Seaholm Shows Full Power of Team in Title Surge
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 27, 2021
JENISON – It seems a stretch to compare winning a state swimming & diving championship with an elephant, but it makes perfect sense to Tom Wyllie.
In fact, that's how Wyllie explains how his deep Birmingham Seaholm team won Saturday's Lower Peninsula Division 2 meet despite gaining only one first place in an event. Seaholm finished with 267.5 points to 222 for runner-up Grosse Pointe South.
"We have a lot of depth, and it's a team sport," said Wyllie, whose Maples won their fourth team title in 10 years. "I've said this a lot to the kids over the years, that when it looks like there is an obstacle, I ask them 'How do you eat an elephant?' The answer is you take one bite at a time. Everyone took a big bite of the elephant today. It was truly about a team effort and camaraderie."
Detroit U-D Jesuit was third with 180 points, Ann Arbor Skyline fourth with 179 and Dexter fifth with 153.
Seaholm's only first place actually came on Friday when Kam Liberman won the diving with a score of 523.15. One of 12 seniors on the team, Liberman agreed with Wyllie that depth is directly tied to the team's success.
"It's a team sport, it's not about individuals. We have lots of depth, and I think we swam our best of the season. Everyone made a lot of drops in time," said Liberman, who was seeded No. 1. "My goal was to hold out. The No. 2 guy was never far away, and I just wanted to stay consistent."
The next highest Seaholm individual placer was Tom Girdler with a second in the 100 breaststroke while Cami Wilson was third in the 100 butterfly. The 200 and 400 free relays both took thirds.
Wyllie said his present team differed from last year's club which would have been in the hunt for a title if not for the interruption of the COVID outbreak.
"Last year we would have been happy being in the top three," he said. "Farmington was a beast last year, and we expected them to take the title."
Jesuit's Drew Collins won the 100 backstroke (49.18) while teammate Charlie Bruce won the 50 free (20.72). The 200 medley relay team also won (1:32.93).
Bruce, who was seeded eighth, said he couldn't have done any better.
"I was a little nervous, but I had a great taper and dropped a lot of time," he said. "It was pretty much the best I could do."
Senior Clayton Kinnard of Dexter won the 200 free (1:39.72) after taking last season off. He was a top-16 Finals placer as a freshman and sophomore in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke before he opted not to compete last winter.
"I used to put pressure on myself to do good; people expected me to do well," he said. "I stopped swimming because I felt like I was swimming for other people. But my friends wanted me to do it this year for fun, and I did have a lot of fun. It's the most fun I've ever had. I just let loose, and it was the best I've ever swam. I'm proud of this."
Forest Hills Central senior Avery LeTourneau won the 100 butterfly (49.85). He previously had finished eighth in the butterfly as a sophomore. He was seeded fourth this time, but thought a title was possible.
"I was looking to win, I thought I definitely had a shot. I thought I would be right there," said LeTourneau, who said not being able to compete for a title a year ago was disappointing but a motivator. "I was walking out of school when I found out things were cancelled. We had worked hard for months. Now it feels like we've come full circle. It was 100 percent worth the wait because this is awesome. It was great to see it through."
Saturday’s other first places included Farmington winning the 400 relay (3:07.59) and Grosse Pointe South winning the 200 free relay (1:25.24).
Jack Hamilton of Berkley won the 200 individual medley (1:50.90), Gianni Carlino of Grosse Pointe North took first in the 500 free (4:32.94), Trevor Jones of Farmington topped the 100 free and Michael Grover of Byron Center won the 100 breaststroke (55.39).
PHOTOS: (Top) Birmingham Seaholm’s Tom Girdler swims to a runner-up finish in the breaststroke Saturday. (Middle) Byron Center’s Michael Grover, below, works to hold off Dexter’s Clayton Kinnard in the breaststroke. (Below) Saginaw Heritage’s Andrew Gladki also swims the breaststroke at Jenison High School. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Marquette Boys Extend Title Streak as Close Finishes Add to Memorable Run
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
February 15, 2025
MARQUETTE — There isn’t much suspense when it comes to the team titles these days at the Upper Peninsula Swimming & Diving Finals.
Host Marquette’s depth sets it apart year after year – but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any drama.
Kingsford’s Joey Lundholm didn’t think he’d win the 100-yard freestyle, but he did.
Marquette’s Isaiah Youngren rallied for two wins, an individual victory in the 100 breaststroke – which he thought he’d lost – and a team win in an exciting 200 freestyle relay.
