No Fazing Holland in Repeat Run
November 21, 2012
By Jon Malavolti
Special to Second Half
ROCHESTER – Holland High girls swimming and diving coach Don Kimble said his squad talked about it all year.
“The second one is harder than the first one,” he said. “The second one, you’ve got a target on your back. Everybody’s looking for you. You sort of swim a little tight – you don’t want to be the one that loses it.”
On top of all that pressure, the Dutch had some other challenges they didn’t have last year while winning their first Lower Peninsula Division 2 title. Last year, Holland lifted the trophy at the nearby Holland Aquatic Center. This year, the Dutch would had to traverse across the state to Oakland University a few hours east, and face some new teams like Ann Arbor Skyline and East Grand Rapids that moved into Division 2 after competing in Division 1 or 3 in 2011.
But Holland wasn’t fazed by any of it, defending its title in convincing fashion.
The Dutch receive a Second Half High 5 this week after winning their second straight MHSAA championship. Prior to last season, they finished runner-up three straight seasons.
This time, they dominated the relays – taking first in all three, while also finishing first in four individual races. Holland grabbed crucial points with a second-place finish and three third-place finishes in the individual events, while its depth rounded things out on the day with nine finishes between ninth and16th.
Holland sophomore Taylor Garcia epitomized the team’s toughness, finishing first in all four races she swam – the 100-yard butterfly, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay – all while dealing with a broken thumb.
“I think it affected my butterfly turns a little bit, and also I was a little tentative on my finishes,” she said. “I’m glad I just got to swim and didn’t need surgery or anything”.
Kimble was impressed with her performance despite the setback that has hampered her the past few weeks.
“She hasn’t been able to train all out,” he said. “To go the times she did today … it’s remarkable.”
Garcia wasn’t the only member of the Dutch proving her resolve on Saturday.
Junior Holly Morren won the 100 freestyle and finished second in the 50 free, while also helping the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams finish first.
Kimble noted how vastly she improved her performance from the preliminaries the day before.
“Holly came back with a vengeance,” he said Saturday. “She was really disappointed where she ended up yesterday, but made the effort today to step up.”
The third Holland team member to take home an individual title is another reason why the Dutch should be favored to three-peat. Cassie Misiewicz, a junior, will look to defend her 500 freestyle title next year, as well as improve on her third-place finish in the 200 free. She also swam on the first-place 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams.
In fact, the Dutch will graduate just one senior who scored points at this year’s Finals – Melissa Vandermeulen, who capped off her career nicely with a pair of third-place finishes in the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, while also swimming on the first-place 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.
Surely there will be more challenges that pop up in the way of Holland’s title run next year.
But no one should believe the Dutch won’t figure out a way to get it done, again.
PHOTO: Holland swimmer Abi Johns gives a thumbs up after one of her events during Saturday's Division 2 Finals at Oakland University. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Saline Diver Twists and Turns to the Top
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
November 19, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
SALINE – Camryn McPherson is just a junior at Saline High School, and already her athletic life has been filled with twists and turns.
That suits her just fine.
McPherson, possibly the favorite to win the 1-meter diving portion of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals this weekend at the Holland Community Aquatic Center, got her start in athletics spinning, jumping and balancing her way in gymnastics. However, the sport eventually took a toll on McPherson’s back, and the injury forced her to make the tough decision to quit the sport she loved.
“I really didn’t want to quit gymnastics, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself,” McPherson said. “I had to find something else.”
McPherson was connected to gymnastics. She had been a typical young girl, dancing and spinning and jumping her way through the day. Her parents, Brad and Jen McPherson, were not sure what they had on their hands, but they saw something in her.
“We weren’t gymnastics coaches, but we could tell she was good,” Brad McPherson said. “She got involved in gymnastics at a young age, and it just went on from there.”
It was the sport of choice for young Camryn, but it wasn’t the sport of destiny. Apparently, that was diving, and soon after giving up gymnastics, McPherson spent a summer diving at a local country club. She not only found that she was pretty good at it, but she discovered that having a background in gymnastics was beneficial to her approach in diving.
“A lot of the spins and moves are the same, so that helped a lot,” she said.
Standing on the diving board might feel similar to standing on the balance beam to a certain extent, but the obvious difference of diving into the water made McPherson a little apprehensive at first.
“I was more uncomfortable on platform diving, and I still don’t do that,” she said. “But the diving doesn’t bother me now.”
That is obvious, judging by her scores. Last year as a sophomore, McPherson finished second in the MHSAA Division 1 meet at Eastern Michigan University. Her score of 478.10 was better than the previous division record. However, it wasn’t good enough to beat Saline teammate Amy Stevens, who won the event for the second consecutive year with 488.20.
Stevens is not diving for Saline this year, so McPherson enters Friday as the highest finisher from last year. Also, she beat Stevens in the Regional a year ago and repeated as regional champion this year, stamping her as a favorite and definitely someone to watch this weekend.
Winning the MHSAA championship is the only thing missing on McPherson’s resume from high school diving.
“I do feel a little pressure going into it,” McPherson said. “I did OK at the Regional, but I know I could have done better.”
Competing with Stevens the past few years was beneficial to both divers.
“Amy pushed me, and I always wanted to be as good as she is,” McPherson said. “I think we were able to push each other, and I learned a lot from her.”
The friendly rivalry with Stevens was not the only thing that has worked well for McPherson during her career on the Saline swimming and diving team. Last year, when the Hornets won the LP Division 1 championship in thrilling fashion, McPherson was able to share the joy with her older sister Alex, who now attends the University of Connecticut and is on the women’s swimming team.
Alex swam on the 400 freestyle relay, which won last year’s LPD1 Finals championship. The victory came in the final event of the meet, and that race clinched the team championship for Saline.
“Being able to be on the same team as her was one of the big reasons why I wanted to join the swimming team,” McPherson said. “And then being able to win the state championship with her was really exciting.”
McPherson also is a part of the Legacy Diving team under coach Buck Smith, who also coaches men’s and women’s diving at Eastern Michigan University. This spring, McPherson, competing with Legacy, finished in the top two in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events in the 16-18 girls USA Diving Junior Region 5 championships in Columbus, Ohio.
McPherson won the 1-meter with 406.50 points and was runner-up in the 3-meter with 452 points. Her top scores in the 1-meter came on an inward 1½ somersault in the pike position and a forward 2½ somersault in the tuck position. She received more than 50 points for each dive.
McPherson moved on to the USA Diving National Preliminary Zone C championships at the University of Indiana and finished fourth in the 1-meter and fifth in the 3-meter.
While it is still a way off, McPherson dreams of joining her sister at Connecticut, but the college process is still working its way out.
“We are hearing from colleges, and we went through it with her sister,” Brad McPherson said. “We’ll see how it works out.”
One would guess there could be a few more twists and turns along the way.
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Camryn McPherson dives during last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals. (Middle) McPherson was an aspiring gymnast before taking up diving. (Middle photo and head shot courtesy of the McPherson family.)