The men’s swim and dive team ended their season as fourth in the SEC.

Their last meet took place this Friday and Saturday. In order to compete for the SEC championship on Saturday, swimmers had to place in the top 18 in their event on Friday as a preliminary. After a great day on Friday, every Bulldog had at least one race on Saturday.

The meet ended with teams placing as follows: Pinckney, Dexter, Jackson, Chelsea, Lincoln, Adrian, Tecumseh, Ypsilanti. The Bulldogs lost to Jackson by less than 10 points and were ahead until the last few events. Despite this, the Bulldogs still had a lot of great performances this weekend.

Some all SEC performances from the Bulldogs were Zach Dosey (‘20), Niko Fannin (‘20), Stephen Levine (‘23), and co-team captain Jaron Iannelli (‘20) placing 5th in 200 medley relay, Zander Hartsuff (‘20) taking 4th in 200 freestyle and 3rd in the 100 freestyle, Landen Collins (‘22) winning SEC champ in the 100 freestyle and taking 2nd in 50 freestyle, Parker Olk (‘22) getting 5th in 200 IM, and Zander, Parker, co-team captain Deaglan Krause (‘20), and Landon taking 2nd place 200 freestyle relay and 3rd in 400 freestyle relay.

Hartstuff, Collins, Olk and Klause made state cuts this weekend and are going to be swimming their events March 13th and 14th at Oakland University against the best division 3 competition in the state.

The 100 and 400 freestyle relays had qualified for the state meet before this weekend, but the individuals made it on their last chance just this weekend. On Friday, Collins hit his state cuts for the 50 and 100 freestyle and Hartsuff hit his cut for the 200 freestyle. Saturday Olk broke the time for the 200 IM. 

With hours of practice—sometimes both before and after school—and 18 different meets where the boys got to showcase their skills this season, all the swimmers improved in one way or another. Bram Hartstuff (‘23) was no exception. He explained that improving is what makes all the time and hard work it takes to be a swimmer worth it.

“My first year of high school swimming has been enjoyable to me due to the fact that my times have all dropped by at least a couple seconds in each event,” he said. “I have become a little more committed, and my times have been proof that hard work pays off.”

Swimming, hard work, and having fun go hand-in-hand for those on the team. Hartsuff said that spending time with his teammates and improving and competing as a team are his favorite parts about swimming.

“My favorite thing about swimming is the closeness of the team and also that almost everyone, no matter his speed, has to work hard in order to get better,” Hartsuff said. “Even those who are the slowest on the team still get good opportunities to compete.”

Swimming is the kind of sport where every team cheers for every other team. It is very competitive, but the atmosphere is still light and fun. Before the preliminaries started on Friday, when all the teams were lining up around the edge of the pool minutes before the national anthem, one team started a wave that got all the swimmers loosened up before a long day of competing. Dominik Green (‘20), whose last swim meet ever was last Saturday, said that he will miss this sport and the people he does it with.

“I am going to miss my teammates so much next year,” he said. “The boys are my favorite part about swimming because they make the experience fun. Being a part of the swim team is something that you don’t forget. I am thankful to have been a part of it for 3 years.”