Redettes Make It 12 for 13 in 2014
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
February 15, 2014
MARQUETTE — Coach Nate McFerrin had every reason to be excited after the Marquette girls gained their 12th Upper Peninsula swimming and diving title in 13 years Saturday.
The Redettes collected 335 points, followed by defending champion Houghton with 277 and Rudyard with 195 at the Marquette High School pool.
“I didn’t think the girls would do this well,” McFerrin said with a smile. “We thought it’d be close. I’m just surprised by the margin of victory.”
Marquette junior Logan Vear won the 200-yard freestyle race in two minutes, 8.52 seconds, edging classmate Janelle Carroll by slightly more than two seconds.
Carroll then won the 500 freestyle (5:53) and freshman Lyndsey Welch added a first in the 100 backstroke (1:06.06).
Vear, Carroll and Welch joined freshman Lauren Clement on the winning 400 freestyle relay. Welch and Carroll also helped the Redettes take the 200 freestyle event, with Welch a part of the winning 200 medley relay.
Senior Lani Belton, who also helped the 200 medley and freestyle relays, was runner-up in the 100 freestyle in a personal-best 1:00.29 and fourth in the 50 freestyle (27.17).
“I thought I would do well in 50 freestyle, but I didn’t think I would do as well as I did in the 100,” said Belton, who will attend Northern Michigan University this fall. “For me, it’s all part of the mental game. I just focused on what I needed to do.”
Junior Lauren Jackson gave Houghton its lone first in diving with 166.95 points.
“I think we had a couple girls who really stepped up,” Houghton coach Roger Wood said. "This was a real good experience for us. We got contributions from all four of our classes. We felt we had a chance coming in, but Marquette swam real well.
“This was little bit of a reversal from last year. Runner-up is not too shabby against a tough opponent. We lost a lot of points from last year.”
Coach Patty Meehan also was pleased with Rudyard’s third-place finish.
“Our girls did awesome,” said Meehan, who jumped into the pool with the school’s nine swimmers after the meet. “We couldn’t ask for much better. All of them got on the podium.”
Rudyard senior Amy Knapp won the 100 freestyle in a school-record 56.87 seconds and the 100 breaststroke (1:14.54) and helped the Bulldogs place second in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
“I definitely had a lot of help from our coaches,” said Knapp, who plans to attend Lake Superior State University this fall to major in physical therapy. “They were with me every step of the way. Today, I certainly had good starts, which is the key. Our whole team did well this year.”
Meehan says Knapp has been very valuable to the team.
“Amy has become a very strong leader,” she added. “She has certainly been a major contributor.
“We have some very young, talented swimmers coming up. The future looks good, but it’s all about numbers. We’re looking forward to next year.”
Freshman teammate Trista McDowell, who also helped both relays, captured the 50 freestyle in a school-record 26.12 seconds and was runner-up in the 100 backstroke (1:08.54).
“I had a real good start in the 50 (freestyle), which definitely set the tone,” said McDowell. “Our coaches and my teammates have pushed me real hard. If I can continue to progress the way I’ve been, it could get me into a good college. One thing I definitely need to work on is my stroke speed. I just need to keep fine-tuning everything.
“We’re doing better as a team this year. We lost only one meet prior to today. Marquette and Houghton have real good teams.”
Hancock senior Olivia Rouleau won the 200 individual medley for the fourth straight time in a school-record 2:20.28. She set another school record while winning the 100 butterfly (1:03.7), shattering the old mark by more than three seconds.
“It was a little bit stressful going after my fourth straight title in IM,” Rouleau said. “But once I got into it, I was confident. I felt the rhythm.
“I definitely had a real good start in butterfly, although the last 50 yards is always the hardest. Much of it is so mental. This is a great way to end my senior year and high school career. I’m looking for a college and hope to continue swimming, although I’m undecided on where I’ll be going.”
Rouleau also helped two relays place among the top five for the co-op program, which includes student-athletes from Calumet and Painesdale-Jeffers.
PHOTOS (Top) Marquette swimmers and divers celebrate Saturday's 12th MHSAA Finals championship in 13 seasons. (Middle) Rudyard freshman Trista McDowell set a school record and posted two top-two finishes in her first Finals. (Photos courtesy of Jarvinen Photos.)
