By Ailsa McCormick
Review Intern
On Saturday, Feb. 28, the Boys Swim and Dive team held the first Oakland Athletic Association (OAA) Super Meet. They placed eighth overall.
‘I think the meet went very well. We had two swimmers out sick and we probably would’ve placed higher if they had been here,? said Head Coach Paul Fairman.
At the meet, there were 19 teams. If a team wanted to score points towards their total score, they had to place in the top 16 for each event. There were 12 events total.
In event one, the 200 yard medley relay, the four boys for Lake Orion placed fifth overall.
Ben Fritsch placed eleventh overall in event three, the boys 200 yard.
In the 100 yard butterfly stroke, event six, Will Cavender placed 16th overall.
For event seven, the 100 yard freestyle, Jacob Lindquist placed 14th.
Cavender also placed 14th in event eight, the 500 yard freestyle.
‘Will is one of my best distance swimmers,? said Fairman.
Lake Orion placed ninth in event nine, the 200 yard freestyle relay with a small team consisting of Darryn Horvath, Caleb Narsh, John VanGamper, and Jacob Lindquist.
For event 10, the 100 yard backstroke, Zachary Nowicki placed ninth.
Drew Fritsch placed ninth in event 11, the 100 yard breaststroke.
In event 12, the 400 yard freestyle relay, a team consisting of Lindquist, Cavender, Horvath and Drew Fritsch.
Lake Orion had two swimmers qualify for states, Lindquist and Peter Simic who was not able to compete in the OAA meet due to illness.
Simic qualifies for the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and the 100 yard breast stroke for states. Lindquist qualifies for the 100 yard breast stroke. Chris Fraga and Justin Davis qualify for states for diving.
Lake Orion also had three relays qualify for states. In the 200 yard medley, which has all four strokes in it, the team is Nowicki, Lindquist, Cavender, and Horvath. For the 200 yard freestyle, the team is made up of Simic, Lindquist, Horvath, and VanGamper. Lindquist, Horvath, Simic, and Drew Fritsch are on the 400 yard freestyle relay.
‘Simic and Lindquist are two of the fastest swimmers on the team,? said Fairman.
States are in two weeks at Eastern Michigan University.
At states, a swimmer can swim in no more than four events. They can swim in at most two individual events but they could also swim in three relays and one individual.
To prepare for states, the team is going to figure out their relay line-ups depending upon how healthy Simic is.
‘We’re going to do more relays and then rest up the team for states,? Fairman said.
The OAA Super Meet was where divisions one, two, and three all had one big meet instead of individual divisional meets.
At a meeting last spring, all of the OAA Boys Swim and Dive coaches had started talking about having this super meet.
‘I’ve been wanting to do this for years because then winners are based on scores and it doesn’t matter what division they are in. It seemed like most coaches liked it,? said Fairman.
Overall, the boys swim and dive season has been pretty decent.
‘The last three meets have been excellent. They have come a long way since the beginning of the season and they have improved a lot,? Fairman said.