Shaking At The Schack

Cranbrook Kingswood Boys Swimming and Diving hosted the 12^th annual Schack Invitational this Saturday, the 7^th of January.   This year’s field included 6 Oakland County teams: Andover (D2), Birmingham Seaholm (D2, partial squad), Bloomfield Hills Lahser (D3), Brother Rice (D1), Catholic Central (D1), and of course Cranbrook Kingswood (D3). 

Despite the handshakes of camaraderie, this year’s meet was dampened by news of the loss of Bob Anderson, the founder of the CK swim and dive program.   The Cranes Swim teams, the Schack family and the entire Cranbrook Kingswood community will not soon forget Bob’s love of swimming, immense contributions and dedication to the Cranbrook program.  After a poignant moment of silence, it was down to the business of competing, as Bob would have appreciated.   And a competition it was, with nearly every event having multiple state qualifying-performances.   

The day began with the Men’s 1 Meter Diving Competition.  11 Divers competed, with Andover’s team leading the group.  Ivan Spizizen topped the field with a score of 205.2.  Spizizen’s teammate Connor Yee assembled 190.05 and Truman Lorick had 124.96 to take 21 meet points for their team.   Brother Rice’s divers contributed 10 points with Chris D’Angelo turning in a solid 178.15 and Kahlil DuPerry garnering 165.90 points for his performance.    As we all know, it takes a brave person to hurl their body through the air so close to the diving board.   Just ask Cranbrook’s Ray Gagliardi.  He’s working to get his confidence back after recently connecting with the board.  Thankfully, he was not seriously injured, but it may take another meet or two before he’s diving as he would like.  Despite the hesitation, Ray still managed to turn in a respectable 129.6.  Grant Glover added to Cranbrook’s points with a score of 122.75.   Austin Fleischer and Tyler Clark supported Lahser with scores of 131.75 and 120.0 respectively. Rounding out the field, Alex Hallway and Patrick Roelant of Catholic Central added a few points with Hallway’s 129.2 and Roelant’s 103.4. 

After the diving competition, we caught up with a few of the swimming coaches. 

The Schack Invitational “gives the swimmers a chance to get some valuable feedback”, says Cranbrook Coach Tony Kurth.  “After all the intensity of the winter break training sessions, it’s a post-break stress- relieving meet but with some serious competition that helps us evaluate our progress.”   Despite the loss of some very strong seniors, there are some talented freshman coming into the program that may not be able to fill their shoes yet, but will no doubt make their claim to fame.    The Schack will provide a good opportunity to see how the team is coming together. 

Coach Shannon Dunworth of Catholic Central looks forward to the early feedback this meet provides as well.  “It’s our first meet of the season, and we really use it to gauge the success of our pre-season work.”  Just a few short years ago, Catholic Central was at the bottom of the pack more often than not.  “In any other sport, a record of 0-8 would be a disaster.  But with swimming, you can have a successful 0-8 season because you have many personal bests, though you did not manage to win a meet.  You could still hold your head high.”  Of course, it’s better if you can manage the personal and team growth, which Catholic Central has managed to do.  They’ve been on the rise since Dunworth took over the program 7 years ago. 

Andover is no stranger to difficult seasons.  But Coach Dave Z is taking it all in stride, knowing they obstacles are really “good learning experiences.”  Andover has had to endure pool construction, so finding a place to practice over the break posed some challenges.   As their pool should be ready in the next week or so, they should be able to get back on a better schedule.  Per Coach Z, they’ve got a senior-heavy team, so he expects they should be able to do well at states despite the early season issues. In addition, Andover has moved up to Division 2 this year, so having the opportunity to swim against other D2 and D1 teams at the Schack will provide more valuable experience.     

Cranbrook, Catholic Central and Andover are not the only ones who look forward to the early season competition.  Brother Rice spends a great deal of time getting in peak condition, and are “itching for feedback”, says Coach Mike Venos.   “The Schack is a fun, fast meet with Oakland teams.  With all the mega leagues and club teams, it’s not often the Oakland County teams get to swim in a meet.” 

With everyone having an eye toward monitoring their progress, the swimming events began. 

