THE HASTINGS
Thursday, March 2, 2023Barracudas win first league
meet in last season as co-op
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Firework spectacles with the greatest grand
finales are often a bit bittersweet once they’re
finally over.
That was certainly the case at the Commu-
nity Education and Recreation Center pool in
Hastings Saturday afternoon as the Barry
County Barracuda co-op varsity boys’ swim-
ming and diving team made up of stu-
dent-athletes from Thornapple Kellogg and
Hastings competed, and won, together for
what may be the last time.
The Barracudas won the OK Rainbow Tier
II Conference Meet for the first time in the
19-year history of the co-op program, which
also includes Delton Kellogg student-athletes
over the years, by outscoring the Wayland
and Ottawa Hills teams that bested them
during the conference duals this winter.
The final explosion of energy came in the
meet’s final event: the 400-yard freestyle
relay. The Barracuda team of juniors Jameson
Riordan and Riley Shults and seniors Devin
Pacillo and Jack Kensington beat out the
Wayland foursome of Henry Oudbier, Josh
Rose, Aidan Ketchapaw and Payton William-son by just over half a second for the team’s
only victory of the 12-event meet. The Barry
County foursome swam to a program record
time of 3 minutes 25.74 seconds, with Kens-
ington beating Williamson to the wall in the
end. The Wayland team finished in 3:26.27.
“I jumped into the water and I swam my
heart out.,” Shults said. “I told them when we
were about to walk out [for the race] that this
is probably the last time we’re going to get to
swim this as a team ever. We really held noth-
ing back. Every one of us got out of that pool
exhausted. We didn’t care. All we wanted to
do was win it as a team and get to the wall.
“I think the school record was never even
talked about,” he added. “All we wanted to
do was do it for the team. When Devin was
touching the wall I was screaming at Jack to
do it for the team. Do it! Personally, I couldn’t
even watch the race I was so nervous. Every
one of us was just hugging each other pulling
for Jack.”
“To me it just fun to watch the race, to just
take it all in,” Barry County head coach Tyler
Bultema said. “It was obviously very excit-
ing. We had a good lead-off swim. We really
challenged Jameson to step up his game thisweek and he really did in his 100 free and in
this race as well. Riley has been Mr. Reliable
all year. To put him in the second leg, he ran
his best time. Devin really stepped up in the
third leg and swam his best time.”
Ottawa Hills wasn’t far back in third in that
race with the team of Matias Rizkalla, Ryan
Yon, Ethan Shi and Zeke Deblaay finishing in
3:27.60. That performance helped the Ben-
gals win their third consecutive OK Rainbow
Tier II Conference Championship. The Ben-
gals were undefeated in conference duals this
winter.
The Barry County co-op took the confer-
ence meet championship with a score of 444
points. Ottawa Hills was second with 429.
points ahead of Wayland 398, Grand Rapids
Union 336.5 and Grand Rapids Catholic Cen-
tral 241.
The 400-yard freestyle relay was the last of
three team record performances by the Barra-
cudas. They also set a record in the 200-yard
freestyle relay and junior Thai foreign
exchange student Petch Jan-Id set the teamVikings claim final state
spot, ahead of Saxons
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Lakewood senior Emily Root and junior
Emily Pilar had a bit of a different perspec-
tive on round two at the MHSAA Division 3
Competitive Cheer Regional at Rockford
High School Saturday.
Pilar learned Monday that she’s be moving
to the front of the formation in round two
with Root taking a step back.
With the changes, the Vikings accom-
plished one of the things they were hoping for
Saturday. They’re going back to the MHSAA
Competitive Cheer Finals for the seventh
time in 11 seasons. The Lakewood varsity
team placed fourth at the regional, earning
the last of the four state qualifying spots.
The Hastings Saxons listened as the first
seven teams from the 12-team regional
heard their scores read meaning their season
had come to an end, and then they were
announced as the last team on the outside
looking in.
The MHSAA Division 3 Competitive
Cheer Finals will be held Friday, March 3, at
McGuirk Arena on the campus of Central
Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.
“I am ecstatic,” Root said. “I was glad to
be there last year. I just hope I have started a
tradition with my girls and they just keep on
making it to states.”
The Vikings had a four-year run of finals
appearances from 2015-2018 and got back
for the first time since then last winter.
Root, one of only four seniors on the Lake-
wood roster this season, took being moved
out of the front row in round two in stride at
last Monday’s practice, following the Vikings’
district tournament.
“It is easy,” Root said of the change. “I
have been competing for four years of high
school. Changes, I take them with a grain of
salt and I do what’s best for the team. My
skills aren’t the best. I don’t deserve that cen-
ter spot, and I know that there are better girls
on the mat.
“It is what is best for the team. I am just
happy to be on the mat. I know my legs aren’t
as long. I do not have a bendy back. I am not
a flexible girl.”
