Holland Pushes Championship Streak to 2
November 17, 2012
By Jon Malavolti
Special to Second Half
ROCHESTER – After wading through three straight runner-up finishes before claiming its first MHSAA title last fall, Holland High won its second straight Lower Peninsula Division 2 girls swimming and diving championship Saturday at Oakland University.
“The girls did a great job,” Dutch coach Don Kimble said. “We had some kids that really swam really well. It’s tough to replace a team like we did last year. We had a great senior class last year, tough shoes to fill. They stepped up. There was a lot of pressure was on them.”
Holland won all three relays and finished first in four individual races, eventually ending up with 311.5 points.
Sophomore Taylor Garcia led the way, winning the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke, as well as competing on the first-place 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. She was named the Swimmer of the Year by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.
Garcia said winning the award was “very humbling.”
“I’m glad I had my team here to help me accomplish it,” she said.
Garcia added that it was a great experience for her team to defend its title.
“Especially after last year, it was just an incredible year, and I think to come back and prove that we still have a lot of talent in our program, I think it says a lot about how far we’ve come,” she said.
The addition of new squads, along with some annual powerhouses, made the meet a competitive one.
“This is a faster meet this year than it was last year,” Grosse Pointe South coach Eric Gunderson said. “The cuts were faster to get in, the top 16, and top 8 times across the board were faster.”
Rochester Adams coach Tim Hickey called the meet “insanely fast.”
“We had a few new teams in our division, which really made things a lot faster this year.”
One of the new additions to Division 2 was this year’s second-place finisher – Ann Arbor Skyline. The Eagles ended up with 255.5 points.
“We’re so proud,” Skyline junior Shannon Cowley said. “We have so many awesome people. I could not be happier.”
Skyline coach Maureen Isaac said her team, which swam at the Division 1 Final last year, performed well in preliminaries and was glad to see it carry over into the finals.
“Yesterday we did what we wanted to do, they were perfect Friday swims, and we also knew we hadn’t scored one point,” Isaac said. “So we had to come back and do it today, and the preparation really fell into place for us.”
Senior Ashleigh Shanley paced the Eagles, winning the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke titles, while also swimming on the second-place 400 relay and third-place 200 medley relay.
Isaac said that the team knew it had a “huge opportunity” to do well this year – which was just the program’s fifth of existence.
“It’s just been an unbelievable experience,” she said of the Eagles’ growth. “You don’t have any baggage, every rule is your own, every expectation for the kids. It is an exceptional situation, and I know part of it is because we got to start from scratch and really build it how we wanted to. And they have completely bought into it.”
Kimble had high praise for Holland’s next closest finisher, impressed by how far they’ve come.
“The addition of Skyline was great,” he said. “That speaks to those kids and the parents and the coaches; everybody’s put in time. That’s a unique situation where they’ve grown, it’s tough to start on the ground floor like that. But very good job.”
The day’s lone record-breaking performance came in the diving competition, as Walled Lake Western senior Allie Murphy finished first with 442.80 points – just enough to edge the old record of 441.80 set by Holland’s Paige Kortman in 2009.
“I’ve been working hard all season to get state champion,” Murphy said. “The record is a bonus.”
Murphy said she was looking up the record recently and figured she was capable of doing it, and was excited to accomplish it. Yet things didn’t start out in record-breaking fashion, as she struck the board on one of her early attempts during the finals.
“I got really nervous,” Murphy said.
But she bounced back quickly.
“I had to focus on the next dive,” she said. “Had to brush it off, had to realize I was still in the game.”
The MHSAA title is Murphy’s second Division 2 diving championship. She also won in 2010, but finished second in last fall.
Murphy’s diving coach at Western, Casey Guntzviller, said her concentration and focus was “really impressive” at the finals.
“Something as simple as hitting the board can set you off, but instead she garnered her focus and strength and really finished strong,” he said.
PHOTO: Swimmers take off during a race at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final on Saturday at Oakland University. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Preview: Powers Seek Return to Podium
November 21, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Farmington Hills Mercy and East Grand Rapids have spent their share of special moments atop the champions' podium at MHSAA Lower Peninsula Swimming & Diving Finals over the years.
They're favored to return this weekend after missing out on their familiar top spots a year ago. Holland, meanwhile, will attempt to keep pace and win its third straight championship in Division 2.
See below for team favorites and top individuals to watch at all three of this weekend's meets. Preliminaries are Friday, with championship races and diving Saturday. All three Finals also will be streamed live on MHSAA.TV and are available on a subscription basis.
Click for lineups and seed times for all three meets.
Division 1 at Oakland University
Team contenders: Top-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy finished second in Division 1 last season after winning five straight MHSAA titles from 2007-11, and has bounced back with 14 top-eight seeds heading into this weekend including all three highest-seeded relay teams. Saline, the champion in 2009 and 2010, is ranked No. 2 with only four top-eight seeds but a number of others in scoring position plus two contenders in diving. Ann Arbor Skyline, ranked No. 3, was the Division 2 runner-up last season and enters with six top-eight seeds including sophomore Katie Portz, seeded first in two events.
Ines Charles, Bloomfield Hills senior: She's seeded only fifth in the backstroke (58.53) but won the title in Division 3 last season while at Lahser before her school and Andover merged for this fall and the new school was big enough to move to Division 1.
Maddy Loniewski, Farmington Hills Mercy junior: Last season’s 200 individual medley champion is seeded fifth in that race (2:06.44) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (52.29), plus she swims on two of the top-seeded relays.
