The Milan Boys Swimming and Diving Team ended their season with a trip to Holland for the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) State Finals this past weekend.
The Sun Times News connected with Coach Dan Heikka to see how it went.
“We swam season best times and competed hard,” Heikka said.
Since the formation of the Milan Program by legendary Coach Chuck Lott in 1970, Heikka said Milan has attended and scored in every MHSAA State Meet.
“The boys had a tall task, but swam very well and our 200 Free Relay, which had just qualified last weekend, made it to Finals and brought home a 16th place finish,” Heikka said.
In Friday’s prelims, Heikka said they had season best and career best times.
The Medley Relay of Freshman Ryan Johnson, Junior Cameron Garcia, Sophomore Jameson McShane and Junior Dylan Nichols all swam fantastic and they finished in 28th.
Freshman Alec Markham competed in the 200 and 500 Free events individually and had career bests in both. Markham finished in 24th in the 200 and 20th in the 500.
Junior Tadas Zukovskis also had a great meet, as he swam the 100 Fly and 100 Back individually and dropped significant time off his career bests in both. Zukovskis finished in 18th in the Fly and 23rd in the back.
Heikka said the 200 Free Relay had a beautiful swim in prelims to qualify in 14th.
“Markham, Zukovskis, Garcia and Nichols all swam lifetime bests,” Coach Heikka said. “In finals we battled and secured their place in history as they scored and extended our points streak at the State Meet.”
The 400 Free Relay was another great swim for Milan as well.
Heikka said Markham, Zukovskis, Nichols and McShane all swam their hearts out, but they came up just short of making it back by 0.4 seconds and they finished in 19th.
In summing things up, Heikka said, “We had a fantastic season and weekend. The boys started to build something that we can extend on next year. Our numbers in the program as a whole were up from 14 boys last season to 23 this year. We were able to make all three relay State Cuts this season, and all of State Swimmers will return!!!”
He said, “As a staff, we are very happy with the effort put forth by the team. We will continue to build, and work in the offseason and next year to be even better.”
Photo 1: The Milan team at the State Meet. Photo by Stephen Cook
Photo 2: Tadas Zukovskis in action at the state meet. Photo by Stephen Cook
Photo 3: Alec Markham at the state meet. Photo by Stephen Cook
Photo 4: Jameson McShane making his mark at the state meet. Photo by Stephen Cook
8123 Main St Suite 200 Dexter, MI 48130
