#TBT: Brown Completes Diving 3-Peat
November 13, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
East Grand Rapids divers won seven championships and placed a number of others during the first 42 years of MHSAA Finals in the sport. The school will once again host one of nine Lower Peninsula Diving Regionals taking place this afternoon.
Few in MHSAA history have come close to equaling the accomplishments of the Pioneers’ best, three-time champion Randi Brown.
The 2010 graduate claimed her third championship the previous fall with a Lower Peninsula Division 3 record score of 484.35 – the second-highest in MHSAA Finals history counting all divisions. She won that day, Nov. 21, 2009, at Eastern Michigan University, by 63.6 points.
Brown also won LP Division 3 in 2007 with a score of 414.15 (5.1 ahead of the field) and in 2008 with 454.85 points and by 10.4. As a freshman, in the final season of girls swimming and diving split into two Lower Peninsula divisions instead of three, she finished 13th in Division 2 with a score of 339.40 – as teammate Chelsea Oates claimed the title.
Brown went on the dive at Princeton University, helping the Tigers to two Ivy League championships while finishing as high as third individually at the league's finals. She was one of two members of her team this spring to receive Princeton’s Class of 1916 Cup, which is awarded “to the varsity letterwinner who, continuing in competition in his or her senior year, achieved at graduation the highest academic standing.”
The only diver to score higher at an MHSAA Final than Brown was Albion’s Elyse Lee in 2003, with 489.55 points. Lee went on to dive for the University of Michigan.
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.)