Rapids Christian took a highly-competitive 200 freestyle relay race as seniors Tyler Stinton and Evan Nelson along with juniors Sawyer O’Grady and Emmett Vance posted a time of 1:27.26 to hold off runner-up Spring Lake (1:28.10), Cranbrook (1:28.14), East Grand Rapids (1:28.16) and Hamilton (1:28.62).
In the 1-meter diving, Holland Christian senior Parker Schut held off a strong challenge from Rowen Bishop of East Grand Rapids to earn his first Finals title.
Schut, a year-round diver, finished sixth last year, fifth as a sophomore and ninth as a freshman. He tallied 511.95 points, while Bishop, who posted the best Regional dive score in D3 with a 524.65, wound up with 471.05 on Saturday.
“Wow, I’m very, very excited right now,” said Schut, who plans to continue his diving career at Davenport University where he’ll study business. “Dreamed about it last night, dreamed about it the day before. I’m so excited. I don’t know what else to say. It was my second-to-last dive, my 205, a back 2½ tuck, and it was just perfect top, good kick-out, good entry and I think that’s what finished it off.”
Cranbrook-Kingswood added an exclamation point in the meet’s final event, winning the 400 freestyle relay ahead of Holland Christian (3:08.74) with Sean Lu, Ryan Van Dyke, Xu and Farner comprising the victorious quartet.
“We’ve got great coaches in Paul Ellis, Greg Palmer, Marissa Blumenthal and John Hovy – great leadership,” Farner said. “We’ve had a really great group of seniors the past three or four years on the team. Great guys leading the group. They’ve done a really good job of rallying the team together, making great ideas and goals for our team.”
Meanwhile, Ellis had nothing but praise for his team.
“They are a group that really cares about each other and to me a group of kids – they want to be special, they will do anything asked of them no matter how hard or grueling practices are,” he said. “They always step up. They rally behind each other and they do all the little things – they show up, they show on time, they’re prepared and they bust their butt. And to me, having a group of kids that are coachable, that are willing to work hard, sets the tone for success season-in and season-out.”
PHOTOS (Top) Cranbrook’s Joseph Wiater swims to the championship in the 100 breaststroke during Saturday’s LPD3 Finals at Eastern Michigan University. (Middle) Otsego’s Liam Smith swims to the title in the 200 IM. (Below) Plainwell’s Sam Harper pushes through on the way to the win in the 500 freestyle. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)