Royal Oak Swimmers Finish Near Top in OAA Blue Division

The Royal Oak Ravens boys swim team gave it their all in the OAA Blue Division championship Friday night, finishing in second place behind the Bears of Berkley.

"The boys swam great on Wednesday and Friday," said Coach Darrin Millar. "We had 45 of 48  individual best swims on Wednesday, and we added another 19 individual bests on Friday."

The Ravens scratched and clawed their way and took places and medals that other teams counted on for themselves, Millar said.  

The final rankings had Berkley on top with 555 points, followed by Royal Oak (476), Troy Athens (472), Ferndale (157), Hazel Park (132) and Southfield-Lathrup (109).

"I feel that the score did not show how close it was considering Berkley outscored us 52 to 0 in diving, and 40 to 0 in the last relay," said Millar. "Many coaches came up to us and commented on our swims. We do not have that one great kid. We have many hard working good kids."

The Ravens were able to pick up state qualifying swims in the 200 Medley Relay (Everett Bateman, Ryan Noechel, Logan Dankovich, Zach Zatina) and 200 Free Relay (Joe Helmle, Bateman, Dankovich, Zatina). Zatina also made the cut in the 50 free and 100 free. Dankovich made the cut in the 50 free.

Dankovich broke a team record in the 100 Breast (1:04.91) and was very close to a state cut, Millar said.