By DAVER KARNOSKY

dkarnosky@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Gremlins swim team split with the Kingsford Flivvers at home on Tuesday in the Houghton pool. The boys topped the Flivvers 94-83, and the girls lost 101-79.

With the win, the boys moved to 2-0 on the season after also defeating Westwood in their season opener. The girls fell to 1-1.

“The season is off to a solid start,” said Gremlins coach Erik Johnson. “We have a wide range of abilities, but everyone is showing improvements. The main focus (Tuesday) was effort and team spirit, that was clearly on display.

“Kingsford is a good team with a great coach, and they always bring out the best in our kids. I was impressed that we didn’t back down.”

Johnson was also happy to see how quickly his teams are coming together.

“Yes, we have a lot of things to work on, but that is why we swim these meets, so the coaches can figure out ways to make everyone better,” he said. “The best part about this team is that they have gelled a lot faster than any other team I have coached, and I know that will really help moving forward as things get harder.”

On the boys’ side, the Gremlins got wins from Brett Gaff in the 200-meter freestyle, Beau Haataja in both the 50 and the 100-meter freestyle, and Evan Massaway in diving.

Also, William Jiang won the 500-meter freestyle and Collin Raasio won the 100-meter breaststroke.

The 400-meter freestyle relay team of Gaff, Josh Bennett, Raasio and Haataja also won.

On the girls’ side, Rose Dennis won the 200-meter freestyle and Meg Ruohonen won the diving competition.

The 400-meter freestyle relay team of Evelyn LaTendress, Alaina Eles, Dennis, and Stella Soumis also earned a win.

“I could list a bunch of names that stood out today from our three freshman boys and two girls swimming the 500 for the first time, to our returning swimmers really embracing the challenges but I will end with this, if you want to see, hear, and feel an amazing atmosphere, (Tuesday) was the day for that,” said Johnson. “Both teams brought it from the start of the first race to the finish of the last race, and if we can do that in every meet, the final score won’t matter.”

UP NEXT

The Gremlins were back in action on Friday at Gladstone for a tri-meet with Gladstone and Manstique.