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7-6-2009
Girls Swimming Page has been updated
with Meet Schedule and Important Dates

GL-W-LC at Grand Haven and vs. Holt/EL
Its been a wild couple of weeks for the GL-W-LC water polo team. After dropping a pair of games to Ann Arbor Pioneer last week our B team traveled to Grand Haven on Friday and Saturday for 4 games in that tournament. We played to a 2-2 record for the weekend after losing to Grand Haven (4-5) and Hudsonville (4-15) and winning against Portage Northern (4-3 OT) and Ann Arbor Pioneer (4-1). Congrats to all the girls on a fine performance and a fun weekend of water polo. Kassie Briggs scored the sudden death overtime game winner against Portage Northern and every gained a great deal of experience that will pay off greatly with next seasons teams.

As for Monday night vs Holt-EL our girls snagged two victories first in the A game and then in the B contest as well. The A team was victorious 8-5 and the B team won a thriller 8-7.

The A game was played first and was a very competitive affair from start to finish. We looked a little rusty after not having a complete team for the past week but we were able to gut out an important district win. Leading the way in the stat tally was Lydia with 4 goals, 3 assists and 3 steals. Elizabeth jumped off a bus returning from New York City and chipped in with 2 goals and 2 steals and Morgan and Katie finished off the goal scoring with one goal a piece. Our defense was stellar from start to finish and really helped turn the tide of the game. Katie had 5 steals while Emily grabbed 4 and Shelby and Monica each made 2 thefts as well. In goal Kassie continues to get more and more confident. She made 11 saves while making an assist and 1 steal.

The B game was also extremely competitive with no team leading by more than 2 goals at any time. The hero award of the game has to go to senior captain Jennie Brown for her last second breakaway goal that enabled our victory. She finished with 3 goals, 2 assists and 6 steals. Onahlea had a very strong game as she scored twice and made 3 steals. Kassie played this game in the field and showed her versatility with a goal, 2 assists and 6 steals in limited playing time. Kristen Withers and Alyssa Miller both got on the scoreboard as well with very nice goals in their own right. E'lan and Rachael both played in goal tonight and E'lan made 7 saves and Rachael made 1.

Next up is the River Rat Invitational in Ann Arbor for our final tournament before districts. These two wins move our record to B Team 5-6 and A Team 9-2.

GL-W-LC at Mason Bulldog Battle
Thanks so much to all the parents that gave rides this weekend and enabled our appearance at Mason for the Bulldog Battle. Our girls took home their first ever tournament win by posting a 4-0 record on Saturday. It was really nice to see some of B team members make the games as well and contribute to the success of a truly inspiring weekend for our program.

Our first game of the day was against a familiar foe as we squared off against Mason for the 3rd time in 4 games. Our girls captured a 17-3 victory and played very well as a team with 8 different people scoring goals. E'lan Brewer made her only appearance of the day and represented herself nicely with 2 saves and steal. Leading in the goal scoring department was the pair of Michelle Pitchford and Elizabeth Sullivan with 4 goals each. Allison Rehagen, Shelby Becker and Morgan Lowery each netted 2 and Erika Miller, Katie Simon and Monica Pomaville scored 1 each. Jennie Brown played extensively and made 4 assists and 1 steal while coming off the bench. Kassie Briggs got a rare chance in the field and responded with a few great scoring chances, 2 assists and 3 steals.

The second game of the day was against Grand Blanc, a team we had only seen once before two years ago (5-19 GB). This time around our girls jumped on top early and never looked back. We were led by Katie with 6 goals and Lydia Kramer with 5 goals. Katie and Lydia passed for 4 and 6 assists a piece as well. Elizabeth, Allison, Shelby, Morgan and Emily Fairless each made 1 goal to account for our final tally. Kassie played her best game in goal to date by making 9 saves with 4 assists and doing a great job positioning herself for success.

After our quick lunch break we arrived at the pool in time to take down Holt-EL by a score of 10-3. We played a very disciplined game and did a great job taking care of the ball. With 5 turnovers and 18 steals as a team that certainly bodes well for our success. Lydia and Shelby did a great job keeping Holt-EL's offense at bay with 6 and 5 steals each. Lydia also notched 4 goals while Morgan, Erika Miller, Michelle, Monica Pomaville, Elizabeth and Emily each put one in the net. 6 people scoring our 10 goals is a nice tribute to our depth and something that is a welcome addition. Kassie made 6 saves and 2 assists in this one as our defense prevented too many good scoirng chances for the opposition.

Our most stiff test came in the final game of the day that doubled as the championship game of the tourney. Haslett was charged up and certainly was very game but we were able to gut out a 9-6 win. Haslett led 3-4 at half and quickly extended that lead to 3-5 early in the 3rd. From there our defense clamped down and made life a little more difficult for the Haslett attackers. Lydia scored her 5 goals in a varitey of ways from long range to in close and Katie Simon put 2 home as well. Morgan and Michelle scored our other 2 goals to close out the scoring for the weekend. Emily was her usual steady self in guiding our offense as she made 4 assists. Really a great job by everyone in this game as we did not have an especially crisp game but we still were able to pull through. Credit Haslett for making life very tough for our offense for much of the game.

4 wins this weekend pushes our season record to 8-1 with a very tough test coming on Tuesday in the form of the number 2 team in the state Ann Arbor Pioneer.

GL-W-LC vs. Dexter
An exciting night of water polo ended a litle later than usual as the the B team came up short 6-9 and the varsity needed overtime to secure an upset victory of defending district champion Dexter 20-15. Plenty of great play to go around by all the girls in a truly exciting night of play.

In the B game Dexter jumped up quickly before our girls responded to tie the game going into the 2nd period knotted at 2. Dexter showed a great deal of swimming skill that led to a bunch of odd man rushes in toward our cage. They outscored us 2-7 in the 2nd and 3rd periods and those periods proved decisive. Some of the bright spots for the night were Jennie Brown and E'lan Brewer who both stepped up and played well in the absence of captain Dayle McLeod. Jennie scored 4 goals to go along with 2 assists and 4 drawn kick outs. E'lan played the first three periods and made 7 saves and continues to improve her confidence with the position. Also tallying goals were Annika VanWieren and Onahlea Price. Recording assists were Shelby Randolph, Alyssa Miller and Lindsay Brown. Lindsay played a much more complete game tonight and appears headed in the right direction. Waverly freshman Kristen Withers is also beginning to get more comfortable with the game and is making better decisions. Rachael Pierce made her season debut with a shutout 4th period and 3 saves.

In the A game our girls quickly jumped out 2-0 only to surrender the quick lead and fall behind by scores of 4-8 and 6-10 before rallying to force overtime. In the overtime period our fresh legs showed up and we outscored Dexter 5-0. Offensively Lydia Kramer was unstoppable as she scored 10 goals and logged 3 assists with 7 steals. Katie Simon played through a bloody nose to score 6 goals, make 1 assist and 6 steals. Emily Fairless chipped in 1 goal, 6 assists and 3 steals while guiding our offense. Morgan Lowery, Michelle Pitchford and Allison Rehagen rounded out the scoring column with one goal a piece. Kenzie Gatewood had 2 assists and Elizabeth Sullivan made 2 steals and 1 drawn kick out. Kassie Briggs took a couple huge strides tonight in goal with 8 saves as she continues to learn this new position. This game was a total team effort as all players played a great deal and were rewarded for their efforts with the victory.

The loss pushes the B team's record to 2-3 and the win moves the A team's record to 4-1 and 2-1 in the district rankings.

GL-W-LC vs. Mason
An exciting evening of water polo ended with the B team suffering a heartbreaking double overtime loss 12-13 to Mason and the A team cruised to its 3rd victory in a row 22-4. There were a ton of reasons to cheer as both teams gave great effort and put on a good show.

The B team was lead by the inspired play of freshman Alyssa Miller. Alyssa had her best game ever scoring her first goal, grabbing a steal and setting up two more goals. Our two senior captains Jennie Brown and Dayle McLeod also came to play as Jennie notched 3 goals and 4 assists and Dayle had 3 assists and 2 steals. Annika VanWieren played her best game offensively by scoring 4 goals and passing for 2 assists. Kristen Withers and E'Lan Brewer each scored a goal a piece and Onahlea Price banged home 2 goals herself. Kassie Briggs made 13 saves in goal and showed solid progress in that position.

The A team jumped out quickly and took advantage of the now tired Mason team for a 14-1 lead at halftime. Passing was the key to the game as our girls logged 35 assists for the game. Our best team effort was obvious as every girl on the A roster scored a goal and nobody scored more than 3 goals. Leading the goal tally was Michelle Pitchford and Allison Rehagen who both turned hat tricks and Katie Simon, Erika Miller, Morgan Lowery, Lydia Kramer, Monica Pomavile and Shelby Becker scored 2 goals each. Leading the assists tally was Kenzie Gatewood and Emily Fairless with 7 and 5 assists each. E'lan Brewer played her first varsity game in goal and stopped 4 shots.