Comerford, Cranes Repeat as D3 Champs
November 17, 2012
By Gary Kalahar
Special to Second Half
YPSILANTI – By the time she is finished with her high school career, perhaps Plainwell’s Mallory Comerford will be an MHSAA champion in all eight individual swimming races.
Sounds a bit far-fetched to be sure. But after Comerford’s performance Saturday in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 meet at Eastern Michigan University, would anyone care to bet against her?
Comerford, a sophomore, made it four championships in four different races by winning the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle in dominant, record-breaking fashion.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood used its outstanding depth – scoring at least 15 points in every race – to swim away with its second consecutive Division 3 team title. The Cranes scored 361 points, and Bloomfield Hills Lahser finished second with 211.
As a freshman, Comerford was the champ in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. Plainwell coach John DuBois said with another excellent long-distance freestyler last year, Comerford was placed in the sprints to give the Trojans the potential for more points.
“So we trained her in sprints, but her love is distance,” DuBois said. “It wasn't a hard transition at all.”
It certainly didn't look like it, especially on the final weekend.
“I was real happy with how I did,” Comerford said. “I’m very excited. I felt smooth going in the water Friday, and it was the same way (Saturday).”
In the 200 freestyle, Comerford set the Division 3 record with a 1:50.92 in the preliminaries and lowered it to 1:48.07 to win the final by more than six seconds.
“In my heart, I thought she could go 1:48,” DuBois said. “But I didn't know it would be that easy. Easy as in the way she swam – it was so effortless. She was in a groove.”
Comerford’s 4:58.18 in the 500 freestyle preliminaries established a meet record. That one lasted about 24 hours, too, as she went out fast and never slowed down in a 4:53.14 final. She won by 13 seconds with a time that would have made her a winner at the day’s Division 1 or Division 2 Finals.
“That was a surprise to me,” Comerford said.
Ten minutes after that race, Comerford was back on the blocks for the anchor leg of the 200 freestyle relay, boosting the Trojans from sixth place to fourth.
“I had to be there for my team,” Comerford said. “I just had the belief that I was fresh and I could do it."
She brought Plainwell from seventh to fourth on the final leg of the 400 freestyle relay, but the Trojans were disqualified.
“I knew it would be tough, but it was definitely worth it,” Comerford said about switching her focus to the longer distances. “It was a lot more yardage, a lot tougher on your body to be prepared for the longer races. My coaches, John DuBois here and Jeff Russell with USA Swimming, have pushed me as hard as I could go. I couldn't do what I've done without them.”
DuBois, whose team finished fifth with 140 points, said Comerford’s willingness to swim the events where she could most help the team is representative of her attitude.
“She’s a phenomenal athlete, she has great character and she’s an unbelievable worker,” he said. “She obviously is gifted, and we’re lucky to have her at Plainwell. She’s been a model academically and athletically. She’s all the things coaches love to have.”
Another thing all coaches would love to have is the depth of Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood rode to the team title. The Cranes had no divers but had girls swimming in every final race. In nine of the 11 events, they scored at least 23 points.
“A lot of it goes to the competition that we started with the first day of practice,” first-year Cranbrook-Kingswood coach Chris Bagley said. “It’s unbelievable to think about how deep we are.”
Senior Kylie Powrie swam on teams that finished second in Division 3 her freshman and sophomore years and won titles the last two.
“It’s amazing,” Powrie said. “Our team has come so far. We've improved so much over the years. I never would have thought this was possible my freshman year. When I started, it was hard for us to fill up all the events.”
Powrie, the 2011 champion in the two races won by Comerford this year, finished her career by helping the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams to victory, the latter in a Division 3-record 3:33.63.
“We just wanted our team record, and we got it and got the state record,” Powrie said.
Lara Kokubo was Cranbrook-Kingswood’s lone individual champion, winning the 100 freestyle. She also swam on the two winning relay teams.
“We knew we were going to have high expectations, but to do what we did, the way we did it, is just unbelievable,” Bagley said. “We set our goals at the beginning of the year, and we never talked about winning a state title. We talked about being the most improved team in the state, and I think we did that.”
Ines Charles led runner-up Bloomfield Hills Lahser. She repeated as champion in the 100 backstroke, helped her 200 medley relay team to a second straight title and finished second in the 100 butterfly.
PHOTO: Members of the Cranbrook-Kingswood 400-yard freestyle relay team celebrate their LP Division 3 Final record time Saturday. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)