Preview: Success Stories Soon to Be Told
November 15, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This season’s Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals all have fascinating storylines – and all three are vastly different entering the weekend.
In Division 1, in what might be a first, every individual champion is back from 2017 – and last season’s team champion is the top-ranked contender. In Division 2, only one 2017 individual champion is back – and the favored team is competing for its first MHSAA title in this sport.
In Division 3, we have some of both. A handful of reigning title winners return – plus powerful East Grand Rapids, back in Division 3 after winning Division 2 a year ago.
The Division 1 Finals will be competed at Eastern Michigan University, with Division 2 at Oakland University and Division 3 at the Holland Aquatic Center. Preliminaries are Friday and Finals are Saturday, with action beginning at noon for both. All three Finals will be streamed live and can be watched with subscription on MHSAA.TV. Click for lineups and seed times for all three meets.
LP Division 1 at Eastern Michigan University
Reigning champion: Farmington Hills Mercy
2017 runner-up: Saline
2018 top-ranked: 1. Farmington Hills Mercy, 2. Farmington/Harrison, 3. Brighton.
Mercy has won three Division 1 championships this decade and also finished runner-up three times. The Marlins don’t have highly-seeded individual favorites but will bring all three relays, six individual event top-16 seeds and a diver to EMU. Farmington/Harrison finished third a year ago and brings more star power with three top seeds among nine individuals and two relays seeded to score. Brighton is looking to move up from sixth last season with 14 individuals and two relays seeded to score.
Kathryn Ackerman, Grand Haven junior: Last season’s champion and meet record-setter (1:57.92) in the 200 individual medley enters with the top seed time in that race of 2:01.57. She’s also seeded fifth in the 100 butterfly (56.15) after finishing third in that race in 2017.
Casey Chung, Ann Arbor Skyline junior: After winning last season’s backstroke championship and coming in sixth in the 50 freestyle, Chung is seeded first in the backstroke (55.14) and just behind Ackerman in the IM (2:04.32).
Morgan Kraus, Rockford senior: She set a meet record of 53.73 in winning the butterfly last season and has the top seed this time at 54.33. She also finished fourth in the 50 a year ago and is expected to swim on the top-seeded 200 medley (1:45.90) and 200 freestyle relays (1:36.03) and third-seeded 400 (3:30.41).
Maddie Luther, Saline senior: Similar to her winning the 200 freestyle last season and finishing third in the 500, Luther is seeded first in the 200 (1:49.57) and third in the 500 (4:57.23) heading into this weekend.
Lola Mull, Grand Ledge junior: Mull is seeded first in the 500 (4:53.39) after winning and setting the meet record of 4:44.47 (in the prelim) last season, and she’s seeded seventh in the 200 free (1:53.02) after taking second to Luther in that race a year ago.
Ashley Turak, Farmington/Harrison senior: Turak won the 50 and 100 freestyles last season and was on the winning 200 and 400 free relays as well. She’s seeded first in both the 100 (49.81) and 50 (22.75) after setting the meet record of 22.38 in the latter last year.
Claire Tuttle, Hudsonville junior: The reigning 100 breaststroke champion is seeded first in that race (1:02.43) and fifth in the 100 freestyle (51.95) after coming in fourth in the latter in 2017.
Zain Smith, Ann Arbor Skyline senior: Last season’s Division 1 diving champ won her qualifying meet by 21.4 points with a score of 493.50.
Gracie Sleeman, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern senior: Sleeman finished just 10.25 points behind Smith in taking second place a year ago, and she won her qualifying meet by nearly 32 points with an all-regions Division 1-best 494.45.
LP Division 2 at Oakland University
Reigning champion: East Grand Rapids
2017 runner-up: Dexter
2018 top-ranked: 1. Rochester Adams, 2. Birmingham Seaholm, 3. Dexter.
East Grand Rapids is back in Division 3, and Adams has moved in as the favorite to win its first Finals championship after taking third a year ago. The Highlanders have all three relays and 15 individual entries seeded to score, with a pair of top seeds. Seaholm was the 2016 champion and finished fourth a year ago. The Maples have all three relays and 13 individual entries seeded to score, plus a diver. Dexter has finished runner-up the last two seasons and hopes to take the next step after last winning this meet in 2015, but will need top swims to make a run with only three relays and five individuals seeded to score, plus a diver.
