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Forest Hills Eastern High School

Hawks Athletics

Forest Hills Eastern High School

Game Summaries & Headlines.

Game Summary

13.0 years ago @ 3:46PM

Boys Varsity Swimming vs. East Kentwood

Game Date
Dec 9, 2010
Score
HAWKS: 101.50
EAST KENTWOOD: 84.50

This article appeared on MLive.com on December 9, 2010...

Paul Kersjes suffered a close defeat in his first dual event of the season.

It didn’t make the Forest Hills Central junior upset -- he already was focused on his next event, and that was where Kersjes showed everyone what he is capable of doing this season.

After a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle, Kersjes walloped the competition by nearly 26 seconds in the 500 free Thursday night, helping the Forest Hills co-op boys swim team to a 101.5-84.5 win against East Kentwood.

“Getting beat in the 50 free was a bit frustrating,” Kersjes said. “I knew I’d have a good shot at the 500, so I just started preparing for that. I try pretty much every event a couple times a year.”

After East Kentwood senior Jacob Terpstra won the 50 free in 23.29 seconds — one-tenth of a second ahead of Kersjes (23.39) — the standout had plenty of time to prepare for the 500 free. Kersjes cruised out front and never looked back as he finished in 4:58.3, well ahead of runner-up Rylee Wieczorek of East Kentwood (5:24.13).

Forest Hills coach Dennis Neat said Kersjes’ main events are in the middle of the freestyle spectrum. Kersjes’ best performances should come in middle-distance events later this year.

“Paul is more of a 100 and 200 swimmer, but we do work on his sprinting skills throughout the year,” Neat said. “At some point, we will need him in sprint events to come through for us, and we just put him out there to see what he could do in the 50 free. He swam those middle distance events last weekend at the Cereal Bowl Classic in Battle Creek, but we’re not really into sprint-training mode yet.”

Forest Hills finished second behind Ann Arbor Pioneer at the Classic, providing a strong tournament start to the season.

Kersjes also swam in two relays, taking first along with sophomore Nathaniel Fagen, junior Griff Billups and senior Bradley Lederman in the 200 medley relay (1:44.27). He also was on the winning 400 free relay team (3:30.56) with Fagen, senior Hayden Cassidy and sophomore Jeremy Peterson.

Kersjes finished 10th in the 200 free (1:45.41) and 14th in the 100 free (48.6) at last year’s state finals, but he was part of a sixth-place 400 free relay team (3:13.35) that included Cassidy, Klanderman and then-junior Branden Muma.

Finishing strong once again is Kersjes’ main goal.

“I’m just trying to get my state cuts and finish top eight in the state to get all-state status,” Kersjes said. “I’m also hoping we can get a couple swim relays to All-American status. That’s a time standard, so we’ll be working on that through the year.”

Forest Hills 101.5, East Kentwood 84.5
Key moment: Forest Hills dominated the start of the meet with first-place finishes from its 200 medley relay team (1:44.27), Hayden Cassidy in the 200 free (1:52.77) and Bradley Klanderman in the 200 IM (2:12.77). Forest Hills won seven of the 12 events, but the 3-0 start was crucial.

Surprise, surprise: Forest Hills coaches Dennis Neat and Tim Jasperse pressed freshman Nathan Peterson into action when junior Griff Billups had to leave the meet after experiencing a rapid heart rhythm and shallow breathing following the 200 individual medley. Billups was treated at a local hospital and released. Peterson ended up with a third-place showing (1:10.59) in the 100 breaststroke in Billups’ place.

Close call: Klanderman’s victory in the 200 IM was close, coming a quarter-second ahead of East Kentwood junior Raheem Brown (2:13.12). Klanderman was faster on three of the four split times in the event.

Shaping up: This was the first competition of the season for East Kentwood, which is ranked Divion 1 honorable mention by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association. Forest Hills was ranked sixth in Division 1 entering the first dual meet for both schools.

Say what: “What I’m most pleased with is how our younger kids swam tonight. Speed-wise, we’re there and we had some great drops from our time trials last week.” -- East Kentwood coach Jock Ambrose


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