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.)
Team Effort Earns Mercy Team Title
November 18, 2017
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
ROCHESTER – Farmington Hills Mercy certainly perfected the notion during Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals that you don’t have to win events to become a swimming & diving champion.
The Marlins didn’t have an individual finish first in any event and had runner-up finishes in just two, but they still left Oakland University happier than anyone.
For the first time since 2013 and eighth time in school history, Mercy won an MHSAA Finals championship after collecting a meet-best 277 points, 29 ahead of runner-up Saline’s total of 248.
Farmington/Harrison was third with 192, Ann Arbor Skyline was fourth at 191 and Rockford rounded out the top five with 156.
“I tried to get them to believe that you can win a state meet without winning a single event,” Mercy head coach Mike Venos said. “We had the team that could do that. We knew Saline was going to run with their top-end kids. We just had to offset that with our depth.”
Depth indeed prevailed for Mercy, which had a finisher in the top 10 in 10 of the 12 events.
The best for the Marlins were a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke by senior Katie Minnich and a second-place finish by the 400 freestyle relay in the meet’s final race.
The Marlins also had two third-place finishers, two fourth-place finishers, a fifth and a sixth-place finish.
It was the first time guiding a girls team to an MHSAA title for Venos, the longtime head coach at Brother Rice who has led the Warriors to the last four championships in LP Division 1 and six overall.
Venos is in his second year as head coach at Mercy.
While his team ended a four-year title drought, Saline fell just short in an attempt to win its first title since 2014.
The Hornets saw their 200 medley relay win the title with a time of 1:43.60 and junior Maddie Luther win the 200 freestyle in 1:47.69, but Saline couldn’t win another event to further negate the depth Mercy showcased.
It was the fourth runner-up finish for Saline since 2011.
“They had more swimmers and everywhere you looked, they had somebody,” Saline head coach Todd Brunty said. “We just keep knocking on that door trying to stay relevant. Every year, we try to make sure we stay in the conversation.”
The individual star of the Finals was Farmington/Harrison junior Ashley Turak, who found herself at the top of the podium in all four events in which she competed.
Going into the day, it was a repeat scenario for Turak, who like last year was seeded second in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
Instead of finishing second in the 50 and fourth in the 100 like she did last year, Turak was first in those events this time.
Turak won the 50 freestyle in a meet record time of 22.38, and then won the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.79.
Turak then served as the first leg of Farmington/Harrison’s team that won the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:34.67.
In the final event of the day, Turak swam the anchor leg for the 400 freestyle relay team that also finished first with a time of 3:26.35.
“The mood I had going in as a junior was that I had some college offers, so I wanted to prove to everyone I could do it,” Turak said. “I don’t know where I want to go yet.”
Turak will have the coming months to sort through what should be plenty of college offers while also being a member of Farmington Hills Harrison’s last graduating class.
Harrison is set to close its doors following the 2018-19 school year.
“I love representing my school,” Turak said. “I get great academics and it has great sports there. Our football is going to the state finals next week, so that amps me up too. It’s a great atmosphere.”
In addition to Turak’s performance in the 50 freestyle, there were other record-setting performances.
Grand Haven sophomore Kathryn Ackerman set a meet record in the 200 individual medley, winning with a time of 1:57.92.
Rockford junior Morgan Kraus set a meet record with a time of 53.73 in winning the 100 butterfly. Grand Ledge sophomore Lola Mull set a meet record in the 500 with a time of 4:47.32.
PHOTOS: (Top) A pair of Farmington Hills Mercy swimmers dominate an awards podium in helping the Mustangs win the team title Saturday. (Middle) Brighton celebrates a relay runner-up finish. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)