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Records in the 400-yard freestyle, 200-yard
freestyle and both medley
and freestyle relays were established by the Patton Boys Team last
Sunday,
March 18. The Patton team not only set new marks, but also swept the
scoreboard
for the second year in succession.
The Eleventh Annual State A.A.U. Boys 16 and Under
Swimming and Diving
Championships were held Sunday at the Wyandotte Memorial Pool. The meet
was co-sponsored by the Wyandotte Y Men's Club of the Downriver YMCA
and
the Wyandotte Recreation Department.
The Patton boys outstanding performances came in five
out of eleven
events. Pete Adams, one of Patton's candidates for All-American, swam
the
400-yard freestyle in a record time of 4:14.3. Then, in the 200-yard
freestyle,
John Savinsky broke a record his teammate, Ron Boyd, had set last year
of 2:01.8 with a new mark of 1:57.7.
Dennis Manrique, somewhat off pace, won the 100-yard
breaststroke with
a 1:07.8, but missed the record by only 1.1 seconds.
After the individual events had been completed, the
excitement of the
meet reached a climax. Patton held the edge in points going into the
last
two events, the relays, but the Maple Swim Club had qualified three
teams
in the Medley Relay. Last year the Maple Medley Relay had beaten Patton
only by a judge's decision, the times being equal.
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This year it could have been history repeating
itself as the Maple team,
led by All-American and record holder Don Spence, pulled ahead by two
body
lengths at the end of 300 yards. But determination on the part of
Patton's
freestyler, John Savinsky, the last 100 yards changed hands and the
Parks
and Recreation team had set a new championship record of 3:59.5,
breaking
the old record by almost 10 seconds.
Members of this relay were: Rick Skarbo (backstroke),
Dennis Manrique
(breaststroke), John Stewart (butterfly) and John Savinsky
(freestyle).
After the 400-yard Freestyle Relay, the Patton Boys
team had romped
home with the team trophy. In this last event, Patton qualified two out
of the six finalists, finishing first and second.
They also set another record of 3:36.1, breaking a
record of 3:41.6
which they had made in the preliminaries. This team consisted of John
Powser,
Jay Osrowske, Ron Boyd and Pete Adams as anchor man.
Patton has now won three of the four Age Group A.A.U.
Championships
in the state of Michigan.
Team results were as follows: Detroit Parks and
Recreation, 93 points;
Maple Swim Club, 59 points: Thurston Swim Club, 28 points, and Ecorse
Otters,
18 points.
Over 180 swimmers, representing fifteen swimming clubs
participated
in the meet. |