Houghton wins dual swim meet in Kingsford
KINGSFORD — On Thursday afternoon, the Houghton Gremlins swim team battled the elements and illness to win a dual meet against Kingsford. The girls earned a 95-64 victory while the boy were equally good, winning 96-64.
“The ride to Kingsford is always a long one and, for some reason, it always seems to be a cold one,” said coach Erik Johnson. “I was excited to get the team back in the pool and see what we could do. Our team seemed to be battling through some sickness but even though I knew a lot of them weren’t feeling their best, they really put forth their best effort.”
On the girls side, senior Josie Ledgerwood earned the first top finish in the 200-yard individual medley. She finished four seconds better than sophomore Mikayla Sague with a time of 2 minutes, 45.60 seconds.
“Mikayla Sague swam the 200 [individual medley] for the first time and made the qualifying time so that was an exciting race,” said Johnson. “Josie led the way and Deanna [Bigelow] also swam it for the first time and just missed the qualifying time. I’m confident Deanna will make that time because she is determined and wasn’t 100 percent [Thursday].
“She came back and swam a best time in the 100 breaststroke as well, that’s the kind of toughness every coach hopes to see from their athletes.”
Sophomore Tessa Meyer took first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:11.24, nearly 10 full seconds faster than Tiana Brooks of Kingsford.
Senior Arayia Holombo swam to victory in the 100-yard freestyle with time of 1:05.47 after swimming a seed time of 1:03.60.
Sophomore Samantha Olson swam a sub-six minute 500-yard freestyle to win the event by over 28 seconds.
“Samantha Olson really pushed herself in the 500 and got under six minutes,” said Johnson. “That was exciting because she was doing it on her own willpower without anyone near her.”
Junior Justine Ra set new personal bests in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke, placing second in both, proving that her hard work is paying off.
“Justine Ra had a really good meet swimming best times in both the 200-free and the 100-back” said Johson. “I was excited to see her so fired up after the 100 backstroke. It was a big confidence booster for her, and now she can carry that into the last month of the season.”
Freshman Zoe Johnson-Berman also had a strong meet, dropping personal bests in her 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke.
On the boys side, things got off to a fast start as sophomore Colton Haataja, junior Leo Wheeler, and junior Connor Jackson finished first, second and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle while finishing within four seconds of each other.
“On the boys side there were a lot of really good races throughout the meet,” said Johnson. “The boys 200 freestyle was exciting with all three of our guys fighting it out for the win at the end. Colton Haataja ended up winning out and dropped several seconds off his time in the process.”
Jackson came back and nearly qualified for 100-yard breaststroke.
“Connor Jackson was impressive during the 200-free,” said Johnson. “He fought hard to a best time. He came back and just missed the cut in the 100 breaststroke. He was under 1:20 for the first time and now he can really focus on dropping that time to make it.”
Junior Leif Odegard won the 100-yard backstroke (1:06.73) and placed second in the 200 individual medley.
“Leif Odegard had another nice 200 [individual medley and 100 backstroke,” said Johnson. “He also had a really nice split in the 400-free relay.”
Senior Peter Jaszczak won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.25 and then turned around on relatively short rest to place second in the 100-yard breaststroke. The effort really pleased his coach.
“Peter had a nice 100-fly again and got to swim the 100 breaststroke,” said Johnson. “He did well in it for an event he seldom swims. It’s nice to have someone you can put in other events and move around to open up spots for other people to swim.”
Sophomore Kevin Beaghan set a new personal best while winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:55.44.
“Kevin was not feeling well before the meet but really stepped up in the 500 and swam a best time,” said Johnson. “I was excited for him to reach that goal he set for himself despite not feeling well.”
Johnson was really pleased with the efforts of his team as a whole.
“Both teams did well,” said Johnson. “There are always a few tweaks to make after each meet but that’s what makes coaching so much fun. You train, you prepare and then you make adjustments to gain those fractions of a second that make the difference in the end.”