MHSAA Finals primer
December 16, 2011
East Grand Rapids, Holland and Farmington Hills Mercy are among the usual contenders who should again make runs at MHSAA girls swimming and diving championships this weekend.
But competitors from places like Dundee, Walled Lake Western and Waterford will be pushing the annual powers at three Finals located across the Lower Peninsula.
Eastern Michigan University will host the Division 1 Final, with Division 2 at the Holland Aquatics Center and Division 3 at Oakland University. Preliminaries are Friday and championships will be decided Saturday.
Tickets cost $8, and competition begins at noon both days. Saturday’s championship races will be streamed live at FoxSportsDetroit.com and MHSAA.tv. Click for a full schedule and lists of qualifiers, their seed times and diving orders.
Here are some the teams, relays and individuals who could make the biggest waves:
Power struggles
The contending teams haven’t changed much over the last few seasons. Here’s how the annual favorites are stacking up against each other.
Division 1: Saline vs. Farmington Hills Mercy vs. Holland West Ottawa – Saline has claimed the last two MHSAA championships in this division after ending Ann Arbor Pioneer’s nine-year title run, and will have 21 individual entries this weekend. West Ottawa, last season’s runner-up, comes in with 19. But Mercy, which has won the last four Division 2 championships, will bring in 31 individual entries.
Division 2: Birmingham Groves vs. Holland – Mercy moving into Division 1 opens this meet up for a new champion, and Holland brings in 30 individual entries after finishing runner-up each of the last three seasons. But Groves also should be in the mix. The Falcons won four straight from 2003-06 and has 29 individual qualifiers.
Division 3: East Grand Rapids vs. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood – Two-time reigning champion East Grand Rapids is bringing 32 individual entries. But two-time reigning runner-up Cranbrook-Kingswood will try to overtake the Pioneers with its 25.
Pass the baton
At least one relay in each Final has a chance to make a run at a specific meet or overall record.
Hudsonville 200 freestyle – Seniors Michaela Rookus and Audra Thornton, sophomore Makayla Myers and junior Danielle Freeman have nearly a two-second edge coming in with a seed time of 1:35.82. Cutting just 14 hundredths of a second would put them on the record book list with the seventh-fastest Finals time.
Holland 200 medley – Senior Courtney Bartholomew, junior Melissa Vandermeulen, freshman Taylor Garcia and sophomore Molly Horren have swam this race in 1:45.26, which would rank fifth-fastest in MHSAA Finals history.
Holland Christian 200 freestyle – The team of senior Kaylie Wierda, sophomore Ashlee Sall, senior Kelsey Weener and freshman Sydney Asselin posted a seed time of 1:38.73. They’ll need to cut less than a second to beat Marian’s Division 3 meet record of 1:37.87 set in 2008.
Athletes to Watch
Courtney Bartholomew, Holland senior – The standout Dutch swimmer will attempt to add to her three individual MHSAA championships and four as part of relays. She has the top seed time in the 100 backstroke (54.53) and second-best in the 200 individual medley (2:05.13) – the two races she won in 2010. She holds the backstroke overall Finals record of 52.45.
Ines Charles, Bloomfield Hills Lahser sophomore – Is seeded first in Division 3 in both the 100 butterfly (57.36) and 100 backstroke (58.38), and also is part of three Lahser relays all seeded among the top four in her meet.
Brooke Edwards, Dundee senior – Will try to add to last season’s Division 3 championship in the 200 freestyle and fourth-place finish in the 100. She has the third-best seed time in the 200 (1:58.77) and sixth-best in the 100 (54.77) coming into this weekend.
Olivia Kassouni, East Grand Rapids junior – Hopes to defend her Division 3 diving championship after winning by 9.3 points in 2010 with a score of 435.80.
Annie Lazor, Birmingham Groves senior – She’s got the top Division 2 seed time of 1:03.69 in the 100 breaststroke amd will be going for her fourth championship in that race; she also holds the overall Finals record of 1:02.10. She’s also seeded first in the 200 IM (2:03.96) and will attempt to add that title as well after finishing second to Bartholomew last season.
Allie Murphy, Walled Lake Western junior – Is back at the Division 2 Final after winning last season’s diving championship with 410.45 points, three more than the runner-up.
Kylie Powrie, Cranbrook-Kingswood junior – Will try to repeat as the 500 freestyle Division 3 champion and has the top seed time in that event of 5:15.11. Her seed time of 2:00.13 in the 200 freestyle is 10th-best coming in.
Sami Stelpflug, Clarkston sophomore – Posted the top Division 1 seed times in both the 200 IM (2:04.14) and 100 breaststroke (1:04.85).