Pilar didn’t think of herself as much of a gym-
nast either entering high school. She worked
hard on her jumps after eighth grade to earn a
spot on the mat as a freshman and has kept hon-
ing her skills. A cleaner back handspring was the
last thing she really needed to achieve to earn
the front spot in round two. She’d already been
front and center in round one.
“For like four years I’ve been working for
my handspring and last year I finally got it,
and it wasn’t the best looking,” Pilar said.
“I’ve been really cleaning it up.”
She said she had to work on her sit at the
start of the handspring, and then setting all
the way up so she could get the banana
shaped curve to her body as she flips above
the mat. She said she felt like it really finally
clicked at districts last week.
“This week we have been really cleaning
up my handspring. Marty [Martin], our gym-
nastics coach has really been hitting it in my
brain to actually hit it right,” Pilar said.
“[Pilar] is probably my best jumper on my
team,” Lakewood head coach Kim Martinsaid, “and her gymnastics skills are coming
along. Her walkover skills are really clean.
This is the ultimate team sport. It really is. It’s
not like a basketball team where you have
one kid who is going to make all your bas-
kets, or your point guard is going to get the
ball down the court for you every time. It
really is the ultimate team sport.”
From her new spot in round two Pilar said
she was really impressed with the volume of
sophomore Emma Hyatt’s vocals Saturday.
Root was able to notice junior teammate Kara
Fedewa really hitting her round two skills.
The Vikings’ two Emilys were able to avoid
any kind of tension following the change.
“[Root] is my flyer, so we’re pretty close
and I think we’re good. We tend to just ignore
the drama. It is nice,” Pilar said.
There was plenty of other drama Saturday.
Paw Paw won the regional championship
with an overall score of 745.42 points. How-
ard City Tri County was second with a score
of 739.52 ahead of Portland 737.84 and Lake-
wood 736.38 in the top four.
More than one observer wondered allowed
how Portland was able to outscore Paw Paw
by nearly 10 points and keep within a point of
Lakewood in round three when the Raiders
had two or three stunts fail. A few points here
and there though wasn’t going to change
which teams went to the state finals.
Hastings finished in the unenviable fifth
position with an overall score of 704.36,
ahead of Hopkins 679.34, Midland Bullock
Creek 675.70, Escanaba 668.70, Comstock
Park 665.68, Whitehall 656.62, Parchment
662.72 and Montague 642.28.Paw Paw had a solid lead heading into
round three after putting up the top score in
each of the first two rounds. The Red Wolves
had scores of 228.20 and 226.12 in rounds
one and two to start the day. Paw Paw closed
the day with a round three that appeared
almost as rough as Portland’s. The Wolves
got a score of 291.10 in round three.
Lakewood head coach Kim Martin was
pretty happy with her girls’ performance in
rounds two and three especially. The Vikings
closed the day with a score of 301.30. She was
one of the observers who wondered how Port-
land managed a score of 300.50 in round three
which kept the Raiders just ahead of her team.
The Vikings had a score of 213.18 in the
reworked round two and a score of 221.90 in
round one.
Coach Martin wasn’t thrilled with her
team’s round one performance, noticing a
few girls being late changing formations
among the issues.
Tri County had scores of 218.40 in round
one, 210.62 in round two and 310.50 in round
three. That was the highest round three score
of the day by far.
Portland opened the day with a score of
222.70 in round one and then scored 214.
points in round two.
Hastings outscored the regional champions
in round three with a score of 293.30, but
were quite a ways behind the top four teams
after the first two rounds. Hastings had as
score of 214.80 in round one and 196.74 in
round two.
The Saxons had the sixth best score in round
one and the fifth best score in round two.The Saxons' Mia Santos and Kacey Campbell are out front as their team points to the stands early on in its round three routine
Saturday at the MHSAA Division 3 Competitive Cheer Regional at Rockford High School. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
Lakewood's Emily Root (front) and Emily Pilar shout out to the crowd during their
team's round two performance Saturday at the MHSAA Division 3 Competitive Cheer
Regional hosted by Rockford High School. The Vikings qualified for the state finals for
the second year in a row with their fourth place finish. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Hastings varsity competitive cheer
coach Linsey Jacinto (left) gets a hug
from junior Jordyn Downs following their
team's fifth place finish at the MHSAA
Division 3 Competitive Cheer Regional
hosted by Rockford Saturday. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)The Barry County Barracuda varsity boys' swimming and diving team made up of
guys from Thornapple Kellogg and Hastings High Schools celebrates its champion-
ship at the OK Rainbow Tier II Conference Meet at the Community Education and
Recreation Center in Hastings Saturday. It's the first conference meet victory for the
co-op program, which also includes swimmers from Delton Kellogg at times, in the
19-year history of the program.
See BARRACUDAS, page 10