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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Preview: Could This Be Sault Ste. Marie's Season?
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 11, 2021
One of the most successful swimmers in Upper Peninsula high school history will have the opportunity Saturday to lead her team to a historic finish as well.
Sault Ste. Marie senior Aliah Robertson will bring five individual and two relay championships into this weekend’s MHSAA Finals at Marquette High School with the Blue Devils strong contenders to claim their first team title.
Diving is Friday at all swimming Saturday – click for more meet details. Both will be streamed live and viewable with subscription on MHSAA.tv.
Here’s a glance at team and individual favorites:
Reigning champion: Marquette
Reigning runner-up: Sault Ste. Marie
Marquette has won the last two championships after finishing runner-up in 2017 and 2018, and the Redettes claimed last year’s title by 77 points. Sault Ste. Marie’s second place in 2020 was its highest finish since 2005. The Blue Devils enter with the top seeds in all three relays and five individual races, plus the reigning champion diver.
Joanne Arbic, Sault Ste. Marie junior – The two-time reigning champion in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyles is seeded first in both (25.87 and 57.16, respectively). She also was part of two relay champs in 2020.
Anna Hildebrand, Sault Ste. Marie junior – She also was on those two relay champions with Arbic and was second in the 200 free and third in the 500 last season. She’s the top seed in the 200 by more than three seconds with a 2:09.50 and the second seed to Arbic in the 100 (57.60). She set the meet record in the 50 last season.
Delaney Marchiol, Marquette junior – The reigning 500 champion also has been part of relay winners each of the last two seasons. She is seeded second in the butterfly (1:06.74) and third in the breaststroke (1:17.62) this weekend.
Adelaide McRoberts, Kingsford freshman – She enters her first Finals with the top seeds in the butterfly (1:00.06) and backstroke (1:00.96).
Aliah Robertson, Sault Ste. Marie senior – She is seeded first in the breaststroke (1:07.39) by 10 seconds and the individual medley (2:12.88) by nearly 14. She holds in the meet records in both of those events and the breaststroke.
Grace Sobczak, Marquette freshman – She also enters her first Finals with a chance to make a quick impact, seeded second in the IM (2:26.56) and first in the 500 (5:38.80).
Sault Ste. Marie 200 medley relay – Robertson, Arbic, Hildebrand and sophomore Julie Innerebner have a seed time five seconds faster than the field at 1:56.24 after the same group won in a U.P. Finals-record 1:54.26 last season.
Sault Ste. Marie 200 freestyle relay – Robinson, Arbic, Hildebrand and Innerebner also are the reigning champs in this relay, hoping to cut last season’s meet-record time of 1:42 and entering this weekend with a seed time of 1:45.26.
Brianna Jones, Sault Ste. Marie sophomore – The reigning diving champion won last season with a 174.95.
Avery Mariuzza, Ishepming Westwood senior – She finished second to Jones last season scoring a 173.80, and also fourth as a sophomore and third as a freshman.
PHOTO: Sault Ste. Marie’s Aliah Robertson swims the winning 100-yard butterfly during the 2019 Upper Peninsula Finals. (Click for more from Jarvinen Photos.)