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).

Click for full results.

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.)