'All-Time Seaholm Great' Clifford Looking to Lead Maples to 4th-Straight Team Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 10, 2022
BIRMINGHAM – Even in the days leading up to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals, Birmingham Seaholm coach Karl Hodgson might not know what to do about senior Samantha Clifford.
But make no mistake, that is a good thing.
Other than the breaststroke and diving, there’s really no event Clifford can’t excel at, which is giving Hodgson extra time to pause and think about lineup strategy.
“That part is nice,” Hodgson said. “It creates a lot of angst over making those decisions. But it is nice to have that problem.”
Unfortunately for Hodgson and the Seaholm program, there aren’t many more days left to enjoy having such a problem.
A standout for Seaholm since her freshman year, Clifford is about to finish her high school career as one of the all-time greats for the Maples.
She’s been a vital part of Seaholm winning the last three Division 2 titles, and odds are decent she’ll make it 4-for-4 in terms of being on a team champion when this year’s Finals title is decided next weekend at Calvin University.
Individually, Clifford won the LPD2 Finals title in the 100-yard freestyle last year in a time of 51.02, and was second in the 200 freestyle. She also anchored Seaholm’s winning 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
Hodgson said Clifford is among the top five in Seaholm’s top-times record book in half of the events.
“She’s meant everything to our program,” he said.
Clifford started swimming when she was 5 years old and started getting coached by Hodgson competitively with her summer club team when she was 6.
“I’ve known her all her life,” Hodgson said. “She was that dominant as a little kid. She’s one of the best racers I’ve coached.
“It’s something you can’t coach. She just has that ‘it’ factor.”
Clifford said she first got into the sport mainly because her older sister Megan was doing it, and they both pushed each other growing up and when they were swimming for Seaholm together during Samantha’s freshman and sophomore years.
Megan graduated after Samantha’s sophomore year, so the last two it’s been her time to be on her own and serve as a leader for the underclassmen on the squad.
“It was definitely very different,” Clifford said. “Not having her there was a big change, but I think the upperclassmen (last year) helped make that change easier.”
Since taking up the sport, Clifford said swimming always has had a soothing effect on her, especially when some days are harder than others.
“I just like racing a lot,” she said. “There’s just something about being in the water that calms me down.”
Water will definitely be a big part of Clifford’s life when she finishes up high school.
Clifford will swim and study at the U.S. Naval Academy. She said she’s always been interested in serving and that she clicked with the swim coaches there after a series of conversations.
She is also excited to be involved in STEM programs there and follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
Before she turns her attention toward college though, Clifford, who is also a flute player for the school’s band, is fully focused on her final days as a swimmer at Seaholm.
Clifford said it will be a challenge to swim at Calvin because she’s never swam there before, and she’ll have to adjust to the surroundings of the pool.
She admits going for four titles in a row as a team has been a different challenge than aiming for those championships earlier in her high school career.
“The first two years, it was more fun and, ‘Let’s go and get after it,’” Clifford said. "These last two years, it’s like we have to prove ourselves. It’s definitely more intense.”
Hodgson may not fully know which events Clifford will swim in the days leading up to the meet, but one thing is for certain – whatever Clifford swims, points will follow.
“She’ll go down as one of the all-time greats,” Hodgson said.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at keithdunlap78@gmail.com with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Seaholm’s Samantha Clifford, middle, launches into the water for the 100-yard freestyle championship race at last season’s LPD2 Finals at Oakland University. (Middle) Clifford, right, talks with Birmingham Groves’ Madison Helmick at the conclusion of the race. Clifford won, and Helmick was third. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
Sentinels Girls Follow Super Sophomore to 4th-Straight Championship
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
February 15, 2025
MARQUETTE — Olive Krueger is just a sophomore. But she’s the one who leads by example for Marquette’s girls swimming & diving team.
Be in the pool on time. Finish the set. Do the little things to be a winning team.
It translates into success for her and her team. Marquette won its fourth-straight Upper Peninsula Finals championship Saturday, and Krueger was a part of four U.P. titles – two individually and two relays – to make it six for her young career.
