Saline Tops Podium for 1st Time Since 2013 as Multiple Past Runners-Up Take Next Step

By Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com

March 15, 2025

HOLLAND – Saline boys swimming & diving coach Todd Brunty said the quest for his team’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals championship Saturday began exactly 365 days ago after losing out to rival Ann Arbor Pioneer by 30 points.

"First, everyone has to believe in the opportunity or the possibility of it," he explained. "You have to be a team that expects to compete. It's the old cliché: You've got to believe you can do it.

“Three hundred and sixty five days ago, we believed we had the talent to do it. We didn't quite perform like we wanted a year ago, but coming into today we thought we had a chance."

Saline cast aside the disappointment of finishing runner-up last year by winning the team meet at Holland Aquatics Center with 291.5 points, outdistancing the 263 scored by the four-time reigning champ Pioneers. Northville was third with 224 points, Zeeland fourth at 176 and Detroit Catholic Central fifth with 175 points.

Sophomore Issac Adanin captured the 200-yard individual medley (1:48.24) and 100 breaststroke (56.23) titles to lead Saline’s scoring. Diego Valdes won the 100 butterfly (49.15) for the Hornets.

The championship was their first since winning four straight Division 1 titles from 2010-13. Saline also finished runner-up in 2016.

Saline’s Issac Adanin swims to the breaststroke championship.Last year, Adanin was runner-up in the IM and fourth in the breaststroke.

"I had a slow start (this season). It was smooth, then I gradually got faster," he said. "I really hoped I (could win both races). I was kind of young last year, so I didn't have large expectations. But I've been to a lot of big meets in club, so I learned how to get better. It was harder this year, different, because (the meet) was so stacked."

Joining Adanin as a double individual winner was Detroit Catholic Central sophomore Camren Turowski, who finished off an unbeaten season in the 50-yard freestyle by winning that event in 20.41 seconds and won the 100 free with a Division 1 meet record time of 45 seconds.

Turowski had elected to give up lacrosse and football at the middle school level a few years ago because it seemed he was always fighting injuries. "I kept getting injured, and I wanted to save my body for swimming," he said.

Now he’s putting the hurt on swim opponents. Both performances Saturday were All-America qualifying times and came on the heels of earlier this season breaking the Oakland County and Detroit Catholic Central record of 45.25 in the 100 free while setting a conference and school record of 20.69 in the 50.

A year ago Turowski, an avid wake surfer, finished runner-up at the Finals in the 50 while helping three relays place among the top two. It was that second-place finish, in fact, that Turowski credits for driving his transformation from a good swimmer into an outstanding one.

"Last year I didn't win (the 50 free), and I didn't like that," he said. "In swimming you need to improve in small increments, which means a lot. That means progress, which is what you need.

"I think it was a stronger field this year, very competitive in the 100. But I planned to win. I don't like to lose."

Detroit Catholic Central coach Jessica Stoddard said Turowski is the kind of swimmer who pays attention to coaching details, strives for perfection and is always seeking the next challenge.

Camren Turowski stands atop the podium after receiving one of his two championship medals."He comes in and asks what he needs to work on. He's very coachable," she said. "He's always first in and last out."

Zeeland's Owen Stevens achieved his goal Saturday by breaking the 11-year-old Division 1 Finals record in winning the 500 free (4:23.65).

Stevens, a Zeeland West senior and Finals qualifier since his freshman year who will swim at Louisville next season, last lost in the 500 free during his freshman season.

"It was my last high school race in the 500, and I wanted to go out by breaking the record and I did," he said. "It felt good. The record was in the back of my mind, and I thought if I swam my race, I could break it."

Grandville's Jack Merkel won the 100 backstroke (48.69), ending a career of rollercoaster showings at the Finals. He qualified in the backstroke as a freshman, but was slowed by the flu. He then took third in the 100 butterfly and second in the backstroke as both a sophomore and junior.