There were four 200 Yard Medley Relay teams with sub-sate times:  Brother Rice’s Kouvaris, Swies, Krause and Nodland turned in a solid 1:39.38; Detroit Catholic Central’s Walsh, Newman, Dan Szuba, and Tim Szuba weren’t far behind with a 1:40.79.  Cranbrook Kingswood’s team of Hogan, Liu, Buccalo and Stefan Withrow turned in a 1:44.32;  and Bloomfield Hills Lahser’s Garcia, Schihl, DiMaggio and Ramonat touched in at 1:45.02.   

The excitement continued with Colin Brinkman (1:47.27) from Catholic Central and Cody Wolfram (1:51.21) from Lahser making their cuts in the 200 Yard Freestyle. 

The successes continued with the Cranes’ junior Matthew Liu’s very strong 2:01.11 being followed by freshman Frankie Misra’s 2:09.94 in the 200 yard IM.  Matthew and Frankie were in good company with Catholic Central’s Jack Walsh (2:02.96) and Lahser’s Joe Finn (2:05.38). 

As always, there were some speedy heats in the 50 Freestyle, and two swimmers managed cuts in this very competitive event:  Patrick Nodland (22:45) and Joe Krause (21:81) from Brother Rice.   Krause followed up his speedy 50 free with a 53:17 in the 100 Yard Butterfly.  Not a bad day for Mr. Krause. 

And not a bad day for Cody Wolfram either, as he continues to swim well, with a 50.65 in the 100 Yard Freestyle.  Though solid, it wasn’t enough to best Brother Rice’s Gus Kouvaris’ state qualifying 48.98 and Catholic Central’s Tim Szuba’s 50.31. 

After all the speedy heats, time for the steadiness of the 500 Freestyle, which was no exception in the parade of state qualifiers.  Colin Brinkman of Catholic Central led the pack with that sought-after sub-five-minute time of 4:55.32.  Colin was followed shortly after by several swimmers hovering around the 5:08 mark:  Cranbrook’s Ben Schneider (5:08.42), Lahser’s William Tener (5:08.56) and Joe Finn (5:08.80).  The Crane’s Daniel Misra joined the club with a respectable 5:13.07. 

As always, breaking the string of individual events and the lengthier 500 with the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay renews the sense of team competition.   Brother Rice’s Nodland, Sweis, Murrell and Morgan topped the field with a 1:31.90.  Two additional teams touched in for state cuts:  Lahser’s Schihl, Ramonat, Finn and Wolfram (1:34.88) and Cranbrook’s Brannigan, Stefan Withrow, Nate Tattrie and Jonny Pang (1:35.83).

Back to the individual heats with the 100 Yard Backstroke.   Jack Walsh of Catholic Central turned in another fine swim with a 55.81.   The Cranes’ Alex Hogan continues to swim below state qualifying time, with a 58.63.   Jack and Alex won’t be the only ones at states in this event, as Lahser’s Joe Bujold came in with a 1:00.52. 

Another field of 4 for states, with junior Matthew Liu making the Division 1 cut, with a 1:01.52 in the 100 Yard Breaststroke.  Matthew has been swimming well for some time, and with performances like this as a junior, it will be interesting to see what his senior year holds.  Lahser’s John Schihl kept Matthew company, following closely behind with another Division 1 time of 1:01.94.

Right on their heels was Catholic Central’s Ryan Newman with a 1:02.30.  Lahser’s Cranny Jones turned in a very respectable 1:04.45 as the fourth state cut swim for this event.

Everyone’s favorite, the 400 Freestyle Relay, was no exception in the parade of state qualifiers.  Brother Rice, Lahser and Cranbrook each had a state qualifying team:  Rice’s Krause, Murrell, Kouvaris and Blinstrub (3:21.26); Lahser’s Bujold, Tener, Finn, Wolfrom (3:27.55); and Cranbrook’s Hogan, Liu, Frankie Misra and Buccalo (3:29.53).   It was a fine way to finish the meet. 

 

Meet Results

Brother Rice (D1)              250

Detroit Catholic Central (D1)        176

Cranbrook Kingswood (D3)           159

Bloomfield Hills Lahser (D3)          140

Andover (D2)      92