After a hard won third place at GAC’s, the boys swim team had four swimmers and one diver achieve state qualifying times and scores respectively. Now, after competing Nov. 12 and 13 at the St. Peters Rec Plex, they are happy with the results.
Ryan Baker achieved state times in the 200 I.M., 100 fly, 200 free, and 500 free throughout the season and finished strong with a first place in the 500 free and another first in the 200 I.M. at conference.
“Even though it wasn’t a club meet I still went my best times because I wanted to win and there were a lot of other fast club swimmers. I knew to win I’d have to drop time and really push myself,” Baker said.
At state Baker made it into finals in the 500 free and got tenth place and got 22nd in the 200 individual medley (i.m.).
Michael Bauer achieved a state qualifying score early in the season and went on to take first at GAC’s in diving.
“It took a lot of hard work both in and out of the pool. I would look over the dive sheet the night before and just visualize my dives and listen to music to try and get in the zone,” Bauer said.
In making his state cut Bauer also broke the school diving record.
“I was definitely excited”, Bauer said. “I’m the first guy diver to go to state for Howell. It’s a big achievement for me.”
At State, Bauer placed 31st and made it to the fifth round out of 11.
Finally, at conference the 4×100 freestyle relay consisting of Alex Crawford, Ryan Baker, Andrew Odle, and Josh Hempen, went on to drop 9 seconds, move up to third place, and achieve a state time.
“We changed the relay order at the last second and it did a lot for us. We dropped a lot of time and moved up to third. It was awesome,” Crawford said.
At state, the boys dropped 4 seconds and moved up 10 places to place 25th.
“It was a huge achievement,” Crawford said. “We went in hoping to drop time but it was still huge to move up so much and beat out other teams.”
After a season full of success the boys swim team was happy to make it to state.