Performance: Trenton's Michael Wolsek
January 31, 2020
Michael Wolsek
Trenton senior - Swimming
The Trenton senior standout set meet and pool records in the 200-yard freestyle (1:43.85) and 100 butterfly (50.03) at Allen Park on Saturday in helping the Trojans to the team victory at the Downriver Classic. Wolsek also was part of a meet and pool record-setting 200 medley relay (1:39.17) and meet record-breaking 400 freestyle (3:18.13) in earning the MHSAA “Performance of the Week” as Trenton claimed the Classic championship for the first time in five years.
Wolsek grew up in the pool; his father Robert was a Trenton record holder at one time and helped create the community’s youth swim lesson program, and three older siblings also starred for the Trojans. Michael holds school records in the 50 (21.52), 100 (47.60) and 200 freestyles (1:42.72), 100 butterfly (49.89), and as part of the record 400 free relay (3:17.52). All four of his individual school records also are league records, and he was also part of a league record 200 medley relay (1:39.14) as well. Wolsek finished second in the butterfly and fourth in the 200 free and swam on two scoring relays at last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals, where Trenton finished ninth – also its current team state ranking this winter. He called his winter “just a culmination of all the great coaches I’ve had the opportunity to work with,” and obviously it’s paying off – Wolsek’s season-best fly time of 50.03 ranks first in the state by nearly a second, and his top 200 free time of 1:43.85 is eighth-fastest.
He’s part of a talented cast; among teammates, junior Spencer Boling-Hamer won the teams’ first Finals individual championship last season since 1969. Wolsek is one of three team captains and the first from his family to wear the “Helmet” – an honor bestowed on a senior annually to wear while leading the team into competition. Wolsek will continue his academic and athletic careers at Wayne State University. He carries a 3.7 GPA and is interested in majoring in kinesiology and studying exercise sciences.
Coach Jim DeRupa said: “Micheal has been a huge asset to the team. He has been focused on leading a younger group of swimmers. We have 18 new swimmers on the team this season. He shows his leadership as a captain by giving speeches at practices and meets to get the team fired up. He has helped the program significantly not only by winning events but by encouraging a team culture where everyone works hard and everyone is a part of the team. He is excited to see what the end of the season is going to bring for the team. He is focused on the current team, but is also excited to continue the sport in college.”
Performance Point: “This year, I feel like the whole team has come together in a way that I've never seen it come together,” Wolsek said. “I've had older siblings on the team, before I was in high school, and I've never seen the team come together quite like it (did) at the meet on Saturday. Everybody has been working so hard to make this team great. We're fighting for that league title this February. And the thing I take away (from Saturday) is when you're doing your swims for your teammates, the camaraderie and connection that we share, it helps. It makes it easier. I don't think I'm ever going to forget that sense of camaraderie that I felt on Saturday.”
Ready to lead: I’ve always loved taking every opportunity to be a leader on the team. I’ve been granted the opportunity this year as a senior leader to be able to not only help the freshmen and underclassmen and rookies with technique after practice, but I can also give speeches and have a more hands-on approach with my team. It’s just been absolutely awesome – the people I’ve met this year, the freshman are working so hard, and it’s probably been one of my favorite experiences just getting to meet and pass on what I’ve learned through my four years at this school to the younger guys.”
Wear ‘The Helmet’ proudly: “It’s a Trenton swim tradition. I believe it started in the 90s. Every year a senior who has the helmet passes it down to a junior who will be a senior the next year. And we have a very unique team chant that’s unlike anything else in the state of Michigan – we march out and align to a cowbell, and the person at the front of the line is wearing the Trojan helmet. … I’m so blessed to be a part of this culture. At Trenton High School, we’re very proud of our community, and our symbol, The Trojan, we’re very proud to represent that. Last year at our swim banquet, senior Donny Grocki passed it down to me … and after he gave it to me, he told me he gave it to me because he saw the work I put in and he saw the leadership that I demonstrated. When I found out I was the one who had it, I was very, very excited. It’s been my dream ever since I saw my brothers’ teams as a kid; you always see the guy wearing the Trojan helmet. I was very excited when I found out I got to represent our school like that.”
Watched and learning: “It’s definitely changed the way I think about the sport. I attribute a lot of my success to the opportunities I’ve had at home. My parents have always been extremely supportive of my swimming, and having older siblings that have all gone through the sport grants me the opportunity to be able to learn from their mistakes and to improve upon what I saw them doing. So I think the biggest thing is the culture at my house – every day I’m coming home and it’s swimming for breakfast, lunch and dinner, always swimming, and that’s definitely helped me.”
Science of speed: I’ve always been fascinated by locomotion and biomechanics, and they have a physical therapy and occupational therapy program at Wayne State which I’m looking to possibly pursue after getting my bachelor’s in kinesiology. Swimming’s been the one thing I’ve been consistently passionate about my entire life, and any of that that I can take into my professional career would just make it an absolute joy.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Jan. 24: Kensington Holland, Utica Ford bowling - Report
Jan. 17: Claycee West, White Pigeon basketball - Report
Jan. 10: Seth Lause, Livonia Stevenson hockey - Report
Dec. 5: Mareyohn Hrabowski, River Rouge football - Report
Nov. 28: Kathryn Ackerman, Grand Haven swimming - Report
Nov. 21: Emily Van Dyke, Southfield Christian volleyball - Report
Nov. 14: Taylor Wegener, Ida volleyball - Report
Nov. 7: Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Trenton's Michael Wolsek, holding onto the Downriver Classic trophy with his right hand, is surrounded by teammates after the Trojans won Saturday's event. (Middle) Wolsek, in the team's Trojan helmet, provides some final motivation before an earlier meet this winter. (Photos courtesy of the Trenton boys swimming & diving program.)
