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Olsen Rewriting Fenton Record Board
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
October 27, 2020
The Fenton High School swimming pool isn’t named after Gracie Olsen. The program’s record board only makes it look that way.
Olsen, a junior, owns seven of the eight individual school records at Fenton, and she has her eyes on the eighth -- the 100-yard backstroke, which was set at 57 seconds by Haley Shaw in 2012.
“That one is frustrating, just 0.24 (seconds away from breaking it),” Olsen said with a laugh. “I would say I probably swim that event the least. I didn’t really start to get into it until a couple years ago.
“I do think about that a lot. It’s something I thought would be super cool if I could do. Obviously, that wasn’t my main goal going into high school, but I thought it would be super cool if I could be able to (own every record). If I don’t, that’s totally fine.”
Olsen will likely claim that record eventually – she's already beaten the time outside of high school competition – but even without it, she’s left an indelible mark on the Fenton program in 2½ years, and that goes beyond the number of times they’ve had to print her name on the board.
A three-time MHSAA Finals champion and Indiana University commit, Olsen is among the state’s best swimmers, and a sterling example for her teammates to follow.
“Her attention to detail and her dedication has put her above most swimmers,” Fenton coach Brad Jones said. “She’s absolutely one of the most coachable athletes I’ve ever had, and this is my 32nd year coaching.”
It was cold feet – or a dislike for them – that put Olsen on a path to swimming glory. She said she was an ice skater with an eye on playing hockey, like her father, when she was young. But her feet getting cold turned her off to the idea. While she experimented with several other activities, it was her mother’s sport, swimming, that stuck.
Gracie took up the sport competitively at 7. By the time she was swimming in the 10-and-under state finals, coaches could see great things ahead.
“We had this coach, his name was (Dave) Seagraves, and he always told me when I was younger, ‘I just know there is something about you – you're going to be so special,” Olsen said. “He passed away a couple years ago (in 2017). When I was 8, he was that factor that always made me stick to it. When he passed, I kind of started swimming for him.”
Seagraves’ influence on Olsen can still be seen – and not just in the pool. When she was young, he told her to tap the starting block 10 times prior to a race to help her focus. While it’s not an every-race occurrence, she said she does it often, and it frequently results in her best swims.
“I’d stand behind the blocks and tap it with my left and right hand 10 times, kind of like playing the piano,” she said. “I don’t usually forget.”
In the pool, Olsen’s greatest influence is likely her mother, Stephanie, who herself was a standout swimmer before a shoulder injury derailed a possible collegiate career. Stephanie coached the Fenton Area Swim Team with Seagraves, and is an assistant on the varsity team. She is also the one that pushed her daughter to be an all-around swimmer, rather than focusing on one stroke or a single distance.
That’s resulted in personal best times that would have been good enough to finish all-state in all eight individual events at the 2019 Finals. She can’t swim all eight, of course, so she swam in two – the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly – and won both. She was also part of Fenton’s 400 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams, which placed third and fifth, respectively.
The year before, she won the 200 IM and was second in the 100 butterfly.
“We highly anticipate that she will repeat as a double winner in whatever events we put her in,” Jones said. “One of the things that makes Gracie so special is that she’s good at all the events. She doesn’t have a weak stroke. … In coaching, you don’t have athletes like Gracie very often. It’s fun to have people call you and say, ‘Where is Gracie going to be, because we don’t want our kids there.’ When the state Finals come around, we start getting calls. That’s a lot of fun.”
Jones joked that the only thing Olsen isn’t elite at is diving – although she hasn’t tried it.
“I’m afraid to let her,” he said. “She might be good at it.”
Both Jones and Olsen expect she will start to specialize a bit more when she goes to Indiana, and that butterfly will be her main stroke, along with freestyle. Her versatility gives the Hoosiers plenty of options, though.
For now, she’s focused on improving each stroke every day, and her motivation to do so goes well beyond chasing records.
“Just thinking about where I am now tends to be a huge motivation for me,” she said. “I’m very thankful, personally, for what I have. It just makes me so happy that I get to be with a team like this and have the coaches that I do. I could not be more fortunate.”
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) Fenton’s Gracie Olsen races to the butterfly championship at the 2019 Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals. (Middle) Olsen has committed to sign to swim at Indiana University. (Top photo courtesy of the Tri-County Times; middle courtesy of Gracie Olsen.)
