The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Swimmers have big weekend
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 25, 2007
Saline boys' swimming coach Derek Samuelson had said the hard work his team put in during training over the holiday break would pay off.
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Last weekend, it did.
The Hornets compiled a 3-1 record and grabbed numerous state qualifying times over the two days in what Samuelson called "the two best meets we've had this season."
"This was the weekend we were focusing on, that we were pointing to" Samuelson said, "and they exceeded even the expectations I had for them.
"This is a great confidence builder for the team."
On Friday, Saline defeated Southeastern Conference rival Tecumseh at home 100-86, but that was just a prelude to Saturday's home "quad" meet against Northville, Grosse Pointe South, and South Lyon.
Although Saline lost to the powerful Northville Mustangs squad 110-76, the Hornets defeated Grosse Pointe South and South Lyon convincingly, winning 108-78 and 124-62, respectively. With a 110-76 win over Chelsea Jan. 12, the Hornets improved their dual meet record on the season to 7-5.
But Samuelson is much more excited by the state qualification times. Over the two meets, the Hornets put together state cut times in seven of the 11 swimming events, allowing the swimmers qualified to begin training again for bigger meets down the road.
"It worked exactly according to plan," Samuelson said. "Now we'll break them down again before their state and SEC tapers.
"It's nice to come out ahead, but we're not too worried about dual meets. In our sport, they're kind of practice for the bigger meets."
One highlight of the Hornets' state cut swims was Justin Duong, Connor Christie, Noah Whitener, and Alex Wu combining to swim 1:40.82 to win the 200-yard medley relay during the quad meet. Samuelson said the time placed the team "in contention to finish in the top five at state."
Other state cut times included Christie's 2:03.52 in the 200 individual medley Saturday, which was good for second place; Whitener's first-place 22.35 in the 50 freestyle Saturday; Duong's time of 22.97 in the first leg of Saturday's 200 freestyle relay, the equivalent of a 50 freestyle swim and .02 seconds faster than the state cut time; and Whitener's 54 flat in the 100 butterfly, which also was good for a win Saturday.
Also were Duong's first-place time of 50.62 in Friday's 100 freestyle; Duong, Christie, Wu and Whitener swimming the 200 freestyle relay in a second-place time of 1:30.74; and Christie winning the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.23.
Samuelson said the Hornets' successes weren't limited, however, to their state times. Wu continued his surprisingly strong sophomore season by claiming second in the 100 freestyle against Tecumseh, behind Duong in 52.22 and swimming to fourth in the 50 freestyle Saturday with a time of 23.14, which was only .15 off the state cut.
Sophomore Drew Dakin's time of 1:03.83 in the 100 backstroke was a personal best, as was freshman Jacob Mauthe's time of 1:04.59 against Tecumseh in the same event. Sophomore Michael Hughes finished a surprising fourth against Tecumseh in the 500 freestyle, while Sam Wittig led the team in the quad meet in the same event, a pleasant development in an event in which Samuelson says the program is "desperate" for impact swimmers.
"Everybody on the team swam really well," Samuelson said. "It was a big day for us.
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