AB v DLS

Macomb Daily photo by David S. Angell

Aaron Shields swam to a pair of first-place finishes in individual events to help Anchor Bay defeat De La Salle. Shields won the 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly.

High School Swimming

‘Smart’ Tars trip up DLS

Anchor Bay program continues growth

By Chuck Klonke Special to The Macomb Daily

It’s one thing to swim, and it’s another to swim with a purpose.
Anchor Bay’s swimming team has taken that next step this year, and the Tars’ learning curve appears to be heading straight up.
“Their maturity has improved a lot,” Anchor Bay coach Steve Leopardi said after his team’s 116-70 non-league victory against De La Salle on Thursday. “Now they’re thinking about what they’re supposed to do instead of just swimming. There’s a difference between swimming and swimming smart.
“When we meet tomorrow we’ll talk about our splits and what we might have done different. It’s the same with our divers. Last year after their dives they didn’t know what they did. Now if they make a mistake, they know what they did even before I tell them. As long as they understand where they can improve, it will make them a better swimmer or diver.”
The Tars, who lead the Macomb Area Conference White Division with a 2-0 record, are 5-2 overall.
It was the first time Anchor Bay has beaten the Pilots, but Leopardi realizes that this wasn’t the same De La Salle team he has faced previously.
“He (Pilots coach Joe Michol) lost a lot of people,” Leopardi said. “It’s good that my kids swam well but I know that’s not the team (De La Salle) usually has.”
This was the third straight defeat for De La Salle. The Pilots also dropped dual meets to Dakota and Ford, and they have a date with perennial state power Birmingham Andover next Tuesday.
“We’re struggling,” Michol said. “We’re trying to keep the morale up by letting them know that if they keep working the success will come. Ford and Anchor Bay have improved from last year. We beat (the Tars) by as much as they beat us today. They’ve worked hard, they’ve come a long way and they deserved this.
“We’re hurting now with injuries and some ineligible swimmers. We haven’t had our whole team all year, and our schedule is loaded. We swim all the top teams in the county, the Catholic League and on Tuesday we have Andover. Our goal is to get kids to the state meet and unless you challenge them every meet and work hard every day, you aren’t going to get there.”
Anchor Bay won nine of the 12 events with Aaron Shields and Nick Victor each winning two individual races.
Shields edged De La Salle’s Mack Biggert in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.17. The Tars took three of the top four places in the 50, with Ben McVay and Brad Scott also posting times that will qualify them for the Macomb County meet next weekend.
Shields’ other first came in the 100 butterfly and Anchor Bay also took three of the top four places in that race. Shields cruised to the victory with a time of 57.05.
Victor was a runaway winner in the 200 individual medley, posting a time of 2:11.98. He also led a 1-2-3 finish for Anchor Bay in the 100 breaststroke. Teammates Matt Wojciechowski and Jon Ptashnik took the next two places.
McVay won the 100 freestyle in 53.78 and Nick Wise took first in the 500 freestyle in 5:40.07.
Anchor Bay won all three relays.
“We had a lot of best times,” Leopardi said. “As a coach when they touch and look up and see a best time -- that’s what makes it all worthwhile. I was pleased with a lot of our swims and with our divers. One of our new swimmers, Blake Baumgart, swam the 500 for the first time. He was really nervous but he did a good job.”
De La Salle’s Kieran Scott (2:01.10) and Joe Chodkiewicz took 1-2 in the 200 freestyle. The Pilots also got a first from Biggert in the 100 backstroke. He nipped Anchor Bay’s Andrew Leopardi in one of the closest races of the meet. Biggert’s winning time was 1:01.70, while Leopardi touched in 1:02.26.
Jon Lorenz posted De La Salle’s other first with a score of 161.10 points in diving.
“Some of my younger
swimmers swam well, we had a
couple of kids qualify for the
county meet and our relays
swam well with young kids,” Michol said.
Anchor Bay 116, De La Salle 70
200 MEDLEY RELAY: Anchor Bay (Andrew Leopardi, Matt Wojciechowski, Nick Victor, Brad Scott), 1:50.11. 200 FREESTYLE: Kieran Scott, DLS, 2:01.10. 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: Nick Victor, AB, 2:11.98. 50 FREESTYLE: Aaron Shields, AB, 23.17. DIVING: Jon Lorenz, DLS, 161.10 points. 100 BUTTERFLY: Aaron Shields, AB, 57.05. 100 FREESTYLE: Ben McVay, AB, 53.78. 500 FREESTYLE: Nick Wise, AB, 5:40.07. 200 FREESTYLE RELAY: Anchor Bay (Nick Victor, Jon Ptashnik, Ben McVay, Aaron Shields), 1:37.40. 100 BACKSTROKE: Mack Biggert, DLS, 1:01.70. 100 BREASTSTROKE: Nick Victor, AB, 1:07.78. 400 FREESTYLE RELAY: Anchor Bay (Brad Scott, Ben McVay, Andrew Leopardi, Aaron Shields), 3:41.17.
Anchor Bay swimmers who earned MISCA cuts were: Nick Victor in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke; Aaron Shields in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly; Matt Wojciechowski in the 100 breaststroke; as well as the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay teams.
De La Salle’s Mack Biggert qualified for the MISCA meet in the 50 freestyle.