Michaela Briggs, Byron Center senior: Last season’s backstroke runner-up is seeded first this time (56.84) and also seventh in the IM (2:09.83) after finishing third in that race a year ago.
Clarice Fisher, Grosse Pointe South senior: She’s expected to move up after finishing third in the butterfly and sixth in the IM in 2017, entering this weekend the top seed in the butterfly (56.63) and third in the IM (2:08.65).
Lisa Lohner, Rochester Adams senior: The only returning champion at this meet won the 500 and finished second in the 200 freestyle in 2017, and is seeded first in both with times of 4:57.00 and 1:52.32, respectively.
Claire Newman, Midland Dow junior: Just missing her first two seasons, Newman will go for her first championships as the top seed in the 50 (23.31) and 100 (50.29) freestyles. She finished runner-up in both races as both a freshman and sophomore.
Gracie Olsen, Fenton freshman: The Tigers’ standout will enter her first Finals with the top seed in the IM (2:04.04) by more than four seconds and the third seed in the butterfly (57.70).
Jessica Schellenboom, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior: After finishing second in the breaststroke and fourth in the IM last year, Schellenboom will attempt to finish her career with a win entering as the top seed in the breaststroke (1:04.60) and 12th in the IM and as an option for all three relays.
Ellie Chalifoux, Birmingham Groves junior – After missing the semifinal cut a year ago, Chalifoux enters this weekend coming off a qualifying meet win where she posted the highest score in all of Division 2 at 418.60.
Lacey & Lexi Mirandette, Grand Rapids Northview seniors – Twins, the Mirandettes posted the second and third-highest qualifying scores in all of Division 2 (414.75 and 412.75, respectively) to take the top two spots at their qualifying meet. Lacey took fourth and Lexi fifth at the Finals a year ago.
Byron Center 200 freestyle relay: The group of senior Sydney Randall and juniors Maria Poll, Corrina Beecher and Emily Poll enter with a seed time of 1:32.30 – 1.1 seconds faster than the meet record swam by East Grand Rapids last season and 47 hundredths of a second faster than the all-Division Finals record by Ann Arbor Pioneer in 2002.
LP Division 3 at Holland Aquatic Center
Reigning champion: Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
2017 runner-up: Bloomfield Hills Marian
2018 top-ranked: 1. East Grand Rapids, 2. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3. Bloomfield Hills Marian.
The EGR/Cranbrook/Marian rivalry picks back up with the Pioneers back in Division 3 after winning the Division 2 title a year ago. East Grand Rapids won Division 3 in 2013, 2014 and 2016 and enters this weekend with all three relays and 11 individual entries seeded to score, plus three divers. Cranbrook Kingswood won last year’s title by 85 points ahead of runner-up Marian and has all three relays and 11 individual entries seeded to score, with one diver. That runner-up finish was Marian’s second straight, and the Mustangs and looking to add to the Division 2 title they won in 2014. Marian has contenders among the three relays and 10 individual entries seeded to score, and a diver competing as well.
Rhianna Hensler, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep junior: Hensler has won two butterfly championships plus the 50 freestyle title last season, and she’s seeded first in both races at 54.96 for the butterfly (which would break her meet record of 55.67 swam last season) and 23.74 in the sprint.
Sophie Housey, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett junior: Seeded first in the 200 freestyle (1:48.60) and second in the 100 (53.06), Housey could claim her first high school titles after competing at the Winter Junior Nationals East a year ago.
Sydney Higgins, East Grand Rapids senior: Higgins helped the Pioneers to the Division 2 team title last year with a third in the backstroke and 12th in the IM. Back in Division 3 – where she won the backstroke in 2016 – she’s seeded sixth in that race (59.34) and 10th in the IM and expected to swim on two top-four relays.
Riley Nugent, Plainwell freshman: Another standout freshman, Nugent enters her first Finals seeded first in the 500 (5:09.16) and fourth in the 200 free (1:56.55).
Olivia Olk, Chelsea junior: She took 16th in the IM and just missed the final heats in the butterfly last season, but is seeded first in the IM (2:09.57) and fourth in the butterfly (58.32).
Lauren Sielicki, Bloomfield Hills Marian junior: She scored big with a third in the backstroke and fifth in the butterfly a year ago, and could lead Marian this time entering with the top seed in the backstroke (58.30), eighth seed in the butterfly (59.29) and as part of the top-seeded 200 medley relay (1:47.57).
