MANISTIQUE — The Houghton Gremlins swim teams had a very successful day Tuesday as both teams won their tri-meet with Ishpeming and Manistique. The boys finished with 137 points to 99 for Ishpeming and 71 for Manistique, and the girls won with 162 points, Ishpeming finished with 96 and Manistique earned 64.

On the boys’ side, Houghton had three individual winners. Adam Hemmer won the 200-yard freestyle, Kameron Johnson won the 500-yard freestyle, and William Jiang won the 100-yard backstroke.

Coach Erik Johnson was proud of the way his boys swam.

“The boys’ team got back to their winning ways, but in a different fashion by showing their depth,” he said. “We challenged the team to step up, and I was impressed with the drive and determination that they showed.

“Adam Hemmer had an impressive 200 free. It was his first time ever swimming it, and he battled all the way through for his first-ever win in an event. Beyond that, the kids who put in the work over break really had a chance to show off with some nice improvements.”

On the girls’ side, Houghton had several winners. Aya Keteri won both the 200-yard and the 500-yard freestyle races. Evelyn LaTendress won the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard breaststroke. Fiona Brassar won the 200-yard individual medley.

Kayleigh Dart won the 50-yard freestyle. Lydia Williams won the 100-yard freestyle. Shania Aepli won the 100-yard backstroke.

Finally, Meg Ruhonen won the diving competition.

Johnson was proud of how well the girls team got focused and took care of business.
”The girls got off to a hot start after the break, winning all the events at the meet on Tuesday night,” he said. “We had some nice improvements throughout the whole meet, the kids did a great job of showing up and supporting each other.

“I was happy for Evelyn to see some nice improvements. She put in a ton of work over break and it really paid off.”

Houghton returns to action Saturday when they host the Gremlin Splash in their own pool.

“I am excited to see how things go once we get a chance to swim in our own pool for our first home meet of the year on Saturday,” said Johnson. “It should be a pretty exciting one, since it is the Gremlin Splash with four other teams coming to compete.”