Great work by everyone. We are back in action on Wednesday night at Dexter. The A team record now stands at 3-1 and the B teams record is even at 2-2.

GL-W-LC vs. Has-Wil-LC
A solid win for the A team and an impressive loss for the B team on Thursday night at the Grand Ledge pool. The B team fell 9-10 and the A team was victorious 18-15.

In the B game our girls were led by our veterans Jennie Brown, Dayle McLeod and Shelby Becker. Jennie led the way with a career high 5 goals, while also adding an assist. Shelby netted 2 goals while also setting up 5 more and snagging 9 steals in her most complete performance to date. Dayle was a pool general contributing in all areas of the game with 2 goals and 3 assists. Lindsay Brown punched in her 2nd career goal and Alyssa Miller did a nice job with 1 assist. Annika Van Wieren had her best game ever with an assist and a ton of heady play. Shelby Randolph got her feet wet for the first time, as did Melanie Pomaville and both represented themselves very well. Peri McLeod continues to improve in goal and she made 14 saves tonight. Great job girls.

The A game saw 33 goals scored in total. This is a number that needs to come down dramatically. Allison Rehagen did an admirable job in goal by making 5 saves. Leading the way was Lydia Kramer and Katie Simon. Katie snared 6 goals, 2 assists and 2 steals in a workmanlike effort. Lydia was solid in all areas with 7 goals 1 assist and 4 steals. Emily Fairless was tremedous keying our offense with 4 goals and 6 assists Elizabeth Sullivan put home her first goal of the season and Erika Miller set up a pair of goals and played very aggressive on the offensive end. There is a great deal of things that we need to work on and luckily the season is still young. Haslett is a very solid team so we should be happy we captured a W but we need to get better that is without question.

Both teams records moved to 1-1 for the season.

Boys Varsity Swimming 2008-2009
CAAC Meet Photos
http://alanholbenphotography.smugmug.com/

2009 Second Shave Meet
Another 85 lifetime best swims on Tuesday night at Holt during the 2nd Shave meet pushed our grand total for our taper to 223 lifetime best times since last Friday. In one word: Amazing. Our young men have put on quite the performance in the last week and I think the ethusiasim and smiling faces have been a great indicator of the fun we have been having. Swimming fast is always fun, I hope all the guys have enjoyed the season.

John Fitzgerald pushed his state cut total to 3 with an impressive 2:03.9 in the 200 IM. In addition John had lifetime best times in the 50 Back, 100 Fly and a best split of 49.31 on the 400 Free Relay. Look for John at the D1 State Meet in either the 200 Free or 200 IM as well as the 500 Free. Though our 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free Relay fell short of the goal of the state meet they still put up impressive times and massive time drops for the season. Our guys were stuck at 3:38 for much of the season in the 400 Free Relay and ended at 3:26.3 and the Medley topped out at 1:51.8 earlier in the year. We went 1:46.1 at 2nd Shave and really showed some strong improvement. Also showing up well at 2nd Shave was Jason Robeson and David Smith. Jason and David both swam great 100 Fly's and are now on the top 15.

Our freshman once again showed the seeds of greatness as Nick Borokhov dropped 11 seconds to 2:24 in the 200 IM and Tyler Martin dropped a ton of time to register a 5:52 in the 500 Free. Robert Mueller joined Tyler by going under the 6:00 barrier for the first time in 5:47 fashion. Neil Wilkes had a solid 200 IM at 2:28 and Zach Aungst as well was fast at 2:38.

Jordan Mannor, Paul Wilkes and Anthony Mauro had fantastic drops in the 200 Free with Anthony moving his way up the top 15 with a 1:54.83. Casey Haggerty had a lifetime best of 5:52 in the 500 Free and Eric Bayley registered a unique 54.9 in the 100 Free. Paul Cleaveland finished his GL career with lifetime best swims in the 200 IM and 100 Breast and Brad Bouchard did the same with a fantastic swim in the 100 Fly. Bayley and Mike Mandley had huge drops in the 100 Back as both set lifetime best times at the 50 in the event.

Troy Burris had a gigantic time drop from 3:01 in the 200 Free to 2:22, not a bad days work. Nick Ruddy was impressive in his strong 200 Free, as was Max King in the 100 and 200 Freestyles. Congrats to Brad, Mike M. and Doug Barger for their first ever ventures under 1:00 in the 100 Free.

This season still has Pat Clark going to regionals next week at East Kentwood for diving and 4 individual events and 1 relay headed to Eastern Michigan for the D1 State Meet. Hopefully we can have a big group of fans in Ypsilanti as our guys look to improve on our finish from last season.

2009 Blue Division CAAC Championship
An unbelievable performance was turned in by our young men over the weekend at the East Lansing pool in the form of a convincing 2nd place finish. After placing 5th last season our guys logged 143 LIFETIME BEST swims in two days and pulled ahead of 3rd place Jackson by 16 points. We received so many stellar performances from every single guy on our team, it was truly a joy to be a part of. I cannot point to one person and concede that they triggered our efforts; it was a complete team effort. After all was said and done our guys had captured CAAC titles in 3 events, Division 1 state cuts in 5 events, 16 GL top 15 swims, 1 diver to Regionals, 1 school, pool and conference record and the previously mentioned 143 lifetime best swims and dives. We led the way in terms of points gained from the seedings to the finish by adding 40 points to our tally (306 seeded, 346 final). That illustrates the excitement and unreal effort our guys gave from top to bottom.

Our performance took on the personality of our senior leaders without question. John Fitzgerald finished his conference career as a 4-time conference champion by defending his titles in the 200 and 500 Free. John's 200 Free was good for a new school record by over a second and his 500 Free time of 4:55.01 set a new EL pool and CAAC conference record. Curtis Kentner made his first 2 appearances in the championship finals count as he swam to a 6th place finish in the 200 Free and a 7th place finish in the 100 Fly. Curtis now ranks 10th in the 200 Free and 4th in the 100 Fly on the top 15 list. Jordan Mannor joined Curtis in going under the 1:00 barrier in the Fly by logging the 7th fastest time in GL history (59.56) and a ninth place finish. Max King and Brad Bouchard both qualified for the consols in the Back, with Max winning the consolation heat. Noah Staten pulled off a rare double by scoring in both the 50 Free and the diving portion. Pat Clark advanced to Regionals by placing 7th in diving and Jason Robeson qualified for the consols in both the 50 and 100 Free. Jason, John, Jordan and Anthony Mauro combined as well to grab the state cut in the 200 Free Relay while placing 2nd. Paul Cleaveland had a great 100 Back and went 58.23 on the 400 Free Relay for his venture under 1:00.

The junior class certainly showed up well with Anthony Mauro taking home his first ever CAAC conference title with a win and state cut in the 100 Free. His time catapulted him to 2nd in GL history in that event. Earlier in the meet Anthony placed 2nd and made another state cut in the 50 Free. Paul Wilkes placed 9th and 8th in the 100 Breast and 200 IM respectively. Nick Ruddy swam two incredible races in the 500 and dropped a total of 21 seconds in his first appearance in the consolation finals. Peter Wakley, Alex Barber and Matt Clark all swam to lifetime best times on relays and individual events.

Our second year guys represented their class on a grand stage with Eric Bayley qualifying for his first and second ever championship final in the 200 and 500 Free. Eric placed 7th in the 200 Free and 6th in the 500 Free while knocking 11 seconds off his lifetime best and 16 from his season best. In the 200 Free Eric registered a lifetime best time at the 50 split, 100 split and 200 split. Mike Mandley qualified for the 2nd day for the first time in his career and placed 13th in the Breast. David Smith and Chris Cornell were able to score in both of their individual events (200 IM & 100 Back for David and 100 Free & 100 Breast for Chris). Casey Haggerty had two lifetime best swims in the 200 and 100 Free; Casey also went 24.88 on the 200 Free Relay for a lifetime best. Doug Barger, Mike Bonofiglio, Dylan Botkin, Andrew Bristol, Josh Hurlburt and Jacob Jones showed how much their hard work has paid off as all 6 swam to nothing lifetime best times every time they hit the water.

The freshman were nothing short of fantastic. I have been so pleasantly surprised by the steady progress of the whole group and nobody epitomized that improvement more than Tyler Martin. After a season of hard work and steady gains, Tyler exploded on Friday to drop 12 seconds in his 100 Fly and 7 more in his 100 Back. After a lifetime best in the 50 Fly and 100 Free Tyler had achieved 7 best times in only 4 swims. Robert Mueller and Neil Wilkes both had their first taste of Saturday swimming in the conference meet as Robert placed 15th and 11th in the 200 IM and 100 Fly respectively. Neil placed 16th and 10th in the 200 and 500 Free while dropping 10 seconds in the 200 and 17 seconds in the 500. Zach Aungst and Nick Borokhov both had breakout performances in the form of a 3 second drop in the Breast for Zach and 2 second drop for Nick in the 100 Free. Troy Burris dropped 11 seconds in his 100 Back and 6 seconds in his 100 Free. With the times our new guys registered at this meet they can certainly be thinking of scoring at this meet next season.

