2005. 3.13 Ann Arbor News

Up until this weekend, during his short but illustrious high school swimming career, Sho Koba had yet to experience one thing.

Although he was a member of one of the most successful prep swimming programs in the nation, the Pioneer junior had yet to be a part of a state championship swimming team.

That changed Saturday at Eastern Michigan's Jones Natatorium. Over three hours of dominance, Pioneer - and, in particular, Koba -put an exclamation point on its third Division 1 state title in the last four years.

"This day (was) amazing," said Koba, whose team finished a narrow second to Holland at last year's state meet, the only other season the Japanese transfer student has competed for Pioneer. "I'm very happy."

Pioneer finished with 305 points, its highest total in more than seven years. Zeeland, which was thought to be neck-and-neck with Pioneer entering the meet, was a distant second with 200 points. No other local team finished in the top 10.

"This year, we outdid ourselves," said Pioneer Denny Hill, who collected his 25th state title - his 13th with the boys team. "The kids really performed well."

No one did better than Koba, who was cheered by dozens of Pioneer students, parents and fans, some of them holding signs that said "It's Sho Time." In all four of his events, the 17-year-old Japanese Olympic hopeful set state records. Individually, he won the 100 and 200 freestyle and then anchored both the 200 and the 400 freestyle relay teams - the last being the final event of the meet. Koba's state title in the 200 was his second in a row.

Making the victory in the 400 relay even sweeter, the Pioneers swam the event in 3 minutes, 8.78 seconds - breaking the meet record of 3:09.40 set by Holland last year when the Dutch clinched the state title.

But Koba wasn't Pioneer's only star. Senior David Curtis, who also swam on the 200 and 400 relay teams, captured a state title in the 500 freestyle when he touched the wall first in 4:35.43 -nearly 4 seconds better than his time in Friday's preliminaries and 13 seconds faster than his previous season best.

"I knew I was going to taper well," said Curtis, referring to the training regimen that involves gradually reducing how much swimmers practice in the weeks leading up to the state meet. "I had no idea I was going to drop so much time."

Pioneer also won based on the sheer quantity of swimmers it had competing. Several coaches around the Jones Natatorium joked that Pioneer had locked up the title by the 200 freestyle, the day's second event. That statement was not too far from the truth, considering that Pioneer took five of the top 16 spots, allowing the team to compile an amazing 55 points in a single event.

Junior Robert Steele, who finished eighth in the 200 free, sixth in the 100 butterfly and swam on the 200 relay team, said he didn't know what to expect entering the season. All the talk seemed to be that Zeeland could inherit Holland's title -especially after Pioneer didn't win some of its regular season dual meets against the state's elite teams.

Now all that talk will stop, he said. "This was a blowout," he said. "You couldn't have asked for more."

今週末まで、古場勝はこれまでの短いが活躍している高校水泳で、一つ経験していないことがある。

アメリカで活躍している高校生の一人ではあるが、パイオニアのジュニアはまだステートチャンピオンのチームの一員となったことがない。

この土曜日のイースタンミシガン大学のプールでそれは変わった。3時間を越える大会で、パイオニアとりわけ古場は沢山のポイントを稼ぎ、この４年間で３回目となるディビジョン１のステート大会のタイトルを獲得した。

昨年ホーランド高校に僅差で２位となった日本から転学してきた古場は、「今日はすばらしかった。」「とても嬉しい。」と言った。

パイオニアは７年間で最高となる３０５ポイントを獲得した。パイオニアと接戦となると考えられていたジーランドは、２００ポイントで２位となった。１０位以内には地域の他の高校は入らなかった。

「今年は自分たちに打ち勝った。」「子供達は本当に良くやった。」と、１３回目の男子タイトルと２５回のステートタイトルを獲得しているデニーヒルコーチは言った。

沢山のパイオニアの生徒・父兄・「イッツショータイム」のサインをもったファンから応援された古場が一番活躍した。日本のオリンピック選手を狙っている１７歳は、四つの全てのイベントで大会記録を出した。個人種目の１００と２００の自由形と、２００と４００の自由形リレーメンバーのアンカーとして優勝した。古場の２００のタイトルは２度目になる。

４００自由形リレーの勝利は比較的簡単であった。パイオニアはこの種目を3:08.78で泳ぎ、昨年ホーランドがステートタイトルを獲得した際に樹立した3:09.40の大会記録を破った。