The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Mission accomplished
Hornets take 9th at state
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 15, 2007
Heading into last weekend's Division 1 state meet, the Saline boys' swimming and diving team felt a top-10 finish would confirm their standing as one of the state's best up-and-coming programs.
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After the Hornets scored points in eight of 12 events and wrapped up the best season in program history with a ninth-place finish, it's fair to say that standing has been confirmed.
"I'm very happy and very proud of what we accomplished here," head coach Derek Samuelson said afterward. "They've been exceeding expectations all season long and they did it again today."
Saline finished with 101 points, just five behind eight-place Grandville and well ahead of 10th-place Jenison with 90.
So successful were the Hornets that after nine events and a seventh-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, they had moved in front of swimming power and local rival Ann Arbor Pioneer.
"We were pretty excited," Samuelson said. "To be ahead of Pioneer, to hear them call out Saline sixth and Pioneer seventh … even if it was just for (the duration of) one event, it was kind of thrilling."
Saline had earned that moment through consistent performances throughout Saturday's finals. The 200 medley relay team of Justin Duong, Connor Christie, Noah Whitener and Alex Wu moved up a spot from their seventh-place standing after Friday's preliminaries with a time of 1:38.09. Whitener passed swimmers from East Kentwood and Northville in the third leg of the race and Wu held them off for sixth.
Two events later, Christie's 1:58.65 in the 200 individual medley was good for third in the consolation finals and 11th overall. Whitener then added to the Saline scoring with a 21.65 and seventh-place finish in the 50 freestyle.
Joel Chambers then gave Saline its biggest boost yet with a sixth-place finish in the diving competition. Chambers had struggled in the early going, ranking just 16th after five dives, but regrouped and moved to 10th entering the 11th and final dive.
The sophomore saved his best for last, uncorking a 42-point stunner for a final total of 361.90.
"That's his dive," said diving coach Ian Cherteiny. "He's nailed it for 6's all season and he hit it again at the right time."
Saline would get its best finish of the day just one event later, with Whitener holding his fourth-place position from the 100 butterfly preliminaries –– in which he swam an All-American time of 50.91 –– with a time of 51.11.
The 200 freestyle relay –– also composed of Wu, Christie, Duong, and Whitener –– slipped from a preliminary time of 1:28.86 to 1:29.43 in the finals, but held on for a strong seventh.
A personal-best 55.05 from Duong in the 100 backstroke earned him a spot in the consolation finals, where he scored with a 16th-place finish. Christie then finished the Saline scoring with a 13th-place swim of 1:01.76 in the 100 breaststroke consolation final.
Christie was among four seniors –– along with Whitener, Nick Schneider, and diver Andrew DeVries –– to qualify for state, and he said he was more than happy with the way their career wrapped up.
"It's very exciting," he said afterward. "To have our team up there in that position, it proves that we've got a really good team. Now they'll keep things moving forward next year."
Samuelson credited a number of factors in the team's success, ranging from surprising swims like Duong's in the backstroke to the work of his assistants Cherteiny and Pat Wickering to 2005-2006 head coach Mike Holtz, who "laid the foundation" for this season.
But, in the end, the biggest factor was the determination of Saline's swimmers.
"They worked so hard this year," Samuelson said. "Our goal was to finish in the top 10 at state, and that's what we did."
Other results from the preliminaries included DeVries finishing 36th in the diving competition; Schneider swimming 59.54 in the 100 backstroke, which was good for 38th; and Wu, Schneider, Duong and sophomore Drew Dakin swimming 3:24.51 in the 400 freestyle relay for 24th.
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