Finally I want to send an enormous thank you to everyone who made the meet possible. So many parents from both the girls and boys teams chipped in time, money and supplies to make it all happen. We are all grateful for all that is done to make Grand Ledge Swimming & Diving possible. We are so lucky to have such outstanding support for our program. Our performance at the conference meet allowed us to finish tied for 2nd in the league and our next appearance will be at Holt for the 2nd Shave meet on Tuesday. We will be looking for more best times and state cuts.

GL vs. Jackson
Our regular season concluded tonight vs an extremely tough Jackson Viking team. Our guys won a hard fought victory over the league leaders 101-84 in a mild CAAC Blue upset. Jackson is a very well coached team and a victory over that team is a strong step in the right direction. Our efforts were spearheaded by many outstanding races but in particular Max King performed huge on his senior night. Max had lifetime best swims in the 50 Back and 100 Back, both by a second and a half. Also having a large evening was Andrew Bristol as he swam to lifetime best times in the 50 Breast, 50 Free and 100 Back by over 15 seconds. For these efforts Max and Andrew were named swimmers of the meet.

Getting things kicked off was our 200 Medley relay of Max, Chris Cornell, John Fitzgerald and Noah Staten. Our guys benefited from a Jackson DQ and our B relay of Paul Wilkes, Mike Mandley, Robert Mueller and Anthony Mauro was able to slip in for the 1-2 finish and quick 10 point lead. John Fitzgerald closed his final dual meet with 4 victories including a win in the 200 IM in a best unshaved time of 2:07.48. Anthony Mauro claimed victory in the 50 Free, as did the 200 Free Relay team of Mauro, Robeson, Kentner and Fitzgerald. Pat Clark picked up a badly needed win in diving and Noah Staten had a best score in the diving as well.

Eric Bayley had his best meet of the season with unshaved best swims in the 200 and 500 Free. Strong swims from Tyler Martin and Nick Borokhov in the 100 Fly. Paul Cleaveland was impressive in his 100 Back and so was Jordan Mannor in the 100 Fly as both registered lifetime bests. Paul Wilkes and Mike Mandley both grabbed best times in the 100 Breast to help our team to a 2-3-4 finish.

Overall the meet was a fantastic team effort. The conference meet in two weeks should be an extremely entertaining meet as no team enters the league meet without a loss. We are back in action on Saturday at the MISCA meet and then not again until the conference meet.

GL at Dewitt Invite
Our guys brought tired bodies to the DeWitt Invite on Saturday and performed admirably considering the amount of training we have been doing this week. We placed 6th out of 8 teams and received outstanding performances from Neil Wilkes and Chris Cornell. Neil had a lifetime best in the 500 Free by 5 seconds and Chris had great 50 and 100 Breast swims. For these efforts Chris and Neil were named swimmers of the meet.

John Fitzgerald took home our only event win of the day in the 100 Fly and Anthony Mauro had a best unshaved time in the 100 Free of 52.18. David Smith had a great night as he had lifetime best times in the 200 IM and 100 Free, while Paul Cleaveland had a best unshaved 200 IM and a lifetime best in the 100 Free. Zach Aungst is back in the saddle after his sickness and had a best time in the 100 Breast, with fellow Frosh Nick Borokhov grabbing best times twice in the 50 Free. Nick Ruddy was impressive in the 200 Free by knocking 11 seconds from his previous best.

Overall this meet was a good opportunity for our guys to compete and get a good workout. We close out our regular season against league leader Jackson on Thursday for senior night at Grand Ledge.

GL vs. Eaton Rapids-Charlotte
Our boys went back to their winning ways Tuesday night with a 109-77 victory over previously unbeaten Eaton Rapids. I was extremely pleased with the way our guys bounced back and swam really well after a grueling workout before the meet. If we can achieve 47 lifetime best times immediately after swimming 6,000 yards, imagine what we can do with 2 weeks of rest. We had many outstanding individual performances but the efforts of Eric Bayley and Robert Mueller stick out in my mind. Eric swam to lifetime best swims in the 100 Back and 50 Fly, while placing 3rd in the 100 Free. Robert placed 3rd in the 200 Free with a lifetime best and lead-off the 200 Free Relay with a lifetime best. For these swims Eric and Robert were named swimmers of the meet.

We captured 9 events wins for the night and event winners include; John Fitzgerald in the 50 and 100 Free, Anthony Mauro in the 200 Free, Paul Wilkes in the 100 Back, Curtis Kentner in the 500 Free and Mike Mandley snagged his first ever varsity win in the 100 Breast. The Medley Relay team of Wilkes, Fitzgerald, Kentner and Jason Robeson was victorious and so was the 200 Free Relay (Jordan Mannor, Mauro, Kentner, Fitzgerald) and the 400 Free Relay team of Robeson, Chris Cornell, Mauro and Paul Wilkes.

Other highlights included Jacob Jones having best swims in both the 50 and 100 Free, Nick Borokhov swimming a great 200 IM, Anthony Lugibihl was tremendous in the 100 Fly and Jason Robeson had a lifetime best in the 500 by over 30 seconds. David Smith had a great night with lifetime best times in the 50 Back, 500 Free and 100 Breast. Peter Wakley did a great job in completing the 100 Fly and Tyler Martin swam to a lifetime best in the 100 Back. Tyler also did a fantastic job kicking the night off with a great rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

Great job tonight guys. We are back in action on Saturday at the DeWitt Invitational. Our record now sits at 5-3.

GL vs. Holt
A tough two weeks was concluded for our young men in a hard fought defeat to defending CAAC Champions Holt, 154-160. We had a ton of terrific swims which is truly remarkable considering the amount of meets our guys have had in the past two weeks. Next week we will put two days of training together for the first time since early January. Having an outstanding meet was Jason Robeson and Tyler Martin. Jason had lifetime best swims in the 100 Free, 200 Free Relay and 400 Free Relay and Tyler had lifetime best swims in the exact same events. Tyler and Jason were named swimmer of the meet for their combined 6 lifetime bests on Thursday night.

Overall we had 43 lifetime best swims which is a great number when you consider we were in our best events. A lot of the swims from last night were swims that our guys swam last season shaved and tapered. To be ahead of those times at this point is a really good sign. Leading the way was John Fitzgerald who won the IM and 100 Fly (lifetime best time) as well as the 400 Free Relay with Curtis Kentner, Jason Robeson and Anthony Mauro. Anthony claimed a win in the 100 Free and Curtis Kentner swam to two 2nd place finishes in the 100 Back and 200 Free. Jordan Mannor continues to show off impressive butterfly skills while David Smith was outstanding in both the IM and 100 Back.

Nick Ruddy has now dropped his 500 Free time by almost a minute in the last two weeks as he swam to a 5:57 last night. It was a huge night for Nick Borokhov as he was finally able to break the 1:00 barrier in his 100 Free by going 59.43 and then 58.48 on the 400 Free Relay. Eric Bayley and Casey Haggerty both had lifetime best swims in the 200 Free Relay and Eric also had a lifetime best leading off the 400 Free Relay at 57.59. Andrew Bristol had a fantastic meet as he had lifetime best swims in the 100 Breast, 50 Breast and 50 Free. Paul Cleaveland returned to his 100 Breast event and went under 1:20 for the first time and Mike Mandley continues to lower his time in that same event.

Dylan Botkin swam a great 100 Free and grabbed a lifetime best by nearly a second and Doug Barger had a very fast 1:02 100 Free. Our 4 divers showed up quite well with Pat Clark being one good dive from springing a big upset in the event. Noah and Austin both had best ever scores to place 5th and 6th respectively.

I know the guys noticed how much fan support we had at Holt and that was truly appreciated. We outnumbered Holt at their own pool, lets make that kind of support a trend. We are back in action at home on Tuesday night vs a good Eaton Rapids team. Our record now sits at 4-3 with two duel meets to go.

GL vs. Everett
Our young men swam to their 4th straight victory on Tuesday night, 115-71, over a shorthanded Everett squad. The Vikings were without one of their top contributors due to injury and we were down 6 swimmers due to illness. Anthony Mauro showed he is more than just a sprinter as he won the 50 Free and the 500 Free tonight. Later he teamed with Jordan Mannor, Paul Wilkes and John Fitzgerald to win the 400 Free Relay for his 3rd win of the evening. Mannor contributed to the win with a nice 100 Fly and solid splits on both the 200 and 400 Free Relays. For these efforts Jordan and Anthony were awarded swimmers of the meet.

Aside from Anthony and the 400 Free Relay we earned event wins in the 200 Free from Paul Wilkes in lifetime best time of 2:00.17. Fitzgerald claimed wins in the 200 IM and 100 Fly at 2:09.60 and 58.26 respectively for two unshaved best times. Curtis Kentner won the 100 Free with a lifetime best of 54.80 and Paul Wilkes claimed another W in the 100 Back with a lifetime best time of 1:01.92.