Dawson Dives Into New Sport, Quickly Rises in Ranks Among State's Best Off Diving Board
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
February 24, 2026
PORTAGE – Little did Von Dawson know that getting in trouble for doing backflips in the hallway as a freshman would lead him down a path he never imagined.
“After he got in trouble a couple of times for that, I said, ‘Hey, do you want to try diving?’” said Portage Central dive coach Madeline Woods.
That was a sport the current junior never considered.
It wasn’t until school principal Eric Alburtus noticed Dawson doing backflips on the field after a football game that diving was mentioned again.
"I remember exactly that night,” Alburtus said. “Von did this beautiful flip, and I hustled to him and said, ‘I don’t know who you are yet, but you’ve got to become a diver.’
“I can’t take credit for the amazing athlete and diver Von is but I’m very, very happy that I played a teeny, tiny piece of him doing amazing work around here. He’s such a great kid.’
Dawson knew nothing about diving.
“In middle school, I really didn’t know that diving was a thing,” he said. “I knew they had a swimming program, but where I was, it wasn’t really posted as much.”
He decided to try it – and saying he took to it like the cliché “duck to water” is an understatement.
“Von had never stepped foot on a diving board before, then made it to the state meet his freshman year,” Woods said. “It was a pretty fun turnaround. He’s an incredibly athletic kid.”
His freshman year Dawson finished 29th at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Swimming & Diving Finals.
“Just being there as a freshman who had never dove before was impressive,” Woods said.
He took another step last winter as a sophomore, finishing eighth at the Finals. This season, his top reported 6-dive score ranks eighth statewide and sixth among Division 2 athletes, and his top 11-dive score is 14th statewide and seventh in his division.
Starting from scratch
Dawson was full of confidence from the first day of practice.
“The first week I got a list of dives, and I learned fairly quickly,” he said. “(Woods) explained a dive to me and I was like. ‘I can do that. I want to try it.’ She’d either let me or I’d bother her enough until she let me do it.”
Woods said Dawson is always trying to push the limits.
“With Von, we hit the ground running.” she said. “The first two seasons was me telling him ‘No’ a lot.
“Can I try this? No, not yet, Can I try that? No, not yet. Then he would wear me down and he’d do the (dive) and it would usually be one excellent one and he’d bomb the next one.”
Dawson said he was even more fearless back then but when it came to Regionals, the nerves started to show.
“Regionals are so much more stressful than state meet because you have to qualify,” he said. "States is you’re already there, you’re ready. It’s two days you’re with your friends on the swim team, you’re hanging out at a hotel. It’s pretty awesome.”
During his sophomore season, Dawson honed his skills and earned all-state status.
“From freshman year to sophomore year, I did a really good job on my kickouts especially,” he said. “I think that’s what got me to eighth. I was a little more polished.”
This season, Woods said she banished the word “No.”
“We’re going to do all the big dives, anything you want to try, we’re up for it,” she said. “Now he has the base, now he has the skills, we’re going to do it and it’s been really, really fun.”
Dawson has done some of the biggest dives Woods has ever coached: “He has the highest degree of difficulty of any diver I’ve ever coached and he’s only a junior, which is pretty awesome.”
Continuing to climb
Besides being an elite athlete, Woods said Dawson is an incredibly personable person.
“Other coaches will come up to me to say how much they enjoy chatting with him,” she said. “At some of the bigger meets, there are divers who remember him from previous years. He’s really, really, friendly, a great sport and highly competitive.”
But to get where he is today, Dawson overcame some obstacles early in life.
“I was in foster care for eight years of my life,” he said. “I kinda hopped around different places. Group homes, this place, that place.”
He was adopted at age 13.
“They had two of my siblings and I went to live with them for two years before they adopted me,” he said. “They come to watch me all the time. I have about eight foster siblings and they’re my biggest fans, always cheering for me.”
Dawson has expanded his water skills by playing water polo in the fall.
“I make the joke that he collects fall sports like Pokémon cards,” Woods said. “He did cross country his first year, football his second year and water polo this year. I’ve been the lucky one that he’s kept, diving all three years. He also does track.”
Dawson has already reached one goal this season – topping his coach’s personal-best record. Woods was a four-year all-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association diver at Kalamazoo College and competed in the NCAA Division III Championships her senior year.
Woods said she challenged him this year.
“His highest score going into junior year was something in the 260s,” she said. “My personal best from my college years on 3-meter, which is easier to get a higher score on, was 282.
"So I challenged him in the first couple meets to beat my PR (personal record). I think he did it in our third meet. Our next goal was to break 300 and two weeks he got 299.9 and last week he got 306.9, a point less than the pool record at Loy Norrix.”
Using scores from his school meets, Dawson already has qualified for the AAU Nationals next summer.
His immediate goal is to qualify for the MHSAA LPD2 Finals to be competed March 13-14 at Eastern Michigan University along with fellow Mustang divers, junior Ryley Berns and sophomores Greyden Trevino and Drew Chenery.
“Diving is a hard sport and not for everyone,” Woods said of Dawson, “but when you find someone who is willing to do some crazy things and throw his body through the air and spin and flip and twist for fun, that’s usually a pretty special person.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Portage Central’s Von Dawson begins a dive at his home pool. (Middle) From left: Dawson, Portage Central diving coach Madeline Woods and Portage Central principal Eric Alburtus. (Below) Dawson descends into the water during a dive. (Diving photos courtesy of Madeline Woods. Dawson and Woods headshots by Pam Shebest. Alburtus headshot courtesy of Portage Central High School.)