On Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, on the deck of Hill Pool at Pioneer High School, all that could be heard was the roaring that came from some of the fastest high school swimmers in the state as they cheered before day two, the final day of their conference meet. Seconds later, it was silent and the men’s swim & dive teams from Pioneer, Monroe, Bedford, Huron, Saline and Skyline had gathered around the pool and the National Anthem played.

It was not silent for long, though, minutes later, the fastest heat of 200 medley relays walked up to the blocks. The A Relay team from Pioneer; Martin Deegan, Dylan Bao, Joe Riggs and Jason Orringer-Hau won the event with a 1:34.89, shaving almost two seconds off of their time from prelims the day before and breaking the SEC record set by the 2015 Pioneer A Relay Team. Close behind them was A Relay team from Saline; Jared Ehrman, Matt Lau, Daniel Keith and Ryan Klemptner, who hit the wall 0.21 seconds after them. The A Relay team from Skyline; Michael MacGillivray, Joseph Costello, Wilson Noll and James Rozsypal, placed third overall, just a second behind Saline.

In the 200 freestyle, Skyline senior Ryan Vander Meulen placed first, finishing with a 1:38.83, setting a new SEC record, with a time just less than half a second faster than the previous one, set by Kai Williams from Pioneer in 2015.

Swimmers from Ann Arbor dominated the 50 freestyle, taking up the first five places. Ji Ho Hyun from Huron won the event in 21.20 seconds, placing second was Riggs from Pioneer, third was Rozsypal from Skyline, fourth was J. Orringer-Hau from Pioneer and fifth was Adam Moskus from Huron. The 100 freestyle, too, was an impressive event for Ann Arbor teams, occupying all of the first seven places. Vander Meulen from Skyline placed first with a time of 45.92, finishing behind him were Hyun from Huron, Andrew Heise from Pioneer, Rozsypal from Skyline, Martin Deegan from Pioneer, J. Orringer-Hau from Pioneer and Moskus from Huron.

Cameron Craig from Monroe won the 100 butterfly in 47.53 seconds, beating the SEC record that he had set the day before in prelims of 48.05, in second place was Riggs from Pioneer in 51.30 seconds. Finishing behind him were Noll from Skyline, Brown from Saline, Adam Orringer-Hau from Pioneer and Bollin Li from Pioneer, all finishing within a half second from each other.

Saline showed off in the 500 freestyle, taking up half of the top eight places. Senior and captain from Saline, Jacob Ehrman won with a time of 4:40.48, just under two seconds away from the SEC record set by his brother, Josh Ehrman in 2013. Just after him finished David Cleason from Skyline, Cole Ellsworth from Bedford, Daniel Zacks from Pioneer, Samuel Jyawook from Skyline, followed by three consecutive swimmers from Saline; Spencer Rohloff, Josh Crews and Matt Filsinger. Josh Crews from Saline High school was hoping for a state cut in the 500 freestyle, “My coach came up to me and talked to me before, and he told me that I need to calm down and relax.” Crew said, knowing that being relaxed would help him while he swam his event.

As the fastest heat of 200 freestyle relays approached the blocks, the cheering from the stands intensified and only got louder as the race went on. The A Relay from Pioneer; Heise, J. Orringer-Hau, Riggs and Noah Frassrand won with a 1:26.00, followed by the A Relay from Skyline; Aaron Crane, Costello, Noll and Vander Meulen and the A Relay from Saline; Lau, Klemptner, Matt Brown and Jacob Ehrman.

Costello, a Skyline senior, won the 100 breast in 58.36 seconds. In second place finished Lau from Saline, followed by Bao from Pioneer, Matt McCormack from Pioneer, Wesley Chen from Skyline, Kareem El-Tawil from Skyline and Jeremy Adams from Pioneer. All top seven swimmers finished the event with state cuts.

Despite it being the last event of the meet, none of the swimmers appeared tired from the start to the finish of the 400 freestyle relay. The A Relay from Skyline; Rozsypal, Cleason, MacGillivray and Vander Meulen, won with a time of 3:08.57, less than a second behind the SEC record set in 2013 by Saline. The A Relay from Pioneer; Frassrand, Heise, J. Orringer-Hau and Deegan finished second with a 3:10.12. In third placed was the A Relay from Saline; Brown, Jacob Ehrman, Jared Ehrman and Keith and with a fourth place finish was the A Relay from Huron; Hyun, Lucas Holcombe, Jonathan Wang and Jason Hires.

As the scores were announced and the Saline swim and dive team heard that they had won the meet, they sprinted across the deck, as if they hadn’t just swam until they couldn’t feel their limbs, where they all gathered on the podium for a team photo. Ann Arbor teams; Skyline, Pioneer and Huron placed in second, third and fourth place, respectively. Temperance-Bedford placed fifth and Monroe placed sixth.