By Brian Savard
YPSILANTI, Michigan, April 8. MORGAN Priestley of Birmingham Seaholm turned in one for the ages with a 1:35.85 200 freestyle in the preliminary heats at the men’s Michigan Division 2 Championships.
Priestley went out hard in the first 50, clocking a 22.28 split. He fired off a 24.41 split at the 100 mark before posting two more sub 25-second 50s (24.42 and 24.74), finishing in a state-record time. His time shattered the former 1994 state mark of 1:36.73 set by Eric Matuszak of Bloomfield Hills Andover. Priestley’s swim also neared the national public high school record of 1:35.55, which Eric Diehl of Mission Viejo set in 1991. Joe Hudepohl from Cincinnati St. Xavier holds the national high school record of 1:34.96, which he also set in 1991. In finals, Priestley swam slightly slower than his morning outing, touching first again in 1:35.99.
In addition to his 200 freestyle performance, Priestley also downed the competition in the 100 backstroke, placing first in a time of 50.04. Priestley is a Swimming World three-star recruit bound for Stanford next year.
Eric Solis of Holland mined gold in two individual events as well. Solis touched first in the 200 IM (1:52.57) before cranking out a first-place 100 freestyle (46.00).
Zeeland took first in two of the three relay events. The Zeeland foursome of Jeremy Sall, Gregg Elhart, Josh Geschwendt and Drew Coffin earned the gold in the 200 medley relay, clocking a 1:35.32. The 400 freestyle relay grouping of Sall, Jason Vander Platts, Zac Kraai and Coffin destroyed the 2005 class record of 3:09.24 set by Midland Dow, cruising in at a swift 3:06.97.
Birmingham Seaholm bettered the 200 freestyle relay class record, as the relay team of Priestley, D.J. Lydy, Alex Maniaci and Paul Collins put up a 1:25.37 time. That performance bested Birmingham Seaholm’s 2005 mark of 1:26.27.
Jordan Long from Grosse Pointe South corralled the gold in the diving event with a 496.60 score. John Santien of Detroit U-D Jesuit finished second with a 432.80 score while Holland’s Johnny Sanches placed third (396.75).
Battle Creek Lakeview quietly compiled 293 points for the team championship. Zeeland finished just three points back with 290 while Holland took third in the team competition with 248 points.