The boys swim and dive team took ninth in the West Michigan relay meet against 17 other teams. Holland West Ottawa took first, but the only team in the Rangers’ conference to beat them was East Grand Rapids, who took second. This does not factor into the Rangers’ conference record, but it was a good opportunity to show the progress of the team in the relays against tough competition.

The meet kicked off with the 400-yard relay. The Rangers took seventh in this event with the time of 3:54.08. That team consisted of junior Josh Stevenson, sophomore Benji Zorn, senior Kyle Carter, and junior Avery LeTourneau. The 200-yeard breaststroke relay was a smashing success, with freshman Gavin Cai, senior Dani Ahmetovic, sophomore Sam Yeager, and Benji taking fourth with their time of 2:00.87.

The Rangers took a dip after these races, taking 14th in the 500-yard freestyle relay with the time of 5:29.56. That team was junior Seth Palumbo, freshman Aden Pomeroy, senior Lawrence Simmons, and sophomore Alex Schenck. Freshman Isaac Stewart, Josh, Sam, and Gavin took tenth in the 4×100 IM relay with their time of 4:15.46.

Reaching the midpoint of the meet, the Rangers bounced back, taking sixth in the 200-yard fly relay with the team of Kyle Carter, Francesco Roveri, freshman Ben Rogala, and Avery LeTourneau. They secured a fast time of 1:43.47. Next up was the long 800-yard freestyle relay. Sophomore Andrew Kerssies, Alex Schenck, Isaac Stewart, and Francesco Roveri got the time of 8:48.60, earning them a 12th place finish.

In a back-to-back 12th place finish, the 200-yard backstroke relay team of Isaac, Andrew, Aden, and Francesco swam the time of 2:07.53. Moving into the 400-yard freestyle relay, Ben, Gavin, Andrew, and Alex swam their time of 3:46.62; this got them tenth place.

The Rangers finished out the meet with a couple of solid performances. The team of Josh, Sam, Kyle, and Dani took sixth in the 200-yard medley relay with their time of 1:48.45. To close out the meet, Benji, Dani, Ben, and Avery took ninth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with their time of 1:33.19.

This is one of the early meets in the season and holds little weight overall, with the main takeaway being testing the skills of the relay teams. Considering the difficult competition, the Rangers did well, beating Jenison, Lowell, and Forest Hills Northern/Eastern, who all teams they will be facing off against in the conference season.

The next meet will be the Zeeland Relays, where the Rangers will have to continue to rely on depth, with every race being a relay. Conference opponents will be there, and the Rangers hope to continue to prove themselves as they prepare for the upcoming conference meets.