Mourning Those Who Contributed Much

It can be amazing sometimes how winning can completely change an athlete’s mind.

Such was the case for Birmingham Groves senior swimmer Gus MacDonald when he was 13 years old. 

While swimming at an event for his club team, his coach decided “for fun” — according to MacDonald — to put him in a breaststroke event.

Never mind that MacDonald up to that point had mainly swum in the backstroke and wasn’t particularly good in the breaststroke. 

Then, something unforeseen happened.

“I ended up winning by a few seconds and dropping multiple seconds off of my time,” MacDonald said. 

And so MacDonald’s racing transformation began. 

Opponents probably wish they could go back in a time machine and prevent that coach from inserting MacDonald into that breaststroke race, because ever since MacDonald has established himself as one of the state’s best in the event regardless of division.

MacDonald successfully repeated as champion in the 100-yard breaststroke at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Saturday, claiming first place in a time of 54.88. 

“I find breaststroke more fun because it works on specific muscles and doesn’t wear me out as much in total,” MacDonald said. “My mom was also a breaststroker, so I think I’ve picked up some of the breaststroke genes from her.”

Oh, but MacDonald did even more. 

He also tried his hand this year in the 200 individual medley and won that event Saturday in a time of 1:46.51. 

Then, saving his best for last, MacDonald swam the anchor leg for Groves’ winning team in the 400 freestyle relay, which provided the most dramatic ending possible.

Thanks to a first-place finish in that event, Groves ended up repeating as team champion by one point ahead of rival Birmingham Seaholm.

If there was a more storybook ending to a high school career, it’s hard to imagine. 

Despite his victory in the IM, MacDonald likely will continue to swim breaststroke in college. He chose to swim for Notre Dame over Michigan and Wisconsin, and he said Notre Dame coaches already are envisioning him being a breaststroke specialist once he arrives in South Bend. 

In addition to being a leader in the pool for races, MacDonald and the rest of the Groves seniors took on the task of guiding the rest of the team through a coaching transition this winter. 

Nick Valice took over the program, and the transition was smooth from both the perspective of the new coach and the swimmers. 

“It’s been easy sailing,” Valice said. 

Valice said the hardest adjustment initially with MacDonald in particular was learning what training methods he prefers.

“I spent the first couple of weeks trying to figure out what he’s capable of running versus the caliber level of kids I’ve coached beforehand,” Valice said. “He is definitely able to do a little more. He responds to stuff a little differently, so it’s just been tweaking workouts that benefit him specifically as opposed to the whole team or your generic run-of-the-mill swimmer. I will say he will eat up any workout you throw at him.”

MacDonald certainly proved that with a terrific high school career, especially with the two breaststroke Finals titles. 

That’s pretty good for someone who didn’t know he liked the event until he was 13. 

“I was terrible at it,” MacDonald said. 

Not anymore. Not at all.

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 Birmingham Groves’ Angus MacDonald stands for a photo after receiving his medal for winning the 100 breaststroke Saturday at Eastern Michigan University. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)