Anna Stephens, East Grand Rapids sophomore – Posted the top Division 3 seed time in the 100 breakstroke (1:06.40) after winning that race in 2010, and is third in the 200 IM (2:13.36).
Maddie Wright, Waterford United freshman – Enters her first MHSAA Final with the top Division 1 seed times in the 200 freestyle (1:50.26) and 100 butterfly (55.16).
PHOTO
Dive in: Holland senior Nicole Cordero is among those hoping to lead the Dutch to the Division 2 championship. She'll swim the 50 and 100-yard freestyles and on two relays.
Love of Racing, Podium Pursuit Provide Maison with Plenty of Finals Drive
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 8, 2023
It’s not that Scarlet Maison needed extra motivation. But now that it’s there, the Standish-Sterling swimming sensation is using it to her advantage.
After winning a Lower Peninsula Division 3 Swimming Finals title in the 200-yard individual medley as a freshman, Maison placed third as a sophomore. She also was second in the 100 breaststroke, just barely missing the chance at a second-straight year of standing on the top of the podium.
That’s driving her to rectify things this season as a junior.
“I definitely feel more prepared than last year,” Maison said. “I’ve been doing a lot more lifting, and I’m a lot stronger. I’m definitely motivated this year. (Missing out on another title) I thought helped. After the race, I thought, ‘I could use this for next year.’ Sometimes, losing isn’t always losing.”
With the Division 3 Swimming & Diving Finals set for Nov. 17 and 18 at Oakland University, Maison once again has put herself among the top contenders in both of her signature events.
She has the top time in the division this year in the 200 IM (2 minutes, 8.65 seconds) and the second-best time in the breaststroke (1:07.31). She’s also among the top 10 in the division in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly and has hit Finals qualifying times in every individual event this season, but will be focusing again on the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM.
“She’s always been one that loves to race, especially at a big meet, so it wasn’t surprising to see her race and put on a big swim when she did (as a freshman),” Maison’s father and coach, Shawn Maison, said. “I see her do it all the time. I do expect her to have a good meet next weekend, but you never know what (other swimmers) will do. It’s one of those things, she’s ready, she’ll be tapered and ready to go, but so will the field. It will be who wants it more at this point.”
A year ago Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Rachel Bello, who is now swimming at Washington University in Missouri, won both the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM.
Scarlet wanted it pretty badly in that meet, swimming personal bests in both races. But she admits the pressure of repeating as a champion got to her.
“The first year we were like, ‘If it happens, it happens,’” she said. “I didn’t realize I was ranked No. 1 going in, then in prelims I got second and was like, ‘Oh, I guess I can actually do this.’ I was excited to give it a shot. The second year, everyone expected me to do it again, and I was expecting me to do it again. There was definitely more competition.”
The competition is expected to be stiff again this year, which is OK by the Maisons. Winning another Finals title is certainly a goal, but beyond that, hitting cut times for the USA Swimming Futures Championships is the goal. The times are 1:05.49 in the 100 breast and 2:05.39 in the 200 IM. Her personal bests in the events are 1:06.91 and 2:08.3, respectively.
Better competition could help bring the best out of Scarlet, like it always has. Whether it was trying to catch her older sister Sierra, who is now a sophomore swimmer at Saginaw Valley State, or the other swimmers in the bigger club meets she’s swam throughout her life, she’s at her best when she’s forced to rise to another level.
“It’s not like she’s always been ahead,” Shawn Maison said. “She’s swam against kids faster than her for her entire swim career. It’s not new to her to not win, but it would be new to her to not race. … Scarlet has always had that back end of a race. It didn’t matter if she was running cross country or track, or even in a soccer game, she always had more energy at the end to finish. That’s nothing new to her.”
With competition comes pressure, even if it’s a different pressure than she faced a year ago. But this season, Scarlet feels more physically and mentally prepared to take all of that on heading into the Finals.
A nagging knee injury held her out of track this spring, so she spent her time lifting, which has her feeling much stronger in the pool.
She also has that motivation, which, while now stronger than a year ago, was always there.
“Ever since I was little, I tried to be the best in the room,” she said. “I always liked the competition. When there’s no competition, it has to come from yourself. For one, I’m in love with swim; that really helps. I like being able to feel better in the pool every day. The days where you feel bad in the pool are not very fun. So you keep training and training, and when you beat your PRs and get better, that motivates you to keep going.
“Michael Phelps always says, ‘What is your Why?’ My Why is just that I want to get better and always have fun. And definitely the success. That’s the best part.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Standish-Sterling’s Scarlet Maison swims the butterfly this season. (Middle) Maison, a Finals champion in 2021, has qualified for every individual event this fall. (Photos courtesy of the Maison family.)