DeHaan has holes to fill, but Generals’ depth could do that

  • By Brian Questel
  • November 19, 2010
  • 304
                        
112910 whsboysswim Promo: General swimmers not looking to skip a beat DeHaan has holes to fill, but Generals’ depth could do that By Brian Questel There is a seemingly Grand Canyon-sized hole to fill, but Wooster boy’s swim coach Jeff DeHaan believes one thing – it can be done. The Generals will open the 2010-11 campaign in a few days missing two critical components from a year ago – six-time All-Ohioan and All-American Alex McCord, who is swimming for Ohio State, and Clay Matthew, who earned All-Ohio and All-America honors with McCord on school record-setting relay teams. The two left a major imprint on the WHS program over their four-year careers, and DeHaan knows that replacing them will be difficult. However, as he told the team, replacing them is certainly not impossible and, in fact, the Generals could be better overall in the dual-meet portion of their schedule this year. DeHaan caught wind of team worries last year and addressed those concerns in a meeting. “I made a big deal about the murmurs, ‘we’ll suck next year,’” said DeHaan. “I told them, ‘Look at our nucleus. We will survive. This is crazy talk. (Assistant coach) Paul (White) and I talked about how this team could be deeper from the start. “We had a lot of top-end speed and bottom, and not much middle. There were a couple of duals last year we could have won with this year’s middle. Our strokes and freestyle and middle depth are way more advanced than last year. We’re definitely starting with a solid, solid team. “I told them it’s not like you’re riding their coattails,” DeHaan added. “The expectation is you will be taking over for the guys who are leaving. It’s not like you’ve watched them win meets – it’s the thirds, fourths and fifths that helped with that. They get the spotlight, but our dual meet season is all based on the middle. It’s a process of you guys taking over the guys leaving. The guys leaving are studs, but you need to get better and be in position. Don’t sit back and watch and go with flow. It’s time to take over for the guys leaving.” If his team didn’t see the big picture, DeHaan does because one of those returning swimmers has a sterling pedigree of his own. Senior Chase Hooley owns the school record in the breaststroke and is a second away from the 200 IM mark, and he was also on those school-record 200 and 400 sprint relays with classmate Danny Jones. Jones (50/100 free) and classmate Phillip Mitchell will give the Generals both an impact and depth in the 50 and 100 free sprints, while Garrett Jentes (200/500 free, 100 breast) will help in the longer distances. Chris Meigs (100 back, freestyle sprints) and Charles Moodispaw (100 back, free sprints) are also 4-year swim veterans. “We have some holes to fill,” said DeHaan, who noted a 29-man roster with 10 seniors on it will allow him some leeway to do that. “The top four of that … stud freshman class are now all captains and ready to leave their mark. It will be interesting to see how it develops. “Hooley is a two-time state qualifier and an All-American and All-Ohioan, so he has quite a resume coming into his senior year,” said DeHaan. “Danny Jones is also an All-Ohioan and All-American. So, we have two state qualifiers returning, Garrett is a six-time district qualifier and Phillip has been district qualifier on the sprint relays.” A pair of junior letter winners – captain Jacob Ackerman (200 IM, 100 fly) and Joel Jones (50/100 free) – along with sophomore lettermen Brandon Buss (200/500 free), Kalten Walter (200 free, 100 fly) and Troy Chipka (diving, 100 breast) – will help back that senior group. There are four other returnees who didn’t letter who are back to supply depth -- senior Ryan Vincent, juniors Jake DeHaan and Cody Neidig and sophomore John Blair. “The rest of the guys are first-year high school swimmers and nine of the 14 guys have no previous experience,” said DeHaan. “The whole freshman class has Y experience, but the rest of the guys are in their second week of swimming and diving. It’s been a whole lot of teaching for Paul and me.” A trio of seniors is out -- Vinny Anderson, Taylor Jackwood and Cody Polen – along with juniors George Kulka and Mike Styer. Sophomores include foreign-exchange student Daniel Cabrera-Baez from Spain, Brady Kelly, John Maibach and Stephen McKee, while B.J. Graham, Cooper Orr, Bryan Parker, Brian White and Caleb Schmidt represent the freshman class. DeHaan knows the Generals are in “a heavy-duty district,” but he is looking forward to the challenge of the season. “I’m thinking we’re solid across the board,” he said. “We don’t have a McCord pulling a 21.1 (in the 50) and our relays may be slower at the start … but in general this team is really bonding. We have so many different personalities, but this team is close already.” The Generals will open their season in a quad meet in Youngstown against Boardman, Warren Harding and Canfield Dec. 4.


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