Title Awards Adams' Sustained Success
December 12, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Rochester Adams girls swimming & diving program had known plenty of success before this season.
The Highlanders entered the fall with seven straight top-10 MHSAA Finals finishes and having celebrated 12 individual event champions over their impressive history. Adams was coming off a third place in Lower Peninsula Division 2 in 2017 – its best showing during that recent run – and with one of those individual champs in senior Lisa Lohner back to lead another title chase.
On Nov. 17 at nearby Oakland University, Adams finished the climb by earning the first MHSAA Finals championship in the school’s swimming & diving history.
The Highlanders – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for November – scored 250 points, 30 more than runner-up Birmingham Seaholm. And the title actually was the first for either of the school’s pool programs, girls or the similarly prolific boys, who tied their highest finish by coming in runner-up in Division 2 last winter.
“It is just kind of that elation of always having strong kids in our program,” Adams coach Tim Hickey said in describing the lasting feeling from finishing the title run. “Swimming is pretty big in our area, so we’ve always had some great athletes come through the program, (and we’re) pretty consistently top 10 in the state. I guess to make that final hurdle to put it all together and win that first title is just an incredible feeling. It’s so nice to see all that hard work the athletes put in really paid off for them.”
Of course, Lohner was a big part of the effort, helping push that individual event championship total to 15. She finished first in the 500 (4:58.17) and 200-yard (1:51.49) freestyles and anchored the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:36.76) and seventh-place finisher in the 400 free (3:36.13).
But her teammates picked up a sizable scoring load. In fact, the Highlanders scored in every swimming race – including the 50 freestyle, where they took eighth and a tie for 12th despite entering the meet without an athlete seeded to score among the top 16.
Adams took 15 athletes to the meet, and 11 scored points – with that scoring spread across three freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and four seniors. Joining Lohner in scoring in one or more events or relays were seniors Maddy Fleury, Alex Waack, Valentina Rengifo, junior Fernanda Camacho-Castro, sophomores Claire Sweetwood, Meghan Fleury and Allison Danko and freshmen Lauren Woodman, Yitian Zhang and Olivia Goodman.
“A lot of things just came together this year,” said Hickey, who completed his 24th season leading the program. “We had several athletes back from injuries who either missed last year completely or we didn’t even know at the beginning of the year if they’d be able to compete. We had just a very strong senior class which has obviously been at that level for many years, three freshmen coming in … again, a lot of pieces of the puzzle all coming together this year.
“What makes it really great is that it was a total and complete team effort. We needed everyone there and everyone to perform well, and it really happened.”
Adams also won the Oakland Activities Association Red championship for the fifth straight season, ahead of Seaholm and also Division 1 Finals third-place finisher Harrison/Farmington.
Lohner will continue her career at University of Toledo.
Past Teams of the Month, 2018-19
October: Leland boys soccer – Read
September: Pickford football – Read
August: Northville girls golf – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Rochester Adams’ Lisa Lohner swims to the championship in the 500 freestyle at last month’s LPD2 Finals. (Middle) Fernanda Camacho-Castro readies for her leg of the 400 relay while Alex Waack cheers on Valentina Rengifo. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Longtime Friends from Rival Schools Heading to Finals as Tritons Teammates
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 17, 2023
Traverse City Central’s Ella Cabbage and Traverse City West’s Kira Adams have competed in pools with and against each other for as long as they can remember.
They also attend schools considered each other’s biggest rival.
Yet, they will be rooting for each other at the weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Swimming & Diving Finals at Eastern Michigan University. Adams’ family will be cheering on Cabbage as much as they do her. Same for Cabbage’s family.
They are not rivals this weekend. The girls with a long-time friendship are teammates. West and Central are in a cooperative program for swimming along with Traverse City St. Francis. The co-op goes by the moniker Traverse City Tritons.
Adams and Cabbage, both juniors, came into the season listed among the swimmers to watch in Northern Michigan. They didn’t disappoint, leading the Tritons to their third straight Coastal Conference title.
This weekend’s Finals will provide them with a very special moment. They both plan to look for each other the second they finish their respective events. They are treasuring the opportunity to compete in the Finals together.
“One hundred percent we always do,” Adams said of the chance they will be the first person they see after competing. “We get to warm up with each other at the same time and prepare to race together as well.”
Cabbage agreed.
“I go right after Ella so we’ll be together the whole way,” Adams said. ‘We will get see other compete — It is very special.”
Adams and Cabbage hope their families capture more memories for future viewing.
‘We have videos of Kira swimming and me in the background screaming and vice versa,” Cabbage said. “I wouldn’t want to go to states with anyone else.
“Our families are really close,” Cabbage continued. “It’s really special for it being just the two of us in the Finals.”
Adams used the conference finals to meet the MHSAA Finals qualifying time in the 100-yard breaststroke. She also competed well in the 200 individual medley, backstroke and freestyle events in 2023. Cabbage had qualified in the 100 backstroke early in the season.
Cabbage and Adams were at last years’ Finals, Cabbage a member of the 200 medley relay that finished 16th and Adams an alternate for the relay.
They were really looking forward to getting on the road to the Finals this week, recalling last year’s trip featuring inclement early winter weather at Oakland University, second-year coach Megan Petroelje noted. She was the driver for last year’s qualifiers and will be again this year.
“Last year we had quite a snowstorm on our way down,” Petroelje said after noting the weather forecast for the trip to Ypsilanti. “Unfortunately, it was not the best start.
“We basically fought the weather all the way down and all the way home,” she continued. “I am excited to see two these two perform in a completely different environment than they’re used to, and I think they’re excited too.”
Petroelje is thrilled to have two individual qualifiers. It is the first time in many years the co-op produced two individual finalists. For a long time this season, Cabbage was concerned she was going to be alone.
“Kira slid in at the end, and it was awesome,” Petroelje said. “I am so thankful they get to do this together.
“It is so much more fun to train with someone and have someone to motivate you and keep you accountable,” she continued. “The fact that there are two, I am super excited about.”
Adams and Cabbage have been teammates since their beginning days of swimming with their club Traverse City Breakers. They trained as youngsters in the same pools – the Grand Traverse YMCA and the Traverse City Civic Center. Petroelje also coached the qualifiers as Breakers.
While they currently attend rival schools, the don’t think of themselves as rivals in any way shape or form.
“We’ve grown up swimming together,” Adams said. “While some people might see it as a rivalry, it’s really not for us because we’ve known each other for so long.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) From left: Traverse City Tritons Ella Cabbage, coach Megan Petroelje and Kira Adams. (Middle) Adams swims one of her races this season. (Below) Cabbage launches during a meet this fall. (Photos by Andrea Hartman.)