The Milan News-Leader
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Big Reds look back on season at banquet
Donahue also receives official Swimmer of the Year honor
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 27, 2008
Another successful year for the Milan swimming and diving programs has officially come to an end.
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The Big Red boys' teams celebrated their strong 2007-2008 season at their year-end banquet March 18. Head coach Dan Heikka announced the team's award winners and said afterward he was glad to give a team as hardworking as this year's the accolades they deserved.
"This team was so much fun to coach," he said. "They really understood what it took to get things done and it was great to get them all together. It was a real fun evening."
Senior Ian Pendleton was named the team's Most Valuable Player and received one of four Captain's Awards, given also to fellow senior captains Matt Smith, Justin Beaudrie and Zach Olson.
"This year, we didn't have that one superstar, a Ryan Bordine-type guy," Heikka said. "Ian had a fantastic year, but this was really of a team effort, and that's due to our captains. It started with them and filtered down through the rest of the team."
Dylan Shearer, Westen Schroeder and Steven Howell received the team's Most Improved award. Assistant coach Nancy Blanchard honored freshman Tyler Fisher with the annual Rising Star award.
Receiving Coaches' Awards from Heikka and the rest of the Big Red staff were John Nuckels, Tyler DiGesare and Joe Martin.
Also announced were captains for the 2008-2009 Big Red squad, which include state qualifiers Tim Hochradel and Kray Cornelison and rising senior Jeremy Robison.
"Zach Olson said that you when you're a swimmer, you spend a lot of time getting yelled at by your coach," Heikka joked, "so it's nice for them to be able to sit back and have their coach actually say nice things about them for a while."
Also receiving recognition recently was Milan girls' swimmer Maura Donahue, who received her official notice from the Michigan Inter-Scholastic Swim Coaches' Association of being named the Division 3 Swimmer of the Year and was honored by the Milan City Council.
Donahue walked away from the Division 3 state meet last November with the honor wrapped up, making the notice a formality, but a welcome one, Heikka said.
"She certainly deserves it," he said. "We're happy for her. It's another trophy to add to the wall."
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