Lakeview’s boys swimming team knew it had all the pieces to repeat its first-place finish in the Macomb County Championships.

However, the Huskies still had to do it in the water.

“That was the goal going into the season, but you never know what’s going to happen,” said coach Danni Kudla after Lakeview edged Dakota by four points Friday in a meet that wasn’t decided until the final relay. “Dakota’s got a great team. Fraser has Hunter (Lemmon) and Jack DePerro. I knew it was going to be tough.

“It kept going back and forth all meet — us, Dakota and Fraser.”

Lakeview, which finished second to Dakota in the 400-yard freestyle relay, had 319 points. Dakota finished with 315 and Fraser got third place with 305 in the meet hosted by L’Anse Creuse North.

Fraser’s Lemmon received the Senior Swimmer of the Year award.

“When it was coming down to the last relay, I just told them, ‘do what you can do,’” Kudla said. “I knew it was close and we probably had to take second or third. They were going for a state cut and they blew that away.”

Dakota’s team of Ben Struhar, Nate Yearkey, Morrison Wood and Collin Morrison won the final relay in 3:22.23 but the Lakeview quartet of Keith Wright, Klei Muhameti, Brody Mergener and Tyler Deubel got second to hold on to first place in the team standings.

“Two years in a row. It’s incredible,” said Deubel, who also won the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle. “I’m glad we all stuck together as a team. I’m glad everyone swam either harder or faster than they had all year. I’m so proud of the team to get a win like this. It’s all hard to process right now.”

Kudla gave credit to the team for its success.

“The boys did it. I just came along,” she said. “They did awesome. We were missing a couple today but the ones that were here really stepped up.”

Dakota’s runner-up finish was accomplished by a young team.

“We have seven rookies on the team this year — first-year high school swimmers,” said Cougars coach Dave Smith. “It’s the smallest team I’ve had. Only 13 kids and 11 county qualifiers. They battled hard. We borrowed some of Dan Campbell’s model of having grit. We talked about that all season. You have to put the work in and show up every day.”

Dakota went into the final relay trailing by 10 points and it needed Lakeview to falter, which the Huskies refused to do.

“We had all the kids in the right spots,” Smith said. “You can’t control what anyone else will do.”

Fraser won the county championship in 2023 and finished second last year.

“It’s all about the fun I’ve had the last four years with a great bunch of boys,” said Ramblers coach Danielle Berry-Woody.

Three meet records were broken, including two by Lemmon. He won the 50 freestyle in 21.28 to edge defending champion Max Dexter of Ford by .07. Dexter also broke the old record. Lemmon set the county meet record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.63.

Dexter eased some of the disappointment in losing in the 50 by setting the meet record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.77.

“I really needed that,” Dexter said. “Every year Hunter and I go back and forth. It’s really fun having that good competition. I was thinking about that race when I was swimming the 100. I wish Hunter had been in that, too. It would have pushed us both really good.”

Dexter said his favorite event is the 100.

“It’s a little longer so one mistake doesn’t take you out of the race in the 100 like it does the 50. It gives you time to adjust,” he said.

Deubel came on strong in the final two legs of the 200 IM to finish ahead of De La Salle sophomore Oliver Russell and Stevenson’s Trey White.

“My second half is the best,” Deubel said. “I’m a breaststroker and a 500 swimmer so I like the energy at the end. I saw I was close to both Trey and Oliver.”

Deubel won easily in the 500 freestyle and was the only swimmer to break five minutes.

“It’s a lot mental in the 500,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure my breathing was OK; go out fast and strong but don’t tire myself out.”

Oliver came back to win the 100 butterfly in a close race with Dakota’s Morrison.

“I was astonished when I saw that I got first place,” he said. “The 100 fly is fast-paced. You have to keep your head down, move your arms and keep going. I started to die in the last 25 but I just put my head down and kept pushing. It’s just great to be part of this.”

Eisenhower’s Riley Brimm repeated as diving champion with a score of 435.80 points — more than 100 points ahead of second place.

“He has a lot of new dives this year,” said Eagles diving coach Jenn Williams. “His goal was to beat the school record and he broke the record for six dives and last night broke the school record for 11 dives.”

