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Varsity Swimmers #1 in Section C |
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 10 March 2006 |
Lansing swimmers completed an undefeated season, sending to of their team mates to the State championship meet. Sophomore Jake Sangren and Junio Hans Roser clocked qualifying times during the season that sent them to the State meet in Buffalo last weekend (3/3-3/4). "Hans hit his breast stroke time pretty early on, then he hit his 200 Individual Medley (IM) time at the Sectional meet," says Varsity coach Reed Dewey. "Jake hit his time during the season. He was 2/100ths off the school record."
The varsity team was undefeated in the dual meets, won the IAC championship, and the Sectional championship. They also won the IAC diving championship, winning every meet it was possible to win. "They had a great season and have a fantastic team history," says Dewey. "The best in school history, in fact."
Sangren ended the State meet in 40th place in his backstroke event. He was the number one C school swimmer in the state.
Roser finished 17th in the IM and 4th in the 100 Breast. He was the number one C school swimmer in each event and set school records in both. His time in the breast stroke event is an All-American Consideration time. The IM includes 50 of each of the competitive strokes, including butterfly, back stroke, breast stroke, and freestyle.
Both boys qualified prior to the Sectional State Qualifier meet, allowed in a rules change this year. In the past swimmers qualified in a special meet, but now they can make a qualifying score at any time during the season. "That's really nice," says Dewy, "because a lot of kids get up for that big meet and it's nerve wracking for them, because they know they have to hit that time that day. They could be sick that day, a hundred things could go wrong that destroys their chance of going to State, which it really shouldn't do."
Dewey is assisted by assistant coach Brian Vaughan and varsity diving coach Nancie Tengi. He says the older boys help coach the younger swimmers, helping to bond the team and make it more cohesive. He says the boys have come farther than the championship girls varsity team, because about half of the girl swimmers have gained their skills swimming on the Lansing LCats club team. " A lot of these guys start in 7th, 8th, 9th grade having no experience swimming, and certainly no experience in competitive swimming. So it's a new adventure for those guys," Dewey says. Sangren is the only varsity boy that came up from the club team.
Members of the LCats came to Buffalo to cheer the Lansing boys and lend moral support. The LCats are also a winning team, recently finished the main part of their current season with a championship title. Dewey assists head coach Bob Terry to coach the 100 swimmers on the team. The club team has another month or so of tournaments.
Dewey is clearly proud of the whole varsity team and the two boys who went to State. "High school is a great team experience," he says. "I think our team is great."
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