Panthers Make History Close to Home
November 17, 2012
By Alan Babbitt
Special to Second Half
HOLLAND – Senior Colleen Vande Poel did not realize at first the added significance of her West Ottawa girls swimming & diving team’s achievement.
Saturday's breakthrough went far beyond the pool for the Panthers.
Forty years after Title IX legislation was passed, West Ottawa claimed its first team MHSAA championship in any girls sport by winning the Division 1 meet at Holland Community Aquatic Center.
The Panthers cruised to a first-place score of 298.5 points in their own backyard — approximately five miles from their high school. They finished 26.5 points ahead of runner-up Farmington Hills Mercy.
“It didn’t really hit me we were champs until they announced our names,” Vande Poel said. “It’s really exciting. I didn’t even know that we were the only ones. It feels super special knowing that in the future people know that if they work hard enough and have their minds set, they can do it.”
Vande Poel and her teammates made history in record-setting fashion.
The Panthers set eight school records, one Division 1 meet record and one pool record during the two-day Final. They also won three events: senior Dani VanderZwaag in 1-meter diving, the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-freestyle relay.
West Ottawa applied lessons throughout the season the Panthers learned the hard way during a disappointing seventh-place finish in 2011, VanderZwaag and coach Steve Bowyer said.
“I think we knew we needed to work hard this year, and we needed to change some things we did last year that weren’t working for us,” Vande Poel said. “We worked harder. We just wanted to do it. We came here and did that.”
West Ottawa started the meet fast on Saturday.
The Panthers won the 200 medley relay in a near meet-record time of 1 minute, 45.14 seconds from Vande Poel, Chelsea Rish, Anna Battistello and Caroline Fender.
They came within two one-hundredths of a second of the Final and school record they set during Friday’s preliminaries.
West Ottawa’s second winning performance came in the fifth event.
VanderZwaag, a junior, secured a first-place diving score of 425.45 points on the final dive — a successful back somersault with a 1½ twist.
“I knew I could do it. I just took a deep breath and did it,” VanderZwaag said. “This team means so much to me. I love them all. We just keep working hard this season, trying our hardest.”
The Panthers came in first again in the ninth event. Anna Babinec, Lauren DeShaw, Fender and Elizabeth Fris won the 200 freestyle relay with a school- and pool-record time of 1:35.58.
The performance gave West Ottawa a cushion against expected push from Farmington Hills Mercy in the backstroke, Bowyer said.
“I felt the 200 free, if we could win that relay, we would put ourselves in position to win the meet,” Bowyer said. “We went amazing fast in that relay.”
The Panthers then needed a seventh-place finish in the finale — the 400 freestyle relay — to clinch the team title.
They avoided any nerves and a costly disqualification, instead setting a school record with a second-place effort of 3:30.53 from Babinec, Vande Poel, DeShaw and Fris.
They finished behind only Saline’s American Armstrong-Grant, Melanie Schroeder, Allison Eppinga and Maddy Frost, who won in 3:29.13.
Bowyer, also named Division 1 Coach of the Year by his peers, saw the fruition of a goal that started one year ago.
“I think we learned if you don’t put in the work, you’re not going to be rewarded at the end of the year,” Bowyer said. “We worked hard last year, but quality yards weren’t there. The focus each and every day wasn’t there.
“If you want to have success, you have to make sure you put in the work every day. This year, our seniors came ready to do that.”
Waterford Kettering sophomore Maddie Wright was named Division 1 Swimmer of the Year by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association after winning two events, setting one Division 2 meet record and one pool one.
“I couldn’t be happier with my swims,” Wright said. “It feels amazing. After a long season, it’s a good feeling to see it all paid off.”
Wright established a new Division 2 best in the 100 butterfly by going 54.13 during the finals. She came within 0.15 of a second of the all-division Finals record of Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Margaret Kelly from 2005.
Wright also won the 200 freestyle by four seconds — finishing in 1:48.01.
“Support from my teammates helped,” Wright said. “I picked it up a lot when I realized what I had to do to swim fast. (I) just practiced every day.”
Hudsonville senior Danielle Freeman also set a Division 1 meet record in the 50 freestyle by going 22.96.
Third-place Saline (266) and fourth-place Zeeland (150) also took home trophies. It was the final high school girls meet for longtime Zeeland coach Mike Torrey.
