Highlighted by senior captain Reed Dixon’s dominant first-place worthy time in the 200-yard IM, 2:10.56, and junior Sam Grant’s second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, 24.59, the Rangers were in good position heading into the diving break. Unfortunately, they lost their first dual meet against Jenison with a close score of 98-87.
In the first event of the meet, the 200-yard medley relay, the A team comprised Dixon, Grant, junior Logan Tiggleman, and junior Nolan Breckon placed first with a time of 1:44.80, which earned them a state cut.
The B team: senior Dylan Pomeroy, freshman Cayden Langschied, senior Jaden Doyel, and sophomore Christian Afman took third, with a time of 1:59.91, helping the Rangers claim their first event of the meet.
FHC would then place second in the 200-yard freestyle (sophomore Lucas Witham) and first and third in the 200-yard IM (Dixon and Tiggleman).
Head coach Dennis Neat was not at all surprised by the results of these events. Instead, he was anticipating them.
“Those who were expected to place first, second, or third did their jobs tonight,” Neat said. “And now we’re off and running [for the rest of the season].”
When the diving break came around halfway through the meet, attention shifted from the pool to the boards.
Last season, the Rangers had no divers competing at meets. This year, however, they have freshman Ben Grant and senior Jackson Savin. With Savin having joined the team a couple of weeks into the season.
While the Rangers couldn’t come away with a win in the diving portion of the meet—Grant took third with a 140.4, and Savin placed fifth with a 75.00—head diving coach Joe Mish was pleased with both his divers’ results.
Mish had previously coached Grant in middle school and was proud of Grant’s third-place-worthy performance in his first meet.
“Ben’s a freshman, so he’s getting back into the swing of things from middle school,” Mish said. “He’s got a lot to work on with fundamentals and form, but today he did really well. He had the best 1½ he’s had ever, so I’m super stoked about that.”
For Savin, it was different. While it was also his first meet, Mish had never coached him before. Savin is new to the sport, having only joined a couple of days ago, but Mish was very proud of his performance.
“Jackson, this was his fifth day. He’s only had four practices before this meet, so just being in this meet alone is a very big achievement for him,” Mish said. “In the meet itself, he did pretty well, considering he’s only had four practices. I think he’s in a really good spot right now, looking ahead to the rest of the season. I think that while today we might not have gotten the outcome we wanted on some of the dives, overall, with it being the first meet and early in the season, we’re in a good spot.”
When diving concluded, the Rangers picked up right where they left off.
They claimed the victory in both the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly after Breckon’s (1st) and Doyel’s (3rd) efforts in fly and Witham’s (1st) and Grant’s (3rd) efforts in free.
Unfortunately, the 100-yard freestyle was the last event FHC would claim as a win. They got outscored in the 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, and 100-yard breaststroke.
When the 400-yard freestyle relay came around, the Rangers were able to put up one last effort. While it was becoming obvious they could not win the meet, the A relay team was able to get one last win.
At the beginning of the race, the team, which was comprised of Dixon, Pomeroy, Breckon, and Witham, fell behind Jenison’s top relay team. However, when Witham dove into the water, FHC was able to catch back up and overcome the Wildcats.
“I felt like the whole meet was on me because it was the last event,” Witham said. “I had to show up for the team and come back and win it.”
Apart from the meet itself, one of the key takeaways was that FHC had many new additions to the team between freshmen and newcomers.
Even though it was senior Hayden Bolter’s first dual meet ever, it didn’t seem to phase him. While he didn’t do as well as he wanted, he was still pleased with his meet as a whole.
“I think it was alright. I definitely did better at the other meet, but I’ve never done the 100 free, so that was cool,“ Bolter said. “I feel like I’m definitely getting better with form, which is good, and my flip turns. It’s just gonna take more work to get to where I want to be. ”
While the Rangers unfortunately did end up losing the meet, the score was very close. Ultimately, FHC only lost to Jenison by 11 points.
Neat had high remarks for his team for their efforts and is positive about the outlook for the rest of the season.
“I thought it (the meet) went well,” Neat said. “We got some really strong performances out of everyone, and I’m very excited about what the possibilities are for the rest of this season.“
