Preview: Could This Be Sault Ste. Marie's Season?
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 11, 2021
One of the most successful swimmers in Upper Peninsula high school history will have the opportunity Saturday to lead her team to a historic finish as well.
Sault Ste. Marie senior Aliah Robertson will bring five individual and two relay championships into this weekend’s MHSAA Finals at Marquette High School with the Blue Devils strong contenders to claim their first team title.
Diving is Friday at all swimming Saturday – click for more meet details. Both will be streamed live and viewable with subscription on MHSAA.tv.
Here’s a glance at team and individual favorites:
Reigning champion: Marquette
Reigning runner-up: Sault Ste. Marie
Marquette has won the last two championships after finishing runner-up in 2017 and 2018, and the Redettes claimed last year’s title by 77 points. Sault Ste. Marie’s second place in 2020 was its highest finish since 2005. The Blue Devils enter with the top seeds in all three relays and five individual races, plus the reigning champion diver.
Joanne Arbic, Sault Ste. Marie junior – The two-time reigning champion in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyles is seeded first in both (25.87 and 57.16, respectively). She also was part of two relay champs in 2020.
Anna Hildebrand, Sault Ste. Marie junior – She also was on those two relay champions with Arbic and was second in the 200 free and third in the 500 last season. She’s the top seed in the 200 by more than three seconds with a 2:09.50 and the second seed to Arbic in the 100 (57.60). She set the meet record in the 50 last season.
Delaney Marchiol, Marquette junior – The reigning 500 champion also has been part of relay winners each of the last two seasons. She is seeded second in the butterfly (1:06.74) and third in the breaststroke (1:17.62) this weekend.
Adelaide McRoberts, Kingsford freshman – She enters her first Finals with the top seeds in the butterfly (1:00.06) and backstroke (1:00.96).
Aliah Robertson, Sault Ste. Marie senior – She is seeded first in the breaststroke (1:07.39) by 10 seconds and the individual medley (2:12.88) by nearly 14. She holds in the meet records in both of those events and the breaststroke.
Grace Sobczak, Marquette freshman – She also enters her first Finals with a chance to make a quick impact, seeded second in the IM (2:26.56) and first in the 500 (5:38.80).
Sault Ste. Marie 200 medley relay – Robertson, Arbic, Hildebrand and sophomore Julie Innerebner have a seed time five seconds faster than the field at 1:56.24 after the same group won in a U.P. Finals-record 1:54.26 last season.
Sault Ste. Marie 200 freestyle relay – Robinson, Arbic, Hildebrand and Innerebner also are the reigning champs in this relay, hoping to cut last season’s meet-record time of 1:42 and entering this weekend with a seed time of 1:45.26.
Brianna Jones, Sault Ste. Marie sophomore – The reigning diving champion won last season with a 174.95.
Avery Mariuzza, Ishepming Westwood senior – She finished second to Jones last season scoring a 173.80, and also fourth as a sophomore and third as a freshman.
PHOTO: Sault Ste. Marie’s Aliah Robertson swims the winning 100-yard butterfly during the 2019 Upper Peninsula Finals. (Click for more from Jarvinen Photos.)
Eichbrecht Finishes Career Sweep in Record Fashion, Pioneer Adds to Title Streak
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 21, 2025
ROCHESTER — West Bloomfield senior Elizabeth Eichbrecht probably felt the full gamut of emotions heading to the Oakland University natatorium and her last Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Swimming & Diving Finals.
First and foremost was just the general excitement of competing once again at a state meet in front of so many observers.
Second was the emotion of opportunity, given she had a chance to do something rare in the history of high school swimming in the state – finish a career sweep of Finals titles in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events.
Finally, there was the bittersweet emotion of Friday being her last competitive day as a high school swimmer.
“I was excited,” Eichbrecht said. “It’s been a great four years, and I’m honored to be a part of West Bloomfield.”
West Bloomfield and the state’s swimming community was also honored to witness Eichbrecht during her high school career.
She left the pool as one of the most decorated high school swimmers to ever compete in Michigan, having completed that championship sweep with fourth-straight Finals titles in the 200 freestyle (1:45.98) and 500 free (4:42.89).
Eichbrecht first wowed the crowd during Thursday’s preliminaries, swimming a personal-best time of 1:45.05 to break the previous all-Finals record time of 1:46.25 set in 2007 by past Canton star and later Olympic medalist Allison Schmitt.
Eichbrecht’s 500 prelim time of 4:42.0 broke an all-Finals record of 4:44.47 swam by Grand Ledge’s Lola Mull in 2017.
“You don’t really expect anything,” Eichbrecht said of whether she thought eight Finals championships were possible when she began high school. “It’s through hard work that you get it. It’s an honor.”
One person who’ll especially miss Eichbrecht is West Bloomfield coach Ronson Webster, who started coaching Eichbrecht on a club level when she was 8 years old.
“It’s definitely going to be sad because I’ve spent a lot of time with her growing up,” he said. “But I’m super happy she’s moving on to college. (Eight Finals titles), that was one of her goals as a freshman. It was four years of work to get those goals. She got them.”
In 2022, as a freshman, Eichbrecht won the 200 free in 1:48.42 and the 500 free in 4:52.71.
A year later, Eichbrecht captured the 200 free in 1:48.08 and the 500 free in 4:47.66.
Then last year as a junior, she took the 200 free in 1:48.44 and the 500 free in 4:51.87.
In the team race, Ann Arbor Pioneer won its sixth consecutive Division 1 title, easily topping the field with 404 points. Jenison was the runner-up with 249 points, while Northville was third at 193.
“It’s really hard to stay on top,” Pioneer head coach Stefanie Kerska said. “They have been relentless all year. The coaches have tried to stay relentless by raising our standards. It’s a daily battle to really be at your absolute best, and these girls have done a really good job with that.”
Leading the way was sophomore Tallulah Beg, who won the 200 individual medley in 2:04.15 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.42.
Beg also swam the second leg on Pioneer’s winning 200 medley relay (1:43.83). Cecila Walusek, Poppy LaCrosse and Kia Alert were the other team members.
Pioneer also got individual wins from Alert in the 50 free (22.91) and senior Katelyn Van Ryn in the 100 free (49.94).
Pioneer swept the relays, with the team of Alert, Walusek, Cecilia Cook and Van Ryn winning the 200 free really in 1:32.32. In the 400 free relay, the team of Van Ryn, Suryn Lee, Cook and Yahanna Silva Castro won in a time of 3:25.89.
Friday’s other individual winners were Kalamazoo Central’s Kiya Bowman in diving (305.60), Jenison’s Emma Albrecht in the 100 butterfly (55.12), and Belleville freshman Miranda Phelps in the 100 backstroke (56.07).
PHOTOS (Top) West Bloomfield’s Elizabeth Eichbrecht swims to an all-Finals record in the 500 freestyle Friday at Oakland University. (Middle) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Tallulah Beg races to a championship in the 200 individual medley. (Below) Pioneer’s Kia Alert, right, and Zeeland’s Madison Ensing share a moment after finishing first and second, respectively, in the 50 freestyle. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)