In addition to those fine swims we had a big performance from freshman Austin Barnhill who competed in diving for the first time and finished in 5th place. It is big to add our third diver this year and with CJ and Pat being seniors its a good way for Austin to find a niche. Anthony Lugibihl swam well in the 100 Fly and grabbed a personal best time. Neil Wilkes and Rawit teamed to go back to back lifetime best swims in the 50 Back and 50 Breast on their Medley Relay while David Smith had best times in both the 50 and 100 Back events.

Congrats to our guys on a hard fought win. Next up we travel to Holt and try and snag a victory over the defending CAAC Blue Conference Champions.

Haslett Invite
What an exciting and satisfying day for our young men on Saturday at the Haslett Invitational. We were able to secure 1st place and capture our 3rd Haslett Invitational Championship in the last 4 years. This meet is only able to be won when you have an entire team effort and that was certainly on display this weekend. We had contributions from all over our lineup and many people stepped up and swam unbelievably well. When you consider that this team placed 6th at this meet last year it really serves as solid evidence of the growth and development of our swimmers and divers. We were led at this meet by senior captain John Fitzgerald who swam to a best unshaved time of 1:51.57 in the 200 Free and a very strong 5:05.66 in the 500 Free to capture 1st in both events for the 2nd year in a row and re-set his own pool record in the 500 Free in the process. In the diving portion Pat Clark had a personal best score of 317.60 to place 4th overall. Pat's score was good for a 101 point improvement on his previous personal best. That is a truly amazing accomplishment, I know Coach Weiss was thrilled with that outcome. For these fantastic performances Pat and John were named swimmers (and diver) of the meet for the Haslett Invitational.

Our total team effort received great swims from guys like Noah Staten who was able to place 16th in the 100 Free (57.96), Zach Aungst who dropped 3 more seconds in his 100 Breast to place 15th, Jordan Mannor and Jason Robeson who both had season best swims in the sprints and actually tied for the 10th in the 100 Free. Coming up big for our team as well was Robert Mueller who continues to amaze as he got down to 1:03 in his 100 Fly and seems to improve every time he hits the water. Neil Wilkes made his first venture under 6:00 as he clocked in with a 5:53 in the 500.

Max King rebounded from a shaky Fly swim to place 8th in the 100 Back with a time of 1:04.81. Also rebounding from an uncharacteristic off swim was Curtis Kentner. Curtis had great swims in the 100 Back and 400 Free Relay. Paul Wilkes has now exceeded his conference time in the 200 IM by 2 seconds and has layed claim to the top breaststroke time on the team. David Smith made a return to his normal form as he swam a very fast IM and 100 Fly. Paul Cleaveland and Mike Mandley both had outstanding 200 IM swims and backed that up with great swims in the 100 Back and 100 Breast respectively. Anthony Mauro established a very nice time in the 100 Free (52.82) to place 2nd and took 3rd in the 50 Free in 24.04.

Baptiste and Rawit had great 100 Breaststroke swims with Baptiste gutting out a tough win in his heat. Troy Burris and Josh Hurlburt both swam their first ever 100 Backstroke and both put forth a great effort. Jacob Jones and Dylan Botkin are carving out a spot for themselves in the sprint events and Mike Bonofiglio did a nice job in his 100 Breast. I really like what I saw from sophomore Eric Bayley because of the tenacity in which he swam in both his 200 and 500 Free swims. We had season best times in both.

Overall the meet was a raging success. We achieved 53 lifetime best swims with 28 best unshaved swims. We now turn our attention to our dual meets next week with a powerful Everett team and another great team in Holt. Both meets are away next week so guys are reminded to dress accordingly.

GL vs. Lansing Eastern
Our guys had a commendable performance on Thursday night against a rapidly improving Lansing Eastern squad. We prevailed 132-47 to push our record to 3-2 with three straight wins with our toughest week of the season coming next week. Turning in fantastic performances were a sophomore and senior. Noah Staten swam to a best unshaved time in the 100 Free of 59.92 and followed up by dropping 5.63 seconds in his 100 Back to take a 2nd place finish. Sophomore Casey Haggerty had his best night since the conference meet last season as he swam to lifetime best times in the 100 Free, relay 100 Free and relay 50 Free. Casey won the 100 Free and both freestyle relays as well and for these efforts, he and Noah were named swimmers of the meet.

We won all events except for the 200 Medley Relay en route to a convincing win and got a ton of swims for our younger guys. Zach Aungst responded with a fine effort in the 200 Free and Troy Burris was respectable in the 100 Free. These were the first varsity swims for both young men and hopefully many more are to come. Stealing the show was the performance of our 3 500 Free swimmers: Nick Borokhov, Robert Mueller and Nick Ruddy. Robert claimed his first ever varsity win in lifetime best time of 6:08.02. Ruddy swam to a lifetime best in the event by a whopping 39.58 seconds. Not to be outdone Borokhov dropped 67.90 seconds! That kind of drop is unheard of.

Claiming event wins were John Fitzgerald (100 Breast), Curtis Kentner (50 Free), Pat Clark (Diving), Jason Robeson (200 IM), Jordan Mannor (200 Freee), Chris Cornell (100 Fly), Casey Haggerty (100 Free), David Smith (100 Back), Max King, Haggerty, Cornell and Eric Bayley (200 Free Relay) and Bayley, Haggerty, Robeson and King (400 Free Relay).

Other highlights included best times from Austin Barnhill in the 50 and 100 Free, Jacob Jones swimming well in the 50 Back and 100 Free and Brad Bouchard swimming well in the 100 Free and 50 Fly. Doug Barger continues to drop time in the 100 Fly while Max King swam well on the 400 Free Relay and in the 200 IM.

Next up for our team is a visit to the Haslett Invitational. Next week we travel to Everett and Holt for two very big conference meets.

GL vs. Waverly-Lansing Catholic
Our young men evened their record at 2-2 on Tuesday night against a fiesty Waverly-LC team, 117-65. We received great swims from numerous people but in the end two performances were able to shine the brightest. In a night for breaststroke senior Captain Brad Bouchard grabbed lifetime best times in the 50 Breast and 100 Breast. Freshman Zach Aungst swam to lifetime best swims in those same events and had a best time in the 50 Fly as well. In recognition of these efforts Brad and Zach were awarded with the swimmer of the meet awards.

Claiming victories for the night was the 200 Medley Relay team of John Fitzgerald, Chris Cornell, Curtis Kentner and Jason Robeson, Anthony Mauro in the 200 Free (2:06.31), Kentner in the IM (2:19.83), Pat Clark in diving, Fitzgerald in the 100 Fly (59.14) and 100 Back (59.19) and Cornell in the 500 Free with a lifetime best time (by 12 seconds) of 5:51.76. The 200 Free Relay team of Mauro, Kentner, Robeson and Mannor swam to a win as well and the 400 Free Relay team of Cornell, Robeson, Kentner and Fitzgerald achieved the same success.

Also swimming well was freshman Tyler Martin, who followed up his outstanding rendition of the National Anthem, with great swims in the 50 Back and 200 IM. Neil Wilkes, Robert Mueller and David Smith each went under the 1:00 barrier for the first time in the 100 Free and senior Jordan Mannor had a great meet with plenty of best unshaved times. Jacob Jones and Alex Barber each had lifetime best times in the 100 Breaststroke while Dylan Botkin swam his first 50 Fly with fine effort. Jason Robeson and Eric Bayley each put forth best times in the their 400 Free Relay splits and both went un 57 for the first time.

Up next we are visited by my alma mater the Lansing Eastern Quakers. This should be another challenging meet filled with great races and hopefully a ton more lifetime best times.

GL vs. East Lansing
We finally captured our first victory of the season on Thursday night over a really tough East Lansing squad, 104-82. Top performers for the meet were nearly impossible to decipher as so many of our young men had their best performances ever. We were led at the top by senior captain Curtis Kentner who blazed his way to a lifetime best leading off the victorious 200 Medley Relay and then followed that up with a win and best unshaved time in the 100 Fly and another win and lifetime best in the 100 Backstroke. Sophomore Mike Bonofiglio had enormous time drops throughout the meet as he dropped 2 seconds in his 50 Free, 16 seconds in his 100 Free and 15 seconds in his relay 100 Free. For these efforts Mike and Curtis were selected as swimmers of the meet.

In addition to Curtis' victories in the 100 Fly and 100 Back, he was joined in the victorious Medley by Paul Wilkes, John Fitzgerald and Chris Cornell. Fitzgerald also took home 2 victories in his specialties the 200 Free and 500 Free. Anthony Mauro picked up a W in the 100 Free in a hard fought race and Cornell touched out two others for the win in the 100 Breast. In all we won all individual events except the 50 and diving.

Robert Mueller is beginning to establish himself as one of the best freshman in the area as he swam to 4 more lifetime bests in the 50 Fly, 200 IM, 100 Fly and 100 Free. Troy Burris also continues to impress with his strong performances in both the Backstroke and sprint events. Nick Ruddy, Nick Borokhov and Anthony Lugibihl continue to joust for the top time between the three in the 100 Free with Ruddy coming out on top this evening in a lifetime best time.

