Kretz: from piranha to rock star

FAIRFIELD - Kevin Kretz started as a piranha when he was five years old. Piranhas are known to be voracious and Kretz has snapped up some amazing accomplishments. Among those are the fact that he is a king, Homecoming king that is, last fall at Fairfield High School.

Piranhas are Indigenous to the Amazon basin, but have moved to distant corners of the world from their original habitat.

Kretz started swimming for the local swim club in Fairfield, the Pirahnas. He finished his high school swimming career as an Ottumwa Bulldog at the state meet at Linn-Mar High School in Marion,

Saturday, Feb. 13.

The Fairfield Trojan is a record holder in the Ottumwa history books.

'This program has done so much for me,” Kretz said. 'All the coaches that have supported me along the way make this an incredible program.”

Kretz qualified for the state meet all four years and improved every year. As a freshman, he was 20th in the 100-meter Freestyle in a time of 48.9 seconds, then improved by more than a second with a sophomore finish in 47.77 for 13th place. He also qualified in the 50 Freestyle and placed 20th in 21.97 seconds.

Last year was a milestone as he became the first Bulldog in over a decade to stand on the state podium, placing eighth in the 100 freestyle in 47.22 seconds. Yet that was not the largest milestone he crushed.

Piranhas have a reputation as ferocious predators that hunt their prey and Kretz hunted down a piece of history.

When Kretz swam to a 14th-place finish at state in the 50 Freestyle in 21.64 seconds, he broke what had been the oldest record in the OHS boys swimming program. His time eclipsed the previous record of 21.66 set in 1983 by Rod Starkweather.

This season was two visits to the state podium. He took the 100 freestyle time down to 46.79 and placed seventh. He had already lowered the now newest record of the program from 21.64 to 21.37. In his last race he swam the fastest time, recording a 21.34 to place sixth.

'It feels good to have that record, but it is the kind of thing that could not happen without a great coaching staff and an awesome team,” Kretz said. 'I'm really grateful to Fairfield and Ottumwa for working out the sharing agreement I know that's always stressful, so it's a result of everyone working together.”

For Kretz, the true enjoyment of the state meets were not his own accomplishments, but what he achieved with a 'great group of guys.”

Recent research has shown that piranhas travel in schools as a means of cooperative hunting.

'State was a lot of fun because I swam in the relays this year,” Kretz said. 'We had a lot of talented guys and everybody went faster at state than they did during the year. To work really hard all season and achieve our goal, that is what made going to state really rewarding.”

Kretz anchored the 200 freestyle relay to 20th and the 400 to 19th. Ottumwa placed 18th out of 38 at state, the best team finish of his four years.

Even though it's an individual sport his favorite part of swimming is the team aspect.

'Your team is always there for you,” Kretz said. 'If you have a bad race, they're there to pick you up. If you have a good race, they are there to cheer for you and share in your joy. To help teammates every day at practice is so much better than practicing on your own.”

Kretz is involved in a lot of activities and according to Fairfield athletic director Jeff Courtright, 'He is a rock star, did great on the ACT, he's friendly, courteous, classy, all the Trojan traits that we want. He had to go show Ottumwa how we operate here.”