Novi boys swim and dive takes 4th at states

NOVI — Novi boys swim and dive not only improved from its 10th place finish at the 2022 Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 State Finals, it also took a giant step forward for the program’s future.

On March 11 at Calvin University, Novi finished fourth in the MHSAA Division I State Championships, tying Novi’s highest state-final placement in school history.

“Overall, I think my boys had a great season,” Novi coach Rebecca O’Shaughnessy said. “We’re obviously excited about our finish at the state meet. We finished a lot higher than we originally thought.”

Novi senior Nicholas Suranyi led the way, finishing second in the 200-yard individual medley, second in the 100-yard butterfly, and a pair of impressive second-place finishes in the 200-yard free relay and 400-yard free relay alongside juniors Dominick Ducato, Theiss Lynch and Nolan Ebel.

A Hope College commit, Suranyi saw significant improvements from his fifth-place and seventh-place finishes in the 200-yard IM and 100-yard fly, respectively, at the 2022 state finals.

A staple of Novi swim and dive, Suranyi said it was a bittersweet season for him as a captain to see his Novi career come to a close.

“One thing about being a captain was just mixed feelings, because I had to be the leader of the team and be on every day, but it was also the emotional part of it where it’s the last of everything,” Suranyi said.

It was a junior affair from there, as Ebel and Ducato put points on the board for Novi on their own.

Ebel took home a pair of all-state honors, finishing sixth in the 50-yard free and fifth in the 100-yard free. Ebel took massive leaps from his 14th-place finish in the 100-yard free and 17th-place finish in the 50-yard free at the 2022 state finals.

Ducato showed improvement as well, posting an eighth-place finish in the 500-yard free, which earned him all-state honors as well.

Ducato said the team’s mindset was the key to its improvement throughout the season.

“I know we all took practice very seriously,” Ducato said. “I think that’s part of the reason we were so successful. Every day we were locked-in at practice.”

In addition to their strong showing at states, Novi finished 7-1 in dual meets this season, finishing second in the Kensington Lakes Athletic Association West Division with a 5-1 league record.

While Novi couldn’t get the best of first-place Northville, a Feb. 2 meet against a KLAA rival would change the course of Novi’s season.

“I think the turning point for the season was when we swam against Brighton in a dual meet,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Northville tied with Brigthon, and we lost to Northville, so beating Brighton in that dual meet, I think the boys started to realize, ‘OK, we can be great and we can do great things.’”

While Suranyi, senior Ryan Choi, Carter Tarkanyi and Luca Freise headline a strong senior class set to graduate, Ebel, Lynch and Ducato will form a notable 2024 senior class for Novi. Sophomores Anirudh Kundurthy, Cooper Wasson and Andrew Alindogan will look to improve on their second-year seasons as well.

“Going into next year is definitely big, just because we’re going to lose Nick,” Ebel said. “It’s going to be interesting how it plays out, because we have a lot to live up to coming off a fourth at states and losing a big senior class.”