Marquette Girls End Title Wait with Big Win
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
February 16, 2019
MARQUETTE — It was a dominating performance by the Marquette girls to say the least as they ran away with the Upper Peninsula swimming & diving title with 352 points Saturday.
The Redettes, who won for the first time in four years, were followed by Kingsford with 217 points and Houghton at 185.
“We’ve been kind of waiting for this,” said junior Mollie Kilpela, who helped the Redettes win the 200-yard medley relay in a school-record 1 minute, 57.2 seconds. “That got us hyped up and excited for the rest of the meet.
“This is a nice way for our team to end the season. We have only one senior on the team. Next year we’re going to be better, I think.”
Joining Kilpela in the day’s first race were sophomores Lexi LaCombe and Erin Vanderschaaf and freshman Kelsey Glover.
Vanderschaaf also helped Marquette set the U.P. Finals and school record in the 400 freestyle relay at 3:48.56, with LaCombe and Kilpela helping the Redettes take second in the 200 freestyle event in a school-record 1:44.65.
“I knew this was going to be pretty special for sure,” said eighth-year Marquette coach Nathan McFerrin. “Overall, this is the best team I’ve had as coach. We were very balanced. In many events we had three place among the top six.
“My coaching technique is it’s difficult to be successful if you don’t trust yourself, teammates and coaches. This was a big culmination of our season, and today it all came together.”
Marquette sophomore Kali McDonough won Friday’s diving competition with 163.9 points.
Vanderschaaf won Saturday’s 500 freestyle (5:14.14), and junior teammate Taryn Aho took the 200 freestyle (2:02.01).
Kingsford senior Peyton Johnson set a U.P. Finals record in the 100 backstroke in 59.51 seconds, shattering the old mark (1:03.32) by Ashley Oliver of Painesdale Jeffers-Ironwood from 2005.
Johnson also helped the Flivvers establish a record in the 200 freestyle relay (1:43.51) and was runner-up to Robertson in the 200 IM (2:17.7).
Joining Johnson on the winning relay were seniors Emily Bruns and Ailie Schoenborn and freshman Sydney Scott.
Sault Ste. Marie sophomore Aliah Robertson set the U.P. Finals record in the 200 individual medley at 2:10.02, topping the previous best by Marquette’s Jenny Laughna (2:12.43) swam in 1994, and retained her 100 butterfly title at 59.4 seconds.
“I always take one or two of my teammates to help me at the starting line,” said Robertson, who was also crowned champion in the 100 breaststroke a year ago. “They encourage me and give me pointers. They help keep my mind off things so I don’t get too nervous. I was really excited when I found out I set the record in the 200 IM. This is a bit of a confidence boost.”
Sault freshman Joanne Arbic was also a double winner, taking the 50 freestyle (25.87) and 100 freestyle (56.21).
Reigning team champion Gladstone had an individual winner in senior Sydney Herioux, who took the 100 breaststroke (1:08.95).
“It was really awesome,” said Herioux, who will attend Saginaw Valley State University this fall and play softball for the Cardinals. “This is the last race I’ll ever swim. It feels great to go out like that.”
PHOTOS: A Marquette swimmer powers off the block during a relay at Saturday's Upper Peninsula Finals. (Middle) Gladstone's Sydney Herioux powers to the win in the breaststroke. (Click for more from Jarvinen Photos.)
Title Awards Adams' Sustained Success
December 12, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Rochester Adams girls swimming & diving program had known plenty of success before this season.
The Highlanders entered the fall with seven straight top-10 MHSAA Finals finishes and having celebrated 12 individual event champions over their impressive history. Adams was coming off a third place in Lower Peninsula Division 2 in 2017 – its best showing during that recent run – and with one of those individual champs in senior Lisa Lohner back to lead another title chase.
On Nov. 17 at nearby Oakland University, Adams finished the climb by earning the first MHSAA Finals championship in the school’s swimming & diving history.
The Highlanders – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for November – scored 250 points, 30 more than runner-up Birmingham Seaholm. And the title actually was the first for either of the school’s pool programs, girls or the similarly prolific boys, who tied their highest finish by coming in runner-up in Division 2 last winter.
“It is just kind of that elation of always having strong kids in our program,” Adams coach Tim Hickey said in describing the lasting feeling from finishing the title run. “Swimming is pretty big in our area, so we’ve always had some great athletes come through the program, (and we’re) pretty consistently top 10 in the state. I guess to make that final hurdle to put it all together and win that first title is just an incredible feeling. It’s so nice to see all that hard work the athletes put in really paid off for them.”
Of course, Lohner was a big part of the effort, helping push that individual event championship total to 15. She finished first in the 500 (4:58.17) and 200-yard (1:51.49) freestyles and anchored the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:36.76) and seventh-place finisher in the 400 free (3:36.13).
But her teammates picked up a sizable scoring load. In fact, the Highlanders scored in every swimming race – including the 50 freestyle, where they took eighth and a tie for 12th despite entering the meet without an athlete seeded to score among the top 16.
Adams took 15 athletes to the meet, and 11 scored points – with that scoring spread across three freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and four seniors. Joining Lohner in scoring in one or more events or relays were seniors Maddy Fleury, Alex Waack, Valentina Rengifo, junior Fernanda Camacho-Castro, sophomores Claire Sweetwood, Meghan Fleury and Allison Danko and freshmen Lauren Woodman, Yitian Zhang and Olivia Goodman.
“A lot of things just came together this year,” said Hickey, who completed his 24th season leading the program. “We had several athletes back from injuries who either missed last year completely or we didn’t even know at the beginning of the year if they’d be able to compete. We had just a very strong senior class which has obviously been at that level for many years, three freshmen coming in … again, a lot of pieces of the puzzle all coming together this year.
“What makes it really great is that it was a total and complete team effort. We needed everyone there and everyone to perform well, and it really happened.”
Adams also won the Oakland Activities Association Red championship for the fifth straight season, ahead of Seaholm and also Division 1 Finals third-place finisher Harrison/Farmington.
Lohner will continue her career at University of Toledo.
Past Teams of the Month, 2018-19
October: Leland boys soccer – Read
September: Pickford football – Read
August: Northville girls golf – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Rochester Adams’ Lisa Lohner swims to the championship in the 500 freestyle at last month’s LPD2 Finals. (Middle) Fernanda Camacho-Castro readies for her leg of the 400 relay while Alex Waack cheers on Valentina Rengifo. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)