Cousino v Lamphere 02 10 09

Swimming Cousino picks up first victory Umbarger, Kennedy each won four events for the Patriots By Jason Schmitt Special to The Macomb Daily Something had to give. No two teams can finish a league season winless. On Tuesday night Cousino made sure that didn't happen. Scott Umbarger and Pat Kennedy each won four events to lead the Patriots to their first win in MAC Gold action, a 111-75 victory over Lamphere. "It's nice to get another win and finish off the season on a strong note," Cousino coach Scott MacDonald said. "The guys feel good finally. Our spirits can come up a bit. Now everybody can practice happy again." MacDonald's top two swimmers teamed up with John Bechtel and Alex Sedik to win the 200 medley relay, the night's first event. The Patriots then won four of the next six events to take control of the meet. Umbarger won both the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly events during that stretch. Kennedy picked up both of his individual wins as well, winning the 50 and 100 freestyles. He edged out Lamphere's Sean Komrska in the 50 freestyle, winning by just 12 onehundredths of a second. The Rams did not give up, however. Coach Steve Kirschke's team bounced back to win three straight events to chip away at the Cousino lead. Christian Calverley, who had earlier won the 200 freestyle, came back to take the 500 free in a time of 5:20.91, narrowly missing his state cut by less than a second. Lamphere's 200 freestyle relay followed that up with a victory of its own. Calverley, still dripping wet, anchored that winning team. His teammates were Kyle Lyon, Ashton Lyon and Komrska. Their winning time was 1:43.43. The Rams third straight win turned out to be the performance of the night. Senior Matt Mandarino won the backstroke in a state-qualifying time of 1:00.21. "Right after I saw the time I was ecstatic," Mandarino said. "I heard everybody in the crowd screaming and yelling. That's been a goal of mine since I was a sophomore. "Afterwards I was thinking 'I have to work my butt off for the next four weeks to go to the state meet.' But it's worth it." Despite the run, however, Lamphere just didn't have the depth to catch the Patriots, who capped off the meet with wins in the 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay. Bechtel took first in the breaststroke, winning in a time of 1:16.98. Kennedy, Tyler Debinski, Sedik and Umbarger won the relay in 3:47.57. "They're a good team. They have more depth than we do," Kirschke said after the meet. "We swim a lot of first-year swimmers. And I'm proud of the way they've been swimming for us." Lamphere's other win was in the diving competition. Junior Chris Ervasti crushed the field, scoring a 277.65 for his six dives. Ervasti won the Oakland County championship Saturday in Royal Oak. With the win, Cousino improves to 1-4 in the league and 2-6-1 overall. "The kids are swimming their hearts out in practice and our team continues to have best times," MacDonald said. "We're getting there." Lamphere finishes up 0-5 in the Gold and 2-9 overall. The team will compete at the MAC meet next weekend and perhaps at a last-chance meet. Kirschke believes Mandarino will have company at the state meet come early March. "I do believe that Kyle (Lyon) and Christian (Calverley) will make states," the coach said. "It's been our goal since the beginning of the season, for those guys to make states." NON-LEAGUE Cousino 111, Lamphere 75 200 MEDLEY RELAY: Cousino (Pat Kennedy, John Bechtel, Scott Umbarger, Alex Sedik) 1:58.04. 200 FREESTYLE: Christian Calverley, L, 1:56.66. 200 IM: Umbarger, C, 2:21.14. 50 FREESTYLE: Kennedy, C, 23.79. DIVING: Chris Ervasti, L, 277.65. 100 BUTTERFLY: Umbarger, C, 1:03.14. 100 FREESTYLE: Kennedy, C, 53.35. 500 FREESTYLE: Calverley, L, 5:20..91. 200 FREESTYLE RELAY: Lamphere (Kyle Lyon, Ashton Lyon, Sean Komrska, Calverley) 1:43.43. 100 BACKSTROKE: Matt Mandarino, L, 1:00.21. 100 BREASTSTROKE: Bechtel, C, 1:17.18. 400 FREESTYLE RELAY: Cousino (Kennedy, Tyler Debinski, Sedik, Umbarger) 3:47.57. (Cousino improves to 1-4 in the MAC Gold, 2-6-1 overall. Lamphere falls to 0-5, 2-9). Macomb Daily staff photo by Ray J. Skowronek Cousino's Scott Umbarger competes in the 200 medley relay.

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