Rising Harper Creek Reaping Rewards
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 17, 2017
BATTLE CREEK — With a reward dangling in front of them, the Harper Creek swimmers had extra motivation at the All-City Girls Swimming & Diving Meet two weeks ago.
They turned in one of their best performances of the season and captured the title for the first time in school history, earning an opportunity to toss coach Corrin Buck into the pool to kick off the celebration.
“We had a team discussion and planned it ahead of time,” senior captain Jena Wager said. “It’s like when a team wins a league or state meet pouring Gatorade over the coach.”
Harper Creek finished ahead of perennial power Battle Creek Lakeview, 476-452. Lakeview had won the previous 14 All-City championships.
Buck was prepared for the dip.
“In 22 years (as Harper Creek’s coach), it’s only the second time I was dunked,” she said. “I told them going in, this is a very big deal. If we actually do win, I will let you throw me in. My assistants and I brought extra clothes just in case.
“One of the things for us is that we’d never beat (Lakeview).”
The Beavers now have their sights set on another first: Winning the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference in two weeks.
“We’ve never won a league championship yet,” Buck said.
Meanwhile, her athletes continue to qualify for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Swimming & Diving Finals to be held Nov. 17-18 at Eastern Michigan University.
To date, seven girls have qualified individually or as part of relays.
Sophomore Alysa Wager has qualified in three individual events (100-yard butterfly, 100 breaststroke, 50 freestyle) and three relays (200 medley, 200 free, 400 free).
As a freshman, she swam a school record 58.75 in the 100 fly, already reaching one of her goals.
“It was one of the oldest records on the board,” she said. “That was one of my big goals last year, to get on the board.
“We (junior Elizabeth Wolfe, the Wagers and senior Taylor Root) also set the 200 free relay record (1:42.51) last year.”
Jena will compete in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke as well as on the three relays.
The other Finals qualifiers are Wolfe (100 free, three relays), junior Madeleine Brown (400 free relay), freshman Sarah Thompson (500 free, 200 free relay), senior Kelsea Popps (200 medley, 200 free relay) and senior Megan Kusler (diving).
Family ties
Both Wagers have MHSAA Finals experience, Alysa getting hers as a freshman and Jena all three years to date.
“I learned don’t be scared,” Alysa Wager said. “Just race your race and a good outcome will happen. I was top 16 (12th in fly, 16th in 50 free).
“It wasn’t one of my best swims, but I think it was because I let some of the other guys get in my head. This year it’s gonna be different.”
Jena said she learned it takes more discipline than she thought.
“I had a couple years hit or miss with my goals, and it made me realize you have to have discipline: eating, sleeping and training to keep your body in shape.”
The Wagers are among four pairs of sisters on the team. The others are Madeleine and freshman Megan Brown, seniors Taylor and Sabriya Root, and Elisabeth and freshman Hanna Wolfe.
“I had to talk to all these girls that once you walk in the door, you are no longer sisters, you are teammates,” Buck said. “No bickering.
“You can’t take this stuff home, either. You have to make sure you are good teammates, and I think they all do that well.”
Buck has experience dealing with siblings. Her daughters Kelsea and Kara Popps also were on the team together. Kara is now a junior on Saginaw Valley State’s team.
“It was very exciting to be able to share that part of mom and coach, as much as it was very difficult,” Buck said. “Kelsea is doing a great job of handling that pressure.
“They’ve both had to deal with some tough things. Kara always said ‘I’m going to make sure everyone knows I earned this spot.’ She worked her tail off and so does Kelsea.”
Kelsea Popps, who started swimming at age 4, said she likes having her mother as her coach.
“I’ve never known anything different. It’s my favorite thing. I get to know what’s for dinner in the middle of practice. I never have to come home to a surprise,” Popps said.
“There are times when it kind of combines. If I’m having a bad day she’s like, ‘Which role do I play right now?’ For the most part it’s coach in the pool, mom at home.”
Popps also said one of her goals was to beat her sister’s records.
“Kara was always faster than me, so we never swam in the same lanes,” she said. “It was fun having a sister as a leader on the team. It helped me a lot.
“She has some (school) records and I wanted to take them down, but it’s not looking like that will happen.”
Learning from a Master
Buck, who also is a physical education teacher at the school, provides a wealth of experience to the Harper Creek program.
She was a 12-time All-American at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, swimming the breaststroke and individual medley.
She said she was surprised when she came to Battle Creek that so many people had already heard of Slippery Rock, then discovered the school’s football scores were often announced at University of Michigan home football games.
She still swims both races in United States Masters Swimming events and has competed in numerous national meets.
“I don’t have much time to swim right now,” she said. “I joke that these are my four months of being a putz.
“As soon as we wind down here, I get in the water and start training. I’m definitely very involved in my swimming.”
She also does aquatic bicycling and lake open water swimming.
“When I talk to the kids about a drill or a stroke or a set, I can say a lot of times, I did that this summer so zip it, you can handle it. Let’s go,” she said.
When Buck was hired at Harper Creek in 1995, she had some work to do.
“We had very few kids, and the work ethic wasn’t there,” she said. “All the kids were like, ‘What? We’re gonna like swim all the time?’ It was definitely an adjustment, and some kids were like they didn’t want to do it, they just wanted to have fun.
“In those 22 years, we really went from having nothing and being in the bottom of the league to being in the top one or two.”
She said one of the biggest boosts is having a middle school program.
“The group I have right now has a lot of good experience. They’re coming out of our middle school if they’re freshmen,” she said. “Back in the day, I used to have to teach kids how to swim, how to dive, how to breathe to the side, how to blow bubbles.
“Lately, I think because of our middle school program and our club program, most of the kids come in with the ability to swim. I very rarely have a brand new person.”
Jena Wager said one of Buck’s best traits is “she’s really good at being able to determine what’s best for each person. She finds each person’s strengths and works with that.”
Others on the team are seniors Kennedy Lewis, Shereelyn Reed and Inga Sprengel, juniors Marie Luedtke and Haley VanScoder, sophomore Kennedy Kreger and freshman Maddie Piper.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Battle Creek Harper Creek celebrates its first All-City championship Sept. 30. (Middle top) Sisters Jena, left, and Alysa Wager. (Middle below) Jena Wager swims the backstroke at the All-City meet, winning the event in 1:04.13. (Below) Harper Creek coach Corrin Buck, top, and Kelsea Popps. (Celebration and action photos courtesy of the Battle Creek Enquirer; Wagers head shots courtesy of Harper Creek's athletic department, and Buck and Popps by Pam Shebest.)
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.