Two 10th-place finishes were the best performances by Livingston County swimmers at state meets Saturday, March 14.
Hartland senior Sebastian Ritsema placed 10th in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.53 seconds and Brighton senior Spencer Sanders took 10th in the 200 freestyle in 1 minute, 42.56 seconds during the Division 1 finals at Oakland University.
The two swimmers went head-to-head in the consolation finals of the 100 freestyle and were separated by only one one-hundredth of a second. Ritsema finished 11th in 46.75 and Sanders 12th in 46.76.
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They were the only county swimmers to return for the second day of the finals in an individual event by making the top 16 in preliminaries.
Brighton’s 400 freestyle relay team of Trey Hickman, Jackson Bennett, Eli Shand and Sanders took 11th in 3:11.02.
Brighton finished 23rd in the team standings with 24 points, while Hartland was 28th with 13. Ann Arbor Pioneer won with 283, followed by Northville with 254.
Here’s a list of Livingston County performances:
DIVISION 1
200 medley relay: 25. Brighton (Trey Hickman, Frankie Trupiano, Eli Shand, Collin Brown) 1:41.14.
200 freestyle: 10. Spencer Sanders (Brighton) 1:42.56; 17. Jackson Bennett (Brighton) 1:44.07.
200 individual medley: 36. Trey Hickman (Brighton) 2:03.07.
50 freestyle: 10. Sebastian Ritsema (Hartland) 21.53.
100 butterfly: 27. Eli Shand (Brighton) 53.32.
100 freestyle: 11. Sebastian Ritsema (Hartland) 46.75; 12. Spencer Sanders (Brighton) 46.76; 25. Jackson Bennett (Brighton) 49.24.
500 freestyle: 23. Trey Hickman (Brighton) 4:54.46.
200 freestyle relay: 18. Brighton (Eli Shand, Jackson Bennett, Collin Brown, Spencer Sanders) 1:28.97.
400 freestyle relay: 11. Brighton (Trey Hickman, Jackson Bennett, Eli Shand, Spencer Sanders) 3:11.02.
DIVISION 3
200 freestyle: 32. Ciaran Hess (Pinckney) 1:58.07.
50 freestyle: 24. Zack Spinelli (Pinckney) 23.19.
100 butterfly: 36. Isaac Reedy (Pinckney) 58.08.
100 freestyle: 29. Zack Spinelli (Pinckney) 51.49.
500 freestyle: 31. Ciaran Hess (Pinckney) 5:18.67.
400 freestyle relay: 26. Pinckney (Zack Spinelli, Ciaran Hess, Isaac Reedy, Daniel Eppler) 3:34.03.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton, Hartland swimmers match best finishes in MHSAA finals
Reporting by Bill Khan, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
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