Flashback 100: Ann Arbor Pioneer's Unstoppable Streak Stretches 9 Seasons
September 6, 2024
Ann Arbor Pioneer's girls swimming & diving team is celebrating its 2002 Lower Peninsula Division 1 title in the photo above, and the Pioneers remain the record holders for longest Finals championship streak in that sport with nine consecutive from 2000-08.
Pioneer has won a total of 20 Finals team titles in girls swimming & diving, 16 under the direction of longtime coach Dennis Hill and the last four under the leadership of current coach Stefanie Kerska. The Pioneers also have finished Finals runners-up 11 seasons.
Future Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce swam on the 2001 and 2002 Pioneer teams, setting all-Finals records as a senior in the 50-yard freestyle (22.04), 100 freestyle (48.59), 200 freestyle (1:46.34), and as part of the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.77). She still holds those all-Finals records in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events, and at one point she owned the national high school records for both races as well.
Joyce went on to swim at Georgia, winning 18 NCAA championships and setting two national records, and she competed at the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Olympics for Team USA, winning a total of four medals.
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Previous "Flashback 100" Features
Aug. 30: Detroit dePorres Rushes to 1995 Class CC Football Championship - Read
Performance of the Week: Kingsford's Adelaide McRoberts
February 28, 2022
Adelaide McRoberts ♦ Kingsford
Swimming ♦ Sophomore
McRoberts won the third and fourth MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals championships of her career, this time in the 200-yard individual medley and 50-yard freestyle with times of 2:11.34 and 24.22 seconds, respectively. The 50 time set the UP Finals record, and she went on to best it with a 24.21 split to start the runner-up 200 freestyle relay. She also swam the second leg of the runner-up 200 medley relay as her team finished overall runner-up Saturday at Marquette High School.
The 50 record was her second at the UP Finals, to go with the record-setting 100 butterfly she swam in 58.89 seconds as a freshman – when she also won the 100 backstroke in a time of 59.68 that ranks second in UP Finals history. Her 200 IM time this weekend ranks fourth on that race list.
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2021-22 Honorees
Feb. 17: Christopher Kavanaugh, Petoskey hockey - Report
Feb. 10: Ira Jenkins, Whitehall wrestling - Report
Feb. 3: Emma Stewart, Salem gymnastics - Report
Jan. 28: Tyler Ray, Pinckney swimming - Report
Jan. 21: Elle Craven, Traverse City Central skiing - Report
Jan. 14: Nevaeh Williams, Mount Clemens basketball - Report
Dec. 2: Lucas Dunn, Chelsea football - Report
Nov. 25: Riley Nugent, Plainwell swimming - Report
Nov. 18: Harper Murray, Ann Arbor Skyline volleyball - Report
Nov. 11: Abby VanderKooi, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian cross country - Report
Nov. 4: Arianne Olson, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
Oct. 28: Jack Guggemos, Okemos soccer - Report
Oct. 21: Sachiv Kumar, Northville tennis - Report
Oct. 14: Kate Brody, Grand Blanc golf - Report
Oct. 7: Lilly Nelson, Negaunee tennis - Report
Sept. 30: Stella Chapman, Ann Arbor Pioneer swimming - Report
Sept. 23: Riley Hough, Hartland cross country - Report
Sept. 16: Josie Bloom, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Report
PHOTO Kingsford's Adelaide McRoberts swims the 200 individual medley during Saturday's Upper Peninsula Finals. (Photo by Daryl Jarvinen; head shot courtesy of Adelaide McRoberts.)