PHOTO: Holland West Ottawa senior Colleen Vande Poel swims one of her events Saturday in helping Holland West Ottawa to the LP Division 1 championship. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Pair of Relay Champs Set Pace as Pioneer Runs Finals Win Streak to 5
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
November 23, 2024
HOLLAND – The end of a high school career couldn’t have been scripted any better for Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Reese Heidenreich.
The senior standout swam the first leg of the final event of her career and set the tone in a 400-yard freestyle relay victory.
It was the exclamation point on a day that saw the Pioneers dominate once again en route to a fifth-straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 swimming & diving championship at Holland Aquatic Center.
"An amazing way to cap off my career,” Heidenreich said. “It’s bittersweet because it's my last year, but I wouldn't want to end it any other way.”
Pioneer finished with an astounding 386 points to finish well ahead of runner-up Jenison (222). Northville (165) placed third and Grand Haven (142) was fourth.
It’s the second-longest title streak in program history behind the 2000-08 teams that won nine consecutive Finals.
“We were favored coming in and favored all season, but the girls weren't complacent and they didn't take anything for granted,” Pioneer coach Stefanie Kerska said. “They showed up every single day as if they were the underdogs, and I really respect their work ethic and how they conducted themselves in and out of the pool each day.”
Pioneer’s supreme depth was on full display as it didn’t have an individual event winner.
The Pioneers did, however, also win the 200 freestyle relay with the foursome of Heidenreich, Katelyn Van Ryn, Ursula Ott and Meg Pinkerton.
“We really come together in relays, and that’s what makes us our best and that’s where we shine,” Heidenreich said. “We can lean on each other and support each other. The 400 relay at the end was the highlight of the day because it took so much grit and teamwork to pull that out.”
Ott said the team takes pride in continuing to live up to the tradition of Pioneer swimming.
“It just pushes us to be better and get more and more state titles under our belt,” she said. “This team is truly amazing, and I love everyone on it. I think just the closeness is what drives us to be our best. We just always come together and support each other, and it's just really sweet and amazing to see.”
In addition to its three relays and three divers, Pioneer had 26 individual entries seeded to score (among the top 16 in their events).
“I’ve been doing this for a really long time and I can't remember a more fun or functional team that I've worked with,” Kerska said. “It’s the culture, it's the tradition and it’s the senior leadership. They just want it for each other so badly, and it's never about them. It’s only about the team and the program, and you go a long way when you have kids like that.”
The win was a culmination of a work ethic that is second to none.
“This victory is just a testament to the hard work of every single person on this team as well as the coaches that pour so much effort and energy into this program,” Heidenreich said. “To see us come out on top again just really validates all the hard work.”
Jenison tied for its highest finish in school history after also placing runner-up in Division 2 two years ago.
“To come up a division and be second here is just a testament to how awesome these girls swam and dove the last two days,” Jenison coach Kyle Stumpf said. “This was the best Day 2 I’ve been a part of in 10 years, and every single spot was held or moved up.
“We knew Pioneer was going to be loaded and have lots of depth, so you can only control what you can control. And I told the girls we can't control how other teams swim, so let's just swim and dive the best we can and see where the chips fall. It was awesome to see their hard work all season pay off, and this was a great team to coach.”
Senior Sophia Umstead led the Wildcats and capped a stellar high school career with two more individual titles, in the 200 individual medley (1:59.98) and 100 breaststroke (1:00.72).
She also was a member of the winning 200 medley relay and finished her career with six individual and five relay championships.
“It’s been an amazing four years, and I’ve had such a great experience swimming with this team,” Umstead said. “I don't know what I would've done without Jenison swimming, and I’m very happy to come out here and swim fast with my team. It was a great experience.”
West Bloomfield junior Elizabeth Eichbrecht repeated as champion in the 200 freestyle (1:48:48) and 500 freestyle (4:51.87) events, while Zeeland junior Madison Ensing won the 50 freestyle (22.94) and 100 freestyle (50.11).
West Ottawa’s Mackenzie Baldwin took top honors in the 100 backstroke, while Kalamazoo Central’s Maggie Spybrook finished first in the 100 butterfly.
Oxford senior Tristan Krajcarski won the diving portion of the meet with a final score of 432.60.
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Ursula Ott swims the breaststroke during Saturday’s Division 1 Finals at Holland Aquatic Center. (Middle) A Jenison swimmer competes during the 200 medley relay. (Below) Racers power through the backstroke Saturday. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)