#TBT: Brown Completes Diving 3-Peat
November 13, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
East Grand Rapids divers won seven championships and placed a number of others during the first 42 years of MHSAA Finals in the sport. The school will once again host one of nine Lower Peninsula Diving Regionals taking place this afternoon.
Few in MHSAA history have come close to equaling the accomplishments of the Pioneers’ best, three-time champion Randi Brown.
The 2010 graduate claimed her third championship the previous fall with a Lower Peninsula Division 3 record score of 484.35 – the second-highest in MHSAA Finals history counting all divisions. She won that day, Nov. 21, 2009, at Eastern Michigan University, by 63.6 points.
Brown also won LP Division 3 in 2007 with a score of 414.15 (5.1 ahead of the field) and in 2008 with 454.85 points and by 10.4. As a freshman, in the final season of girls swimming and diving split into two Lower Peninsula divisions instead of three, she finished 13th in Division 2 with a score of 339.40 – as teammate Chelsea Oates claimed the title.
Brown went on the dive at Princeton University, helping the Tigers to two Ivy League championships while finishing as high as third individually at the league's finals. She was one of two members of her team this spring to receive Princeton’s Class of 1916 Cup, which is awarded “to the varsity letterwinner who, continuing in competition in his or her senior year, achieved at graduation the highest academic standing.”
The only diver to score higher at an MHSAA Final than Brown was Albion’s Elyse Lee in 2003, with 489.55 points. Lee went on to dive for the University of Michigan.
Performance of the Week: Marquette's Grace Sobczak
February 24, 2023
Grace Sobczak ♦ Marquette
Junior ♦ Swimming
Marquette’s girls swimming & diving team won its second straight and fourth Upper Peninsula Finals championship in five seasons Saturday, and Sobczak led the charge with championships in the 200-yard individual medley (23.42 seconds) and 500 freestyle (5:35.02) and as part of the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
The individual championships were the third and fourth Finals titles of Sobczak’s career – she won the 500 for the third time in three tries – and the pair of relay wins raised her Finals count to four total in those races as well. The championship capped an undefeated season for the team. While swimming always has been her primary sport, Sobczak played a variety growing up and runs cross country in the fall.
@mhsaasports 🏊♀️POW: Grace Sobczak #performanceoftheweek #swimming #swimmer #statechamp #champions #marquette #congrats #uppower #MHSAA #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #TikTok #mistudentaid #fyp ♬ Beat Automotivo Tan Tan Tan Viral - WZ Beat
Follow the MHSAA on TikTok.
MHSAA.com's "Performance of the Week" features are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
2022-23 Honorees
Feb. 16: Kaitlynn Demers, Gibraltar Carlson competitive cheer - Report
Feb. 9: Indya Davis, West Bloomfield basketball - Report
Feb. 2: Braydon Sorenson, Onekama skiing - Report
Jan. 26: Shayna Hruska, Iron Mountain wrestling - Report
Jan. 19: Kayla Tafanelli, Warren Woods-Tower bowling - Report
Dec. 20: Brenden Paden, Riverview Gabriel Richard hockey - Report
Dec. 16: Tuff Scott, Holton bowling - Report
Dec. 9: Macey Fegan, Standish-Sterling basketball - Report
Dec. 2: Treyton Siegert, Gladwin football - Report
Nov. 24: Lily Witte, Dexter diving - Report
Nov. 17: Navea Gauthier, Shelby volleyball - Report
Nov. 10: Derek Huisman, Holland Christian soccer - Report
Nov. 3: Thomas Westphal, New Baltimore Anchor Bay cross country - Report
Oct. 27: Justin Wickey, Colon football - Report
Oct. 20: Owen DeMuth, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood tennis - Report
Oct. 13: Mia Melendez, Ann Arbor Greenhills golf - Report
Oct. 6: Shawn Foster, Grand Ledge football - Report
Sept. 30: Hannah Smith, Temperance Bedford swimming - Report
Sept. 22: Helen Sachs, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
Sept. 15: Nina Horning, Lake Orion volleyball - Report
Sept 8: Arturo Romero, Muskegon Oakridge soccer - Report
Sept. 1: Austin King, Midland Dow tennis - Report
Aug. 25: Olivia Hemmila, Troy Athens golf - Report
(Photos by Jonathan Young/Marquette High School.)