Bucs' swimmers celebrate senior day with East Kentwood win

Kyle Turk, Grand Haven Tribune, Mich.
·2 min read

Mar. 8—GRAND HAVEN TWP. — Two months ago, you would have needed a crystal ball to see this coming.

As Grand Haven's seniors celebrated with their traditional, take-it-easy 400 freestyle relay on Saturday afternoon, their smiles replaced any worry they may have had about getting any season at all.

The Buccaneers wrapped up their dual meet season with a 173-117 home victory against East Kentwood, celebrating a senior day for a group that's dealt with plenty of highs and lows in 2021.

"They've dealt with a lot of adversity," coach Doug Thorne said. "Academically, this is a strong class, both boys and girls, that's just super. I'm proud of these guys, this year, it's nothing we've gone through and hopefully we don't have to do it again ever."

It was a day with multiple event winners and one with a celebratory nature as the real preparation for the upcoming state finals begins.

Michael and Thomas MacDonald both celebrated their final home meets with a pair of event wins. Thomas won the 100-yard backstroke by five seconds in 1 minute, 1.14 seconds and the 100 butterfly ahead of fellow senior Alec Korecki in 57.04.

Michael's 2:01.46 in the individual medley was enough for state finals qualification, and he won the 500 freestyle with a 4:56.32.

"We feel pretty good about where we're at," Thorne said. "We swam fairly well against West Ottawa on Thursday, they're No. 2 in the state for a reason."

Colin Kelly was a clear winner in the 200 freestyle with a 1:52.3, Miles Evink took home the 100 freestyle in 52.40, and Korecki barely out-touched Kelly in the breaststroke at 1:07.22.

With this year's state finals looking on course to compete at Hudsonville on March 26-27, there's a sense among seniors that nothing can be taken for granted after having last year's finals canceled due to COVID-19 precautions.

"We're going to miss this place," senior captain Sloan Freeman said. "We've had a lot of fun and memorable moments, definitely made a lot of friends. It's nice to have a day of recognition, we're all trying our best so it's good for these guys to get what they deserve."

Now, the Bucs will have the better part of three weeks to taper and prepare for their postseason.

"We're going to throw in our all here in these next practices," Freeman said. "We have a couple of big meets coming up, we'll just have to get ready for them."

You can email Kyle at kturk@grandhaventribune.com or find him on Twitter @KyleTurkGHT.