Sault Boys Use Depth To Win U.P. Crown
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
February 16, 2013
MARQUETTE — When Denise Mayer began her duties as co-head swimming coach at Sault Ste. Marie High School last fall, she didn't really know what to expect from the Blue Devils.
“We started with just a handful of swimmers,” she said. “We had lost a lot of seniors through graduation. We told the kids this would be a building year.”
The Sault boys, however, gained their first Upper Peninsula title in a decade Saturday with 258 points. Not bad for a building year.
“This is a big thing for us,” said senior Bryan Colborn, who won the 100-yard butterfly event in 1:01.28. “I’m just very proud of our team. We put forth the effort in practice and it paid off today. I could see this building (during the season). Deep down I had a feeling this would happen. I also had the feeling we were all on little bit of a mission during the trip over here.”
Runner-up Marquette scored 225 points and Kingsford edged Houghton 192-190 for third.
Things began on a promising note for the Blue Devils Friday when they grabbed three of the top five places in diving.
Senior Elliott Furr won with 171.05 points. Sophomores Kyle Flickinger and Levi Furr took fourth and fifth at 154.1 and 148.15, respectively.
“We started very strong with our diving,” Mayer said while trying to dry off after jumping into the pool in celebration with her team. “I think that set the tone for the weekend. That encouraged our guys to continue our momentum. We didn’t have many firsts, but we had enough depth to cover the points. We finished the season with 18 boys. Hopefully, this will help increase our numbers next season.”
Junior Nick Chevillot added a second in 200 freestyle (2:01.26) and helped the Blue Devils take second in the 400 freestyle relay.
Mayer, who shares the head coaching job with Kelli Vanderbaun, was quick to credit assistant coaches Jamie Laurence and Dillon Mayer for part of the team’s success.
“They’re a very integral part of the team,” she said. “They’ve done a variety of tasks when needed. They’re part of the glue that holds us together.”
Marquette sophomore Nathan Rotundo won 100 breaststroke (1:03.33) and helped the Redmen take the 400 freestyle relay.
The Redmen had an unfortunate turn of events in Saturday’s first race (200 medley relay) when the officials ruled Rotundo left too soon at the beginning of his leg, resulting in the team’s disqualification.
“Nathan is the most regimented and disciplined swimmer we have,” said Marquette coach Nate McFarren. “That was an unfortunate beginning, although I don’t want to take away any of the thunder. Each of our kids did their job, and they did it well.”
McFarren was especially pleased with the effort of the team’s lone senior Luke Sides, who was runner-up in 100 backstroke (1:03.07) and third in 100 freestyle (52.82) and helped the winning 400 freestyle relay.
“For Luke, this was a great ending to his career,” said McFarren.
The Redmen swam without freshman Sam Williams, who was out with the flu.
“Sam is our top butterfly and No. 2 breaststroke swimmer,” said McFarren. “He would have gotten us 30 points.”
Kingsford senior Josh Johnson set the pool record in 50 freestyle at 22.02 seconds, with Houghton senior Daniel Shonnard runner-up (22.75)
Johnson and Shonnard also went 1-2 in 100 freestyle in 49.25 and 50.38, respectively.
“This season has gone well,” said Johnson, who plans to enroll at Michigan Tech this fall. “I’ve made more friends from other teams. It’s a lot of fun competing with people I know. Daniel has been pushing me all year. We’re so close and we’re both seniors. We’re in the same position. It’s not a rivalry. It’s just fun competition.”
Houghton senior James DeClerck won 200 freestyle in a school-record 1:52.52 and 500 freestyle (5:08.3).
“I was just zoned in this morning, preparing for the races,” said DeClerck, who hopes to swim in college, but unsure of where he’ll attend classes this fall. “I’m happy with my times this season. Overall, this is a great meet. I’m very happy to be a part of this with all the great swimmers throughout the U.P.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Champion Sault Ste. Marie poses on the trophy stand after claiming this season's Upper Peninsula championship. (Middle) A pair of swimmers race during Saturday's Finals at Marquette High School. (Photos courtesy of Keith Freeman of Freeman's Photography.)
4-Time Champ Rijnovean Set to Pursue Another Title Pair to Close Seaholm Career
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 6, 2026
BIRMINGHAM — Growing up, Birmingham Seaholm senior Elliot Rijnovean was involved in a lot of sports, whether it was soccer, basketball, hockey, tennis or anything else that got him moving.
Eventually though, there was one important intangible that swimming ended up providing.
“I started winning in swimming, and I wasn’t winning in other sports,” he said. “So I was like, ‘You know, I’m going to stick with this because this could be my thing.’ It turned out that it was.”
It indeed has been Rijnovean’s thing, given he has done a lot of winning during a terrific high school career.
Next week at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals, Rijnovean will pursue his fifth and sixth individual championships.
Two years ago as a sophomore, he won the 100-yard backstroke (48.69) and 100 butterfly (48.83). He pulled the feat off again last year, capturing the 100 back in 47.10 and the 100 butterfly in 47.85.
Rijnovean enters this Finals in good form, having set a personal best of 46.72 in the 100 back last week at the Oakland Activities Association Red championships.
While he excels in both races, he started first with backstroke as a young swimmer and is a little more comfortable in that event.
“When I was 8, I won our summer championship in the 25-meter backstroke, so I’ve always been a backstroker,” Rijnovean said. “But I kind of picked up the fly a little later, my freshman year. Obviously, my sophomore and junior year I ended up swimming fly and won both times. It kind of complements backstroke because they’re both similar in terms of how the event is swum. Basically, it’s like an underwater focus. Underwater dolphin kicks, those go hand in hand together for me.”
As it turns out, taking up the butterfly might serve Rijnovean well beyond high school. Committed to Indiana, Rijnovean said coaches for the Hoosiers have emphasized there might be more opportunities in the butterfly once he gets to Bloomington.
“Coach Ray Looze, the head coach of Indiana, said that they needed butterfly,” said Rijnovean, adding that Indiana coaches want him to keep improving and be ready in both strokes. “I really wanted to swim butterfly because he said Indiana needs it, so that’s why I kept pushing for butterfly last year.”
Before he worries about college, Rijnovean wants to make the final week of his high school career as memorable as possible.
Seaholm has a first-year coach in Casey Sreenan, who from a swimming perspective felt like he inherited a mansion getting to coach Rijnovean to start off his tenure.
Knowing what Rijnovean has meant to the program and how much teammates look up to him, Sreenan said there have been times he’s made Rijnovean a de facto coach and let him run drills during practices.
“One day I was just like, ‘If there’s anything you want to work on or if you have a suggested workout, let me know,’” Sreenan said. “He would send me sets, and we would redo them. And the whole team would do them. We got great results. He’s got a great work ethic and great technique, obviously. It was easy to kind of have days where the focus was on things he wanted to work on. It benefitted the team as a whole.”
As is the case with a lot of nationally-acclaimed swimmers, there was temptation for Rijnovean to focus solely on club and not bother with high school athletics.
But he was having none of that and will leave Seaholm eternally grateful for his high school experience.
“It’s so different from club,” he said. “It’s more like a brotherhood. Swimming really is an individual sport. You swim, you do your best, you get your time, you win. It’s kind of all about you. But for high school, it’s more like brothers you train with and you just get through hard times with. When you win with them, it felt so much better.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Birmingham Seaholm’s Elliot Rijnovean swims to a championship in the backstroke at last year’s LP Division 2 Finals. (Middle) Rijnovean stands atop the podium after receiving his medal. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)