The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Solid day for Saline at MISCA meet
Whitener swims 52.71, shatters own varsity record in 100-yard butterfly
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 15, 2007
The Saline boys' swim team didn't quite make the state cuts the swimmers were hoping for at the Michigan Inter-Scholastic Swim Coaches' Association meet last Saturday at Eastern Michigan University.
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But head coach Derek Samuelson says he saw enough at the MISCA meet to make him believe that those cuts will come at the Hornets' conference meet in two weeks, and that the team's goal of a top-10 finish at state is still very much intact.
"The opportunity is there," Samuelson said. "They've put in the work. They've had a good season … Now they have to reach for it."
Samuelson said that there were several Hornet swims at MISCA — a statewide meet that serves as a kind of preview of the March 9 state finals — he was "extremely happy" with.
One was senior Noah Whitener's blistering 52.71 in the 100-yard butterfly, breaking Whitener's own 2005 Saline varsity record and giving the senior fourth place.
"It's nice to see him go out and just annihilate that record, even before he's been rested," Samuelson said.
But the highlights didn't end there. The 200 freestyle relay team of Alex Wu, Justin Duong, Connor Christie and Whitener grabbed third place with a time of 1:30.84. The same foursome took sixth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:40.57.
The Hornets also racked up three other individual top-10 finishes. Sophomore Joel Chambers took fourth in the diving competition with a score of 363.75, Whitener finished seventh after swimming the 50 freestyle in 22.30, and Christie took fifth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.92.
Outside the top 10, Saline also got strong swims from Christie in the 200 individual medley (1:53.13, 14th), Wu in the 50 freestyle (23.46, 41st), Duong in the 100 freestyle (50.79, 27th), Nick Schneider in the 100 backstroke (1:01.66, 53rd), Sam Wittig (1:06.94, 42nd), Travis Littlejohn (1:07.85, 46th) and Matt DeFauw (1:08.69, 54th) in the 100 breaststroke, and Wu, Schneider, Daniel Kung and Duong in the 400 freestyle relay (3:29.71, 26th).
Not only were the time of Wittig and the 400 freestyle relay team each season-bests, Samuelson said they indicated that each might be able to grab a surprise state cut at the Southeastern Conference league meet Feb. 23 and 24.
"That kind of changed my thinking a little bit," he said. "Nobody had a bad meet at MISCA."
Samuelson admitted he wasn't quite ready to say the same thing after the Hornets' Friday night meet on the road at Adrian. Saline won 104-82 with a number of Hornets swimming "off events" and freshmen in key roles, but their coach was less than satisfied.
"We made a lot of small mistakes that add up," Samuelson said. "Fortunately, the MISCA team sharpened up the next day."
There were some high notes from Adrian, though, including freshman Michael Hughes winning both the 200 individual medley (in 2:19.50) and 100 butterfly (1:03.07) in his first time swimming each event. Hank Remenapp finished first in diving with a score of 183.20. All three Saline divers have now qualified for regional competition.
A number of Saline freshmen, including Brian Thompson in the 100 freestyle, who Samuelson praised for his "consistency," set personal bests.
With the MISCA meet behind them and no dual meets scheduled before the SEC meet, the Hornets' focus is now squarely on training for the league and state meets.
"We've got two weeks," Sameulson said. "We're just about to start going into our taper and we need to be ready."
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