Performance: Brighton's Taylor Seaman
September 30, 2016
Taylor Seaman
Brighton senior – Swimming & Diving
Seaman already will graduate next spring as one of the top swimmers in Brighton history. As a sophomore two seasons ago, she became just the second from her school to win an MHSAA championship in the sport, finishing first in the 100-yard freestyle at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final. Last week she helped the Bulldogs make more history, as they beat reigning LP Division 2 champ Dexter for the first time in 22 years, 98-88. Seaman won the 100 freestyle (51.62) and swam on winning 200 medley (1:51.97) and 200 freestyle (1:40.46) relays to earn the Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
Brighton currently is ranked No. 9 in LP Division 1, while Dexter is No. 1 in LP Division 2. Seaman holds school records in the 50 freestyle (23.68 seconds), 100 free (51.59), 200 free (1:55.19), 200 individual medley (2:10.93) and 100 butterfly (58.91.) Her championship in 2014 was the Bulldogs' first at a Finals since Morgan Zebley won the 100 butterfly in 2010, and it helped them to a fourth-place team finish. Seaman finished second in the 100 to Ann Arbor Skyline’s Katie Portz at last season’s LP Division 1 Final, while also repeating her fourth place in the 200 freestyle and swimming on two top-four relays as Brighton finished fifth as a team.
A top-25 student academically in a class of more than 500, Seaman carries a 4.06 grade-point average and has taken college visits to Brown and Cornell and today began a visit at Ohio State. She’s interested in studying psychology while continuing her swim career at the next level. But first she’ll be a likely favorite in at least one race at this season’s Finals, Nov. 18-19 at Oakland University, with an opportunity to add to the accolades that have led Brighton to hang a poster of her alongside one of Zebley in their pool.
Coach Jason Black said: “Taylor is the type of athlete that not only brings her ‘A’ game to the swim meets but also to each practice. She attacks each set with an intensity knowing that the workout is going to make her faster at the end of the season. Taylor has helped transform Brighton swimming from a regional player to a state player as we have been a top-10 program the last two years with our eyes on a third year in a row with Taylor leading the way. She recently broke her own school record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.68 and is swimming faster in the middle of the season than she ever has. Her work ethic and her drive help lead the team to ever bigger goals. It is going to be hard without Taylor next year, but her swimming has inspired the younger swimmers to be better – and I believe our team will still be reaching for higher goals after she graduates because of how Taylor has led by example.”
Performance Point: “Every year since I was a freshman, and obviously many years before that, it’s been really disappointing to lose to (Dexter),” Seaman said. “We always try our best, but it never seemed to work out, obviously. It would just ruin our week. Last week was just awesome. Jason (Black) told us we had a chance to beat them for the first time in 22 years. We were really motivated to do that. We knew they had lost a couple of good swimmers, and we knew we still had most of our state team from last year and had a few good girls come in as freshmen. I kinda cried when the score was announced at the end."
Pushing ahead: “I feel pretty good about my season at the moment. I, along with other people on the team, we’ve all been going faster right now than what we were doing last year at this time. I would obviously like to go for my best times, and if I could win (at the MHSAA Finals) again, that would be absolutely amazing. I know it will be tough competition; last year it was Katie Portz, but she graduated. I’m actually pretty good friends with her; we used to swim together in the offseason. Having great competition is good because they can push me, and especially when they are friends.”
Leaving a legacy: “I just remember when I was 8, swimming for Brighton Eels, I would see the Morgan Zebley picture on the wall being like, I want to be like her. Now, seeing my poster on the wall, people ask me all the time, ‘Is that you?’ It’s cool that poster will be up there for the next many years. … It’s interesting to see every day at practice. We’ve adjusted to it being there. At first (my teammates) would be like, ‘It’s you, watching yourself swim every day.’”
Going for gold: “I really look up to all of the Olympic swimmers, and how dedicated they are. Missy Franklin, I just love her positive attitude. She didn’t do great at the Olympics this year, but she still had an amazing attitude about it. Allison Schmitt (from Canton) used to swim for my same club team, and I actually broke one of her records – so obviously I want to be like her. She’s amazing.”
