By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
OTSEGO—For the second year in a row, the Otsego boys swim & dive team claimed the Southwestern and Central Michigan Conference championship.
Not that it was easy.
The Bulldogs, who finished in three-way tie for first place with Plainwell and Marshall during the league’s regular season, edged out the archrival Trojans by a margin of 462.5-450.5.
Marshall was third in the Saturday, Feb. 24, event with 417 points. Harper Creek (229), Sturgis (210), South Haven (191), Hastings (130) and Allegan (105) followed.
It was a tense day for Otsego coach Darryl Belton, whose team hosted the meet at its new aquatic center.
“I think more than anything this proves how resilient this team is,” Belton said. “Nothing this year came easy for them. We didn’t have pool time for the first week—the inspections on the new pool weren’t complete and the old pool was booked—we lost a bunch of guys at random times this year due to sickness and we made things a little tough on ourselves at times.
“But all of the kids were great for us. And it’s a good thing they were, because we needed every point. This was a championship won by the entire team and that’s what makes me the happiest. We needed everyone and everyone came through.”
Otsego ended up winning seven of the 12 events, including multiple wins by Liam Smith and Nico Hertz.
Smith won the 100-yard butterfly (49.12) and the 100 breaststroke (1:00.82), while Hertz won the 200 IM (2:05.1) and the 100 backstroke (54.95).
That duo was also part of two winning relay teams. They teamed with Bryce Meyer and Blake Guerrant to win the 200 medley relay (1:42.09) and joined forces with Meyer and Willsun Fuller to win the 400 free relay (3:22.44).
Caleb Wesseldyk accounted for Otsego’s other event victory, as he held off Plainwell’s Brandon Courtney to win diving by a 369.85-362 margin.
“It was great to win the seven events, but it was our depth that really won this for us,” Belton said.
That depth was on full display in the 200 free, as Meyer placed second (1:49.05), Dillon Campbell was seventh (2:02.31) and Hunter Sunnerville was ninth (2:06.62.
“Our 200 kids took over—Hunter in particular—and I think our team fed off those swims,” Belton said.
Plainwell, meanwhile, put four swimmers in the final of 500 free.
Sam Harper won the event for the Trojans at 4:45.36, followed by Austin Susens (third at 5:26.39), Henry Cox (fourth at 5:28.0) and Joseph Hoffman (sixth at 5:35.05).
“It was really awesome to get four swimmers in the top eight of the 500 free,” Plainwell coach Andrea Murphy said.
In addition to his win the 500, Harper won the 200 free at 1:45.17. He was also part of the winning 200 free relay team (1:34.77) alongside Davis Nooney, Grady Nugent and Alex Steele.
“It was a great meet,” Murphy said. “Darryl’s a great coach and we knew it was going to be challenging, but we swam out of our minds and just came up short. I honestly couldn’t ask the boys to do any more. They really gave it their all, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Allegan’s best showings came from Oliver Burnett in the 200 free (third at 1:57.29) and Ezra Smith in the 100 breaststroke (fourth at 1:07.45).