![Ogemaw Heights’ Kiera Danitz pops up from the water happy after touching the wall first during one of her races at the Independent Swim Conference championship meet.](/sites/default/files/2022-11/221118_Ogemaw_2H.jpg)
Ogemaw Heights Record-Setter Showing Path to Success with 3rd Finals Trip
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 18, 2022
When Kiera Danitz leaves the blocks during this weekend’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Swimming & Diving Championships, it will feel pretty familiar to her.
The Ogemaw Heights junior has already experienced qualifying and competing at the Finals twice.
But she will experience some unfamiliarity this time too. She won’t have her training partner and teammate of the past two seasons, Clair Hines, with her. However, Danitz is going into this Finals as the fastest swimmer the school and conference has ever produced in her two events, the 50 and 100-yard freestyles.
She didn’t reach the LPD3 championship heats the last two seasons, but is expected to do so this weekend – and contend for titles in both races. She enters as the top seed in the 50 and the second seed in the 100.
Long before this season, Danitz already was listed on the Falcons’ pool wall record boards with Hines in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. With Hines moving on to swim for Aquinas College this year – she’s already set a Saints record – Danitz lost a training partner.
That didn’t slow her down, thankfully, according to her coach Louise Hofer.
“The two of them were very good friends and really good swimming partners, pushing each other,” Hofer said. “This is the first year that Kiera is without her, and she has had to step up her game a little bit and be more of the swimming leader on the team.
“She’s done a fantastic job in the water motivating the other girls to do the best they can.”
So far this fall, Danitz has broken records that stood for more than 20 years in both the 50 and 100. She also broke the Ogemaw Heights pool record in 50.
The school and conference 50 free records were set at the recent Independent Swim Conference championships – she won in 24.15 seconds. The conference 100 free record of 53:41 also was set during the two-day event held at Saginaw Valley State University. For her record-setting accomplishments, Danitz was named the ISC Swimmer of the Meet. Those are also her seed times for this weekend.
Swimming against the state’s best could bring out the best in Danitz, who started competing in the water in fourth grade when her mother suggested she give it a try.
“As a swimmer, she always does better when she’s in the hunt, when she’s a little bit behind,” Hofer pointed out. “If she’s got somebody that she can see their toes or she can see their shoulders or whatever, she is going to push herself much harder than if she is way out front.”
The lessons learned from the last two Finals should also bode well for the decorated junior.
“It was such a valuable learning experience for her,” Hofer said. “It has just bolstered her confidence.”
Regardless of how things go this weekend, Danitz already has plans to re-write the record books next year. She’s ready to do the work to improve on her own records and go after a couple more her senior year.
“I want to break the 200 IM record and maybe the 200 free records,” she said. “I am hoping for my 50 free to get a 23 (seconds) and I hope to get a 52 by the end of my senior year.”
Danitz’s success has been well supported by her teammates, and in fact may lead to other records being broken on both the boys and the girls teams.
Having recognizable names makes the records more attainable and provides motivation, the 21-year veteran coach Hofer believes.
“They’re very definitely paying attention to the new names going on the wall because these are kids that they know,” Hofer said. “You can see it in the kids’ eyes when they stand there and look at stuff.
“You can see the wheels spinning in their head,” she continued. “And they’re thinking, ‘OK … I know her… I know what (level) of work she put in … I can do it too.’”
Reese Engel and Alejandra Azcona are the other members of the school-record 200 relay team with Danitz and Hines. Jordan Nelson and Azcona join them on the wall for the 400 relay.
Hofer likes the idea of Danitz going after the 200 IM record. She had Danitz try that race a few times this year for a little variety.
“Kiera wants to improve upon those before she leaves,” Hofer said. “We dabbled with the 200.
“It was good for her to swim some other events and not be so laser-focused at every competition swimming the 50 and 100.”
Hofer is confident her stellar swimmer will do whatever it takes to meet those goals.
“Kiera is motivated, and she’s super competitive,” Hofer said. “She’s willing to do the work, and she knows what kind of work she needs to do.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Ogemaw Heights’ Kiera Danitz pops up from the water happy after touching the wall first during one of her races at the Independent Swim Conference championship meet. (Middle) Danitz and coach Louise Hofer stand over the broken 50 freestyle record board listings Danitz’s times will replace. (Top photo by Justin Kruskie Photography. Middle photo by Christine Rice.)