The Clarkston swimmers were hoping to see how many Wolves they could get into medal contention heading into the Oakland Activities Association Division II meet at Lake Orion this past weekend.
The Wolves finished well in several events and parlayed their overall team score of 233 points into a tie with their hosts for fifth place. Farmington Hills Harrison (343), North Farmington (322), Berkley (310) and Troy Athens (239) finished in the top four spots Saturday.
‘We did better than we have all season, because we kept improving and that showed in the league meet,? Coach Kenwyn Chock said.
‘We made improvements, that’s all we can ask for.?
The 200-yard medley relay team of Jacob Rush, Robert Nelson, Phil Voorheis and Adam Curry finished in second place at 1:46.77.
Chock said the group dropped four seconds off its season average to reach that finish.
‘That was a big highlight because we didn’t expect that at all,? she said.
Greg Dedow placed fifth (1:52.51) in the 200-yard freestyle.
Nelson was fifth (2:07.86) and Voorheis came in ninth place (2:09.61) in the 200-yard individual medley.
Adam Curry (23.98) was seventh in the 50-yard freestyle and Wogtek Gryc finished 15th at 25.20.
Divers Jordan Zendejas (269.20) and Ryan Welch (258.15) gave the Wolves a strong showing, finishing fifth and eighth.
‘They’ve both struggled this season. For both of them to medal was fantastic,? Chock said.
Voorheis shaved more than a half second off his qualifying time in the 100-yard butterfly to finish at 57.86, a third-place finish. Eric Leady (1:03.87) took 15th.
Curry (54.18) finished 16th in the 100-yard freestyle.
Dedow (5:00.99) missed the qualifying time for the state meet by only three seconds, but still took fifth place in the 500-yard freestyle.
The Wolves? 200-yard freestyle relay team of Curry, Gryc, Tony Perrino and Dedow (1:36.78) finished in fifth-place.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Rush missed the state cut by nearly one second. His 58.73 finish was good enough for third place. Leady was 14th at 1:04.50.
Nelson was second in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing at 1:06.08.
To qualify for the event last week, Nelson broke his older brother Mike’s team record set in 2005 with a 1:05.28. Nelson realized an early-season goal of setting a team record in the 200-yard individual medley in January, breaking Dan Reed’s four-year-old mark at 2:08.39.
Nelson needed to regroup after the final dual meet of the season where Lake Orion finished first and second ahead of him, Chock said.
‘It was a matter of him getting the confidence back,? she said.
In the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Clarkston took seventh at 3:33.48 with Voorheis, Dedow, Rush and Nelson at the helm.
In all, Clarkston had four team bests in all at the preliminaries. Greg Dedow (5:00.02) set the mark in the 500-yard freestyle and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:30.76) team set the bar higher.
Nelson (2:07.76) also made a record in the 200-yard individual medley.
The team’s performance at the OAA meet should be a motivator going into next season, Chock said.
‘We’ll definitely have some state swimmers.?