Senior Standouts Lead Cranbrook Surge
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
January 16, 2021
LAKE ORION – The Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood girls swimming & diving team had waited nearly a year for a chance to make amends.
So, what was another two months of waiting?
Cranbrook came oh-so-close at the last Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals in November of 2019, finishing just 11 points behind East Grand Rapids for the top spot.
Cranbrook’s wait for redemption was only at six days before a state-mandated pause in November due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced a stoppage in the season and Cranbrook to wait longer.
But after an additional two months of wondering, waiting and training, the season was able to resume and Cranbrook finally finished its path to avenging what happened at the previous year’s meet.
This time, Cranbrook took home the bigger championship trophy, scoring 379 points to easily best the field at Lake Orion High School.
Hamilton was second with 199 points, while Bloomfield Hills Marian was third with 192.
Marian was swimming with heavy hearts after it was announced Thursday night that longtime athletic director David Feldman had died from COVID-19.
Reigning champion East Grand Rapids opted out of the Finals, but was slated to compete in Division 2 regardless.
It was Cranbrook’s second Finals title in four seasons after it last won in 2017.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad way for Cranbrook head coach Paul Ellis to break into the program in his first year at the helm.
“It’s phenomenal, Ellis said. “It makes me so incredibly happy as a coach. The credit goes back to all the girls on the team. Every single girl that was there today scored. Every girl contributed. That says everything about the character of the girls, their tenacity and dedication to what we have been doing.”
Cranbrook had the perfect blend of first-place star power and depth to amass their points.
The star power was provided by the tandem of Justine Murdock and Gwen Woodbury, who both will swim collegiately in the Big Ten.
Headed to Northwestern, Murdock won the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.19) and 100 backstroke events (55.04), setting pool records in both events.
Murdock won the backstroke for a third year in a row and the individual medley for a second-straight season in finishing with five career Finals titles.
“It was really hard not only for me and my team, but for everyone in Michigan,” Murdock said. “Pool space has been hard to come by this fall. We’ve had our set of roadblocks. To be here and to be able to be putting up the times I’ve been able to put up and our team has been able to put up, it shows how dedicated we were to finish the season and finish what we started in August.”
Signed with Ohio State, Woodbury won the 100 freestyle (1:48.31) and 200 freestyle (50.29) events to also finish with five career individual titles.
Woodbury won the 100 freestyle as a freshman and junior and the 200 freestyle as a freshman.
As was the case with Murdock, her times were pool records.
“It just feels really good,” Woodbury said. “The whole waiting and wondering if we would have a state meet and then waiting again, it makes it all worth it. It’s so exciting to see all my teammates swim fast as well. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
The twosome helped Cranbrook sweep all three relays as well, so essentially Murdock and Woodbury had a hand in Cranbrook winning seven of the meet’s 12 events.
“I’m really proud to finish it off with these girls in my senior year,” Murdock said. “It’s so rewarding and super exciting.”
Other event winners were Williamston junior Gwen Eisenbeis in the 50 freestyle (23.87), Otsego junior Abie Sullivan in diving (455.50), Flint Powers Catholic senior Lara Wujciak in the 100 butterfly (56.77), Plainwell junior Riley Nugent in the 500 freestyle (5:06.47) and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett junior Ginger McMahon in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.31).
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood's Justine Murdock swims to one of her two championships Saturday at Lake Orion. (Middle) A Holland Christian swimmer competes. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Added Inspiration Boosts EGR to Title 23
November 23, 2019
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
ROCHESTER – This one was for the coach.
The East Grand Rapids girls swimming & diving team drove across the state this weekend to Oakland University to attempt to repeat as Lower Peninsula Division 3 champion without a key figure: legendary head coach Butch Briggs.
Briggs, who had led East Grand Rapids to 22 MHSAA Finals titles, is still recovering from surgery performed last week and wasn’t present for this year’s meet.
But Briggs no doubt had a smile on his face after his girls entered the meet as underdogs but once again left as champions.
Despite entering ranked No. 3 in LPD3, East Grand Rapids won its fourth straight title (the 2017 title was in Division 2) and 23rd overall, this time with 317 points.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood was runner-up with 306 points, while Bloomfield Hills Marian was third at 245.
East Grand Rapids assistant coach Chris Ingram didn’t want to get into specifics about Briggs’ surgery, but was obviously thrilled with how his girls rallied around the situation.
“We knew it would be a tight meet,” Ingram said. “The kids, they just swam well. A great group of kids to work with. We don’t talk much about other teams. We can only take care of what we can take care of. We swam lights out.”
The East Grand Rapids team of sophomore Sophie Williams, junior Claire Witting, junior Emma Israels and sophomore Barbara Bart won the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:45.04, and sophomore Greta Milnes won the 100 freestyle to comprise the first-place finishes for East Grand Rapids.
The Pioneers had three second-place finishes, two of which came in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and a third-place finish as well.
“They’re champions,” Cranbrook head coach Chris Bailey said of East Grand Rapids. “A shoutout to their coach, who is in the hospital now. No doubt, those girls swam inspired for him. He’s a great guy, and I’ve learned a lot from him. They’re rock stars.”
The individual standouts of the meet were Cranbrook junior Justine Murdock and Battle Creek Harper Creek senior Alysa Wager.
Wager won the 100 butterfly in a time of 54.88 and the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:04.50.
Murdock won the 200 individual medley in 2:05.62 and set an LPD3 Finals record with a first-place time of 54.53 in the 100 backstroke.
Murdock repeated as backstroke champion and improved on a fifth-place finish at last year’s meet in the individual medley.
“I was a little bit sick last year at the state meet, so that kind of made my state meet harder to manage,” Murdock said. “I’m a little healthier now, and I was ready to do this for my team. I definitely was hungry, and I’m really excited for sure.”
Other individual winners were Cranbrook junior Gwenyth Woodbury in the 200 freestyle (1:49.07), Hamilton junior Hannah Fathman in the 50 freestyle (23.95), Adrian senior Anabelle Hurley-Rosen in diving (459.15) and Plainwell sophomore Riley Nugent in the 500 freestyle (5:01.39).
Cranbrook won the 200 and 400 relay events with times of 1:36.20, and 3:27.93, respectively.
PHOTOS: (Top) East Grand Rapids' Greta Milnes swims to the championship in the 100 freestyle Saturday at Oakland University. (Middle) Cranbrook's Justine Murdock swims to the win in the 200 IM, one of her two Finals victories. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)