The Saline Reporter
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Saline takes on Stevenson, U-D Jesuit in pool
Hornets suffer through intense week of practice
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 18, 2007
Over the holiday break, the Saline boys' swimming team endured its most intense week of practice, called "Hell Week."
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Head coach Derek Samuelson didn't think the weariness following Hell Week did a lot for the team during its tri-meet against Livonia Stevenson and University of Detroit-Jesuit Jan. 4.
"Everyone was exhausted," he said.
But the potential of the Hornets was on display, even after the rigors of Hell Week, as Saline defeated UD-Jesuit 96-90, though they lost to Stevenson 125-61.
"I was happy," Samuelson said. "Our top athletes performed the way we want them to.
"In the next couple of weeks, we're expecting to see some big drops."
The Hornet coach was less-than-surprised after a Hell Week he was "very happy" with.
"It was a big confidence builder," he said. "We asked a lot of them and they ate it up. I was real impressed with their attitude. It's really going to pay off down the road."
There were already signs in the tri-meet. The Saline 200-yard medley relay team performed strongly as usual, with Justin Duong, Connor Christie, Noah Whitener and Seth Waits combining on a time of 1:44.53 to get the Hornets started with a second-place finish.
Other team highlights included Sam Wittig tying for third in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:15.67; Whitener and Duong finishing second and third in 22.64 and 23.91 in the 50 freestyle; while Saline continued to flex its muscle in the diving competition with Joel Chambers, Andrew DeVries and Hank Remenapp finishing first, third and fifth, respectively.
In addition, Connor Christie and Jacob Mauthe finishing second and fourth in 56.80 and 1:02.00 in the 100 butterfly; Whitener grabbing second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.45; Connor Corcoran breaking the six-minute mark in the 500 freestyle for the first time in his Saline career with a time of 5:59.84; and Duong, Waits, Christie and Whitener showing Saline's sprint strength with a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:35.19.
Also, Duong and Nick Schneider notching top-five finishes in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.19 and 1:01.94, respectively; and Christie finishing second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.15.
The Hornets also competed in a five-team invitational at Zeeland High School over the break, taking on state powers such as Birmingham Brother Rice, Zeeland and Holland.
"That's good for our younger kids," Samuelson said. "They can see where we want to be in the future, to experience what it's like to swim against the top teams."
In the nearer future, Saline hopes to get its 200 and 400 freestyle relays qualified for the state meet and win its quad meet hosted Saturday at the Saline High School pool.
"We're hoping to get our last two relays qualified by that meet," Samuelson said.
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