Krueger finished first in a sprint race, the 100-yard freestyle (57.42), and the grueling 500 freestyle (5:40.30). She was also a part of the 200 medley relay that edged Kingsford by 15 hundredths of a second for the win in 1:59.32 and the 200 freestyle relay (1:46.51) that won more comfortably.
“Olive is a year-round swimmer, but she also never skips a set,” Marquette coach Nathan McFarren said. “She’s at practice — she wants more, give me more. The thing that’s special about Olive, too, is the fact she can win a 100 freestyle and a 500 freestyle not long after that. Just tough.
“But also a gentler approach. You know what, I’m going to get in the water and I want you guys to do the same thing. … That’s the one thing that we’ve always had in a leader with Olive as a sophomore, which is a huge thing.”
Krueger said she actually doesn’t really like the sprints, but she was happy how that race turned out as she finished ahead of Kingsford’s Sierra Scott for the win.
“I had really good competition – the girl next to me, she’s really fast, that was nice,” Krueger said.
The medley relay was a hard-fought victory for Marquette.
“We weren’t sure what it was going to look like against Kingsford because those Kingsford girls are very competitive and they brought their A game today,” McFarren said.
Marquette won the team championship, its 29th overall, with 347 points, well ahead of runner-up Kingsford with 252. Houghton was third and Gladstone fourth.
This was the smallest girls, and boys, teams that McFarren has had during his uber-successful tenure at Marquette that now includes a combined total of 19 Finals championships. The Sentinels actually weren’t able to slot swimmers in all the spots they could have in the girls meet. But they were able to win anyway with their still superior depth.
“To have three individuals in each event really gives us a leg up on the rest of the competition,” he said.
They had first-place power Saturday, too, in addition to Krueger’s successes. Nathan’s daughter Logan McFarren won the 200 freestyle (2:13.57), and Sophie Hausmann took first in diving (221.80 final score). Both were also part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team with McFarren also a member of the 200 medley team that finished first.
Coach McFarren was also a proud dad.
“That 200 was a great performance,” he said, pointing out Logan had only recently come out of concussion protocol. “To retrain, get back up and then bring her back down was a little bit of a battle.”
It certainly wasn’t easy.
“Especially in the 100 back because of the concussion, it took a lot in the mind. I feel like it was very hard to go back into it and I hadn’t (swam) it since I had gotten the concussion,” said Logan McFarren, who took second in that race. “It turned out well. I dropped a lot of time.”
The junior was seeded first in the 200 free. She was still nervous going into it, but she was able to get the victory.
“It was nerve-wracking because the girl next to me was only a few seconds behind me,” McFarren said. “It was a good win. I was happy to start my first two races off with a win.”
Gladstone junior Irene Neumeier had a big day as well, finishing first in the 100 butterfly (1:02.78) and 100 backstroke (1:05.96).
“The 100 fly was pretty good,” she said. “I was pretty nervous because I was ranked third, and I also have a sinus infection. So I was a little nervous for that, but I knew after the first 50, I would be able to push through.”
Scott won a race of her own, the 200 IM (2:29.64). Kingsford’s Ella McLean finished fastest in the 100 backstroke (1:13.66). Their freshman teammate, Allison Deuter, took first in the 50 freestyle (25.43) despite being seeded second.
“I was just trying to go fast, and get No. 1 as a freshman. It’s great,” she said. “I was expecting to win, and I’m glad I did. It feels awesome knowing I still have three more years of this.”
Scott and Deuter were also members of Kingsford’s winning 400 freestyle relay (4:01.43).
PHOTOS (Top) Marquette's Olive Krueger swims to a victory in the 100-yard freestyle Saturday. (Middle) Finalists including Marquette's Logan McFerren launch into the backstroke. (Below) Marquette's Sophie Hausmann begins a dive during Friday's competition. (Photos by Daryl T. Jarvinen. Click for more.)