Saline Diver Twists and Turns to the Top
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
November 19, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
SALINE – Camryn McPherson is just a junior at Saline High School, and already her athletic life has been filled with twists and turns.
That suits her just fine.
McPherson, possibly the favorite to win the 1-meter diving portion of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals this weekend at the Holland Community Aquatic Center, got her start in athletics spinning, jumping and balancing her way in gymnastics. However, the sport eventually took a toll on McPherson’s back, and the injury forced her to make the tough decision to quit the sport she loved.
“I really didn’t want to quit gymnastics, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself,” McPherson said. “I had to find something else.”
McPherson was connected to gymnastics. She had been a typical young girl, dancing and spinning and jumping her way through the day. Her parents, Brad and Jen McPherson, were not sure what they had on their hands, but they saw something in her.
“We weren’t gymnastics coaches, but we could tell she was good,” Brad McPherson said. “She got involved in gymnastics at a young age, and it just went on from there.”
It was the sport of choice for young Camryn, but it wasn’t the sport of destiny. Apparently, that was diving, and soon after giving up gymnastics, McPherson spent a summer diving at a local country club. She not only found that she was pretty good at it, but she discovered that having a background in gymnastics was beneficial to her approach in diving.
“A lot of the spins and moves are the same, so that helped a lot,” she said.
Standing on the diving board might feel similar to standing on the balance beam to a certain extent, but the obvious difference of diving into the water made McPherson a little apprehensive at first.
“I was more uncomfortable on platform diving, and I still don’t do that,” she said. “But the diving doesn’t bother me now.”
That is obvious, judging by her scores. Last year as a sophomore, McPherson finished second in the MHSAA Division 1 meet at Eastern Michigan University. Her score of 478.10 was better than the previous division record. However, it wasn’t good enough to beat Saline teammate Amy Stevens, who won the event for the second consecutive year with 488.20.
Stevens is not diving for Saline this year, so McPherson enters Friday as the highest finisher from last year. Also, she beat Stevens in the Regional a year ago and repeated as regional champion this year, stamping her as a favorite and definitely someone to watch this weekend.
Winning the MHSAA championship is the only thing missing on McPherson’s resume from high school diving.
“I do feel a little pressure going into it,” McPherson said. “I did OK at the Regional, but I know I could have done better.”
Competing with Stevens the past few years was beneficial to both divers.
“Amy pushed me, and I always wanted to be as good as she is,” McPherson said. “I think we were able to push each other, and I learned a lot from her.”
The friendly rivalry with Stevens was not the only thing that has worked well for McPherson during her career on the Saline swimming and diving team. Last year, when the Hornets won the LP Division 1 championship in thrilling fashion, McPherson was able to share the joy with her older sister Alex, who now attends the University of Connecticut and is on the women’s swimming team.
Alex swam on the 400 freestyle relay, which won last year’s LPD1 Finals championship. The victory came in the final event of the meet, and that race clinched the team championship for Saline.
“Being able to be on the same team as her was one of the big reasons why I wanted to join the swimming team,” McPherson said. “And then being able to win the state championship with her was really exciting.”
McPherson also is a part of the Legacy Diving team under coach Buck Smith, who also coaches men’s and women’s diving at Eastern Michigan University. This spring, McPherson, competing with Legacy, finished in the top two in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events in the 16-18 girls USA Diving Junior Region 5 championships in Columbus, Ohio.
McPherson won the 1-meter with 406.50 points and was runner-up in the 3-meter with 452 points. Her top scores in the 1-meter came on an inward 1½ somersault in the pike position and a forward 2½ somersault in the tuck position. She received more than 50 points for each dive.
McPherson moved on to the USA Diving National Preliminary Zone C championships at the University of Indiana and finished fourth in the 1-meter and fifth in the 3-meter.
While it is still a way off, McPherson dreams of joining her sister at Connecticut, but the college process is still working its way out.
“We are hearing from colleges, and we went through it with her sister,” Brad McPherson said. “We’ll see how it works out.”
One would guess there could be a few more twists and turns along the way.
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Camryn McPherson dives during last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals. (Middle) McPherson was an aspiring gymnast before taking up diving. (Middle photo and head shot courtesy of the McPherson family.)
GRCC Pulls Far Away from Rest to win LPD3
November 21, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
YPSILANTI – The 1-2 punch of Grand Rapids Catholic Central swimmers Riley Kishman and Susan LaGrand overwhelmed the field Saturday afternoon at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 girls swimming and diving championships at Eastern Michigan University.
They had plenty of help, too, as Grand Rapids Catholic Central won its first MHSAA team championship In girls swimming and diving with 299 points to far outdistance runner-up St. Clair (199) and third-place Holland Christian (197).
