Opsal Overcomes Potential Season-Ending Injury to End Season as Champion
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 24, 2026
You couldn't blame Kade Opsal for being a little teary-eyed as he stood quietly on the medal stand at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Swimming & Diving Finals earlier this month at Holland Aquatics Center.
By rights, you could easily make the case he shouldn't have been there.
It wasn't through a lack of talent for the Adrian senior, who was undefeated in four years of conference championship meets in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke while taking second in Division 3 in the 100 backstroke as a junior. Talent wasn't the problem.
The problem was the freak accident Opsal had suffered six months ago which doctors feared could cost him his final year of swimming.
So as Opsal waited anxiously on the stand for a medal to be hung around his neck, he found himself fighting a flood of emotion.
"My coach handed out the medal, and I heard my name over the public address system," he said. "I leaned down and my coach said, 'You really did it.' I got a little emotional, I cried a little. I was so full of emotion. I was glad I had finished my career how I did."
Opsal's dream for his final year of high school swimming was simple: win a Finals championship. But that goal seemed potentially unattainable after an accident on the soccer field in early September.
After having been convinced by friends to go out for soccer when Adrian needed a goalkeeper, Opsal stepped up to fill the void. But during a practice session, Opsal faced shot from a teammate less than a dozen feet away. He stuck his hand in front of his face to shield himself from the shot, but the ball crashed into Opsal's wrist, causing a fracture of the scaphoid bone near where his wrist and thumb meet.
It was the second time Opsal had broken the bone. The first was during the swim Finals as a freshman when he slammed his hand into the end of the pool at the end of a race. He spent 16 weeks in a cast.
But while Opsal dodged surgery three years ago, this time doctors diagnosed a displaced fracture which resulted in surgery, screws inserted in the wrist and a bone graft. Qualifying for the Finals and fulfilling a lifelong dream at that point seemed miles away, Opsal admitted.
"I went into a spiral," he said. "I thought I was going to miss the whole season. It was terrible."
Doctors weren't exactly in disagreement with that prognosis. After surgery Oct. 12, doctors encased his hand in a nine-pound cast, basically a club, Opsal said. He spent two weeks in the cast, had a checkup, spent four more weeks in a cast, then was placed in a removeable cast. By now it was the second week of December, this season’s Finals were three months away, and Opsal had yet to enter the water. By Jan. 9, Opsal was finally pronounced ready to swim by doctors, but he was seriously behind in his attempt to simply qualify for the Division 3 championship meet, let alone be in the hunt to win a race there.
Still, Opsal wasn't ready to toss in his goggles.
"I knew I could do something with the little time I had left," he said. "I knew I had put in a lot of work over the summer and had gained like 30 pounds of muscle. But I didn't know how all that would translate in the final two months of the season. I did know that every practice and meet had to count."
By the MISCA meet in early February, there was a ray of light. Opsal swam a 21.2 in the 50 free and a 50.4 in the 100 backstroke. Suddenly there was hope that he still had a shot at his dream.
Opsal continued to pick up the pace until the Division 3 Finals prelims March 13. He wound up seeded first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.1 and was third in the 50 free.
There was, Opsal told himself, hope.
One day later, he began his Finals by helping Adrian's 200 medley relay to a ninth-place finish. Then, in his first attempt at a title, he finished runner-up in the 50 free with a time of 20.87.
Opsal's championship dream had come down to the 100 backstroke. He finally turned that dream into reality when he outdistanced Spring Lake's Dane Trask to win the event, swimming a lifetime-best time of 49.20 to nudge the 50.46 by Trask.
Tears aside on the medals stand, all Opsal could think about was advice he received from family members.
"I thought about my grandfather who always reminded me about that Vince Lombardi quote that winning wasn't everything, it was the only thing," he said. "I had thought I had a shot at it and I kept telling myself this was my senior year and I wanted to go out with a bang."
Considering his two broken hands and a fractured patella he suffered as a youngster, Opsal can now laugh at the obstacles he's had to overcome.
"My mom has definitely made comments that they need to bubble wrap me," he said. "I've been around the block in getting hurt."
PHOTOS (Top) Adrian’s Kade Opsal stands on the medal podium after winning the 100-yard backstroke at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals in Holland. (Middle) Opsal swims to his championship. (Action photo by High School Sports Scene.)
High 5s - 2/21/12
February 21, 2012
Every Tuesday, Second Half honors 2-4 athletes and a team for its accomplishments during the current season.
Have a suggestion for a future High 5? Please offer suggestions by e-mail to [email protected]. Candidates often will have accomplished great things on the field of play -- but also will be recognized for other less obvious contributions to their teams, schools or the mission of high school athletics as a whole.
