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Gremlins swimming cruises at Westwood

Helman and Witting both have big days for their teams

ISHPEMING — Last Thursday, the Houghton Gremlins swim team took part in a dual meet with the Westwood Patriots at the YMCA of Marquette County. Both teams emerged victorious, with the boys winning 141-35 and the girls posting a 143-38 victory.

In the boys’ competition, junior Seth Helman set the tone with a strong 200-yard freestyle, which he won over teammate Colton Haataja. The sophomore stayed within three seconds of Helman, which was a positive performance in itself.

Helman did not make the finals of the 500-yard freestyle, but he shaved another 10 seconds off his personal best in the attempt.

“Seth Helman had a very nice meet dropping five seconds off his 200-free on his way to the win and dropping almost 10 seconds off his 500-free,” said Gremlins coach Erik Johnson. ” [He’s] getting closer to the cut for that event.”

Johnson went on to say more about the hard-working Helman.

“Seth is one of those kids who works his butt off for you everyday in the pool,” said Johnson. “So, it was great to see his efforts led to some nice results.”

Sophomore Kevin Beaghan won the 200-yard individual medley before doing the same in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5 minutes, 55.17 seconds.

“Kevin Beaghan had another good meet dropping time in the 200 [individual medley] and coming back to post another best-time in the 500 free,” said Johnson.

In the 1-meter diving competition, senior Sal Sharp finished nearly 23 points better than Joe Boburka of Westwood to win the event. Sharp’s point total of 173.30 was nearly a new personal best.

“Sal Sharp was strong on the board and posted nearly his best score ever,” said Johnson. “Sal decided to slow things down and just focus on making everything clean and it paid off.”

Junior Andrew Garland also had a strong diving run as he placed third. The gutsy effort impressed Johnson.

“Andrew Garland stepped up despite not feeling well to take third in diving,” said Johnson. “[He] really made a statement to one of his major competitors at U.P. Finals from Westwood.”

The 100-yard freestyle had some drama to it as sophomore Cameron Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction, and yet still managed to post a personal-best time of 1:06.54. He then turned around and took third in the 100-yard backstroke, which junior Leif Odegard won.

“Cameron Jackson has been working hard and, despite losing his goggles on the start, he swam a strong 100-free,” said Johnson. “[He dropped] two seconds and then came back in the 100-back and swam another best time. Cameron really wants to improve so as a coach those are the kids you enjoy working with.”

On the girls’ side, junior Wonyoung Choi was back in the pool. Shewon the 50-yard freestyle and placed second in the 100-yard backstroke.

“It was nice to see Wonyoung back in the pool,” said Johnson. “She has been working through some injuries but looked good her first time back.”

One of the most exciting moments of the day came in the 500-yard freestyle event. Freshman Olivia Witting won with a time of 6:31.73, but she had to first catch junior Ann Durochers, who got off to a strong start and still led after four lengths of the pool.

“The biggest highlight of the night was an event most people don’t care to watch and that’s the 500,” said Johnson. “It was a great race. Ann Desrochers started out strong for her first 500 of the year and Olivia Witting fought hard to catch her. In the end, they both end up with great times and it just showed me again how tough those two girls are. They also pushed Josie Ledgerwood to a 10-second drop in time.”

In the 1-meter diving event, senior Megan Abramson won by posting a personal-best 123.70.

“Megan Abramson led the way on the board posting a best score,” said Johnson. “Megan keeps working hard and is always looking for a way to improve.”

Johnson was pleased with the efforts of his entire girls team and their willingness to be versatile.

“p1″>”I had a few girls swim events they don’t usually swim,” said Johnson.  “It was good to see them embrace the challenge.”

The Gremlins have three meets left to tune up for the U.P. Finals. The focus for every athlete now is attention to details as they prepare for a dual meet with Marquette this Thursday in the Houghton Pool.

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