Kishman, a junior who was named the Division 3 Swimmer of the Year by the coaches association, won two individual events and swam on two championship relays. LaGrand, a sophomore, also won two individual events in addition to contributing to a championship relay and another relay that placed second.
“It feels really good,” said Kishman, who won the 100 breaststroke and the 200 freestyle. “We’ve been wanting this for a while, and I’m glad it finally happened.
“Coach told us if we were going in thinking that we have it, we won’t have it, so we went in like we were in second place. We knew we had a target on our backs, so we tried to just keep going.”
Kishman, a two-time Finals champion in the 200 individual medley, passed on the event in favor of the 200 freestyle, which she won in 1 minute, 51.01 seconds.
“I have been doing more freestyle lately, and I like the 200 free better,” she said. “I thought we would have a better chance at getting more points if I did that, and I’m glad I did it.”
Kishman did successfully defend her title in the 200 breaststroke in 1:03.20.
“I had my best time in that since my freshman year, so I was really happy about that,” said Kishman, who also swam on the winning 200 freestyle relay and the winning 400 freestyle relay.
LaGrand had one of the more exciting victories of the day when she came from behind to win the 100 butterfly over St. Clair senior Grace Shinske. It was the second consecutive MHSAA title in the butterfly for LaGrand, who set a meet record with a time of 56.85 seconds.
“It’s always better when you have somebody to race,” she said. “It was really great. I could not have gone the time I did without her pushing me.”
LaGrand’s other individual title came in the 200 IM, which she finished in 2:06.97, better than Kishman’s winning time from a year ago.
“It really feels good,” she said after the win. “I have an awesome team behind me that pushes me every day in practice, so that really helps.”
The 200 IM was just two events after the meet-opening 200 medley relay, which had LaGrand and Grand Rapids Catholic Central finishing second to St. Clair. It was a quick turnaround for LaGrand.
“It was a little stressful, but with good time management it’s all right,” she said. “You know what you are going into when you sign up.”
As impressive as Kishman and LaGrand were, Grand Rapids Catholic Central was far from a two-girl show. Six other girls scored points, including senior Liz Rabaut and sophomores Nicole Rotelle and Elise Merucci. All three scored four times, including on one championship relay.
Lauren Lomonoco, another senior, was on two championship relays and placed in another individual event.
“It’s amazing to see how far our team has come since our freshman year,” she said. “We were just trying to get in the top 10 in the state that year, so it’s really rewarding and overwhelming.
“It’s just a great way to end my career.”
Sophomores Emily Merucci and Hannah DeBoer also scored twice in individual events for Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
Kishman and LaGrand were the only defending champions to repeat in their events, and two others failed to repeat as champions. In 1-meter diving, Allegan senior Erin Isola edged reigning champion Taylor Hosein of Milan 454.40 to 435.90. Isola had a lead of less than seven points coming into Saturday but put it away with three solid dives that totaled 139.50 points.
“It really hasn’t hit me yet … it’s like a dream come true,” she said after winning. “I’m really excited.”
She said her second dive – an inward 1½ somersault – was the key dive for her.
“Normally I don’t nail it as well as I did, and it got me a bunch of points to stay ahead of Taylor,” she said. “Taylor is a great diver, and it really could have been either one of us who won. It was really close.”
The other displaced champion was Rileigh Eding of Hamilton, who was edged by Shinske in the 100 backstroke. Shinske, who led LaGrand before finishing second in the exciting 100 butterfly, defeated Eding in the same fashion. Eding had a lead after 50 yards, but Shinske, in the final individual race of her high school career, surged back in the last 50 yards to pass her and win in 56.27.
“It was pretty exciting,” Shinske said. “At one point, I was thinking I was going to finish in second place, and then I realized that I could do it and I just went for it. It feels great.”
Shinske also teamed with Molly Likins, Heidi Likins and Alexis Smith to win the meet-opening 200 medley relay in 1:47.54.
Eding, who failed to repeat in the 100 backstroke, captured the 50 freestyle in 24.04 seconds. Other freestyle winners were Karlee Marsh of Tecumseh in the 100 freestyle (51.80) and sophomore Evelyn VanDeMark of Alma in the 500 freestyle (5:11.43).
Marsh, a junior, had finished third and fifth in two individual events last year.
“I’m really emotional, but it’s a great feeling,” she said. “It definitely helps that I was a second faster coming in, and it made me more confident. I think everybody did really good.”
But the best of those were the girls from Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
“It was a team goal to establish a championship feeling, and we accomplished that,” Grand Rapids Catholic Central coach Mio Vasic said. “I want to congratulate the girls on how they were able to balance their personal lives, school, academics and swimming. I’m very proud of them.”
PHOTO: (Top) Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Susan LaGrand swims her winning 200 individual medley Saturday. (Middle) St. Clair’s Grace Shinske works toward her butterfly championship. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)