Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood won its third state title in a row and its fifth in the last 10 years with Saturday’s triumph at Eastern Michigan University.
The Cranes amassed 357 points, easing past runner-up Holland Christian (282.5) and third place East Grand Rapids for the championship, which also saw Country Day (8th place, 90 points), Notre Dame Prep (28th, nine) and Ferndale (31st, five) competing.
Junior AJ Farner was a points-getter for the Cranes in a big way at Jones Natatorium, capturing first individually in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.15, and also winning the 100 backstroke (49.54 seconds).
Senior teammate Joseph Wiater, who won the 100 breaststroke (56.57), teamed up with Farner, as well as Ethan Xu and Calvin Meeker to win the 200-yard medley relay (1:33.78). Farner, Xu, Sean Lu and Ryan VanDyke comprised the Cranes’ 400-yard free relay that also took first (3:15.79).
Xu gave the Cranes runner-up finishes in the 200 IM (1:55.79) and 100 butterfly (49.98), additionally.
Country Day junior Jack Higgins, a second-place finisher in the event last year, blazed to first place in the 50 freestyle by over two-tenths of a second with a time of 21.01. He also won the 100 freestyle, finishing with a mark of 45.95. The Yellowjackets earned 28 of their points otherwise with a fifth-place finish in the 400 free relay.
Division 1 at Holland Aquatic Center
Four Oakland County teams scattered the team top-10 team rankings and four more finished inside the top-10 at Saturday’s D1 finals at the Holland Aquatic Center, where Saline took first with 291.5 points.
Detroit Catholic Central ended in fifth with 175 points to lead the pack, followed by Milford in seventh (111), South Lyon in eighth (101) and Bloomfield Hills in ninth (95).
Top-20 finishers from the county included Troy (12th, 79 points), Rochester Adams (14th, 60), Rochester (15th, 52), and Novi (T-20, 30). Lake Orion came 22nd with 29 points, West Bloomfield finished 23rd with 16, Clarkston ended 28th with 5.5, Oxford came 29th with four points, and Walled Lake Central rounded it out with two points tied for 30th place.
Catholic Central sophomore Camren Turowski finished out a banner year by capturing first in the 50-yard freestyle with an All-American time of 20.41 seconds. He also later won the 100 free with a mark of 44.64. Turowski won both events at this year’s county finals as well.
The Shamrocks, who were also the team champions from the county meet, had a group of Turowski, Jack Szuba, Ryan Brown and Adyn Stoddard that placed second in the 200-yard free relay with a time of 1:25.49. Also, Catholic Central’s 400 free relay team picked up 30 points by finishing fourth.
Third-place finishes from the event included Bloomfield Hills’ Miles Marx in the 50 free (20.96) and South Lyon’s Tyler Cameron in the 100 backstroke (50.51).
Division 2 at Oakland University
Oakland County teams still dominated the top-five at this year’s D2 finals, even if it wasn’t a team from the county winning it Saturday at OU.
While Detroit U-D Jesuit stood atop the division this year with 305 points and Byron Center came second with 256.5 points, Oakland County teams rounded out the remainder of the top-five in Seaholm (207), followed by Farmington (149) and Stoney Creek (122).
Groves won it all last year in Ypsilanti, while Seaholm and Farmington each tied for second place.
Farmington came runner-up and Stoney finished fourth at the county meet in Lake Orion just over a month ago.
The Falcons from Birmingham came just outside the top-five this year, taking sixth place with 121 points. Additionally, Brother Rice placed 11th with 92 points.
The Maples’ quartet of Elliot Rijnovean, Finn Murray, Emmett Knudsen and Quinn O’Neill racked up 40 points by winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:30.09, not only an All-American time but a D2 meet record.
And that would be just the start of Rijnovean’s big day.
Seaholm got more points from Rijnovean when he won the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.85, repeating as a state champion in the event and beating his time from last year, too. He also went on to win the 100 backstroke, as he did at the county championships, with a meet record time of 47.10 seconds, which also broke the divisional record for the event.
Rijnovean was also part of the 400 freestyle relay team that finished second for Seaholm. Stoney Creek (fourth), Groves (fifth) and Brother Rice (eighth) all made the championship final for the 400 free relay as well.
It was also a big day for Stoney Creek’s Will Cicco, another standout from the county meet. The Cougars’ senior, who recently became best in the county for the third year in a row in the 200 free, took first Saturday with an All-American time of 1:37.36.
In another event he won at the county meet, Cicco also posted an All-American time when he won the 500 free by over eight seconds with a mark of 4:28.36. O’Neill, the sophomore from Seaholm, came second behind Cicco with a time of 4:36.38.
Nathan Stebbins was the runner-up to Cubs senior Evan Tack in the 200 IM, with the Groves junior finishing with a time of 1:52.62. Teammate Ian Whan provided the Falcons with 16 points when he took third in the 100 free with a time of 46.08.
Farmington parlayed its excellent prelim time into points when its team of Luke Morden, Joshua Luo, Paul DeMartini and Jack Tomlinson were winners in the 200-yard free relay with a time of 1:24.61, worthy of All-American consideration.
