DeHann hopes General swimmers will be up to challenge of another OCC title run
brian questel
November 22, 2011
295
112811 boysswimpreview
Promo: Path to Ohio Cardinal Conference title will present challenges for Wooster High swimmers
DeHann hopes General swimmers will be up to challenge of another OCC title run
By Brian Questel
The Wooster High boys swim team has a clean sheet in the Ohio Cardinal Conference -- eight OCC championship meets and eight conference titles. Thats as clean as it gets, but the Generals will face a serious run for their money this winter if they hope to push that streak to nine.
This year will be tough, said Wooster coach Jeff DeHaan. Ashland is tough, Mansfield Senior has good swimmers and Lexington always fights with us. I imagine were the favorites, but with last years class losses – which was once of the best freshman classes we had coming in – it will be tough. That class came in as one of the deepest, fastest classes weve had, and its tough to replace that with freshmen. Youre asking freshmen boys to do what senior men did. You dont expect them to do that right off the top.
We won over Ashland (last year) and we thought it would be closer because the dual meet was close, added DeHaan. It ended up being 60 points in the championship. It wasnt as close as we thought, but if youre under 100 points, it is close in a championship meet when you get 40 points for a relay. Weve won by as much as 125 points and won by as little as 24. I expect a close one.
While liking the promise of the team, its a very young team, said DeHaan. Over half of the guys are first-year swimmers, so that will make it interesting.
A trio of senior captains – Jacob Ackerman, Joel Jones and Jake DeHaan -- will lead the 23-man squad. A pair of junior captains, Brandon Buss and Kalten Walter, will back them.
Rounding out the letter winners are Troy Chipka, a junior, and sophomores B.J. Graham, Cooper Orr and Bryan Parker.
Ackerman will compete in three events (fly/free/IM), while Jones will swim in the sprint/middle distance free events and Jacob DeHaan in the free and back. Buss (distance free/breast/IM), Walter (fly/free), Chipka (diving/breast), Graham (sprint free/back), Orr (diving/free) and Parker (sprint free) round out the lettermens events.
Thats a real good group of guys, said DeHaan.
Three other returnees who did not letter a year ago are juniors Jon Boyer (sprint and distance free) and John Maibach (free/back), along with sophomore Caleb Schmidt (sprint and distance free/fly).
Beyond that, though, the Generals will be looking at help from a number of first-years. That includes seniors Javan Starkey (diving) and Tyler White (sprint free), junior Zac Carmel (sprint free) and sophomores Jacob Norris (diving/free) and Chad Tennent (fly/IM).
The freshman class is led by a trio of swimmers. Daniel Ackerman (breast/free/IM), Matthew Dyer (distance free/breast) and David Goodrich (sprint free/back) enjoyed strong outdoor and YMCA campaigns and should help provide a boost to the Generals. Other freshmen swimmers are Kevin White (back/free/fly), Ben Lorentz (breast/free) and Dakota Eurell (breast/free).
We have 12 veteran and 11 first-years, said DeHaan. Thats a young team.
Another concern will be to cover the backstroke, which is the spot where we are the weakest, said DeHaan. We have no true backstrokers. Dyer can swim it, and hes a minute backstroker, but its his third stroke. Hes better at distance and the breaststroke. We lost our three senior backstrokers – Chris Meigs, Charles Moodispaw and Danny Jones – so well have to mix guys in and out.
B.J. and David and Matthew will swim most of the backstroke. We cant get trounced in the backstroke. We have to try and stay even and not lose our shirt on it. Were deep in flyers and real deep in the sprint free. Not necessarily at the top end, but depth wise. We have seven guys under 25 seconds in the 50 (free), so that bodes well for dual meets and championship meets.
DeHaan acknowledged that some would think they could catch the Generals on the downside this year.
Im hoping people think were going to be weaker, he said. We might not win and get as many firsts, but well win the event because you need middle depth to win meets. With guys like (Chase) Hooley and (Garrett) Jentes gone, hopefully it will take a couple weeks before people figure that out. At the beginning we may surprise people and open some eyes. (Graduation) opens up opportunities for guys to make some noise.
I think there definitely will be a learning curve to see where guys fit in in and the new guys to make their mark, DeHaan added. They will definitely help us by the end of the season and the championship season. I think they will make an impact and help the nucleus of letterman. I think well be all right.
I think the guys have the fire and the desire to do it. It depends on how motivated we are.
Wooster opens with a quad meet at Youngstown State against Boardman, Canfield and Warren Harding on December 3.
