Through the Years: Swim & Dive 1925/72-2015
August 12, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We finish our look at fall MHSAA tournaments today with the perfect transition to our features for our winter events – and with perfect timing to go with the international competition playing out right now in Rio de Janeiro.
The MHSAA's history with boys swimming & diving goes to the start of the association, in 1925, and in 1972 one of our first girls sports also found its home in the pool. Just more than four decades later, one of the best-known Michigan high school standouts – Canton's Allison Schmitt – is one of six captains of this Olympics' U.S. national swim team.
This feature is from the spring issue of benchmarks, built and written by Rob Kaminski. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a link to our previous installments. We'll continue to look at more MHSAA postseason events every Tuesday and Friday this fall.
Previous installments
August 9: Football - Read
August 5: Girls Volleyball - Read
August 2: Boys Soccer - Read
July 30: Boys Cross Country - Read
July 26: Girls Cross Country - Read
July 22: Boys/Girls Lacrosse - Read
July 19: Boys/Girls Tennis - Read
July 15: Boys/Girls Golf - Read
July 12: Girls Soccer - Read
July 8: Boys Track & Field - Read
July 5: Girls Track & Field - Read
July 1: Baseball - Read
June 28: Softball - Read
#TBT: Groves Claims 1st Swim & Dive Title
September 12, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The 1987 and 1988 Lower Peninsula Class A Finals were two of the most closely-contested in MHSAA Girls Swimming & Diving history. And after falling just short in 1987, Birmingham Groves edged the rest to win its first championship in the sport in 1988.
Groves scored 150 points in 1987 at Michigan State University's McCaffree Pool, just seven fewer than champion Ann Arbor Pioneer. But although individual butterfly champion Janet Caraher graduated the following spring, Groves took that last step up the podium at MSU the next fall with 117 points – six more than runner-up Birmingham Seaholm, 12 more than Midland Dow and 32 more than distant fourth-place Pioneer.
Groves was paced by a pair of champions: senior sprinter Laura Fischer won both the 50 and 100-yard freestyles after finishing second and fifth in those races, respectively, in 1987. Senior Becky Callam also improved from second in 1987 to first in diving after also winning the event at the 1986 Final. The team's swimmers were coached by Darin Abbasse and its divers by Dave Eddy.
The Falcons went on to win four straight Division 2 titles from 2003-06 under coach Chris Tennyson, and remain a power, finishing fourth in Division 2 last fall.
Click to read all of the names that go with the photo above.