'I just get in the zone': Brighton state champion has few peers in his main swim event

BRIGHTON — When Luke Newcomb touched the wall to win the 100-yard breaststroke Thursday night, he took off his goggles and looked up at the board to see his time.

Now that he’s wearing contact lenses while swimming, the Brighton senior can actually see the amazing times he’s putting up rather than hearing them from a coach after exiting the pool.

He then caught his breath after an effort which produced a time of 57.68 seconds.

All the while, the race behind him was still taking place.

The second-place swimmer from Hartland wouldn’t finish for another 10.06 seconds, a massive gap in a 100-yard swim race.

Mismatches can happen in a dual meet, but Newcomb has been untouchable in his premier event, the one in which he won the state Division 1 championship last season.

In the KLAA, a strong swimming conference, his season-best time of 57.41 is 5.08 seconds faster than anyone else.

“What we’re working on with him is just finding him a race,” Brighton coach Sean Hickman said. “We want to get him somebody he can race, because he’s been swimming out there by himself. He’s just so much faster than everybody else in the conference.”

Newcomb ranks third in the state in the breaststroke behind two Detroit Catholic Central swimmers. Luke Mychalowych, who was second to Newcomb in the state meet last season, leads the state with a time of 55.91. Teammate Roshi Turner, who was fifth in the state last year, has swam 57.37.

Only four swimmers in Michigan have broken 58 seconds and eight have broken one minute.

Until Newcomb hits the water against one of those competitors, he has to be completely self-driven during races.

“I’m not really thinking too much during races,” he said. “I just get in the zone. In the state meet, I can see people in my peripherals and it pushes me a little bit more. Now, I just get in the zone and try to push myself as hard as I can on my own.”

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Newcomb hopes to experience a time drop similar to last year’s when he gets to the state meet March 8-9 at Oakland University. His fastest time last January was 58.08 before lowering it to a school-record 55.34 in the state meet.

“Defending a title is a lot of stress,” he said. “I know there’s a couple more guys. Last year, I had one big opponent. He’s in my grade, too, so we’ve got two seniors and a couple more kids, about four of us, around that 55, 56, 57 range. But with added competition, it gives me a little more pressure to swim faster, and I thrive on pressure.”

After becoming Brighton’s first male state champion, Newcomb considered taking a route chosen by some top swimmers and leaving the high school scene to compete at the club level.

His teammates at Brighton were a big reason why he decided to stay.

“Over this last summer, I really debated about staying with club this last senior year,” said Newcomb, who recently committed to swim for Hope College. “We’ve got a new coach, too, and I was a bit wary about that. But luckily I’m committed to college now, so the big stress is off. I really think it’s fun having a team mentality with kids at Brighton, people I see at school every day. You’re closer with the team than you are with club teams generally. I’ve grown to like these guys.”

In addition to his breaststroke success, Newcomb hopes to take down the school record in the 200 individual medley. He also won that event in a landslide Thursday with a time of 1:58.61. The school record of 1:54.50 was set by Drew Panzl in 2018. Newcomb is second in school history with the 1:56.39 he swam last year.

“I think I’ll be able to take it down,” he said. “That’s the big hope for this season. I’m a big taper swimmer. With where I’m at right now, normally I’m at two minutes, 2:01 in the middle of the season. Seeing a 1:58 right now is a big hope for me.”

Newcomb was also on two winning relay teams Thursday, leading Brighton to a 102-84 victory over Hartland.

Lincoln Hartman won the 100 butterfly in 55.55 and Spencer Sanders won the 500 freestyle in 5:15.22 for Brighton.

Hartland senior Issac Davis won the 50 freestyle in 22.33 and the 100 freestyle in 49.05. Tyler Davis won the 200 freestyle in 1:49.35, Nathan Bergkoetter won the 100 backstroke in 1:01.49 and diver Jack Losert won with 257.35 points for the Eagles.

“I think my team swam fantastic,” Hartland coach Regina Davis said. “They’ve been working hard for a couple weeks. We knew this was a real big meet coming up, great competitors all around. Brighton’s always been a big rivalry of ours.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Dominant Luke Newcomb leads Brighton swimmers past Hartland