ROCHESTER — What a difference a year made for the Ann Arbor Pioneer boys swimming & diving team.

Last year, the Pioneers saw their string of Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals titles snapped at four, finishing second to Southeastern Conference Red foe Saline. 

This year, the Pioneers made it back to the summit, scoring 283 points to best second-place Northville (254). Saline, with 226 points, finished third. 

“From the first day of the season, this was our goal, to get back on top," Pioneer coach Stefanie Kerska said. “Northville gave us the biggest run in a long time. It was a great weekend of competition. I’m so proud of these boys. I’m so proud of these seniors." 

Among the seniors was Edward Zhang, who won the individual medley and was on all three Pioneer relays.

“We were all looking to leave with a bang,”’ he said. “It feels so good. Last year, after that loss, we were all so disappointed, and we were all looking forward to this year.”

"The key was just being consistent and trying to be predictably excellent,” Kerska said, "We wanted to maintain a steady level of emotional discipline throughout the whole meet, and the guys just showed up like professionals.”

They weren’t the only seniors who did so.

Jenison’s Caleb Storey won the 100 freestyle and 50 free titles, while Northville's Brady Stenson defended his title in the 200 free. Junior Isaac Adanin of Saline repeated in the breaststroke.

Another junior, Pioneer's Charles Knoepp, won the 500 free and was on the winning Pioneer 400 free relay with seniors Zhang, Henry Baumhover and Cameron Kline.

“We were just hungry for this,” Baumhover said. “We got second last year, and it feels amazing to complete our goal.”

As for reaching the goal, Baumhover said there were no shortcuts.

"The key is just every single day in practice," he said. “It’s not one singular meet day. It’s just every single stroke, every single 50 in practice, We all work so hard, every single day.”

Northville posted its best finish since a second-place result in 2022. 

“We just have a great group of seniors that came together," coach Rich Bennett said. ”They’ve been training for this since they were freshmen, and it was awesome to have them finish this way. We fell a little short. But we did really well. I’m proud of the boys.”

The Mustangs got off to a strong start, winning the first two events, before a deeper Pioneer squad began collecting the points it needed to win its fifth title in six years. 

“They’re always the measuring stick,” Bennett said of Pioneer. “They’ve got a fantastic coaching staff. They have super-talented kids. They’ve been the measuring stick for a long time, and we threw everything we had at them. They have a great team, but I'm really proud of my guys as well.”

And in the end, it was Kerska who made the happy celebratory dive into the pool after the championship trophy had been awarded.

“I couldn't have wished for a better outcome," Kline said. “We swam our hearts out, and we did what we needed to do.”

While the Pioneer swimmers were fixated on Saturday's meet, Kerska admitted to looking ahead to next year before the 2026 meet was over.

“My assistant was talking to me about it during the breaststroke,” she said, smiling.

Holland West Ottawa senior Isaac Kamara-Hagemeyer won the diving competition. Grandville senior Oliver Ottenwess won the butterfly, and Milford senior Samuel Campbell finished first in the backstroke after placing second a year ago. Bloomfield Hills won the 200 freestyle relay. 

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer celebrates its Finals championship during the traditional post-victory dip in the pool at Oakland University. (Middle) Northville’s Benjamin Hu swims to a fourth-place finish in the individual medley. (Below) Swimmers launch during the start of the 200 freestyle relay. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)