Ludington swims to conference meet title

Ludington topped Manistee, 572-447, while Fremont came in third with 313.

“It feels good to say we are the champions again,” said Ludington coach Joe Schneider. “The last time we won was 2019. The last few years we have struggled to get enough boys to fill out 36 entries each team gets for scoring.”

“Although all three teams had great swimmers, we just had the depth to outscore them in just about every event,” Schneider said. “I’m super proud of the boys. Their hard work all season long paid off and they could see it. We had 35 personal best times, that’s both season and career.”

Ludington had two swimmers crowned conference champions, Ignacio Molina in the 100-yard freestyle and Ian Lunberg in the diving competition.

The Orioles also collected seven second-place finishes, and six third places.

Molina also qualified for state in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.62 seconds (the state cut is 22.99) and the 100 free with a time of 50.33 (state cut is 50.89).

Garnering individual second places for the Orioles were Molina in the 50-yard freestyle (22.62), Kyle Wendt in the 100-yard freestyle (54.78), Lucas Peterson in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.76) and Owen Kasley in the 100-yard backstroke (1:04.19).

Also taking second place were the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Dylan Sniegowski, Rowen Vaara, Wendt and Molina (3:35.01) and the 200-yard medley relay squad of Owen Kasley, Peterson, Lucas Miller and Vaara (1:49.18).

Manistee had Tug Thummel collect a conference championship in the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:51.62 as well as the 500-yard freestyle in 5:15.54.

Alec Lampen was a conference champion in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.92 and the 100-yard backstroke in 51.71 seconds.

Drew Mendians won the conference title in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.45).

The Chippewas also were conference champions in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Lampen, Drew Mendians, Trevor Adamczak and Thummel combining for a 1:30.23, the 400-yard freestyle relay of Lampen, Adamczak, Thummel and Mendians finished in 3:25.39.

Fremont had Matt Garcia crowned conference champion in the 200-yard freestyle (1:58.43) and the 100-yard butterfly (51.46). The Packers also took the title in the 200-yard medley relay with Garcia, Mason Sparks, Owen Wolfsen and Owen Vandenberg finishing in 1:48.25.

Ludington will be taking its 200-yard medley relay squad that missed the state cut of 1:46.69 with a 1:49.18 swim, and the 200 freestyle relay that missed the state cut of 1:35.19 with a 1:35.80 to a second chance meet Tuesday.