By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Independence Township — The Wolves started the new year showing off how they have progressed during the holiday break.
Clarkston Boys Swim and Dive Head Coach Amber Miller explained the athletes were able to train three hours a day during break and they worked hard.
“We took the time we don’t normally get with morning practices and afternoon practices,” she said, adding they did some underwater filming and worked on technique. “We enjoy the two weeks during boys season to be able to do that. It’s good. We are ready to tackle the rest of the season.”
The Wolves returned from break to defeat Ferndale last Thursday, 136-32.
“Tonight was really about having fun, swimming off events,” Miller said. “We are a lot larger team than Ferndale so we knew we had the upper hand. We wanted to come in give an opportunity to give time to kids who never swam events before, see what they can do, where they would be at. We had some good swims.”

For individual events, in the 50-yard freestyle, Owen Guzal finished in first place in the time of 23.69; Andrew Craig, third, 28.04; Ben Ankrom, fourth, 30.32; 100-yard butterfly, Andrew Musson, first, 1:00.08; Zac Montgomery, second, 1:13.08; Craig Popiolek, third, 1:14.30; 100-yard freestyle, Will Paul, first, 57.02; Leonardo Vezzu, second, 59.74; Charlie Rowe, third, 1:02.12; 100-yard backstroke, Ben Guzal, first, 1:06.98; Vezzu, third, 1:17.64; 100-yard breaststroke, Rowe, second, 1:20.04; Craig, third, 1:24.86; Montgomery, fourth, 1:28.60; 200-yard freestyle, Ben Guzal, first, 2:15.76; Blake Davidson, second, 2:37.54; 200-yard IM, Jeffrey Ellingsworth, first, 2:29.85; Jack Smith, second, 2:43.43; 500-yard freestyle, Ellingsworth, first, 5:40.90; Owen Guzal, second, 6:21.52; and Smith, third, 6:37.11.
“Owen is our 50-yard freestyler,” Miller said. “He is a senior and he has never swam the 500-yard freestyle for us. I usually require every kid at some point to swim the 500. He has gotten away from that. It’s become a standing joke with the team. So putting him in there – he did a great job. I knew he would. Being able to put him in there and do that, rally the team and motivate the team with that.”
Miller added some highlights for the night include Paul dropping seconds in the 100-yard freestyle as well as Ryan Kornas and Ben Ankrom dropping time in the same event. Korna finished in 1:11.34 and Ankrom in 1:15.29.
“It’s great to see in the middle of some hard training that we have done over the holiday. We usually don’t expect a time drop during that time. It shows us they are in skills and techniques is improving she said, adding Vezzu had a great race in the same event and it was the first time he swam in the 100-yard freestyle.
For relays, inn the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Rowe, Musson, Ben Guzal and Owen Guzal finished in first place in the time of 1:55.90; and the team of Smith, Montgomery, Ellingsworth and Paul, second place, 2:03.26.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Musson, Vezzu, Popiolek and Paul finished in first place in the time of 1:45.91; and the team of Rowe, Montgomery, Davidson and Smith, second, 1:55.75.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Ellingsworth, Davidson, Vezzu and Owen Guzal finished in first place in the time of 4:17.62; the team of Connor Quinlan, Diego Cordoba, Popiolek and Kornas, third, 4:42.97.
In 1-meter diving, Mike George finished in first place with 176.40 points after six rounds. Lucas Breeden finished second with 154.13 points and Jon George, third, 127.50.
The Wolves closed 2022 with a 122-61 win over Royal Oak, Dec. 15.
For individual events in the 50-yard freestyle, Owen Guzal in first place in the time of 23.85; Will Paul, third, 25.68; Leonardo Vezzu, fourth, 27.14; 100-yard butterfly, Vezzu, first, 1:06.92; Craig Popiolek, second, 1:14.37; Diego Cordoba, fourth, 1:28.45; 100-yard freestyle, Guzal, first, 54.57; Paul, fourth, 59.20; Jack Smith, fifth, 1:03.53; 100-yard backstroke, Ben Guzal, first, 1:07.16; Smith, second, 1:13.33; 100-yard breaststroke, Charles Rowe, second, 1:17.08; Zac Montgomery, fourth; 200-yard freestyle, Jeff Ellingsworth, first, 2:07.92; Andrew Craig, fourth, 2:22.66; 200-yard IM, Andrew Musson, first, 2:16.32; Ben Guzal, second, 2:31.26; Montgomery, fourth, 2:39.26; 500-yard freestyle, Musson, first, 5:26.32; Ellingsworth, second, 5:47.82; and Craig, fifth, 6:28.84.
Michael George finished in first place in the 1-meter diving event with 201.40 points scored during six dives. Lucas Breeden finished in second place with 171.85 points and Jonathan George in third place, 111 points.
For relay events, in the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Rowe, Musson, Ellingsworth and Ben Guzal finished in first place in the time of 2:00.18. The team of Craig, Montgomery, Vezzu and Smith finished in third place, 2:06.74.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Vezzu, Popiolek, Paul and Owen Guzal finished in first place in the time of 1:44.40. The team of Montgomery, Breeden, Jonathan Young and Ryan Kornas finished in third place, 2:00.89.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Ellingsworth, Paul, Musson and Owen Guzal finished in first place, 3:51. The team of Craig, Popiolek, Craig and Ben Guzal finished in third place, 4:28.13.
The team opened the week against Lake Orion. They head to Avondale on Thursday in a meet against Avondale and Southfield A&T.
“We are getting into the thick of the season,” Miller said. “We aren’t that far out from county meet and really. It is coming quick. To see them drop some time and continue to progress is a good sign for us. Just continue to look for opportunities to polish up and get ready for heavy competition.”
They host Berkley on Thursday, January 19 during Senior Night, 6 p.m.
The Wolves compete in the Oxford Diving Invitational on Saturday, January 21.

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