Tested West Ottawa Prepped for Finals
November 14, 2018
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – The West Ottawa girls swimming & diving team always is prepared when postseason time comes around.
The rigors of competing in a competitive Ottawa-Kent Conference Red have their benefits.
West Ottawa recently claimed an outright O-K Red title with a victory at the final conference meet. The Panthers ousted a trio of top-10 Division 1 teams, including runner-up Rockford, en route to the victory.
The Panthers will enter this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Eastern Michigan University tied for the No. 10 spot in the final rankings with league rivals Hudsonville and Grand Haven, and just behind the No. 8 Rams.
“We’re very blessed to swim in a very talented conference,” said West Ottawa coach Steve Bowyer, who has guided the program since 2006.
“Rockford, Hudsonville and Grand Haven are all ranked in the top 10, and to win the O-K Red you need an incredible amount of depth. That’s one thing our team had this year.”
Senior Ayisha Afrik, one of West Ottawa’s top performers, said the O-K Red provides a grueling test.
“I think the O-K Red is super competitive,” she said. “The east side of the state has a lot of fast swimmers, but I definitely think the O-K Red has some pretty fast swimmers, too. It’s nice to have that there during the conference dual season because you understand the competition and what you are in for when state rolls around.”
It was the second straight O-K Red championship for the program. The Panthers also swept the league dual meets.
“That was a great time, and it was kind of a surprise,” Afrik said. “We knew some of the teams were pretty evenly matched, but after prelims we felt pretty secure – and to win it twice in a row out of my four years was really great.”
The Panthers hope to carry the momentum from their conference success into this weekend’s Finals. They will send 11 athletes – 10 swimmers and a diver – and have aspirations of finishing among the top 10.
West Ottawa finished eighth in 2017, but just a point out of seventh and 29 out of fifth.
“Coming into the meet, our goal as a program each year is to try and be in the top 10,” Bowyer said. “We feel like if we can consistently be a top-10 team at the Division 1 meet, then we’re doing some good things and we’re moving in the right direction.
“We know that we have our work cut out for us because there are a lot of great teams this year and a lot of fast relays. The key to finishing in the top 10 is to score three relays, and that’s our goal.”
West Ottawa won the LP Division 1 title in 2012 and has placed among the top 10 consistently over the past decade.
Bowyer attributes the team’s ability to maintain consistency at the Finals to a dedicated group.
“We have a lot of kids who are very committed to the sport, and we’ve been fortunate to have a number of kids come through the program who have been committed to swimming in-season and out of season,” Bowyer said. “And you get a few of those coming through, and then they pull a few kids along with them and it’s been really cool to see the program grow the last 10 years.”
Afrik will be the catalyst this weekend and has the potential to finish among the top 10 in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles. She finished eighth in the 50 and 14th in the 100, and helped two relays to fifth-place finishes last season.
“Hopefully we can get some individual PRs (personal records) and get top eight in two of our relays,” Afrik said. “I would like to get the school record individually, and that would be nice to have. I just want to have a great last meet with my team.”
Sophomore Lilly Brandt is expected to swim well in the 200 and 500 freestyles, while senior Kasey Westenbroek is strong in the 100 backstroke. Brandt placed 13th in the 200 and 15th in the 100 last season, while Westenbroek just missed qualifying for the championship heats in backstroke.
Junior Ryann Harper will attempt to help her team in the diving portion of the meet after also competing at the Finals as a sophomore.
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) West Ottawa’s Ayisha Afrik will look to finish her high school career with another strong performance at the MHSAA Finals. (Middle) Ryann Harper performs a dive during competition. (Photos courtesy of the Holland West Ottawa athletic department.)
Redettes Continue U.P. Finals Domination
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
February 21, 2015
MARQUETTE — The Marquette girls put together a solid performance in Saturday’s MHSAA Upper Peninsula Swimming and Diving Finals, retaining their title with 315 points.
The Redettes repeated as champions and claimed their 13th title over the last 14 seasons.
They were followed by Gladstone with 269 points and Houghton with 223 in their home pool.
Marquette senior Janelle Carroll won the 500-yard freestyle race in five minutes, 48.18 seconds, and helped the Redettes capture the 200 and 400 freestyle relays in 1:49.45 and 3:57.27, respectively, She was also runner-up to senior teammate Logan Vear in 200 freestyle.
“Janelle had been sick for two weeks and was injured during the season, but she really burned it up today,” said Marquette coach Nathan McFarren. “We’re going to miss our seniors. They’re going to be tough to replace.”
Vear was clocked in 2:06.66 in the 200 freestyle, with Carroll at 2:07.58.
Also winning for Marquette were sophomores Lyndsey Welch in the 200 individual medley (2:24.54) and Lauren Rotundo in 100 breaststroke (1:13.85).
Gladstone sophomore Katie Stephenson won the 100 backstroke in 1:04.15 and was runner-up in the 50 freestyle (25.87).
“I’ve been working a lot on starts,” said Stephenson, who led off the winning 200 medley relay. “I finally got beat after two years in the 50 freestyle, which just motivated me more for the 100. I just pushed myself harder in backstroke.”
Junior Jesse Flath, who anchored Gladstone’s winning relay, added second places in the 100 freestyle (57.82) and 200 IM (2:32.41).
Gladstone coach Tom Desy said he was pleased with the team’s performance.
“This was a very nice performance by both of our teams,” he added. “We knew it’d be tough to beat Marquette. Our kids did very well.”
Rudyard sophomore Trista MacDowell was a double winner, taking the 50 freestyle (25.67) and the 100 (57.43).
Houghton senior Lauren Jackson retained her diving title Friday with 169.65 points, more then 11 points better than the remainder of the field.
“I just tried to keep calm,” said Jackson, who plans to attend Northwest Michigan College in Traverse City this fall. “I went in thinking it’d be OK. Then, I watched some of the other kids dive (in warm-ups) and thought maybe my position wasn’t as solid as I thought. My first dive was one of my more iffy dives. But when I went up on my second dive, I thought it was there. My confidence came back.”
Saturday’s performance was the best this season for Houghton, according to coach Erik Johnson.
“The girls put forth their best effort and scored more points than I thought they would,” he said. “Several of our girls did well in IM and (100) butterfly. We have a lot of developing talent on both teams. We’re looking forward to next year. We had a very good day overall.”
Manistique had a champion in junior Allison Halpin, who took the 100 butterfly in 1:04 and placed third in the 100 freestyle in a school-record 58.1 seconds.
“I dropped seven seconds in 100 fly,” she said. “I’m surprised I was able to do that. The atmosphere up here pumps you up and it definitely helps when you know what to expect. The competition in 100 free was tougher this year and having Gladstone here makes the competition that much better. The races were back-to-back, and I was a little tired in freestyle. But I’m still happy with what I did.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Racers leave the blocks during Saturday's MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals at Marquette High School. (Middle) A competitor swims toward the finish. (Click to see more from Jarvinen Photos.)