Freshman Neil Wilkes had a stellar night as he swam to lifetime best times in the 200 Free, 500 Free and 100 Free to score a great deal of varsity points. Tyler Martin had a lifetime best in the 100 Free and continiues to show off his versatility. Max King had a breakout performance in the 100 Backstroke as he eclipsed his conference time from a year ago by a full second. Jason Robeson and Mike Mandley really had strong performances in their evnets as Jason had great swims in the 50 and 100 Free and Mike had lifetime best swims in the 50 Breast and 100 Breast as well as an unshaved best in the 200 IM.

Paul Cleaveland continues to improve all around and tonight was no different. Paul logged lifetime best swims in the 50 Breast and 100 Backstroke while swimming tough on the 400 Free Relay. Baptiste de Monval had his best performance of the season by registering lifetime best swims in 50 Free, 100 Breast and 100 Free.

Congrats to our guys on a very impressive performance. I know the best is yet to come. We have 3 meets next week at home vs Waverly and Eastern and then at Haslett Invitational on Saturday.

GL vs. Okemos
Our guys were defeated by Okemos on Tuesday night by a score of 64-122. We had a lot of tremendous swims in all spots of our lineup and my overall impression of the meet was very positive. We swam for 58 lifetime best times and really showed a lot of poise and determination in swimming our best meet to date.

Getting victories tonight were Anthony Mauro in the 50 Free, John Fitzgerald in the 500 Free and the team of Curtis Kentner, Chris Cornell, Mauro and Fitzgerald in the 400 Free Relay. Also having a fantastic night was Paul Wilkes who grabbed 4 lifetime best times out of 4 swims in the 50 Breast, 500 Free, relay 50 Free and 100 Breaststroke. Not to be outdone sophomore Doug Barger was able to come away with best times in the 50 Free, 100 Fly and 100 Freestyle. For these efforts Doug and Paul were named swimmers of the meet.

Our freshman have really embraced a bigger role on the team as Robert Mueller and Neil Wilkes squared off in the 200 IM which Neil won but was DQ'ed for an illegal touch during the butterfly portion. Still his time of 2:31.03 was a lifetime best and a really strong swim. Robert wasn't far behind as he swam to a lifetime best of 2:32.62. Tyler Martin and Nick Borokhov continued the night of the freshman as they had lifetime bests in the 100 Fly and 50 Fly for Tyler and 50 Free and 100 Free for Nick.

Chris Cornell took a step forward tonight as he had a couple man-sized swims in the 100 Free and 400 Free Relay. Joining that theme was Casey Haggerty and Eric Bayley who both had lifetime best swims in the 100 Free and Eric in the 100 Back and Casey in the 50 Back. Max King and Noah Staten set personal best times in the 100 Free for Max and 100 Breast for Noah. Max also had an impressive 100 Back which was only a couple tenths from his conference time from last year.

Jason's group took a major step forward as guys like Troy Burris, Zack Aungst, Josh Hurlburt and Jacob Jones really dropped a ton of time and impressed with their overall awareness during the meet. I look for Jason's group to garner more and more swims as the season presses on. Our French sensation Baptiste recorded a pair of lifetime best swims and Alex Barber also stepped up and had 2 fantastic swims for the team.

We are back in action again on Thursday at East Lansing in a meet that could go a long way toward determining who has a better conference record heading into the CAAC Blue Meet.

GL vs St. Johns
Our bid to upset a stellar St. Johns team came up short on Thursday night at the St. Johns pool by a score of 76-110. Despite the loss our young men performed at a high level and for the most part are ahead of their times from last season at this point. Swimmer of the meet awards go to Nick Ruddy for his 3 second drop in the 100 Free and to Mike Mandley for his lifetime best swims in the 50 Breast and 100 Breast.

Leading the way points wise was senior captain John Fitzgerald as John claimed victory in the 200 Free and 100 Fly. Paul Wilkes and Curtis Kentner teamed to take 1st and 2nd in the 100 Back and Eric Bayley teamed with John to duplicate that 1-2 finish in the 200 Free. Max King had great swims in the 100 Fly and 400 Free Relay and Neil Wilkes performed well in his first varsity action while logging lifetime best swims in the 200 Free and 100 Breast. Fellow freshman Robert Mueller and Tyler Martin had a great showing as well with Robert making a strong statement in the 50 and 100 Fly, and Tyler going fast in the 100 Back.

Our divers had the best night of their careers as both knotched lifetime bests to take 2nd (Pat Clark) and 3rd (CJ Price) respectively. Both looked poised and seem to be benfiting from Coach Weiss' tutelege.

Our rookie swimmers certainly got a baptism of fire and responded with a fine effort. Congrats to Nick Borokhov for his fast 27.3 50 Free and Zach Aungst for his first venture under the 30 second barrier coming in at 29.99. Also showing great promise was our two exchange students, Rawit and Baptiste. Baptiste had a good 50 Breast and Rawit seems to get faster everytime he dives in. Great job guys.

We are back in action next Tuesday at home vs league favorite Okemos.

Blue-Gold Meet
The 2008 Blue-Gold Intersquad meet was a success on Tuesday night as the Blue teams clipped the Gold team 96-84. There were 72 lifetime best swims with another 5-10 best unshaved swims. Swimmers of the meet go to Paul Cleaveland for his lifetime best swims in the 200 Free Relay and 23 second drop in the 500 Freestyle. In addition to Paul, rookie Nick Borokhov had a stellar debut and takes home the other swimmer of the meet award for his outstanding swims in the 100 Free and 100 Back.

Great races during the meet included Paul Wilkes and Eric Bayley in a great showdown in the 500 Free with both coming away far ahead of this time last season. Also Jordan Mannor, Noah Staten and Chris Cornell swam a great race in the 50 Free with Jordan claiming a narow victory. Neil Wilkes had a great showing in his first meet as well registering best times in the 200 and 500 Freestyles. Fellow rookie Tyler Martin had a strong start with good swims in the 200 IM and 100 Free. From Jason's group Dylan Botkin, Mike Bonofiglio and Kevin Ferrell impressed with their great progress to this point. Jason's group as a whole was quite impressive after only swimming for 3 weeks. Doug Barger was a highlight as well as he grabbed lifetime best swims in the 200 Free and 100 Fly, while Andrew Bristol swam a great 500 Free in an event he was not even capable of finishing at this point last season.

This was a great dress rehearsal for our duel meets coming after Christmas Break. Congrats to the Blue team for their hard fought victory.

Waverly Relays
The 2008-2009 edition of the Grand Ledge boys swimming and diving team kicked off its season with the customary first meet of the season; the Waverly Relays. This meet was eerily similar to the girls Waverly Relays as our young men had 2 DQ'ed relays just as the girls team did in the Fall. Despite the DQ's we were still able to capture 5th place at the meet with a probable finish in the top 3 had we avoided our mistakes. Swimmers of the meet for Wednesday go to David Smith and CJ Price.

This meet was certainly a pleasant surprise in the swimming and diving front as we were able to register numerous lifetime best swims and best unshaved times. Immediately kicking things off was our 7th place Medley comprised of Brad Bouchard, Chris Cornell, Max King and Jordan Mannor. Brad, Max and Jordan had best unshaved swims while Chris knotched our first lifetime best of the season with a 32.11 50 Breast split. The 400 IM relay featured Paul Wilkes, David Smith, John Fitzgerald and Curtis Kentner and saw 100% lifetime best swims in the 2nd place event. Our first DQ came in the would be 6th place finishing 400 Free Relay; Eric Bayley and Casey Haggerty both had lifetime best swims at 57.35 and 59.63 for our two young sophomores. Noah and Chris both grabbed best unshaved times. In the diving portion of the meet CJ and Pat both performed above expectations and placed 7th while demonstrating solid diving skills.

The second half of the meet was kicked off with David, Max, John and Curtis returning to place 4th in the 200 Fly Relay with John swimming a very fast and meet best 25.67 in the 50 Fly. The 500 Cresendo Relay finished 5th and featured Jason Robeson, Jordan, Eric and Anthony Mauro competing all with fantastice swims for this point in the season. Jordan had a best unshaved 100 Free while Jason, Eric and Anthony are light-years ahead of their times at this point last season. The 200 Back Relay was lead by Paul Wilkes who lead off the 3rd place relay right at his shaved time from the conference meet last season. Curtis Kentner also swam a very fast time on that relay to aid in the team effort. The 200 Breaststroke Relay was our final DQ of the night and would have placed 4th. Paul Cleaveland had a very fast split of 36.71 in the 50 Breast which is right at his shaved time from last season. Finishing off the meet was the 4th place 200 Freestyle Relay team of Jordan, Anthony, Jason and Noah Staten. Anthony led that relay with an impressive 23.65 from his 3rd position.

