Kyle Lovas’ Time Drops Highlight High School State’s Excitement

Photo Courtesy: Nicholas McMillan

By Todd Lovas III, Swimming World College Intern.

High school state championship meets are an exciting event, hosting swimmers with a range of stories and successes. Some of these young athletes seem to be able to drop time like no other when they hit the big stage. For others, an entire year of training will result in a drop of mere tenths.

At this year’s MHSAA Division III State Championships, Kyle Lovas was one of those with spectacular time drops.

In 2016, Lovas made a quiet appearance at his first ever state meet, swimming in two relays that failed to final, and slipping to 15^th in one of the fastest 500 freestyle heats in Michigan Division III history, going 5:00.73. In finals, he managed to drop down to 4:59.70, and get 14^th place. The fun fact? This was only his second year of swimming.

For the 2017 competition, he was entered in the 200 Medley Relay, along with the 200 and 500 freestyle. While his 200 Medley Relay failed to final, the event got Lovas moving as he knocked off a 23.50 50 butterfly leg.

Lovas’ 200 freestyle, however, was a swim that turned heads. Two weeks earlier his career best was a dual meet 1:52.00. He then smashed that at his conference championships with a 1:47.97. With a four second drop under his belt, Lovas continued to smash expectations at the state meet.

In prelims he chopped another 2.35 seconds from his lifetime best to earn the 11th seed. Determined to prove he belonged in the fastest heat, in finals Lovas obliterated his heat as he scorched a 1:44.00. The junior won the B-final by over an entire second, and went a time that would have placed him sixth in the A-final.

In total, he dropped exactly eight full seconds in the 200 freestyle, over the course of only two weeks, marking a 7.7 percent improvement.

Jul 17, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; A general view of the start of a men's 50m freestyle preliminary heats during the 2015 Pan Am Games at Pan Am Aquatics UTS Centre and Field House. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel/USA Today Sports Images

Neither Lovas’ meet, nor his best time streak, were finished. At the Haslett Invitational, Lovas had already taken four seconds off his best time from the 2016 state championship. In prelims, Lovas dropped 11 seconds and recorded a 4:44.64 to get fourth in prelims.

He was finally thrust onto the main stage where he would have to duke it out with incredible opponents such as Skyler Cook-Weeks. In finals, Lovas was sixth through the halfway mark. However, he trusted in his back half abilities and attempted to run down a tired and beaten Luke Mason in order to try to get second. He fell a little shy of a silver medal, but Lovas out touched Brennan Richardson by .06 to earn third with a 4:44.14.

In just one year, Lovas jumped 11 places and managed to drop a stellar 15.56 seconds from the year prior, a great 5.5 percent improvement.

Where does this leave Lovas? In the 200, next year we will see an impressive battle between Cook-Weeks, Lucas Misra, Ben Puglessi and himself, each with times varying from 1:38 to 1:44, and all of them being seniors. In the 500, it will be the same rematch of the top three with Cook-Weeks, Mason and Lovas all returning as seniors, with times even more widely varying from 4:26 to 4:44.

While Lovas would have to drop another unrealistic six seconds in his 200, and another 18 in his 500 in order to contend for the title in either event, he’s already done drops like this once, why not one more time?

Sometimes swimmers really will come out of no where in order to duke it out with even the best in their class. While sometimes setting your goals so high seems unrealistic, there’s only one question you can ask yourself. Why not you?

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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