The Sentinels came away with the team title Saturday, beating out runner-up Houghton 338-246. It was the sixth straight championship for Marquette and fifth consecutive second-place finish for the Gremlins. In all, Marquette has won 32 U.P. meets.
“We were down one of our top swimmers and had to change some things around,” Marquette coach Nathan McFarren said. “But, you know what, the whole team really rose to the occasion, knew what we had to do. Really proud of them.”
Youngren helped bring excitement to Marquette’s day.
The Sentinels were a half-second behind when he entered the pool in the 200 freestyle relay. It wasn’t unexpected. Their second leg, Chase Thomsen, had just competed in a grueling 500-yard race — ”He was cooked going into it, so I just knew I had to step up and get ready for that,” Youngren said. And they knew it would be close ahead of time, “but we didn’t think it was going to be that close,” he noted.
“That close” being 16 hundredths of a second faster than runner-up Houghton with a winning time of 1:36.09.
Shortly after joining the relay team on the podium, Youngren went to race in the 100 breaststroke, where he once again found himself playing catch up. The margin was even less there, six hundredths of a second, and he didn’t know he’d won until he looked at the scoreboard.
“I had no idea if I had won — I thought I had lost until I looked at the board and I was like, ‘What!?’” Youngren said. “I knew at the first 50 I was behind and I had to kick it into gear in the last 50. He had a really good third turn, so he got ahead there.
“As I was closing in the last 15 yards, I thought, ‘This is my final race as a senior, I got to leave it all out there.’ So I really kicked into that fifth gear and enjoyed it.”
It was his second straight win in the event at U.P. Finals, but last year’s margin of victory was measured in full seconds. Youngren had lost to Kingsford’s Thomas Gibbons earlier this year and even knew that he needed to finish in 1:06 to win this rematch. His final time: 1:06.20.
McFarren wasn’t surprised he came through.
“Isaiah is a very powerful person,” McFarren said. “If you got to see him today, you can tell he’s got a lot of the extra you need to be a top swimmer. He’s got the strokes, he’s got the technique, but he’s also got that adrenaline-rushing body that can’t help him but go fast in the big meet.
“I knew having him anchor — I didn’t know it was going to be that close in the 200 freestyle relay, but that was the guy we needed there.”
Marquette’s Trevor Crandell, a senior like Youngren, won the 50 freestyle (22.46), finishing just off the school record, and the Sentinels’ Wyatt Ansell was the diving champion (177.30 final score).
“Just all the seniors, what they’ve brought to this team, the camaraderie, the togetherness, one of my favorite teams,” McFarren said.
Lundholm had an exciting day as well. He won the 200 individual medley easily early in the meet in 2:09.74. Then he went to the 100 freestyle not expecting to win by a comfortable margin, or at all.
“It was one of the first events for a long time I didn’t know I was going to win, I didn’t really expect to win,” he said.
The senior won a lot of events this year by 10 seconds. In his last meet, he wanted to go out with a close, competitive race.
“I wanted something to get fear in your chest that you might not win it,” he said. “That’s why I went in the 100 free today.”
He sure got it.
Lundholm beat Marquette’s Crandell by less than a second for an exhilarating win with a time of 49.68 seconds.
“Incredible race,” he said. “It was the best of my life. I guarantee you I wouldn’t have gotten that time if Trevor wasn’t there and he didn’t push me. He’s a good guy.”
After missing U.P. Finals as a freshman because of sickness, Lundholm ended his career with six U.P. titles.
“I was a little sad, but I made up for it,” Lundholm said. “I haven’t lost an individual (race) yet in the U.P. Finals.”
Other individual winners were Houghton’s Collin Raasio in the 200 freestyle (1:58.28), Kingsford’s Bryce Johnson in the 100 butterfly (1:03.50), Rudyard’s Keith McDowell in the 500 freestyle (5:26.01), and Houghton’s Beau Haataja in the 100 backstroke (1:00.62)
Houghton won the 400 freestyle relay (3:34.43), and Kingsford took first in the 200 medley relay (1:48.85).
PHOTOS (Top) Marquette's Trevor Crandell celebrates his win in the 50-yard freestyle Saturday. (Middle) Marquette’s Wyatt Ansell begins one of his dives during Friday’s competition. (Below) Kingsford's Joey Lundholm swims the winning 200 individual medley. (Photos by Daryl T. Jarvinen. Click for more.)