Alysa Wager, Battle Creek Harper Creek junior: Wager took seventh in the butterfly and 15th in the IM last season, but in the breaststroke this weekend she’s seeded first (1:06.63) and also second in the butterfly (57.13).
Gwenyth Woodbury, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: A two-time individual and multiple relay champion last season, Woodbury is looking to repeat in the 100 and 200 freestyles with the first seed in the 100 (52.06) and second in the 200 (1:52.74). Her 400 freestyle relay (3:33.08) also is top-seeded.
Mackenzie Crawford, Milan senior: The two-time reigning Division 3 diving champion scored 52 points more than anyone else in her division during the qualifying meets with a 465.45.
PHOTO: Cranbrook Kingswood's Gwenyth Woodbury powers to a victory in the 200-yard freestyle at last season's LP Division 3 Finals. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Longtime Friends from Rival Schools Heading to Finals as Tritons Teammates
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 17, 2023
Traverse City Central’s Ella Cabbage and Traverse City West’s Kira Adams have competed in pools with and against each other for as long as they can remember.
They also attend schools considered each other’s biggest rival.
Yet, they will be rooting for each other at the weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Swimming & Diving Finals at Eastern Michigan University. Adams’ family will be cheering on Cabbage as much as they do her. Same for Cabbage’s family.
They are not rivals this weekend. The girls with a long-time friendship are teammates. West and Central are in a cooperative program for swimming along with Traverse City St. Francis. The co-op goes by the moniker Traverse City Tritons.
Adams and Cabbage, both juniors, came into the season listed among the swimmers to watch in Northern Michigan. They didn’t disappoint, leading the Tritons to their third straight Coastal Conference title.
This weekend’s Finals will provide them with a very special moment. They both plan to look for each other the second they finish their respective events. They are treasuring the opportunity to compete in the Finals together.
“One hundred percent we always do,” Adams said of the chance they will be the first person they see after competing. “We get to warm up with each other at the same time and prepare to race together as well.”
Cabbage agreed.
“I go right after Ella so we’ll be together the whole way,” Adams said. ‘We will get see other compete — It is very special.”
Adams and Cabbage hope their families capture more memories for future viewing.
‘We have videos of Kira swimming and me in the background screaming and vice versa,” Cabbage said. “I wouldn’t want to go to states with anyone else.
“Our families are really close,” Cabbage continued. “It’s really special for it being just the two of us in the Finals.”
Adams used the conference finals to meet the MHSAA Finals qualifying time in the 100-yard breaststroke. She also competed well in the 200 individual medley, backstroke and freestyle events in 2023. Cabbage had qualified in the 100 backstroke early in the season.
Cabbage and Adams were at last years’ Finals, Cabbage a member of the 200 medley relay that finished 16th and Adams an alternate for the relay.
They were really looking forward to getting on the road to the Finals this week, recalling last year’s trip featuring inclement early winter weather at Oakland University, second-year coach Megan Petroelje noted. She was the driver for last year’s qualifiers and will be again this year.
“Last year we had quite a snowstorm on our way down,” Petroelje said after noting the weather forecast for the trip to Ypsilanti. “Unfortunately, it was not the best start.
“We basically fought the weather all the way down and all the way home,” she continued. “I am excited to see two these two perform in a completely different environment than they’re used to, and I think they’re excited too.”
Petroelje is thrilled to have two individual qualifiers. It is the first time in many years the co-op produced two individual finalists. For a long time this season, Cabbage was concerned she was going to be alone.
“Kira slid in at the end, and it was awesome,” Petroelje said. “I am so thankful they get to do this together.
“It is so much more fun to train with someone and have someone to motivate you and keep you accountable,” she continued. “The fact that there are two, I am super excited about.”
Adams and Cabbage have been teammates since their beginning days of swimming with their club Traverse City Breakers. They trained as youngsters in the same pools – the Grand Traverse YMCA and the Traverse City Civic Center. Petroelje also coached the qualifiers as Breakers.
While they currently attend rival schools, the don’t think of themselves as rivals in any way shape or form.
“We’ve grown up swimming together,” Adams said. “While some people might see it as a rivalry, it’s really not for us because we’ve known each other for so long.”
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) From left: Traverse City Tritons Ella Cabbage, coach Megan Petroelje and Kira Adams. (Middle) Adams swims one of her races this season. (Below) Cabbage launches during a meet this fall. (Photos by Andrea Hartman.)