Mind on the future: “I would like to do something with psychology. I’m leaning toward the sociological aspects of psychology. I find that very fascinating. I love finding out why we as people do what we do, why we act certain ways in certain situations. Why, when there are multiple doors available, we all funnel into one door. I want to learn why we do that.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Brighton's Taylor Seaman launches from the starting blocks. (Middle) Seaman will be competing this season to add to her 2014 MHSAA title. (Photos courtesy of the Seaman family.)
'All-Time Seaholm Great' Clifford Looking to Lead Maples to 4th-Straight Team Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 10, 2022
BIRMINGHAM – Even in the days leading up to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals, Birmingham Seaholm coach Karl Hodgson might not know what to do about senior Samantha Clifford.
But make no mistake, that is a good thing.
Other than the breaststroke and diving, there’s really no event Clifford can’t excel at, which is giving Hodgson extra time to pause and think about lineup strategy.
“That part is nice,” Hodgson said. “It creates a lot of angst over making those decisions. But it is nice to have that problem.”
Unfortunately for Hodgson and the Seaholm program, there aren’t many more days left to enjoy having such a problem.
A standout for Seaholm since her freshman year, Clifford is about to finish her high school career as one of the all-time greats for the Maples.
She’s been a vital part of Seaholm winning the last three Division 2 titles, and odds are decent she’ll make it 4-for-4 in terms of being on a team champion when this year’s Finals title is decided next weekend at Calvin University.
Individually, Clifford won the LPD2 Finals title in the 100-yard freestyle last year in a time of 51.02, and was second in the 200 freestyle. She also anchored Seaholm’s winning 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
Hodgson said Clifford is among the top five in Seaholm’s top-times record book in half of the events.
“She’s meant everything to our program,” he said.
Clifford started swimming when she was 5 years old and started getting coached by Hodgson competitively with her summer club team when she was 6.
“I’ve known her all her life,” Hodgson said. “She was that dominant as a little kid. She’s one of the best racers I’ve coached.
“It’s something you can’t coach. She just has that ‘it’ factor.”
Clifford said she first got into the sport mainly because her older sister Megan was doing it, and they both pushed each other growing up and when they were swimming for Seaholm together during Samantha’s freshman and sophomore years.
Megan graduated after Samantha’s sophomore year, so the last two it’s been her time to be on her own and serve as a leader for the underclassmen on the squad.
“It was definitely very different,” Clifford said. “Not having her there was a big change, but I think the upperclassmen (last year) helped make that change easier.”
Since taking up the sport, Clifford said swimming always has had a soothing effect on her, especially when some days are harder than others.
“I just like racing a lot,” she said. “There’s just something about being in the water that calms me down.”
Water will definitely be a big part of Clifford’s life when she finishes up high school.
Clifford will swim and study at the U.S. Naval Academy. She said she’s always been interested in serving and that she clicked with the swim coaches there after a series of conversations.
She is also excited to be involved in STEM programs there and follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
Before she turns her attention toward college though, Clifford, who is also a flute player for the school’s band, is fully focused on her final days as a swimmer at Seaholm.
Clifford said it will be a challenge to swim at Calvin because she’s never swam there before, and she’ll have to adjust to the surroundings of the pool.
She admits going for four titles in a row as a team has been a different challenge than aiming for those championships earlier in her high school career.
“The first two years, it was more fun and, ‘Let’s go and get after it,’” Clifford said. "These last two years, it’s like we have to prove ourselves. It’s definitely more intense.”
Hodgson may not fully know which events Clifford will swim in the days leading up to the meet, but one thing is for certain – whatever Clifford swims, points will follow.
“She’ll go down as one of the all-time greats,” Hodgson said.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Seaholm’s Samantha Clifford, middle, launches into the water for the 100-yard freestyle championship race at last season’s LPD2 Finals at Oakland University. (Middle) Clifford, right, talks with Birmingham Groves’ Madison Helmick at the conclusion of the race. Clifford won, and Helmick was third. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)