Macomb Daily Senior of the Meet

High School Swimming Laurain likes the pay off Romeo senior is meet's top swimmer By John Hetzler Macomb Daily Sports Writer Romeo senior Tyler Laurain never misses a practice, never shows up late and never needs reminding of what it takes to be a champion. On Saturday, four years of hard work paid off as he earned outstanding senior swimmer of the meet at the Macomb County Swimming and Diving Championships at L'Anse Creuse North. "It feels good," said Laurain, who won the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke as well as helping the Bulldogs to meet record-setting victories in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. "It's horrible getting up at 5:20 in the morning," Laurain said. "But it's the rewards like this that make up for it." Laurain serves as a captain on Romeo along with fellow seniors Mike Glinski and Devon Compeau, and together they led the Bulldogs to their second straight county championship and their ninth since 1998. "He doesn't miss a practice," Romeo coach Kendall Peake said of Laurain. "He's on time every day. He's a great leader. … He's just there every day, every morning, every night." Laurain's day started strong as he teamed with Glinski, Compeau and senior Max Hensel to win the day's opening event, the 200 medley relay, with a meetrecord time of one minute and 40.79 seconds. After falling just short of the record at last year's meet, Laurain said the Bulldogs went into Saturday's race aiming for a piece of county history. He got that and then reached another goal when he swam a state-qualifying time in winning the 50 freestyle. He entered the meet already having qualified in the 100 backstroke. "That means everything," Laurain said. "I wanted to swim in two individual events (at states), and now I got it." Laurain posted a time of 22.62 seconds to edge De La Salle sophomore Mack Biggert by .06 seconds. "I just realized this is my last chance to prove myself at county," Laurain said. "I thought my start went really well, and my flip turn went really well." After helping Romeo set another meet record in the 200 free relay — Laurain swam a leadoff leg of 22.98 seconds as the Bulldogs finished first in 1:32.27 — he capped his day with a triumph in the backstroke. His time of 55.91 seconds in the backstroke set a new Romeo varsity record. "I didn't realize I had the record because I thought I went slower than I usually do," Laurain said. "My legs didn't die out on me. The last 25 I still had a kick left."

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