The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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Milan starts 2008 in style
Big Reds get state cut from Olson, freshmen shine at Tecumseh
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 10, 2008
After the hardest two weeks of training on the entire season schedule, the members of Milan's boys' swim team weren't necessarily supposed to get off to a fast start in 2008. But many of them they did anyway at last Saturday's Kiwanis Invitational at Tecumseh.
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Team score wasn't kept for the six competing squads at the event (and races were divided into freshman-sophomore and junior-senior divisions), but led by a surprising first-place, personal-best, state qualifying swim from senior captain Zack Olson in the 500-yard freestyle, the Big Reds brought a bushel of medals home from the meet and gave head coach Dan Heikka plenty of reason to think his team's grueling holiday workouts might pay off sooner rather than later.
"We had some tired swims, but we also had some fantastic swims," he said. "This sets the stage for the rest of the season. The next couple of weeks we're going to see exactly where we're at."
The Big Reds' success in Tecumseh — and potentially further down the road — was buoyed, Heikka said, by the team's dedication and effort over the holiday training schedule.
"I would say we had 95 percent of the team here 95 percent of the time," he said. "They all worked really hard."
Heikka said no one worked harder than Olson. The senior entered the upperclassman 500 freestyle having never qualified for the state meet as an individual, but pushed by a pair of Tecumseh swimmers, Olson swam a personal-best 5:15.97 to win the race and qualify for the Division 3 meet.
"It helped that he was in a dogfight," Heikka said. "The whole team was pulling for him and we're all excited for him. He's worked tirelessly and it was special to see that work pay off for him."
But Olson was far from the only Big Red to find success at the meet. Ian Pendleton won a pair of junior-senior races, taking the 50 freestyle in 23.14 and the 100 freestyle in 51.26. Kray Cornelison was one spot behind him in the 50 freestyle after swimming a personal-best 23.85. Junior Tim Hochradel posted a pair of second-place individual finishes, swimming 2:14.25 in the 200 individual medley and a season-best 1:09.91 in the 100 breaststroke, as well as helping the 400 freestyle relay team featuring himself, Olson, Pendleton, and Justin Beaudrie to a second-place finish as well in 3:35.08.
Many of the Big Reds' most impressive, personal-best performances, however, came in the freshman-sophomore events. Diver Cody Baran posted the highest diving score of any competitor (upperclassman included) with a 297.75, easily good for first place. Freshman Tyler Fisher won the 100 butterfly in a personal-best time of 1:03.56 and finished second in the 200 freestyle in 2:24.54. Tyler DiGesare dropped more than two seconds off his best time to finish second in the 100 backstroke in 1:10.42 and fellow freshman Dylan Shearer likewise posted his own personal best, 1:15.51, to take third in the 100 breaststroke.
"We're going to need these freshman to be competitive in some of our upcoming dual meets," Heikka said. "We feel a lot better seeing how quickly they're coming along and how it's helping us develop some depth."
Heikka pointed out that even the Big Reds had personal success throughout their lineup, with one example that both 200 freestyle relays — Steven Howell, Joseph Martin, Westen Schroeder, and Shearer in the freshman-sophomore race and Matt Smith, Myles Martin, Cornelison, and Francisco Contreras for the junior-seniors — featured "great swims by all of them" on their way to a pair of sixth-place finishes.
Other highlights included John Nuckels posting a personal-best 6:01.59 on his way to seventh in the upperclassman 500 freestyle and a season-best 1:24.55 for Jeremy Robison in the 100 breaststroke.
Milan will swim at Riverview today and at Tecumseh this Tuesday.
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