Overall the fact that two relays were DQ'ed should not diminish the fact that our young men swam with pride and purpose and did not have any races that were not fast swims. Swimmers like Max King, Jordan Mannor, Paul Wilkes and Eric Bayley, among others, are way ahead of this point in the season last year and should leave this team loaded with optimism as we enter in the Christmas break and then into dual meet season.

Girls Varsity Swimming 2008

2008 Girls Varsity Swim Banquet
The 2008 Girls Varsity Swim Season ended with the team banquet on Tuesday, December 2. The successful season was capped with an evening of awards and recognition, a lot of which went to the seniors that finished a fine swimming career this season. The awards included:
MISCA Zone 7
Dream Team Selections: Katie Simon & Michelle Pitchford
Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Sullivan, Hillary Albert, Olivia McCormick, Allison Rehagen, Lydia Kramer, Morgan Lowery, Bethany Engel, Dana McNeil and Kassie Briggs
Banquet Awards
MVP: Katie Simon & Michelle Pitchford
Linda Seibold Outstanding Senior Award: Elizabeth Sullivan
Most Improved: Jastin Brewer and Kassi Briggs
Rookie of the Year: Lindsey Brown
Working Girl Award: Hillary Albert, Bethany Engel and Allison Rehagen.
Oil Can Award: Kenzie Gatewood and Ona Price
2009 Captains:
Hillary Albert, Kayla Bedaine, Bethany Engel, Kenzie Gatewood and Olivia McCormick

2008 Division 1 State Meet
A tremendous season was completed this weekend at Eastern Michigan University in the form of the Division 1 State Meet. Our team was represented at the meet by seniors Michelle Pitchford, Katie Simon, Elizabeth Sullivan, Morgan Lowery and Lydia Kramer and juniors Olivia McCormick and Hillary Albert. On the first day of competition our girls competed in the 200 Medley Relay, 100 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle Relay, 100 Breaststroke and 400 Freestyle Relay. The Medley team of Michelle, Katie, Hillary and Elizabeth placed 24th while registering the 3rd fastest time in GL history (1:56.83). The 100 Butterfly saw Katie Simon swim to a 23rd place finish and a season best of 1:01.54. In the 100 Freestyle Michelle recorded a 50th place finish with a time of 56.41. The team of Katie, Olivia, Elizabeth and Michelle had a very fast time of 1:44.86 which placed them 24th. Finally the 400 Free Relay team of Elizabeth, Morgan, Olivia and Michelle swam a really fast relay and placed 24th while Morgan and Elizabeth both logged lifetime best times in the 100 Freestyle.

The highlight of the meet had to be the performance of Katie Simon in the 100 Breaststroke. Katie swam to 6th place after the prelims on Friday and followed that by improving her positioning to 5th place on Saturday in school record time of 1:07.65. Katie's time is good enough to place her 10th overall regardless of division in the state of Michigan and makes her an All-State performer. Congrats to all the ladies on a terrific performance, you represented your school with pride. Overall Grand Ledge placed 27th at the meet with 13 points.

2008 CAAC Blue Championship
A very strong conference meet was concluded on Saturday night with our Comets racing to a second place finish both in the meet and overall in the CAAC Blue. There were many terrific performances on both days so I will do my best to mention as many as possible. The biggest accomplishment of the weekend to me was the fact that our girls were able to take all 36 entries in the meet and send them all to swimming or diving on Saturday. Last year we had 35 out of 36 and this year we were able to breakthrough and accomplish that very team oriented goal.

The 200 Medley Relay team of Kassie Briggs, Lydia Kramer, Hillary Albert and Olivia McCormick swam to a 3rd place finish to get things going for our girls and proved to be an early sign of the fast swimming to come. Michelle Pitchford had a very strong showing at this meet as she was able to swim to two 3rd place finishes in the 200 Free and 100 Back respecitvely. Elizabeth Sullivan and Lydia Kramer both closed out their final conference meets with strong efforts as Elizabeth captured 4th place in both the 500 Free and 50 Free while Lydia swam to a pair of 6th place finishes in the 200 IM and 100 Breaststoke. Morgan Lowery and Olivia McCormick swam the same events and each recorded strong finishes that aided the team effort as they swam to Top 12 finishes in both the 50 and 100 Freestyle events. Another strong contributor was Hillary Albert as she placed 6th in the 200 Free and 3rd in the 100 Butterfly, just a few tenths from her first ever individual state cut. Erika Miller, Monica Pomaville and Kayla Bedaine each placed into the Top 16 of the 100 Butterfly while Erika and Monica did the same in the 100 Backstroke as well. Lauren Stensen and Lindsay Brown both showed that they are a force to be reckoned with in the future as both made their first appearances in the championship finals in their first ever conference meet. Our 500 swimmers really showed up well as Allison Rehagen was able to swim to a lifetime best in taking 8th in the 200 Free and 5th in the 500 Free. Also in the 500 Free Jennie Brown swam to a lifetime best of 6:00.57, Kenzie Gatewood placed 12th in lifetime best form and Dayle McLeod took full advantage of her first ever individual conference swim as she placed 12th and knocked 12 seconds off her lifetime best in the process. Onahlea Price and Kassie Briggs followed up their strong freshman seasons with even more successful sophomore campaigns as both were able to place in the top 16 in two events.

Our 4 divers did an outstanding job this weekend as they were able to finish very highly and produce a lot of points for the team. Leading the way was Dana McNeil who finished in 5th place with a score of 305.20 and she was followed by Beth Engel in 9th, Harmony McDonald in 10th and Sarah Pawlak in 12th in her debut at the conference meet. The divers certainly did a great job all season and Harmony, Dana and Beth all have regionals to look forward to.

On the state cut front our girls were able to swim to 4 more state cuts for the season in the 200 Freestyle Relay, 400 Freestyle Relay and the 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke. The team of Morgan Lowery, Michelle Pitchford, Elizabeth Sullivan and Katie Simon swam to an impressive 1:44.62 in the 200 Freestyle Relay and after subbing Olivia McCormick for Morgan in the 400 Free Relay the girls were able to swim to our 2nd relay cut of the weekend while placing 3rd in the 400 Free Relay. Individually Katie Simon lost a very tight race in the 200 IM but was able to lower her existing school record in the event. She saved her best for last as she sprinted to a convincing victory in the 100 Breaststroke and set a school record in the process. Her time of 1:07.95 obliterated the previous school record set in 1989.

Congrats to all on a fine meet and we look forward to our efforts at 2nd shave on Tuesday, followed by diving regionals and the culmination of our season at the Division 1 State Meet at Eastern Michigan University in 2 weeks.

GL vs. Jackson
Our young ladies saved their strongest performance of the season for the final dual meet of the year vs the Jackson Vikings. It was senior night and the seniors certainly shined the brightest as seniors were involved in all 12 Grand Ledge event wins. This win pushes our final dual meet record to 9-1 and 5-1 in the CAAC Blue. I am very impressed with the girls efforts this season. A 9-1 record is soemthing for every swimmer to be proud of.

In a meet that was closer than the final score reflected the difference was our senior poise and leadership. Getting things going for the evening was the Medley Relay team of senior Morgan Lowery, senior Katie Simon, junior Hillary Albert and senior Michelle Pitchford as they captured a win and started the avalanche that was to come. The 200 Freestyle saw a great swim and season best from senior Elizabeth Sullivan. Elizabeth's finish and length was able to capture the win by less that 1 tenth of a second. In the 200 IM Katie Simon and senior Lydia Kramer teamed with freshman Lindsay Brown to take 1st, 3rd and 5th in the event. The 50 Free featured Morgan Lowery taking 1st with a very solid time. Really stealing the show for the night were the divers. They were led by, you guessed it, senior Dana McNeil as she dove her way to a victory and the 9th best 6 dive score in GL history. Joining in the fun was our other three divers, Beth and Harmony each had lifetime best scores and Sarah was 2 points away from her best score as well. Congratulations also goes out to Dana, Harmony and Beth for their qualification for the Regional Diving Meet later this season.

After the divers impressive performance Katie and Hillary took first and second in the 100 Fly and then were matched in the 100 Free by Michelle and Morgan as they went 1-2 as well. The 500 Free saw three strong performances from Jennie Brown, Allison Rehagen and Elizabeth Sullivan, with Elizabeth taking the win. The team of Morgan, Olivia McCormick, Lydia and Elizabeth won the 200 Freestyle Relay while Michelle and Lydia won the 100 Back and 100 Breast respectively. Onahlea Price and Lindsay also chimed in in the Breaststroke as they completed the 1-2-3 sweep of the event. The final event of the evening went to Katie, Olivia, Michelle and Elizabeth in the 400 Free Relay to complete the sweep of events. Also putting together a great relay was our 'B' 200 Freestyle Relay of Monica Pomaville, Kenzie Gatewood, Erika Miller and Lindsay Brown.

Congrats to all the seniors on their tremendous careers and on an outstanding effort in their final dual meet. Morgan Lowery, Elizabeth Sullivan, Jennie Brown, Hannah Wiese, Michelle Pitchford, Dayle McLeod, Erika Miller, Monica Pomaville, Allison Rehagen, Lydia Kramer, Dana McNeil and Katie Simon have all contributed greatly to this program and for that we are all grateful. Each of these seniors will be missed.

