Brother Rice impressive in regaining county swimming title

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

WATERFORD — After a four-year hiatus, Birmingham Brother Rice is back on top.

The Warriors, ranked third in the state in Division 1, emerged the victory at Saturday’s 48^th annual Oakland County Boys Swimming and Diving Championships at Waterford Mott — and Brother Rice was not favored.

Rice toppled the field of more than 35 schools with an impressive 303 points, well ahead of defending champ Birmingham Seaholm (268) and Birmingham Groves (251.50).

IN HIS WAKE: Lake Orion senior Jacob Lindquist was one of the indlvidual winners at Saturday's Oakland County meet, touching first in the 100 breatstroke. Photo | Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com

Seaholm was ranked second in Division 2 and Groves No. 1 in Division 2. A total of 12 teams came into the county meet either ranked in the top 10 in one of the state’s three divisions or listed as honorable mention.

“It’s great to be back on top,” smiled veteran Brother Rice coach Mike Venos. “We’ve made notice that we’re back. We’ve got the rest of the year with a big target on our back. But I’ve got a bunch of kids that I know can handle it.

“I was joining with some parents that it’s like we locked them in the closet for the past month,” laughed Venos. “We really haven’t had a big meet since the 17th of January when we swam against (Detroit) Catholic Central. We’ve been beating each other up in practice and racing in practice. Tempers have been a little short in practice, so I knew something good was going to happen here. I just didn’t think we were going to swim the way we did.”

Based on the pre-meet psych sheet, Brother Rice was picked to finished third overall.

“This was by far our best meet this season,” added Venos “We won 14 out of 15 for a stretch there (in the 1990s and early 2000s) and then we’ve watched Groves or Seaholm win the past few titles. It was nice to see our guys step up at such a big meet today.”

Novi Detroit Catholic Central, which just moved into Oakland County four years ago, finished an all-time best fourth (199) and Troy returned to the top five for the first time in several years by earning fifth (160.5).

Novi was sixth overall (143) in a field where 25 schools scored points, while South Lyon Unified (143), Clarkston (102.5), Farmington/Harrison Unified (99) and Lake Orion (95) rounded out the top 10.

Rice sophomore Joe Krause won both the 200 free (1:43.14) and 100 free (47.20) for Brother Rice. Krause also joined freshman Gust Kouvaris, junior Joe Morgan and junior Patrick Nodland for a win in the 200 free relay (1:27.24).

The Warriors took up 23 of the possible 192 top-16 places in the 12 events, including earning five of the top 16 spots in the 500 free alone to held become the only team to finish with more than 300 points. Rice also chalked up eight top-five finishes on the day to have by far its best performance on the season.

“The whole team has come together,” said Brother Rice’s Krause, of Rochester Hills. “We’ve done a lot in practice to push each other. We wouldn’t be as fast as we are without each other. I think this will help give us some confidence. I think we realize what is possible if we work hard.”

Groves’ senor Noah Zamler, sophomore Clark Lindsay, and seniors Sam Cusimano and John Hammond won the 200 medley relay (1:38.67), while Crosthwaite, Zamler, junior Tm Power and senior Steven Curry the 400 free relay (3:14.54) to pace the Falcons.

Catholic Central rode to its top-five finished thanks to a pair of victories by freshman Jack Walsh, who both won the 200 IM (1:56.55) and 100 backstroke (54.21), while junior Tim Szuba touched first in the 50 free (22.16).

Lake Orion senior Jacob Lindquist won the 100 breaststroke (59.40), reaching his first goal of the season. Lindquist overtook the leaders during the final lap.

“I did see him on the last turn and that helped push me, especially in the last 10-15 years,” said Lindquist. “This is definitely one of the last meets we have this season so to come out and win like this is definitely a big boost of confidence. It makes me want to train even harder.”

Troy sophomore Troy Chen won the 100 butterfly (52.99), Rochester junior Jacob Carl the 500 free (4:42.58), and South Lyon Unified’s Dan Gironza the diving (483.90 points).

For Seaholm, which didn’t have any individual champions, the Maples staked claim as true contender in Division 2 this season thanks to its county-meet showing. The Maples were the county and Division 2 state champs last winter.

“We knew it was going to be a really competitive meet,” offered Seaholm coach Tom Wyllie. “I “We had hoped this would be a barometer of how we were doing in our season. We picked up three new, first-time state qualifying times today and all three of our relays were the best times of the season. We swam really well. We just got beat by a faster team today. But we did finish ahead of Groves and we’ll see them in a league dual this week and again at the league meet in a couple of weeks.”

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