Dillon Mayer
Sault Ste. Marie senior
Swimming and Diving
Mayer won his second straight Upper Peninsula Finals diving championship Saturday in his home pool with a score of 226.55. He finished no worse than fourth at the Finals during his high school career, and set a school record this season with a six-dive score of 236.00. He also runs track and has a black belt in Kuk sool wan, a form of Korean martial arts.
"I have strived for the past four years to break the team diving record. This year I was finally able to break the team record, and then continued to break it through the season for a total of five times before the end of the season. Being the U.P. diving champion for the second year in a row was pretty awesome too!"
Up next: Mayer will attend either Michigan State University or Lake Superior State University, and hopes to dive if he attends MSU. He plans to major in fire science and paramedic studies. "I would like to work as a flight paramedic for a level one trauma center."
I learned the most about diving from: MSU diving coach Eric Best and Sault Ste. Marie coaches Ray Groeke and Kelli Vander Baan.
I look up to: "... the university divers I learned from at the MSU diving camp each year. They are amazing divers with a lot of knowledge to share."
I like most about diving: "From a competitive standpoint, I like the feeling of nailing a dive. From a recreational standpoint, I enjoy the thrill of trying new things."
I'm motivated by: "The new records on the record board, my family and my teammates."
Leah Hartman
Ovid-Elsie senior
Bowling
Hartman bowled the first and one of only three 300 games in the state this season, on Jan. 4, according to listings maintained by the Michigan High School Interscholastic Bowling Coaches Association. Her high series of 524 is third-best in the state this winter, and she's carrying a 201 game average this season. She qualified for last season's MHSAA Division 3 Final and made the all-state third team. She also played volleyball and softball at the start of high school, but has focused on bowling the last two years.
"My first 300 game was the most memorable because other coaches announced my game at other tournaments, and my name was on a neon sign at 300 Bowl in Alma. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment"
Up next: Hartman is considering Alma College because of its strong art program and bowling team. She plans to spend her first year of college deciding between a major in fine arts and accounting. She could also compete on the Michigan Junior Masters or Junior Gold circuits. Among her goals: bowl an 800 series and sell her art.
I learned the most about bowling from: “Mike Braun. He is the instructor at Lansing Community College. He teaches bowling and he has been helping me achieve better bowling techniques. But before him, it was my mom Sherri Hartman and dad Don Hartman."
I look up to: "My mom, because she is the one person who is strong enough to take on life. And my dad, who has helped me with my bowling since the beginning. Then I look up to Pete Weber and Norm Duke, who are, in my opinion, the best PBA bowlers to ever set a foot on the lanes."
I love bowling because: "I have a lot of stress built into my life, and it is hard for me to stay focused. But when I bowl, it is the one time I feel like a genius. I want to continue bowling becuase I feel like there is nothing better than the feeling of your first 300 game, and all the fans who are cheering for you to win.
I'm driven by: "... when I walk into a bowling alley and I run into my fans who are cheering me on every step of the way, and the applause whenever I hear my name announced. It makes me feel proud of myself when others cheer when they hear my name."
Adam Coon
Fowlerville junior
Wrestling
Coon is seeking his third MHSAA individual championship. He won both his District and Regional and enters next weekend's Finals with a 46-0 record this season and 153-3 record over his three-year high school career. He won his first two MHSAA championships at 215 pounds and moved to 285 this winter. He also is a three-year starter on the Gladiators' football team, playing linebacker and on the offensive line, and placed sixth in shot put in Division 2 at last spring's track and field Finals.
Up next: Coon is just a junior, but would like to wrestle or play football at the next level and study aerospace engineering, with his sights set on the space program. "I'd love to go to space. It's always been a dream."\
I learned the most about wrestling from: "My dad, Dan Coon. He is the (Fowlerville) coach, and he continues to push me and teaches me the most."
I look up to: "Dan Coon. He teaches me a lot about life and wrestling, and he's just a great guy to look up to."
I love most about wrestling: "The aggressiveness, the contact and necessary skill. The strategy behind it. The technical skill. It tests you mental wit and brute strength."
I get ready for my match by: "I warm up five matches previous. With one match left, I slap myself, then take off my sweats and go to town."
Most shining moment: "My most memorable win was in summer wrestling, in Hungary (at the Cadet World Championships) . I won the Finals match there. after being down 4-0, and came back and ended up body locking him and winning the match."
Detroit Martin Luther King boys basketball
The Crusaders avenged earlier losses to both Detroit Crockett and then Detroit Pershing to win the Detroit Public School League championship, downing the Doughboys in the final 76-69.
The PSL championship was King's first since 1999. The Crusaders are 15-4 heading into next week's Operation Friendship game against the Detroit Catholic High School League A-B champion, which will be decided Saturday. Click to see all of Detroit King's scores this season.