GL vs. Everett
We had some great swims tonight from a number of our girls. Congrats to our breaststrokers who, in some cases, swam almost two full breaststroke races... and in a first for me, a dual meet ended with the 100 breaststroke and not the 400 freestyle relay. We had best times throughout our victory over a much improved Everett team this evening. With the 138-42 win our dual meet record was pushed to 8-1 with our meet next Thursday against Jackson being our final tune up before the conference meet.

Getting the lifetime best parade going was all four of our 200 IM swimmers. Michelle Pitchford took the victory while Dayle McLeod, Hannah Wiese and Jastin Brewer all registered lifetime bests. Meanwhile Kayla Bedaine and Lauren Stensen registered lifetime best swims in the 200 Freestyle. Next Kassie Briggs grabbed a win and lifetime best in the 100 Fly by 6 seconds and Onahlea Price and Lindsay Brown both registered best times in the 100 Free. Peri McLeod knocked 16 seconds off her best 500 Free time and Elizabeth Sullivan swam to a best in the 100 Backstroke. The breaststroke provided even more best swims with Erika Miller and Kayla Bedaine getting best times and Morgan Lowery took the victory.

Very nice effort tonight. Time to get excited about Senior Night and our last dual meet of the season against a very tough Jackson team.

Congrats to the following girls who made the Swimming honor-roll in the LSJ today. They were Michelle Pitchford, Katie Simon, Hillary Albert, Elizabeth Sullivan, Bethany Engel, Dana McNeil, Olivia McCormick and Kassie Briggs.

GL vs. Eaton Rapids
The girls added another "w" to our record tonight, improving our season dual meet record to 7-1. Junior Olivia McCormick led the way with two victories as the Comets won the meet 135-49.

Our Divers had an impressive night with Dana McNeil hitting her last dive to take a three point lead over Christina Gearhart from Eaton Rapids. Dana finished with a lifetime high score of 182.90. Divers Harmony McDonald and Sarah Pawlak also had their best scores, 160.60 and 130.05 respectively. Beth Engel finished in 3rd place with a solid score of 170.90.

Olivia won both the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke. After taking more than a month off of swimming the breaststroke she swam a fast 1:20.89. Lindsay Brown continued her streak of strong dual meets. She swam to a third place in the 200 freestyle with a lifetime best time of 2:16.61. Lindsay just missed winning her first high school event with another fast swim, and best time, in the 100 butterfly. Ona Price also had a huge time drop, swimming to a 6:34.20 in the 500 freestyle. She showed far more excitement after finishing with a 50 second time drop than she did when she found out she was swimming the 500 :-) Erika Miller picked up a win in the 50 freestyle and also swam to a lifetime best in her 50 freestyle relay split swimming to a 29.36. Seniors Katie Simon and Michelle Pitchford battled twice on the night, in the 50 freestyle and 500 freestyle. Michelle picked up two best times, 26.40 in the 50 and 5:42.51 in the 500. Katie added to our best time count for the night by winning the 500 with a time of 5:39.99. Freshman Peri McLeod added two more best times swimming a 1:35.12 in the 100 breaststroke and a 3:01.49 in the 200 IM.

Kenzie Gatewood, also having a strong night, picked up a win in the 100 backstroke. And all three Comet relays also picked up wins. The 200 Medley Relay of Kassie Briggs, Lydia Kramer, Simon and Pitchford, the 200 Freestyle Relay of Allison Rehagen, Elizabeth Sullivan, Monica Pomaville and Erika Miller, and the 400 freestyle Relay of Lindsay Brown, Rehagen, Hillary Albert and Sullivan. Congrats on a strong meet ladies!

The girls will next be in action on Thursday at Hill swimming against Lansing Everett. Our group of twelve seniors are down to their final two dual meets.

GL vs. Holt
We called for a team effort on Thursday night and we received just that as our depth, from top to bottom, was too much for the hosts to overcome. With our 103-83 victory over Holt the girls secured their place in Grand Ledge Swimming lore as the first team in at least 3 decades to defeat the Rams.

Pacing our effort was our seniors starting with Michelle Pitchford and Katie Simon. These two '07 Dream Teamers lived up to the hype as Michelle captured the 200 Free and won the 100 Free in state cut time. Katie countered with a near state cut swim in the 200 IM (2:18.47) and a victory, lifetime best and state cut in the 100 Breast (1:10.56). Also getting in the act was Elizabeth Sullivan and Lydia Kramer. Elizabeth swam to a lifetime best unshaved in the 200 Free and Lydia recorded a season best while snagging 2nd in the 200 IM. Erika Miller and Allison Rehagen also showed great senior power as Allison registered best unshaved swims in both the 200 and 500 Free and Erika had a best unshaved in the 100 Back. Finally Morgan Lowery may have come up with the swim of the evening by snaring 3rd in the 50 Free to avoid a Holt sweep.

The diving portion of the meet went very well and was extremlely competitive. In the end Beth and Dana were able to secure 3rd and 4th, while Harmony logged a lifetime best score of 153.75. Kassie Briggs and Lindsay Brown both had career nights as they both swam to two individual lifetime best swims in the 50 Free and 100 Back for Kassie and 200 IM and 100 Breast for Lindsay. Hillary Albert claimed a victory in the 100 Butterfly and Kenzie Gatewood showed a lot of grit and determination fo swim this evening. Kenzie spent the morning in the ER and spent the afternoon anchoring three of our B relays and claiming a big 5th place in the 100 Free. Kayla Bedaine also swam to a best unshaved in the 100 Fly and Monica Pomaville had a very nice meet in the 100 Fly and 100 Free.

GL vs. Lansing Eastern
Our girls had a great meet tonight. Very impressive swims... and our team's atmosphere of support for each swim was great to be a part of. The girls move to 5-1 on the seeason with the 140-37 victory over Lansing Eastern. We recorded 30 lifetime bests and won 11 of the 12 events.

The stars of the meet emerged in the form of sophomore Kassie Briggs and Junior Olivia McCormick. Kassie swam to lifetime best swims in the 200 Free by 4 seconds and the 500 Free by a staggering 44 seconds! Her time of 6:02.52 is a resounding sign that she is more than just a backstroker. Joining her in that race and dropping significant time as well was McCormick who dropped 16 seconds in her 500 Free to 6:03.59. She then turned around and anchored our stated qualifying 200 Freestyle Relay. That relay, made up of Olivia, Katie Simon, Elizabeth Sullivan and Michelle Pitchford, recorded a very fast 1:46.04. Lauren Stensen showed how high her potential could be with a blistering 1:11.27 in the 100 Butterfly. Onahlea Price had a pair of huge drops in the 100 Back and 200 Free tonight as she contiues her move to being an all-around solid swimmer.

Possibly stealing the show tonight was junior Beth Engel. Beth had a breakout performance in recording a lifetime best 6 dive score of 185.05. Harmony McDonald and Sarah Pawlak also represented well with Harmony showing her potential with one of the best inward dives you'll see this season.

The event winners for the night: 200 Medley Relay of Hillary Albert, Kayla Bedaine, Kenzie Gatewood and Jennie Brown, 200 and 500 free for Kassie Briggs, Kenzie in the 50 Free, Lauren Stensen in the 100 Butterfly, Dayle McLeod in the 100 Free, Allison Rehagen in the 100 Backstroke, Hillary in the 100 Breaststroke and the 400 Freestyle Relay team of Jennie Brown, Lindsay Brown, Kassie Briggs and Onahlea Price.

GL at Haslett Invite
The Senior Class made it 3 out of 4 titles at the Haslett Invite this weekend. Our young ladies were able to swim and diver their way to a convincing 162 point victory over second place Haslett and a total of 539 points. Swimmer of the Meet honors went to both Haslett Star Tiffany Orrichio and our own Katie Simon who was victorious in the 200 Medley Relay, 200 IM, 100 Fly and 400 Free Relay.

Leading the way in this meet along with Katie was fellow senior Jennie Brown. Jennie blazed her way to a tremendous 500 Free at 6:07.07 and a lifetime best of 2:20.29 in the 200 Free. Also having a very strong meet was Michelle Pitchford. Michelle had best unshaved swims in both the 200 Free and 100 Back as she placed 2nd in both events. Katie and Michelle teamed with Lydia Kramer and Elizabeth Sullivan to capture the 200 Medley Relay and then with Elizabeth and Olivia McCormick to win the 400 Free Relay. The 400 Free Relay time of 3:52.63 is a season best and best unshaved under Coach Marsh. Congrats to Olivia for her lifetime best in the 50 Free and he best unshaved swim of 59.85 in the 100 Free on the 400 Free Relay. Our divers had a great performance in the way of 4 lifetime best 11 Dive performances. I know Coach Kyle came away very pleased with those performances and everyone else enjoyed Harmony and Beth's performance on the 200 Free Relay.

