Crusaders Swim To Victory In L’Anse Creuse Showdown

In the battle of the two L’Anse Creuses, the victory went to the north Tuesday night.

At least in swimming.

The Crusaders went the distance and beat the L’Anse Creuse Lancers 101.5-81.5 in a matchup that was eight years in the making.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve competed against them,” Crusaders coach Mike Owensby said following the meet. “When we first got the pool and started competing we won and then they started beating us all the time.

“For the past eight years we haven’t even competed against them so this is a really nice win for us,” he said. “I think the (swimmers) were pretty excited coming into this.”

The Crusaders started the meet strong, taking the top spot in the opening 200-yard medley relay. The top team of Ryan Vanpoppelen, Alex Marsack, Adis Jakupovic and Sebastian Rajewski finished with a time of 1:46.07.

Then, in the 200 freestyle, the Crusaders snagged all three top spots thanks to strong swims by Paul Smyrski (1:59.02), John Aiken (1:59.96) and Kevin Smolarek (2:02.03).

“That was a great way to start,” Vanpoppelen said. “I was hopeful after we started so strong we’d be able to keep it up. That was a great race for us.”

In the third event, the 200 individual medley, Logan Jordan of the Lancers finished first with a time of 2:08.04. He was followed by L’Anse Creuse North’s Marsack, with a time of 2:17.89.

In the 50-yard freestyle, it was Vanpoppelen taking top honors with a time of 23.30 seconds and teammate John Nowinski finishing third with a time of 24.60.

“I was happy with my performance tonight,” Vanpopelen said. “I think it was the whole team that was great, though. Everyone had a really great effort tonight.”

The Lancers took the top two spots in diving thanks to strong performances by Danny Keaveny (140.25) and Evan Haggerty (138.60). For the Crusaders, Phil Mansur finished third with a score of 82.65.

Up next was the 100 butterfly, which Jake Feyers of L’Anse Creuse won with a time of 58.07. Two Crusaders, Sebastian Rajewski (1:02.49) and James Latour (1:04.08), took second and third place, respectively.

The seventh event, the 100 freestyle, was again won by Vanpoppelen with a time of 50.72 seconds. Teammate Nowinski, claimed third place with a 55.02 and for the Lancers, Chad Pierce placed second with a 51.04.

The Lancers took the top two spots of the 100 freestyle after strong performances by Max Rose (58.74) and Alex Kaiser (1:01.76). For the Crusaders, James Coller finished third at 1:03.97.

Jordan took the 500 freestyle (5:11.93) for the Lancers while Jakupovic (5:23.64) and Aiken (5:24.85) claimed second and third place.

The Crusaders earned top honors in the 200 freestyle relay with the team of Marsack, Rajewski, Vanpoppelen and Nowinski finishing first with a time of 1:35.09. Their second relay team, consisting of Smolarkek, Coller, Smyrski and Aiken, finished second with a time of 1:43.44.

In the 10th event, the 100 backstroke, Ryan Redoute (57.87) and Haggerty (1:06.85) claimed first and third place for the Lancers, while Smolarek placed second for the Crusaders with a time of 1:05.95.

Marsack (1:07.98) and Tyler Bucec (1:15.17) finished second and third for the Crusaders in the 100-yard Breaststroke, behind Pierce (1:06.38) who took first for the Lancers.

“They won a lot of individual events but we had a strong showing overall,” Owensby said.

In the final event of the evening, the 400 freestyle relay, the Crusaders took second and third place, with Smolarek, Smyrski, Jakupovic and Nowinski placing second with a time of 3:44.65. The Lancers team of Jakey Feyers, Redoute, Jordan and Pierce finished first at 3:41.55.

“I’m very pleased with the outcome,” Owensby said. “We still have a lot of work to do before the county meet, but this was a good contest for us.”

Vanpoppelen agreed.

“This was the biggest meet for us so far this year,” he said. “It was really great to win it.”