Tecumseh third at state, wins two events

The top goals of the Tecumseh swimming and diving team were clear at the beginning of the season - to finish in the top three in the team standings at the state meet and to claim a few event titles along the way. The Indians did just that over the weekend.

Tecumseh sent nine swimmers and divers to the 2008 Division III state championships, held at the Holland Aquatic Center on March 7 and 8, and after two days of excellent competition finished third overall behind state champion East Grand Rapids and second place Alma while capturing the 200-yard medley relay and 100-yard breaststroke titles. All totaled, five Indian swimmers earned all-state honors in individual events and the members of all three relay teams also earned all-state awards. Coach Pete Zuk was also selected as Division III Coach of the Year.

Senior captain Scott Yarbrough won the 100-yard breaststroke and was also a member of the Indians' title winning relay team. The four senior captains on the relay team, Nick Dillon, Jordan Lillie, Neil Palmer and Yarbrough have competed at the state championship meet all four years. They finished their swimming careers much as they began it at Tecumseh, competing together in the 200-yard medley relay at the state championships. As freshmen, competing as the only all-freshmen relay at the state meet, they placed 30th in the event.

After winning the preliminary round competition on Friday with a school record time of 1:38.83, the foursome blazed to an even faster time at the finals and outdistanced the field by over two seconds in a time of 1:38.75 to record Tecumseh's first championship victory of the day.

Dillon swam the backstroke length to lead off the relay and earned two all state honors at the championships. One was for the winning relay and the other for an eighth place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.

Yarbrough was the breaststroker on the winning relay and he's earned a total of eight all state honors over his high school career, five for individual events (breaststroke and IM) and three for relays. Yarbrough placed in last year's 100-yard butterfly and finished third this year in the 200 IM. He finished in the top-8 all four years in the 100-yard breaststroke, capping off his high school career by winning the event in a school record time of 58.15 seconds. Yarbrough currently holds THS records in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke.
Lillie swam the 200-yard medley relay's butterfly length and has earned five all state honors over his career, four in relay events and one for his sixth place finish in this year's 100-yard butterfly.

Palmer swam freestyle on the state title relay team and has earned four all-state honors over his career, three in relay events and one for finishing eighth in the backstroke at this year's meet. He placed at the state meet in his sophomore through senior season in the 100-yard backstroke and in last year's 100-yard butterfly. Palmer holds the Tecumseh record for the 100-yard backstroke.

During their Tecumseh careers, Lillie, Palmer and Yarbrough also set school records as members of the 400-yard freestyle relay team.

Going into the state meet, coach Zuk knew that on paper the team had a great shot at placing high in the meet but would need a strong day in the preliminaries and a few surprise times that would advance the swimmer's seedings for the finals. In the 200-yard freestyle preliminary, junior Bip Cline swam a personal best time of 1:49.34 to advance to the consolation final. In the finals Cline posted a time of 1:49.57 to finish 12th.
Ryan Sloan narrowly missed advancing, swimming a personal best time of 1:52.92 to finish 18th. He was named an alternate for the finals. Freshman Pat McAran got his first taste of the state meet and he finished 30th in the event.

The Indians had two swimmers, Yarbrough and Andrew Eubanks, entered in the preliminary round of the 200 IM. Yarbrough posted a personal best and school record time of 1:59.23, to finish third. His time of 2:00.69 in the finals had him again finish third. Eubanks narrowly missed advancing to the final round, finishing 17th in 2:09.50, another personal best swim.

Tecumseh senior David Gensch competed in his first state meet and was diving coach Rusty Eubanks' lone representative in the completion. Gensch advanced to the meet with a seventh place finish in the regional diving competition and with a number of great dives he advanced to the second round of diving in Friday's preliminaries. Overall he finished in 19th at state with his best scores of the year.

Earlier in the season Lillie decided to try the 100-yard butterfly and had great results. He took right to the event and wound up competing in the preliminary round at state. He swam a personal best time of 54.45 to advance to the finals where he lowered his time to 54.37 finishing sixth. Eubanks swam a time of 56.51 to place 17th and earn an alternate spot in the finals.

Palmer swam a season best time of 49.76 in the preliminary round of the 100-yard freestyle to advance to the consolation final where he placed 12th in 50.23.
Coach Zuk got his first big break of the meet with big swims from Bip Cline and Nick Dillon in the 500-yard freestyle. Coming into the preliminary round seeded ninth and 12th respectively, Cline knocked 12 seconds off his qualification time (4:58.51) to place fifth in the preliminaries. Dillon also lowered his time (5:02.43) by roughly nine seconds to finish eighth. Both swimmers advanced to the championship heat and the team picked up valuable points. In the finals, Cline finished in fifth place (4:59.06) while Dillon placed eighth (5:06.61).

Lillie, Eubanks, Sloan and Cline teamed in the 200-yard freestyle relay and swam a preliminary time of 1:32.13 to advance to the final heat as the fourth seed. The team was seeded 14th going into the meet. In the finals the THS group swam a time of 1:32.47 and finished seventh.

Palmer swam a season best time of 55.95 in the preliminary round of the 100-yard backstroke and advanced to the championship heat where he finished eighth. Dillon was seeded 22nd coming into the meet but after recording a personal best swim of 58.23 in the preliminary round he advanced to the consolation final where he finished 16th.
The 100-yard breaststroke was one of the most anticipated events of the meet, featuring last year's second and third place finishers in Division II. In the preliminary round, Grand Rapids Christian's Geoff Ludema swam a time of 58.91 in his preliminary heat. In the next heat, Tecumseh's Yarbrough, seeded first in the event swam an even lower time of 58.27. In the finals, Yarbrough held a slight edge halfway through the race but by the finish he outpaced Ludema by a second and won the breaststroke championship in his fastest time of the day at 58.15.

In the preliminary round of the meet’s final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Lillie, Sloan, Palmer and Yarbrough teamed to place sixth in a time of 3:19.86, advancing to the championship heat and ensuring that all three Tecumseh relays would earn all-state honors. With its desired third place team award in the balance during the finals, the group moved up to a fifth place finish in the event in a time of 3:20.15 to secure the Indians' end of season goals.