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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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Last Year's Runners-Up Take Next Step
November 22, 2014
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
ROCHESTER — Emily Converse, Gabby Higgins, Rileigh Eding and Riley Kishman all had a year to replay the races in their minds.
A fraction of a second here, an extra lean there — that's all that stood between them and individual championships at the 2013 MHSAA Division 3 Lower Peninsula Swimming and Diving Finals.
Given an opportunity to take one last step to the top spot on the awards podium, all four succeeded to win individual titles on Saturday at Oakland University.
Five of the eight individual swimming events were won by last year's runners-up.
The team championship, however, remained once again in the hands of East Grand Rapids. The Pioneers repeated as Division 3 champions, winning their 19th MHSAA title in the last 36 years by a 424.5 to 267 score over Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
"You don't ever go in absolutely expecting it," said Milton Briggs, who has won 29 total MHSAA titles coaching the boys and girls teams at East Grand Rapids. "You know you've got some good kids and you know they've been working hard, so you hope for the best."
Higgins, a sophomore at East Grand Rapids, had to ponder two second-place finishes from her freshman year. She was second in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races to Hamilton's Stephanie Johnston, who returned Saturday to defend her titles.
Higgins won the 50 in 23.54 seconds, while Johnston and East Grand Rapids sophomore Lexus VanHoven tied for second in 23.92. Higgins won the 100 in 51.80.
"It's really motivated me to work on the little things," said Higgins, who was also on two winning relay teams Saturday. "It's really good to have someone like (Johnston) to push me. We do a good job of pushing each other."
It also helps to have some of the best swimmers in the state to train with and race against on a daily basis.
"It's really awesome," Higgins said. "It really helps to push each other and work on our races. We're really supportive of each other."
Converse, a junior at East Grand Rapids, was second in the 200 freestyle last year before getting redemption with a victory in the 500 freestyle. She got the sweep this season, taking the 200 in 1:53.37 and the 500 in 5:06.85.
"Last year I went into the (200) finals seeded first and got touched out at the end," Converse said. "I didn't want history to repeat itself. I was really motivated today. I was very focused."
Converse pulled off a difficult double, taking the meet's longest event and returning to swim the third leg of the next event, the 200 freestyle relay.
East Grand Rapids was in second place when Converse hit the water in that relay, but was in first place to stay after she swam a 24.24-second leg.
"It's kind of like an adrenaline rush," Converse said. "The 500 is a distance event, so 50 (in the relay) isn't that much more. We're trained to do that. It's always a fun thing to do."
Like Higgins, Converse also won four events.
Eding, a junior at Hamilton, was second to a senior last year in the 100 backstroke. Returning as the favorite, Eding won by 1.38 seconds in 56.26.
"Last year I was the No. 1 seed going in," Eding said. "A senior came in and won it. I just had to believe in myself. I knew I could do it. I had to dig deep."
Kishman, a sophomore at Grand Rapids Catholic Central, won the 200 individual medley last year, but settled for second in the 100 breaststroke.
She came away with both championships on Saturday, taking the 200 IM in 2:09.23 and the breaststroke by more than two seconds in 1:05.71.
Kishman was also on a winning relay team and a second-place relay team.
"The person who beat me last year graduated, but I knew it would still be tough this year," Kishman said. "There were some good freshmen."
The top freshman of the meet is a teammate of Kishman's, Susan LaGrand. LaGrand swam the first leg on the winning 200 medley relay team before winning the 100 butterfly in 57.44.
"It's a dream come true to just be able to come here with a great team that supports me and a great group of people," LaGrand said.
East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Catholic Central combined to win 10 of the 12 events. Besides Eding, the only other champion not from those schools was Milan junior Taylor Hosein, who repeated as the diving champion.
"I didn't want to let anyone steal my state title from me," said Hosein, who scored 449.80 points to win by 15.75.
The runner-up team finish was the best ever for Grand Rapids Catholic Central, eclipsing last year's sixth-place finish. The Cougars have been in the top 10 only six times, compared to 39 top-10s for East Grand Rapids.
"It's going to be a good rivalry," Briggs said. "This year they took a huge step forward."
PHOTOS: (Top) Members of East Grand Rapids' 200 freestyle relay watch as the final leg finishes their meet record swim Saturday. (Middle) Milan's Taylor Hosein repeated as LP Division 3 diving champion. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)