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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.)
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Olsen Rewriting Fenton Record Board
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
October 27, 2020
The Fenton High School swimming pool isn’t named after Gracie Olsen. The program’s record board only makes it look that way.
Olsen, a junior, owns seven of the eight individual school records at Fenton, and she has her eyes on the eighth -- the 100-yard backstroke, which was set at 57 seconds by Haley Shaw in 2012.
“That one is frustrating, just 0.24 (seconds away from breaking it),” Olsen said with a laugh. “I would say I probably swim that event the least. I didn’t really start to get into it until a couple years ago.
“I do think about that a lot. It’s something I thought would be super cool if I could do. Obviously, that wasn’t my main goal going into high school, but I thought it would be super cool if I could be able to (own every record). If I don’t, that’s totally fine.”
Olsen will likely claim that record eventually – she's already beaten the time outside of high school competition – but even without it, she’s left an indelible mark on the Fenton program in 2½ years, and that goes beyond the number of times they’ve had to print her name on the board.
A three-time MHSAA Finals champion and Indiana University commit, Olsen is among the state’s best swimmers, and a sterling example for her teammates to follow.
“Her attention to detail and her dedication has put her above most swimmers,” Fenton coach Brad Jones said. “She’s absolutely one of the most coachable athletes I’ve ever had, and this is my 32nd year coaching.”
It was cold feet – or a dislike for them – that put Olsen on a path to swimming glory. She said she was an ice skater with an eye on playing hockey, like her father, when she was young. But her feet getting cold turned her off to the idea. While she experimented with several other activities, it was her mother’s sport, swimming, that stuck.
Gracie took up the sport competitively at 7. By the time she was swimming in the 10-and-under state finals, coaches could see great things ahead.
“We had this coach, his name was (Dave) Seagraves, and he always told me when I was younger, ‘I just know there is something about you – you're going to be so special,” Olsen said. “He passed away a couple years ago (in 2017). When I was 8, he was that factor that always made me stick to it. When he passed, I kind of started swimming for him.”
Seagraves’ influence on Olsen can still be seen – and not just in the pool. When she was young, he told her to tap the starting block 10 times prior to a race to help her focus. While it’s not an every-race occurrence, she said she does it often, and it frequently results in her best swims.
“I’d stand behind the blocks and tap it with my left and right hand 10 times, kind of like playing the piano,” she said. “I don’t usually forget.”
In the pool, Olsen’s greatest influence is likely her mother, Stephanie, who herself was a standout swimmer before a shoulder injury derailed a possible collegiate career. Stephanie coached the Fenton Area Swim Team with Seagraves, and is an assistant on the varsity team. She is also the one that pushed her daughter to be an all-around swimmer, rather than focusing on one stroke or a single distance.
That’s resulted in personal best times that would have been good enough to finish all-state in all eight individual events at the 2019 Finals. She can’t swim all eight, of course, so she swam in two – the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly – and won both. She was also part of Fenton’s 400 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams, which placed third and fifth, respectively.
The year before, she won the 200 IM and was second in the 100 butterfly.
“We highly anticipate that she will repeat as a double winner in whatever events we put her in,” Jones said. “One of the things that makes Gracie so special is that she’s good at all the events. She doesn’t have a weak stroke. … In coaching, you don’t have athletes like Gracie very often. It’s fun to have people call you and say, ‘Where is Gracie going to be, because we don’t want our kids there.’ When the state Finals come around, we start getting calls. That’s a lot of fun.”
Jones joked that the only thing Olsen isn’t elite at is diving – although she hasn’t tried it.
“I’m afraid to let her,” he said. “She might be good at it.”
Both Jones and Olsen expect she will start to specialize a bit more when she goes to Indiana, and that butterfly will be her main stroke, along with freestyle. Her versatility gives the Hoosiers plenty of options, though.
For now, she’s focused on improving each stroke every day, and her motivation to do so goes well beyond chasing records.
“Just thinking about where I am now tends to be a huge motivation for me,” she said. “I’m very thankful, personally, for what I have. It just makes me so happy that I get to be with a team like this and have the coaches that I do. I could not be more fortunate.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Fenton’s Gracie Olsen races to the butterfly championship at the 2019 Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals. (Middle) Olsen has committed to sign to swim at Indiana University. (Top photo courtesy of the Tri-County Times; middle courtesy of Gracie Olsen.)