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No cooling off

MARQUETTE – The Marquette Senior High School boys were the favorite swimming in their pool Saturday for the Upper Peninsula Swimming and Diving Championships.

They made good on that prediction and made it a sweep as the MSHS girls also defended their title from last year in a dominant performance.

“This was an awesome day,” Marquette head coach Nathan McFarren said. “We had so many good races and everybody did outstanding. I had a good inclination going in that we were going to do well, but I didn’t want to jinx myself.

“Coaching can be difficult, but these kids make it easy. They bring me relief at the end of the day.”

The Redmen finished with 326 points, almost 100 points ahead of second-place Gladstone’s 230. MSHS also set four U.P. records, two of them coming from junior Sam Williams.

Williams set a new mark in both the 500-yard freestyle, clocking 4 minutes, 55.74 seconds to break the old record by almost three seconds, and 200 free (1:47.59).

Nathan Rotundo also set a record in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.29) and helped the 200 medley relay team put a new mark in the books at 1:41.14.

The girls side of the event was a little closer, but the Redettes’ 315 points was still nearly 50 points better than the runner-up Braves’ 269 as Houghton took third place with 223.

Marquette wins were chalked up by Janelle Carroll in the 500 free, Logan Vear in the 200 free, Lyndsey Welch in the 200 individual medley and Lauren Rotundo in the 100 breast. The Redettes also won the 200 free and 400 free relays.

While MSHS took all these top spots, Gladstone had an impressive showing for its first time at the U.P. Championships. The Braves were a club team for two years before getting a chance to prove themselves Saturday.

Matthew LeClaire set a U.P. record for Gladstone in the boys 100 backstroke (54.91) while also winning the 100 free. Teammate Thomas Prica won the 100 butterfly.

For the girls, Katie Stephenson won the 100 back and the Braves won the 200 medley relay in 1:59.21.

“This was a great meet,” Gladstone head coach Tom Desy said. “There was a lot of excitement and the kids swam well. They worked very hard and we’ve come a long way in just one year.”

Houghton fought hard on the girls side and put forth some good performances despite not winning an event.

“I’m very happy with how we performed,” Gremlins head coach Erik Johnson said. “We came out and competed hard. Some of our times dropped today and and I think we can come back next year and do even better.”

Houghton’s Colleen Toorongian finished third in the 50 free and the Gremlins’ 200 free relay team came in second.

Ishpeming-Negaunee got off to a rough start, but was able to rebound and earn a fifth-place finish on the boys side.

“We got a lot better as the day went on,” I-N head coach Peter Kenn said. “I think we were battling jitters early, but then we started getting better times. It happens to us every year. I thought our last two relay teams had phenomenal times and I was also pleased with how Katelyn Johnson did in the breaststroke (fourth place).”

Peter Leppanen finished third in the 200 free and fourth in the 500 free. I-N also took second in the 200 free relay and third in the 400 free relay.

One other area team, Westwood, struggled to gain ground in the standings, but the Patriots managed to set some personal bests, which pleased head coach Peggy Crum.

“We had some good personal times and I think we ended well,” she said. “I think we can build on this experience. We have a lot of young swimmers and they have definitely improved over the course of the season.”

Westwood’s top finishers were Nathen Nelson, who grabbed fifth place in the 100 back, and Fred Boburka, who took seventh in the 100 fly.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal. net.

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