Katie Portz, Ann Arbor Skyline sophomore: She’s posted the fast seed times in the 100 freestyle (50.72) and 200 free (1:49.41) after finishing second in the 200 and fourth in the 100 at the Division 2 Final in 2012.
Elliott Schinella, Farmington Hills Mercy senior: The 2012 100 backstroke champion is poised to repeat entering with the top seed time of 56.02 plus the seventh-fastest (24.5) in the 50. Like Loniewski, she swims on two Mercy relays.
Miranda Tucker, Waterford United junior: This will be the first high school Finals for Tucker, and she’s set up to succeed quickly with top seeds in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.36) and 200 IM (2:01.98). Her breaststroke time would break the LP Division 1 Finals record and approach the overall Finals record of 1:02.10 set in 2010.
Maddie Wright, Waterford United junior: Wright has won a pair of MHSAA titles in each of her first two high school seasons and is the LP Division 1 Finals record holder in the 100 butterfly. She enters that race as the top seed (54.74) and is second to Portz in the 200 freestyle (1:49.55).
Amy Stevens, Saline freshman: In just her first season, Stevens won a tough diving Regional with a score of 451.15.
Dani VanderZwaag, Holland West Ottawa senior: VanderZwaag can cap her high school career with a second straight MHSAA title after winning last season’s championship with a score of 425.45.
Farmington Hills Mercy 200 freestyle relay: Schinella, Loniewski and juniors Kathleen McGee and Roxanne Griffore enter as the top seed in this race and with a strong opportunity to set an LP Division 1 Finals record – their seed time of 1:35.41 would just edge the record set by Hudsonville’s team in 2011.
Division 2 at Eastern Michigan University
Team contenders: Top-ranked Holland is looking to run its MHSAA title streak to three (and top-two finish streak to six) led by some of the most experienced standouts in any division and 14 top-eight seeds. Bloomfield Hills Marian is ranked No. 2 and looking for its first title since winning back-to-back in Division 3 in 2007 and 2008; the Mustangs could make things interesting with eight top-eight seeds. Portage Central finished fourth last season and is ranked No. 3 heading into the weekend, and has five top-eight seeds plus a number of others who should score from places 9-16.
Taylor Garcia, Holland junior: One of the best in Michigan regardless of division, Garcia already has won four individual and four relay titles and is the top seed in the 100 backstroke (54.14) and 100 butterfly (54.60). She set the butterfly LP Division 2 Finals record in 2011.
Cassie Misiewicz, Holland senior: The standout distance swimmer has won the 500 freestyle the last two seasons and was on two winning relays in 2012 as well. She’s the second seed both in the 500 (5:03.64) and the 200 freestyle (1:52.72).
Mollie Pulte, Bloomfield Hills Marian junior: Last season’s 200 freestyle champion should have her eyes on two more titles – and potentially two LP Division 2 Finals records. She’s the top seed in both the 200 free (1:49.56) and the 100 free (50.23), with her 200 time faster than the current Division 2 record and her 100 time only 27 hundredths of a second off that division best.
Holly Morren, Holland senior: She won the 100 freestyle last season and has been part of four title-winning relays, and she could claim two more individual titles in her final high school meet. Morren is the top seed in the 50 freestyle (23.51) and the second seed to Pulte in the 100 (51.20).
Nicole Pape, Rochester Adams freshman: She could finish Saturday as the most celebrated freshman of the Finals entering with top seed times in both the 200 individual medley (2:05.23) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.21). She also will swim on two strong relays.
Bloomfield Hills Marian 200 freestyle relay: Pulte is joined by sophomore Maren Taylor, junior Hannah Richard and freshman Sophia Schott on a team that has swam 1:35.73, 41 hundredths of a second off the LP Division 2 record set in 2010.
Division 3 at Holland Aquatic Center
Team contenders: Arguably the most accomplished program in MHSAA history, East Grand Rapids is ranked No. 1 and favored to win its first championship since 2010. The Pioneers have 12 top-eight seeds and enter with the fastest teams in all three relays. Second-ranked Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood has won Division 3 the last two seasons and won’t fall quietly starting out with eight top-eight seeds. If No. 3 Holland Christian can move past both into the top spot, it would earn its first title since winning Class B in 1996.
Emily Converse, East Grand Rapids junior: She’s got the Pioneers’ lone individual top seed with a time of 1:54.20 in the 200 freestyle. She also has the second-fastest seed time in the 500 freestyle (5:09.68).
Hannah Kopydlowski, Flint Powers Catholic senior: The reigning 50 freestyle champion is the favorite again with the top seed time of 24.10. She also has the second-fastest seed time in the 100 backstroke (59.04).
Lara Kokubo, Cranbrook-Kingswood junior: She’s seeded lower among the top group in her races – tied for fifth in the 50 (24.86) and seventh in the 100 free (54.26) – but she’s the reigning champion in the latter.
Jennifer Wagley, Adrian senior: The reigning 100 butterfly champion returns with the fastest seed times both in that race (57.46) and the 200 individual medley (2:09.54).
Kim Jones, Plainwell junior: The reigning Division 3 champion defended her Regional title with a score of 463.1 points to earn her return to the Finals.
East Grand Rapids 200 freestyle relay: Converse is joined by senior Anna Stephens and freshmen Lexus VanHoven and Hanna Sanford on a team that has gone as fast as 1:38.24 – 37 hundredths of a second off the LP Division 3 record.
East Grand Rapids 400 freestyle relay: VanHoven, Sanford and Converse team with senior Emily Lundquist on a relay that’s finished in 3:37:31. The Division 3 record, set last season, is 3:33.63.