Performance of the Week: Ann Arbor Pioneer's Stella Chapman
September 30, 2021
Stella Chapman ♦ Ann Arbor Pioneer
Swimming ♦ Sophomore
Saturday’s Northville girls swimming & diving invitational was billed as a “Meet of Champions” as it included the winning teams from all three 2020 Lower Peninsula Finals – Ann Arbor Pioneer, Birmingham Seaholm and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood – plus the Mustangs, who are ranked No. 2 in LPD1 this fall behind only Pioneer. The field included a handful of past individual and relay champions, including Chapman – the reigning LPD1 title winner in the 100-yard backstroke who also swam on champion 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays last season as a freshman.
On Saturday, she was part of four first-place finishes as Pioneer topped the team standings as well. Chapman won the 200 individual medley by nearly four seconds in 2:07.64 and the backstroke by 1.4 seconds in 57.76. Her 200 medley relay with teammates Edwina Jalet, Holly Pringle and Sophia Guo won by more than two seconds in 1:48.93, and her 400 freestyle relay with Amelia Weyhing, Autumn Bullinger and Vivian VanRenterghem won in 3:35.96, just under a second ahead of the field.
@mhsaasports🏊♀️POW: Stella Chapman #performanceoftheweek #mhsaa #swim #highschoolsports #tiktalk #pioneer #interview #TikTok@mistudentaid
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2021-22 Honorees
Sept. 23: Riley Hough, Hartland cross country - Report
Sept. 16: Josie Bloom, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Report
PHOTOS courtesy of the Ann Arbor Pioneer girls swimming & diving program.
Title IX at 50: Pioneer's Joyce Legendary in Michigan, National Swim History
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 9, 2021
Michigan has had no shortage of achievers in the swimming pool over a half-century of girls swimming & diving sponsorship by the MHSAA. But nearly two decades after her last high school race, Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kara Lynn Joyce's achievements remain among the highest of standards.
Joyce starred on the 2001 and 2002 teams that were the second and third, respectively, of Pioneer’s nine straight champions in Lower Peninsula Class A and then Division 1 (with that reclassification in 2002). She was part of four race champions both years – in the 100-yard freestyle and as part of the 400 freestyle relay at both Finals, while as a junior in the 50 and as part of the 200 medley relay and as a senior in 200 freestyle and 200 free relay.
Her name remains an incredible 16 times in the MHSAA girls swimming & diving record book, including seven times on the all-Finals lists (for performances from all Classes and Divisions combined). Her 50 (22.04 seconds – leading off a relay) and 100 (48.59) freestyles in 2002 remain all-Finals record, as does the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.77) she swam with Margaret Kelly, Leigh Cole and Jennifer Merte that season. Her winning 1:46.34 in the 200 as a senior is second all-time at the Finals only to another future Olympian, Canton’s Allison Schmitt, who finished nine hundredths of a second faster five years later.
Joyce’s 50 remains fifth all-time in the national record book, and her 100 ranks 13th on that list. Pioneer’s 2002 200 freestyle relay ranks sixth nationally.
Joyce went on to swim at University of Georgia and then during the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She won four silver medals, two each as part of 400-meter freestyle and 400-meter medley relays.
That 2002 Pioneer team is still considered arguably the most dominant in MHSAA history. The Pioneers claimed that first LP Division 1 title with 476 points, by 275 over the rest of the field. No LP Division 1 team has broken 400 points at a Final since.
Joyce has become a strong voice in leadership training for teenage girls in athletics. In 2017, she founded Lead Sports Co., which serves as a “home base for teenage girl athletes, parents and coaches with comprehensive online courses in Leadership, Confidence, Sports Psychology, and more.”
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Nov. 2: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field - Read
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
PHOTOS Ann Arbor Pioneer celebrates the Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship; Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce stands middle, just below the trophy. (MHSAA File Photos.)