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Dow's Newman Right at Home in Water
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 29, 2018
Claire Newman described her younger self as “a complete amphibian,” and not much has changed as she goes through her teenage years.
“I’ve just always felt at home in the water,” the Midland Dow junior said. “It helps me work out my school day and any emotional problems. Being in swim also kind of reminds me of my abilities and, personally, I feel more spiritually sound when I swim.”
Newman is a four-time Division 2 Finals runner-up, having placed second in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles both of the past two seasons. She has won state titles in club competition, and is already drawing interest from college swim programs at all levels.
So it’s no surprise she feels comfortable in the water. It’s an offseason spent mostly on dry land, however, that could be the catalyst for Newman’s strongest season yet.
“I spent two to three months doing physical therapy on my shoulder,” Newman said. “I feel much better now that my shoulder is all healed up. I know better how to prevent another injury. I’m already starting to see the results of it. I’m much more conscious of which muscles I’m using for every part of my stroke, but especially my shoulders.”
The shoulder injury surfaced during Newman’s sophomore season, and she said it was the result of overuse. While still in season, she trained by simply kicking in the pool for two weeks.
Newman managed to perform well when it mattered at the Division 2 meet, also helping Dow touch third in the 400-yard freestyle relay in addition to her runner-up individual finishes. But she said the entire process was tough emotionally.
She would go on to compete in Junior Nationals in Tennessee following the prep season, but eventually focused on getting healthy.
“She was working very hard on the dry-land aspect, then she started swimming again full-time in May and swam through the summer,” Dow coach Chilly Smith said. “She did very little swimming in January through April. It’s going to help her, hopefully, stay healthy. By doing all the dry land, she stabilized (her shoulder). That was probably the first time she’s ever had really four months out of the pool since she was younger -- a lot younger. I think it was good for her, and that’s why we brought her back fairly slow.”
Now healthy, Newman is ready to meet the goals she’s set for herself. While they’re lofty, they look to be well within her reach.
“I think winning an event at state is probably one of my goals,” she said. “Breaking 23 (seconds) officially in the 50 -- I’ve sort of, kind of done it unofficially. I want personal improvement in my other strokes, specifically the breaststroke and the butterfly, and I also want to get more college exposure.”
Based on last year’s results, Newman appears to be the favorite to complete her first goal – something she was on track to do a year ago.
In 2016, Newman finished second to Birmingham Seaholm’s Haley Doan in the 50 and Dexter’s Annette Schultz in the 100. She passed both of them in 2017, but East Grand Rapids’ move to Division 2 (from Division 3) brought into her races Ileah Doctor, who went on to set meet records in both events in finishing ahead of Newman. Doctor graduated this spring and will be swimming at Indiana University, but Newman’s motivation remains the same.
“I was aware of how incredibly fast she was,” Newman said. “I didn’t really focus on her as competition, though. I usually use myself as competition, trying to beat my own times and focus more on improving myself.
“I wasn’t waking up every morning thinking about Ileah Doctor. I was waking up every morning thinking about how I could get better.”
Winning an MHSAA Finals title, and breaking 23 seconds, would go a long way toward achieving Newman’s final goal of attracting more college attention. So would improving her other strokes and proving she can win at longer distances, as Newman is well aware.
“A lot of colleges really like to see a 200 (yard) swimmer,” Newman said. “That signals that you’re pretty flexible in your events, same with the two (individual medley events). I think it’s also really great for aerobic training.”
Smith said he’ll be working the longer events, as well as the butterfly, into Newman’s competitive schedule this season to help her and the team.
“A swimmer has to be able to swim different events, because that’s one way you can keep a swimmer from becoming stale or bored with their swimming,” he said. “We’re really trying to work the 200, because if we can get a better 200 out of her, that’s just going to help her 100 freestyle.”
Newman has taken a visit to Michigan State University and said that Notre Dame (which she has visited on her own) and Indiana also interest her significantly, as does Division III Kenyon College in Ohio. While she admits she wants to swim against Division I competition, the most important factor for Newman is finding the right academic fit, as well as an athletic one. She plans to study something in liberal arts that allows her to tap into her creative side.
No matter where she goes, as long as she’s in the water, she’ll be right at home.
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Midland Dow’s Claire Newman prepares to swim the 50-yard freestyle at last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals at Holland Aquatic Center. (Middle) Newman, middle, looks to the scoreboard with her teammates in anticipation of their relay time. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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This Time, Skyline Ends Close Race in 1st
November 21, 2015
By Butch Harmon
Second Half editor
HOLLAND – After coming in a close second at last year’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 girls swimming and diving championships at the Holland Aquatic Center, the Ann Arbor Skyline girls returned to the same pool this year and came away with some different results.