Dakota had the other two individual winners. Freshman Ben Struhar won the 200 freestyle (1:49.18) and senior Collin Morrison took the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.22.Results

TEAM STANDINGS: 1, Lakeview 319 points; 2, Dakota 315; 3, Fraser 305; 4, Eisenhower 266; 5, De La Salle 178; 6, Ford 167; 7, L’Anse Creuse North 133; 8, Stevenson 127; 9, Utica 117; 10, Chippewa Valley 104; 11, Warren Woods Tower 57; 12, Romeo 55; 13, Cousino 53; 14, L’Anse Creuse 52; 15, Center Line 24; 16, Sterling Heights 23; 17, Lake Shore 15; 18, Anchor Bay 14.

200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY: 1, Fraser (Hunter Lemmon, Landon Keil, Jack DePerro, Nikko Fotion) 1:41.75. 2, Dakota 1:43.10. 3, Ford 1:48.61. 4, De La Salle 1:48.66. 5, Eisenhower 1:51.30. 6, Utica 1:52.11. 7, Stevenson 1:52.19. 8, Chippewa Valley 1:52.45. 9, Lakeview 1:52.47. 10, Warren Woods Tower 1:56.16. 11, L’Anse Creuse North 1:57.13. 12, Cousino 1:58.10.

200 FREESTYLE: 1, Ben Struhar, Dak, 1:49.18. 2, Jack DePerro, Fra, 1:51.93. 3, Dylan Martin, Stev, 1:53.64. 4, Klei Muhameti, LV, 1:55.14. 5, Brody Roberts, Fra, 1:56.00. 6, Tayshaun Wong, Ford, 1:57.22. 7, David Gonzalez, Eis, 1:57.48. 8, Brody Mergener, LV, 1:57.71. 9, Aiden Gideon, Dak, 2:00.52. 10, Brian Harris, Eis, 2:00.83. 11, John Gauvin, Fra, 2:03.25. 12, Joshua Day, Fra, 2:04.88.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1, Tyler Deubel, LV, 2:00.39. 2, Oliver Russell, DLS, 2:04.26. 3, Trey White, Stev, 2:04.84. 4, Carter Beal, Eis, 2:08.61. 5, Nate Yearkey, Dak, 2:13.14. 6, James DiNello, Dak, 2:15.57. 7, Ryan Wise, LV, 2:15.91. 8, Eli Ponton, Eis, 2:17.69. 9, Aidan Mazzorana, LV, 2:18.00. 10, Spencer Lukasik, Eis, 2:18.29. 11, Nick Vaughn, LCN, 2:19.14. 12, Brandon Bowman, WWT, 2:19.40.

50 FREESTYLE: 1, Hunter Lemmon, Fra, 21.28 (meet record). 2, Max Dexter, Ford, 21.35. 3, Keith Wright, LV, 22.62. 4, Devin Wolsker, Eis, 22.73. 5, Aiden Nickels, LC, 23.55. 6, James Eldred, CV, 23.77. 7, Nikko Fotion, Fra, 24.06. 8, Dylan Hlavin, Rom, 24.37. 9, Nick Redmerski, LCN, 24.43. 10, Seth Gehrke, LCN, 24.58. 11, Matthew Shepan, Fra, 24.92. 12, Michael Schunck, Uti, 24.93.

ONE-METER DIVING: 1, Riley Brimm, Eis, 435.80 points. 2, Jaden House, Ford, 330.15. 3, Dylan Jasman, Dak, 285.05. 4, Nate Tomezak, DLS, 283.20. 5, Cameron Fett, DLS, 243.45. 6, Dominik Bowen, LV, 235.20. 7, Ender Straughen, DLS. 234.10. 8, Joey Skupin, LCN, 225.00. 9, Caleb Trepkowski, Stev, 221.30. 10, Brian Vaughn, Fra, 220.40. 11, Logan Girdley, CV, 208.70. 12, Hector Gascho, CV, 204.85.

100 BUTTERFLY: 1, Oliver Russell, DLS, 54.58. 2, Collin Morrison, Dak, 54.75. 3, Jack DePerro, Fra, 55.71. 4, Trey White, Stev, 55.91. 5, Ice Camitan, Cou, 57.31. 6, Klei Muhameti, LV, 59.56. 7, Arber Buzi, LS, 59.99. 8, Kenny Bulgrin, CV, 1:01.15. 9, Brody Mergener, LV, 1:02.01. 10, Bennett Ogilvy, Ford, 1:02.83. 11, Thomas Kotula, Eis, 1:03.19. 12, Kacen Lehl, LCN, 1:03.31.

