East Lansing High School Boys’ Swimming Team Headed to Leagues and State

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Monday, February 23, 2015, 9:00 am
By: 
Telaina Eriksen

Photo: Captains of the swim team Charley Schertzing and Will Delany at the DeWitt Invitational.

The East Lansing High School Boys’ Swimming and Diving team is in a position to place in the top three teams at the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue League meet this year. The season culminates at Haslett High School on Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28. League preliminaries begin at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Finals are at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Diving begins at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 26. Admission is $5 at the door. Children five and under are free.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association State Division 2 Swimming Meet will be held this year at Holland Aquatic Center on March 13 and March 14. At the minimum, ELHS will send two individual swimmers and two relays to the state meet.

“Two years ago we were the bottom of the league and made a major jump last year to place fourth at leagues. We scored at last year’s State meet in the Medley Relay along with three individual swims,” Coach Brian Post said. The ELHS boys’ swim team is coached by Post and Ronald Marsh. Tom Kulhman coaches the divers.

“This is the best team we have had in a decade,” Post said. “We are having fun in the very competitive CAAC Blue division. We are in third place after the dual season and have a shot at winning the League meet this week.”

Upperclassmen are leading the way in ELHS’ swimming success this year. Captains Will Delany (senior) and Charley Schertzing (junior) have each qualified for a chance to swim at the State meet with individual swims.

Photo: Will Delany doing his Fly

Delany, who went to the State meet last year with a relay said it’s a bit intimidating to see so many high quality athletes in one place. “But on the other side, there is lots of positive energy and excitement. It's almost contagious,” he said. Delany is ranked the number one seed in the 100 Butterfly in the area, the number five seed for the 100 Freestyle and the number six seed for the 50 Freestyle. He is also on the Medley Relay as well as the 200 Free Relay—both of which have qualified for the State meet.

Schertzing has so far qualified for five individual events for the State meet--the 200 Individual Medley, 50 and 100 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly and the 100 Breaststroke. “He is also very close in the other three individual events. Charley has a chance to be one of the few swimmers in local history to qualify in every individual event for the State meet,” Post said. Schertzing is seeded number one in the area for the 100 Freestyle and the 100 Breaststroke, number two in the 50 Freestyle (missing the number one seed by .03 seconds), is seeded number three in the 200 IM, 100 Butterfly, and 200 Free, and number five for the 500 Freestyle. Schertzing is also a member of the state-qualifying Medley and 200 Freestyle Relays.

Mikey Kuhl (junior) is just missing a state cut in the 100 backstroke by 0.15 seconds and is seeded second in the area for that event. He is also a member of the Medley and 200 Free Relays.

“We also expect several others to get their state cuts at the league meet,” Post said. “We have posted the top times in the area for the 200 Medley Relay and 200 Freestyle Relay.”

Post said all the boys have worked extremely hard for these achievements. “They made a commitment last year to train. We also have a high school water polo club, combined with our friends at Holt, called HOTEL. The boys (and girls) are involved with the Spartan Water Polo Club and in swimming clubs off season. This has helped immensely.”

“Working our butts off all year, during and outside of season, is finally starting to pay off,” Schertzing said.

Post said not to forget one of the most important things about the ELHS boys’ swimming team. “The boys have a team GPA of about 3.7 and ranked as the fourth highest swim team GPA in the state last year. The girls’ swim team GPA was 3.8 and second in the state last year,” Post said.

Delany said he feels happy to see how far the swimming program has come in his four years at ELHS. “This year we have a really great group of kids. I can't wait to see how far this group of guys will go in the future,” Delany said. “I feel like I've made a contribution to something here at East Lansing and that's a pretty special feeling.”

Delany said if anyone is thinking about joining the ELHS swim team (boys or girls) they should go for it. “Swimming is fantastic exercise, and joining the team will get you in touch with a great group of people,” he said.

Disclosure: Telaina Eriksen’s freshman son is on the ELHS swim team. 

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