Moving back into Division 1, Skyline won the first-place trophy as it held off Saline in a tight battle that was close throughout.
Skyline totaled 290 team points for the two-day event to win its first girls swimming and diving championship. Saline, last year’s Division 1 champion, placed second with 238 points while Farmington Hills Mercy, winners of two of the previous four LPD1 titles, placed third with 217 points.
“Last year it came down to the last event,” said Skyline coach Maureen Isaac. “We’ve been runner-ups a couple of times, and it’s very frustrating. We were here last year at this pool, and to come back this year and do it here means a lot.”
Skyline’s victory took a total-team effort and was won over the two days of the event. Work that the Eagles did on Friday paid off Saturday, as Skyline set up the scoring opportunities to get the win.
“We moved some kids around on different relay teams Friday,” Isaac said. “We took some chances, and it paid off. We had a great group of girls and they are wonderful as a team. It might sound cheesy, but it’s true; they just feed off each other. ”
It also helped that Skyline had senior Katie Portz to rely on. A senior who has committed to swim collegiately at Texas A&M, Portz was named the swimmer of the meet by the coaches association for her performance. Portz won a pair of individual titles and was also part of two Skyline relay teams that captured championships.
“This is just an incredible feeling,” Portz said. “It feels so good and I’m so happy for all of my teammates. We took it to a new level as a team this year.”
Portz played a big role in helping the team do so. She took first place in the 100-yard freestyle in a new LP Division 1 meet record time of 49.34, breaking her previous record of 50.23 set two years ago.
Portz also captured the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:46.84.
“It felt great winning swimmer of the meet, but the team title means so much more,” Portz said. “Winning the team state is a great feeling. All the hard work that we put into this has paid off.”
Portz’s coach was especially happy that Skyline was able to capture the elusive MHSAA title this season for her standout senior.
“I really wanted us to do this for Katie Portz,” Isaac said. “She has been such an important part of this program both in the pool and out of the pool. It was important for us to do this before her career was done.”
In the 200 freestyle relay, Portz teamed up with sophomore Maddie McAdams, sophomore Emily Lock and senior Kaelan Oldani to take first place in a time of 1:35.67.
Skyline cemented the win as it also captured the final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay. Portz anchored the team that included junior Emma Cleason, Lock and sophomore Georgia Mosher that turned in a winning time of 3:24.56.
Skyline also had two other individual champions crowned. Cleason took first place in the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:01.51, while Mosher claimed the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:54.65.
Saline junior diver Cam McPherson captured an individual title. She took second place last year and was sixth as a freshman.
“Last year I feel I didn’t focus as much,’ McPherson said. “This year I felt like I had a lot better focus. I thought I had some real good dives. I was also more focused to help my team as we needed all the points we could get.”
Sophomore Katie Minnich led the way for third-place Mercy as she repeated in the 100 backstroke in a time of 54.67.
“Winning it a second time is real special,” Minnich said. “I was confident that I could do it. There was pressure on me to win it again, but I like the pressure. There is always pressure and if there is not any pressure, it’s not worth doing.”
Minnich was also a member of Mercy’s 200 medley relay team that also won. She swam the first leg and was followed by junior Allison Lobbia, junior Alaina Skellett and freshman Annette Dombkowski as they turned in a winning time of 1:44.44.
Grand Blanc junior Emma Curtis was another repeat champion. Curtis repeated in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 23.07, a new personal record.
“It was a lot more exciting this year,” Curtis said. “I wanted to go 22 (seconds) and I just missed it by a few hundredths of a second. I felt a lot better this year and felt a lot less stress. I want to come back next year and win it as a senior.”
After finishing second at Finals the past three years, Zeeland senior Morgan Bullock broke through to the top step of the victory stand. She won the 100-yard butterfly in 54.42 seconds in front of her hometown fans.
“I’ve been runner-up in everything at state since my freshman year,” said Bullock, who will swim at the University of West Virginia. “This is my senior year and I’ve worked real hard for this. I just wanted to go out and do the best I could. I liked that I had a chance to win it close to home. A lot more of my teammates and friends and family members were able to see me win it.”
Rockford, the fourth-place team, was paced by junior Sydney McDowell, who won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:03.84.
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Skyline’s Emily Lock was among contributors to her team’s MHSAA championship. (Middle) Zeeland’s Morgan Bullock capped her high school career with her first title. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)