Brandon swimmers hit home stretch of season

Brandon’s varsity boys swimming team ran into a buzzsaw Feb. 9.
Flint Powers came into town and dominated the meet with the Blackhawks, winning 111-72. Brandon’s dual meet record is now 7-3.
Powers won eight of 12 events on their way to winning the meet, including the first three events. Powers took a 34-12 lead after the third event, the 200 yard individual medley.
Josh Collier and Tyler Cole helped the Blackhawks inch their way back into the meet by taking first and second in the 50 yard freestyle. Collier took first with a time of 25.63, while Cole clocked in at 26.08.
The Blackhawks then swept the first three places in the diving competition to trim the Powers lead to 40-35. Zach Cotton was first with a total score of 164, while David Donnay had 125 points and Zach Davis 105.
However, Powers began pulling away in the 100 yard butterfly, winning three of the first four places to increase their lead to 51-40. Brad MacIntyre broke Powers? dominance in that event by finishing second with a time of 1:08.12.
Powers continued their hot streak by taking the first two places in the 100 yard freestyle and the 500 yard freestyle, thus furthering their grip on the lead. The Blackhawks pulled off a second-place finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay, as the team of MacIntyre, Clayton Carpenter, Cole and Collier finished in 1:42.11.
Although they were not able to overtake the Chargers, Brandon achieved a measure of respect by winning the next two events, the 100 yard backstroke and the 100 yard breaststroke. Tyler Walls won the backstroke in 1:05.11, while Tyson Delandsheer won the breaststroke in 1:09.32.
The Blackhawks closed out the meet with a second-place finish in the 400 yard freestyle, as the team of Cole, Carpenter, Collier and MacIntyre clocked in at 4:00.48.
Brandon has one more dual meet scheduled for the season, Feb. 21 at Milford, then compete in the Flint Metro League meet Feb. 24-25.