100 FREESTYLE: 1, Max Dexter, Ford, 46.77 (meet record). 2, Keith Wright, LV, 49.15. 3, Morrison Wood, Dak, 50.35. 4, Devin Wolsker, Eis, 51.53. 5, Nate Yearkey, Dak, 51.88. 6, Brody Roberts, Fra, 53.26. 7, Noah Loizos, LV, 53.51. 8, Tayshaun Wong, Ford, 53.85. 9, Dylan Hlavin, Rom, 54.13. 10, Seth Gehrke, LCN, 54.37. 11, Nick Redmerski, LCN, 54.52. 12, Matthew Shepan, Fra, 54.89.

500 FREESTYLE: 1, Tyler Deubel, LV, 4:52.11. 2, Dylan Martin, Stev, 5:00.16. 3, James DiNello, Dak, 5:21.21. 4, David Gonzalez, Eis, 5:28.59. 5, Owen Muhameti, LV, 5:33.01. 6, Nathan Borton, Dak, 5:34.00. 7, John Gauvin, Fra, 5:34.50. 8, Aiden Gideon, Dak, 5:36.11. 9, Nick Vaughn, LCN, 5:37.05. 10, Kacen Lehl, LCN, 5:43.58. 11, Dominic Jardine, LC, 5:45.70. 12, Matthew Hurlbert, Ford, 5:47.72.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY: 1, Lakeview (Keith Wright, Klei Muhameti, Brody Mergener, Tyler Deubel), 1:32.08. 2, Fraser, 1:35.04. 3, Eisenhower 1:35.22. 4, Ford 1:35.25. 5, Utica 1:37.03. 6, Dakota 1:41.34. 7, L’Anse Creuse North 1:41.57. 8, Romeo 1:42.14. 9, De La Salle 1:42.26. 10, Warren Woods Tower 1:43.38. 11, L’Anse Creuse 1:45.66. 12, Chippewa Valley 1:46.02.

100 BACKSTROKE: 1, Hunter Lemmon, Fra, 50.63 (Meet record). 2, Morrison Wood, Dak, 56.25. 3, Ben Struhar, Dak, 56.69. 4, Noah Loizos, LV, 59.32. 5, Carter Beal, Eis, 59.84. 6, Ice Capitan, Cou, 1:00.02. 7, William Mosey, CL, 1:01.60. 8, Thomas Kotula, Eis, 1:02.10. 9, Aidan Mazzorana, LV, 1:02.44. 10, Nikko Fotion, Fra, 1:02.59. 11, Kenny Bulgrin, CV, 1:03.99. 12, Owen Muhameti, LV, 1:03.93.

100 BREASTSTROKE: 1, Collin Morrison, Dak, 1:02.22. 2, Ryan Wise, LV, 1:05.41. 3, Landon Keil, Fra, 1:06.71. 4, Michael Voronenko, DLS, 1:06.83. 5, Brandon Bowman, WWT, 1:07 .91. 6, Spencer Lukasik, Eis, 1:08.69. 7, Ethan Gerber, Fra, 1:09.41. 8, Gio Mandwee, SH, 1:09.63. 9, James Eldred, CV, 1:10.94. 10, Eli Ponton, Eis, 1:11.62. 11, Lucas Centner, Fra, 1:11.77. 12, Jayden Romanow, LCN, 1:12.04.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY: 1, Dakota (Ben Struhar, Nate Yearkey, Morrison Wood, Collin Morrison), 3:22.23. 2, Lakeview 3:25.52. 3, Fraser 3:31.48. 4, Eisenhower 3:31.75. 5, Stevenson 3:43.53. 6, De La Salle 3:44.88. 7, L’Anse Creuse North 3:46.89. 8, Utica 3:51.04. 9, Chippewa Valley 3:51.87. 10, Ford 3:52.10. 11, L’Anse Creuse 3:59.31. 12, Warren Woods Tower 4:00.23.