Sports

Swim and Dive Hornets First Saline Team To 'Three-Peat'

Josh Ehrman was named D1 Swimmer of the year and David Boland and Adam Whitener each were champs in two events.

The Hornets boys’ swim and dive team won seven of 12 events and captured their third straight MHSAA Division 1 Championship in dominating fashion at Eastern Michigan University Saturday.

It is the first time a Saline team has ever won three state titles.

Saline finished with 326.5 points. Rockford was second with 233. Birmingham Brother Rice finished third with 176.

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Josh Ehrman set two records, won an event and placed second in another and was named D1 Swimmer of the Year. Adam Whitener won two events. Dave Boland won two events. And Saline relay teams won twice and placed second in the other event.

The Hornets took hold of the meet from the get-go, winning the first three events.

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In the first event, Tom Walls, Ehrman, Boland and Michael Bundas, who set a D1 record in Friday’s preliminaries, won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:33.97, .10 seconds faster than Rockford. They were .02 seconds off of Friday’s D1 record.

Whitener is the champion in the 200-yard freestyle. He and seniors James Fisher and Matt Stevens expanded Saline’s early lead in the second event. Whitener finished first in 1:39.11, to win the race by more than 1.5 seconds. Fisher placed fourth in 1:41.50. Senior Stevens also contributed to the effort by placing third in the “B” heat and 11th overall.

Boland is the state champion in the 200-yard individual medley.

On Friday, Ehrman set a new D1 record in the event as Boland took third. But Boland took 1.33 seconds off his time Saturday  and won the event in 1:49.47. Ehrman was slightly slower and took second in 1:49.91. Junior Stefan Koberl was 16th for the Hornets.

Boland won his second state championship in the 100-yard butterfly. He finished in 49.62 to repeat as champion of the event. Fisher was right behind him, taking second in 49.85. Bundas was tied for sixth in 52.27.  Tom Walls was 10th in 52.29. Saline picked up 56.5 points in the butterfly event which, by itself, would have been good enough for 15th in the state.

Whitener’s second state championship came in the 100-yard freestyle. Whitener finished the race in 45.37 and won by more than 1.5 seconds.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Ehrman set a new MHSAA all-class record, finishing the race in 55.36 seconds, a full three seconds faster than the second place swimmer. Ehrman had set the D1 record in Friday’s preliminary.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team is also a state champion.

Boland, Fisher, Ehrman and Whitener set a new MHSAA all-class record, finishing in 3:04.26, breaking the record set by Boland, Whitener, Fisher and Brad Frost last year (3:04.83). The Hornets were gunning for the national high school record but fell a bit shot. The won the race by more than four seconds.

Saline settled for second in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Rockford finished the event in 1:24.34 to set a new record. Fisher, Bundas, Stevens and Whitener were right behind them in 1:24.67—a new school record.

In diving, Sam Blair finished third with a final score of 410.60. Blair’s finish gave Saline 16 points.

Walls placed seventh in the 100-backstroke. He finished in 53.93 seconds to add 12 points to Saline’s total.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Michael Bundas held on to his 9th place finish from the prelims and earned nine more points for the Hornets. He finished in 21.61, which would have given him fifth in the state had he be swimming in the top heat.

 


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