SWIM & DIVE: Saline Takes 2nd in State Meet, Sets Standard for Sportsmanship

On “senior night,” Saline boys’ swim and dive coach Todd Brunty remarked that his team's senior members always represent Saline incredibly well.

It was on full display Saturday, at the conclusion of the two-day MHSAA Division 1 swim and dive championship at Oakland University. The Saline boys entered day two of the meet needing a stellar effort to catch Pioneer for the state championship. Despite great performances all around, that state championship effort never materialized. Instead, the Hornets barely held off a talented Detroit Catholic Central team.

When the public address announcer called the Hornets to the podium for a picture with the trophy for their second-place finish, they took a detour. They walked over to the team from DCC and shook their hands.

Saline then went up to the podium to collect their trophy.

The Hornets finished with 245 points - 30 behind Pioneer and 1.5 ahead of Detroit Catholic Central.

The Hornets opened the day with a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Ethan Bull, Issac Adanin, Diego Valdes and Nick Twigg bettered their preliminary round time to finish in 1:33.82.

Senior Deniz Ozil was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle. He bettered his time by 0.11 seconds to finish in 1:40.49.

Adanin, a freshman, was one of the biggest surprises of the day in the 200 IM. He lopped nearly a full second off his time to finish in 1:52.48 and take second. Junior Diego Valdes finished fourth in 1:53.56.

Josiah Bentley was second in the consolation final heat of the 50-yard freestyle. He finished in 21.45, which is 10th overall and .05 seconds slower than Friday’s time.

In diving, freshman Carter Mitton placed 14th with a score of 325.85.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Diego Valdes dropped .34 seconds off his preliminary time and took second place. Nick Twigg was sixth in 52.33. Ethan Bull was 11th in 52.94.

Ozil also finished fourth in the 100-yard freestyle, completing the race in 46.22 seconds - .21 seconds faster than his preliminary time. Bentley was 16th in 48.41 seconds.

Bentley, Ozil, Valdes and Twigg took second place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:25.84.

Ethan Bull finished seventh in the 100-yard backstroke (52.73). Nick Twigg was 14th (54.15).

Adanin was fourth in the 100-yard breast (58.16) while Connor Lauritzen was seventh (58.52).

The Hornets capped the day by taking fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Ozil, Bentley, Nethanyel Sarment and Adanin finished the race in 3:10.41.

Brunty and the team obviously wanted that state championship trophy.

“You know, the idea is that we bring out the best in each other. Competition does that. So I respect their coaches and athletes a lot and I hope they respect us, too,” Brunty said. “This was a fun season. We had a lot of guys come here and have great performances. We gave it everything we had out there.”

It was the final meet for Ethan Bull, Alex Fruth, Drew Miller, Deniz Ozil, and Nick Twigg. The Hornets have considerable talent returning and should be in the hunt for trophy next season.

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