Rally Champs 'Survive' Fun-Filled Forest
August 19, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As one of Michigan’s top high school swimming sprinters, Fenton senior Gabbi Haaraoja no doubt was in strong shape to start this summer.
But she and her Tigers teammates made sure to prepare for this month’s preseason “survival trip” with plenty of miles running and yards swimming a local lake.
All that training paid off during three days and two nights at Pigeon River Country State Forest near Vanderbilt as the team prepared for last week’s first day of practice and a run at a 10th-consecutive league championship.
And the Tigers have kicked off the title effort by being named winners of the MHSAA’s inaugural Prep Rally, a contest that was part of the MHSAA’s PLAY (Preparation Lasts All Year) initiative to encourage athletes to remain active during the offseason so they are prepared physically and acclimated to warm weather when practice begins in the fall.
“Being out in nature, it’s really pretty there. You appreciate it more,” Haaraoja said, then adding some tongue-in-cheek. “It definitely was fun. But it was a lot more work than what we were used to. I think I’m actually glad I’m a senior.”
Athletes from Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and Beal City also were finalists. Participating athletes from Fenton’s girls swimming and diving team will receive tickets to an MHSAA Final of their choice, where they will be recognized for their achievement.
Fenton has taken similar training trips heading into all 14 seasons under coach Brad Jones. Others have included activities like canoeing and dune climbing, The last four years, the team journeyed to El Cortez Beach Resort in Oscoda for some time on Lake Huron together before practice began.
This season’s seniors asked to do something new. And it was a new experience for many in more ways than one.
The team left Aug. 11 and returned home two days later in time for the first day of practice. Jones took north 24 athletes, and some had never camped or slept outside. Six seniors made their fourth preseason trip with the team – but for 12 freshmen, this was their first experience as high schoolers.
That team demographic made this summer’s trip especially important for bonding. But it also had a desired effect physically – both heading into this fall and in setting preparation expectations for the future.
Pigeon River Country has 67 miles of trails, and the team hiked four or more miles between camp sites each day – making this the most physically taxing of the trips any of the Tigers had been on to start swimming and diving season.
“We were very up front that in August we’re taking this trip, and you need to be able to go 6-7 miles walking. We put that out there early on,” Jones said. “We have pretty good girls doing what they’re needing to do outside of (swimming) training. (But) we were pretty up front that you don’t put your backpack on and your hiking shoes on for the first time in August.”
Haaraoja said the hikes made it obvious quickly who had prepped during the summer and who needed to catch up. Seniors rotated throughout the line of teammates, so those who began a hike leading the group finished at the back with those working harder to keep in step.
Once in the woods, Jones split his athletes into four teams for a series of challenges that included building their own fires, cooking their own meals (they didn’t receive food until the fire was started) and breaking camp the next day. One trail ran past a small lake, and the athletes swam across it in a relay to earn more points. Another relay-type event involved filling buckets with water.
The challenge champions received ice cream.
“By the time we get home, everybody knows everybody else,” Jones said. “Once we get into training, the top girls are in one lane and the beginners are in another. So there’s not a lot of interaction. But this gives the whole team a chance to get to know each other.”
That’s the part Haaraoja said she’ll remember most fondly, while also appreciating the edge the added physical activity of the summer prep and trip should give the team this fall and in years to come.
“For the underclassmen, they realized where they should be at the beginning of the season next year so they don’t come into it completely out of shape,” Haaraoja said. “It helped our underclassmen learn what our goals were. They know what they’re working for.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Fenton's girls swimming and diving athletes take a moment for a photo during their three-day "survival trip." (Middle) The Tigers take a quick lunch break during a hike at Pigeon River Country State Forest. (Below) The Fenton athletes pose for one more photo wearing their "survivor" T-shirts. (Photos courtesy of Fenton coach Brad Jones.)
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.)