Merkel said finishing so close to a Finals championship can provide motivation, but the pressure also can raise the expectation meter.

"It can go both ways," he said. "But then I realized that if you finish second, there's only one person in the state better than you. If you're good enough to finish second, you can also win. You have to change your mindset a little bit."

Other champions were East Kentwood's Fidele Byiringiro, who became the first from his school to win diving since Kyle Gahan in 1997. He scored a 448.80.

Northville had a pair of winners with Brady Stenson in the 200 free (1:38.06) and the 400 free relay team (3:06.60). Ann Arbor Pioneer won the 200 free relay (1:24.65).

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Saline poses with its championship trophy Saturday at Holland Aquatics Center. (Middle) Camren Turowski stands atop the podium after receiving one of his two championship medals. (Below) Saline’s Issac Adanin swims to the breaststroke championship. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)

Groves Rallies from 1st-Event DQ to Win Final Race, Repeat Finals Title

By Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com

March 9, 2024

YPSILANTI —  Repeating as a Finals champion is never easy. 

But the Birmingham Groves boys swim & dive team took it to a new level Saturday.

The Falcons, who won the Lower Peninsula Division 2 title by seven points last year, endured a disqualification in the 200 medley relay this time but battled back to win by a point after finishing first in the final event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“I think it might have been the most up-and-down day of my life,” Groves first-year coach Nick Valise said. “I’ve never been in this position before. I still don’t believe it.”

Groves trailed until the final event but finished with 245 points, one point better than Seaholm and Farmington, which tied for second. 

Groves did get a key break when crosstown rival Birmingham Seaholm also had a DQ, in the 200 free relay. But the key to the Falcons’ comeback was its resilience.

Seaholm’s Elliot Rijnovean, bottom, holds off Ann Arbor Skyline’s Lucas Caswell to win the butterfly. Joey Stebbins, one of the team’s senior leaders, set the tone after being responsible for the false start that led to the disqualification.

‘Honestly, I just had to shake it off,’ he said. “I knew I messed up as soon as I got in (the pool). I knew I DQ'd it. I'm like, I'd own up to it (and) shake it off.”

“I must say, I’ve never met a group of boys who handled something like that so well,” Valise noted. “I mean, right after the DQ, heads picked right up, (they) put their foot down, kept fighting. Gave us a chance at the end of the meet.”

Groves, Farmington and Seaholm were ranked in that order at the top of LPD3 entering the meet.

Seaholm won four events, including the 200 medley relay. Sophomore Elliot Rijnovean, who was on that relay, also won the butterfly and backstroke, while freshman Quinn O’Neill won the 500 freestyle.

Senior Gus MacDonald won the breaststroke and individual medley for Groves and swam on the winning 400 free relay.

“I knew it'd be close,’ he said. “I knew we had to win that final relay to win the meet. I didn't know the logistics of it. But finally hearing that we won was the best feeling in the world.”

Groves’ Gus MacDonald swims to the victory in the individual medley.Saturday’s meet was a standout chapter in the long crosstown rivalry.

“I go to class there once a day,” Stebbins said. “It's really, really good to go against them. It always pushes you up. It’s a friendly rivalry. Love those guys down the road.”

It was certainly a day to remember.

“A little surreal, actually,” Valise said. “But I got gifted a group of an amazing 25 boys that could not have worked harder and been more focused on the goal.”

Also winning championships Saturday were Grand Rapids Northview senior Caleb Howe in the 200 and 100 freestyles, Grosse Pointe South senior Troy Liu in the 50 free and Jenison senior Robby Russo in diving. Farmington won the 200 freestyle relay.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Birmingham Groves senior Zach Lezovich races for the eventual team champion; he scored points in three events Saturday. (Middle) Seaholm’s Elliot Rijnovean, bottom, holds off Ann Arbor Skyline’s Lucas Caswell to win the butterfly. (Below) Groves’ Gus MacDonald swims to the victory in the individual medley. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)