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.)
Senior Standouts Lead Cranbrook Surge
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
January 16, 2021
LAKE ORION – The Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood girls swimming & diving team had waited nearly a year for a chance to make amends.
So, what was another two months of waiting?
Cranbrook came oh-so-close at the last Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals in November of 2019, finishing just 11 points behind East Grand Rapids for the top spot.
Cranbrook’s wait for redemption was only at six days before a state-mandated pause in November due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced a stoppage in the season and Cranbrook to wait longer.
But after an additional two months of wondering, waiting and training, the season was able to resume and Cranbrook finally finished its path to avenging what happened at the previous year’s meet.
This time, Cranbrook took home the bigger championship trophy, scoring 379 points to easily best the field at Lake Orion High School.
Hamilton was second with 199 points, while Bloomfield Hills Marian was third with 192.
Marian was swimming with heavy hearts after it was announced Thursday night that longtime athletic director David Feldman had died from COVID-19.
Reigning champion East Grand Rapids opted out of the Finals, but was slated to compete in Division 2 regardless.
It was Cranbrook’s second Finals title in four seasons after it last won in 2017.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad way for Cranbrook head coach Paul Ellis to break into the program in his first year at the helm.
“It’s phenomenal, Ellis said. “It makes me so incredibly happy as a coach. The credit goes back to all the girls on the team. Every single girl that was there today scored. Every girl contributed. That says everything about the character of the girls, their tenacity and dedication to what we have been doing.”
Cranbrook had the perfect blend of first-place star power and depth to amass their points.
The star power was provided by the tandem of Justine Murdock and Gwen Woodbury, who both will swim collegiately in the Big Ten.
Headed to Northwestern, Murdock won the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.19) and 100 backstroke events (55.04), setting pool records in both events.
Murdock won the backstroke for a third year in a row and the individual medley for a second-straight season in finishing with five career Finals titles.
“It was really hard not only for me and my team, but for everyone in Michigan,” Murdock said. “Pool space has been hard to come by this fall. We’ve had our set of roadblocks. To be here and to be able to be putting up the times I’ve been able to put up and our team has been able to put up, it shows how dedicated we were to finish the season and finish what we started in August.”
Signed with Ohio State, Woodbury won the 100 freestyle (1:48.31) and 200 freestyle (50.29) events to also finish with five career individual titles.
Woodbury won the 100 freestyle as a freshman and junior and the 200 freestyle as a freshman.
As was the case with Murdock, her times were pool records.
“It just feels really good,” Woodbury said. “The whole waiting and wondering if we would have a state meet and then waiting again, it makes it all worth it. It’s so exciting to see all my teammates swim fast as well. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
The twosome helped Cranbrook sweep all three relays as well, so essentially Murdock and Woodbury had a hand in Cranbrook winning seven of the meet’s 12 events.
“I’m really proud to finish it off with these girls in my senior year,” Murdock said. “It’s so rewarding and super exciting.”
Other event winners were Williamston junior Gwen Eisenbeis in the 50 freestyle (23.87), Otsego junior Abie Sullivan in diving (455.50), Flint Powers Catholic senior Lara Wujciak in the 100 butterfly (56.77), Plainwell junior Riley Nugent in the 500 freestyle (5:06.47) and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett junior Ginger McMahon in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.31).
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood's Justine Murdock swims to one of her two championships Saturday at Lake Orion. (Middle) A Holland Christian swimmer competes. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)