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.)
Mercy's Minnich Races Toward Greatness
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
November 15, 2016
FARMINGTON HILLS – Maybe it was fate that brought Katie Minnich and Farmington Hills Mercy swim coach Mike Venos together this season.
Unbeknownst to Minnich, Venos had known Minnich a decade before she became one of the state’s top swimmers.
Minnich, a junior, is an emerging swimming superstar in a state that has produced such nationally renowned athletes as Olympian Allison Schmidt of Canton and, more recently, Waterford’s Maddie Wright, who now competes for the University of Southern California and was a semifinalist at the 2016 Olympic trials.
Minnich’s main event is the 100-yard backstroke. Her best time is 54.67. She placed first in that event at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals her freshman and sophomore seasons. In addition, she was a part of Mercy’s 200 medley relay teams that also took first place the last two years. Last season the relay team set an LP Division 1 Finals record with a time of 1:44.44.
Enter Venos. The longtime successful swim coach at Birmingham Brother Rice (his Warriors have won the last three LP Division 1 titles) took over the Mercy program this season for Shannon Dunworth and has the Marlins in position for a third MHSAA team title in the past six seasons. Mercy, under Dunworth, won LP Division 1 titles in 2011 and 2013 and was runner-up in 2012 and 2014.
This season’s Division 1 Finals will be held Friday and Saturday at Oakland University.
Minnich, encouraged by her mother, Toni Minnich, began swimming at age 3. A year later, Venos met Minnich through a mutual acquaintance.
“Jackie Smith was her babysitter,” Venos said. “Jackie graduated from Mercy (2002) and I knew her through the Village Athletic Club, where she swam.
“And my kids, my youngest two, swam with (Minnich). I have a son who’s a sophomore at Brother Rice and another who’s in the eighth grade at (Birmingham) St. Hugo.
“Swimming is a small community. Everybody smells like chlorine. But it’s a good community.”
Minnich credits her parents for opening the doors for her in the world of athletics. Her father, John Minnich, is a PGA professional and former head club professional at a few country clubs in the area including Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion. He’s the current boys golf coach at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
“My parents wanted me to be involved, be a part of a team and learn what that means,” Minnich said. “My mom wanted me to take (swimming) lessons. I was 3 then. She thought it would be a life skill.”
At this same time, Minnich also began playing soccer. She had fun playing both and made friends playing each. Two years later she began swimming competitively with the Birmingham Blue Dolphins. At age 7 she began competing year round.
“I’ve always been focused,” she said. “Skipping swim practice was never an option. I set my goals, for all different things. I set goals for times, (making) cuts for different U.S. meets.
“It’s hard to set goals because when you reach one, you set another. It’s hard to stay in one place.”
That’s the idea. Minnich is continually trying to get better. It’s not something she consciously thinks about. In the pool it’s all about repetition and concentration. Get distracted and the race could be lost. Minnich races against herself, not the swimmer next to her.
“I like to use the phrase, swim in your own lane,” Venos said. “She swims in her own lane. You don’t let anything affect you. You don’t think about the person next to you. The minute you get into trouble is when you’re trying to control those things you can’t control. If you’re in a place where you are in a process, doing the things you need to do, you’re in a good place.”
Venos said swimming is an odd sport. One reason: A swim team practices 16 weeks for one event – the MHSAA Finals. In Michigan there are no Districts or Regionals for which to qualify. Sure, there are invitationals and league meets, but no meets where a qualifying time is required. Venos likes it that way. He said some states use Regionals, much like in track & field, to qualify for the Finals.
Venos also noted the oddity when describing the individual aspect of the sport in relation to that of the team.
“Swimming is unique in that way,” he said. “It’s a stupid sport. You’re out there by yourself but you would not be as successful without being with your team.”
Minnich understands this and said she’s more proud of her relay team’s title in the 200 medley than she is of her backstroke titles. It gets back to why she swims. She has fun.
“What makes a great swimmer is they want to be great,” she said. “And (to reach that level) you have to allow others to help you to reach your goals. That’s why it’s special at Mercy. We’re like sisters.”
Nationally, Minnich, 16, has competed in the U.S. Junior Nationals in Minnesota and this past August she placed seventh in the backstroke at the 18-and-under YMCA Nationals in Greensboro, N.C.
This week all of her concentration is on the MHSAA meet and, hopefully, improving her times.
“I just want to swim as fast as I can,” she said. “You always want to compete against the best. You always want to see what your times are. We’re all just focused on winning.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTO: Farmington Hills Mercy's Katie Minnich launches into the backstroke during Friday's Detroit Catholic League championship meet. (Photo courtesy of the Farmington Hills Mercy girls swimming & diving program.)