Title IX at 50: Pioneer's Joyce Legendary in Michigan, National Swim History
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 9, 2021
Michigan has had no shortage of achievers in the swimming pool over a half-century of girls swimming & diving sponsorship by the MHSAA. But nearly two decades after her last high school race, Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kara Lynn Joyce's achievements remain among the highest of standards.
Joyce starred on the 2001 and 2002 teams that were the second and third, respectively, of Pioneer’s nine straight champions in Lower Peninsula Class A and then Division 1 (with that reclassification in 2002). She was part of four race champions both years – in the 100-yard freestyle and as part of the 400 freestyle relay at both Finals, while as a junior in the 50 and as part of the 200 medley relay and as a senior in 200 freestyle and 200 free relay.
Her name remains an incredible 16 times in the MHSAA girls swimming & diving record book, including seven times on the all-Finals lists (for performances from all Classes and Divisions combined). Her 50 (22.04 seconds – leading off a relay) and 100 (48.59) freestyles in 2002 remain all-Finals record, as does the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.77) she swam with Margaret Kelly, Leigh Cole and Jennifer Merte that season. Her winning 1:46.34 in the 200 as a senior is second all-time at the Finals only to another future Olympian, Canton’s Allison Schmitt, who finished nine hundredths of a second faster five years later.
Joyce’s 50 remains fifth all-time in the national record book, and her 100 ranks 13th on that list. Pioneer’s 2002 200 freestyle relay ranks sixth nationally.
Joyce went on to swim at University of Georgia and then during the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She won four silver medals, two each as part of 400-meter freestyle and 400-meter medley relays.
That 2002 Pioneer team is still considered arguably the most dominant in MHSAA history. The Pioneers claimed that first LP Division 1 title with 476 points, by 275 over the rest of the field. No LP Division 1 team has broken 400 points at a Final since.
Joyce has become a strong voice in leadership training for teenage girls in athletics. In 2017, she founded Lead Sports Co., which serves as a “home base for teenage girl athletes, parents and coaches with comprehensive online courses in Leadership, Confidence, Sports Psychology, and more.”
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Nov. 2: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field - Read
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
PHOTOS Ann Arbor Pioneer celebrates the Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship; Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce stands middle, just below the trophy. (MHSAA File Photos.)
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.)