Annika Van Wieren and Jastin Brewer both grabbed lifetime best swims in the 200 IM and 50 Free respectively. Dayle McLeod and Alyssa Miller highlighted the 200 Free by both swimming to lifetime best times. Meanwhile Onahlea Price registered a very impressive 36.42 on her Breaststroke leg of the 200 Medley Relay. For the meet we had 29 medal earning swims and 41 point earning swims with one mysterious DQ credited to Kassie Briggs in her 4th place worthy 100 Backstroke.

Great job by all and congratulations on our 2nd Invitational win this season. Next up for the team is the Lansing Eastern Quakers next Thursday.

GL vs. East Lansing
The girls got back to their winning ways this evening in impressive fashion over a young East Lansing team 141-45. There were plenty of great races and our girls continued their hot week of swimming and really competed well.

Junior Kayla Bedaine had a standout performance as she swam to a blistering lifetime best time of 1:07.93 and knocked more than 2 seconds off of her previous best. Hero award of the meet would have go to freshman Alyssa Miller for her fine efforts in the 200 IM and 500 Free. She competed very strongly and received two lifetime best times for her troubles. Junior Hillary Albert nabbed a victory in the 100 Freestyle in lifetime best fashion while Monica Pomaville splashed onto the scene as a legitimate butterflyer. Taking the plunge in the 500 Free tonight was Lauren Stenson who had a very evenly paced raced and recorded a best time of 6:42.87. Allison Rehagen swam her way to her first win of the season in the 200 IM and Michelle Pitchford raced to two victories herself in the 500 Free and 100 Breast. Sophomore Annika Van Wieren showed impressive fight in recording a lifetime best and applying the lessons learned from Wednesday's finishing drills in her 200 Free 5th place finish. Lindsey Brown and Kassie Briggs swapped favorite events and each recorded a lifetime best in the others specialty the Back and Breast. Finally Lydia Kramer raced to a win in the 200 Freestyle and Katie Simon came away victorious in both the 50 Free and 100 Backstroke.

Great job to all the girls on a great night of fast swimming. Next up our seniors try to make it 3 out of 4 years as champions of the Haslett Invite. This meet always provides fast swimming and lots of excitement.

GL vs. Okemos
A very hotly contested meet tonight resulted in our girls first blemish of the season as we succumbed to Okemos 66-120. Great swims were abundant for both teams on this evening in the marquee meet of the season in the CAAC Blue.

Leading the way for our girls and registering our lone event win for the night was senior captain Katie Simon who swam to a lifetime best and state qualifying time of 1:11.22 in the 100 Breast. Katie matched that state cut earlier in the meet with a lifetime best unshaved of 1:02.32 in the 100 Butterfly. Also having a big night was senior captain Elizabeth Sullivan. Elizabeth came away with 3 unshaved lifetime best swims in the 200 Free, 500 Free and 100 Free respectively. Senior Erika Miller had her best meet of the season as she blazed her way to a 1:13.48 100 Backstroke and an awesome 31.88 50 Fly.

All three divers had incredible performances as Dana McNeil had a season best of 172.80 and Harmony McDonald reached 139.65. Also in the breakout category Allison Rehagen continues her resurgence as she had lifetime best unshaved swims in the 200 Free and 500 Free respectively. Sophomores Kassie Briggs and Onahlea Price each logged lifetime bests in the 200 IM and 100 Back for Kassie and 100 Breast for Onahlea. Freshman Alyssa Miller had her best meet so far as she raced to lifetime bests in the 100 Free and 50 Free. Morgan Lowery continues to make substantial improvement and showed off that improvement via 4 impressive sprints tonight.

Great job to all the participants this evening. 11 state cuts were made between the teams and 4 pool records fell. Next up we visit the East Lansing Trojans on Thursday.

GL at St. Johns
Our dual meet record was pushed to 3-0 tonight as our girls swam and dove to a 105-81 win over CAAC Red power St. Johns. The Redwings are always tough and well coached, a victory over this team is never a small task and our girls provided the teamwork to make it happen.

Leading our attack was Michelle Pitchford who was the only 4 event winner of the night as she came away victorious in the 200 Medley Relay, 200 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke and 400 Freestyle Relay. Michelle's hard work this summer is really paying off in the early part of this season. She looks to have a great senior year. Katie Simon and Dana McNeil were victorious individually in the 100 Fly and Diving events respectively. Katie was clipped for first in the 100 Breast by St. Johns Dream Teamer Alayna Childers but still swam to a D1 State Time in her oppositions specialty.

The 200 IM was a very successful event this evening as Kassie Briggs was able to fight off illness and notch a lifetime best of 2:36.42 and freshman Lindsay Brown swam to a lifetime best of 2:39.02. We continue to show strong prowess in the 100 Freestyle as Monica Pomaville, Erika Miller, Dayle McLeod, Kenzie Gatewood and Lauren Stenson all logged impressive times for this point in the season. Allison Rehagen showed her true colors tonight as she shaved 17 seconds off of her season best to a 6:11.43 in the 500 Freestyle. The 200 Freestyle Relay team of Katie, Lydia, Olivia and Elizabeth logged a season best time of 1:50.04 while capturing 1st in the event. Finally Morgan Lowery continues her return to full health as she swam to two 2nd place finishes in the 50 Free and 100 Backstroke.

Next week will be a busy one as the team is back in action against CAAC Blue League favorite Okemos on Tuesday. The team is away at East Lansing on Thursday and looks to repeat as champions of the Haslett Invitational on Saturday.

GL at Marshall Quad
Our trip to Marshall on Saturday was a success as our girls swam to a victory over Sturgis, Marshall and Bridgman. The meet was the definition of a team effort as we came away with 6 event wins and many others grabbed very high finishes.

Getting the day started was the team made up of our four senior captains Michelle Pitchford, Lydia Kramer, Katie Simon and Elizabeth Sullivan as they swam to victory in the 200 Medley Relay. Katie followed that up with a victory in the 200 Freestyle and a second place finish in the 500 Freestyle. Michelle captured 1st in the 100 Backstroke and 2nd in the 100 Freestyle. Lydia swam to a 1st place finish of her own in the 100 Breaststroke and 3rd in the 200 IM. Elizabeth snagged 3rd and 4th in the 50 and 500 Freestyle respectively.

Junior Hillary Albert came away victorious in the 100 Fly and the team of junior Olivia McCormick, Elizabeth, Michelle and Katie sprinted to victory in the 400 Freestyle Relay. Also showing up well and having a great meet was Dayle McLeod. Dayle had another gutsy performance in her 500 race and came away with the win to place 6th overall. Equaling that performance was Jennie Brown who used her final wall of the 100 Fly to come away with the win in her heat and an overall finish of 7th. Peri McLeod swam to her first time under 30 while anchoring the Medley Relay that placed 5th and returned to swim a very fast 100 Freestyle. Fellow freshman Alyssa Miller, Lauren Stenson and Lindsey Brown performed well in their events as well with Brown leading the way with a 4th place finish in the 100 Breast. Just a touch behind in that event was sophomore Onahlea Price.

Great job by all. We are back in action Thursday vs perennial CAAC Red power St. John's.

GL vs. Battle Creek Central
Our young ladies were back in action on Tuesday night as we played host to the Bearcats of Battle Creek Central. With the aid of our 1-2-3 finish in the 400 Free Relay our girls improved their season record to 2-0 by a 122-64 margin.

Leading the way was two senior captains in Michelle Pitchford and Katie Simon. Michelle notched a 56.95 in the 100 Free to capture the victory and her first state cut of the season. Katie swam to an impressive win in the 100 Breast and was rewarded with her second state cut of the season in 1:12.27. With Katie's cut in the 100 Free our season total now sits at three.

Not to be outdone was a pair of hard charging seniors in Jennie Brown and Dayle McLeod. Jennie claimed second in the 200 Freestyle in 2:20.91 and placing 4th in the 100 Fly at 1:19.76. Both times were good for lifetime best performances. Dayle also was impressive in her 500 Freestyle as she clocked a lifetime best of 6:18.93 in her specialty to place 2nd. Junior Kayla Bedaine also wowed the crowd with 2 lifetime bests in the 50 Free and 100 Backstroke respectively. Freshman Lindsey Brown grabbed 3rd in the 500 Free to cap a 1-2-3 GL finish in the event and knock roughly 50 seconds from her best time! Classmate Lauren Stenson was very impressive in recording a 1:17.68 100 Backstroke.

Not lost in the excitement of the meet was the triumphant return from mononucleosis for 2-time State Qualifier Morgan Lowery. Morgan swam to a victory in the 50 Freestyle and swam very strong in her other races. Other event winners included Hillary Albert (100 Back), Elizabeth Sullivan (200 IM), Lydia Kramer (200 Freestyle), Dana McNeil (Diving) and Kenzie Gatewood (500 Free). Congratulations girls and good luck this weekend as we travel to the Marshall Quad.

GL at Waverly
After a couple of days of school and tough workouts the girls looked like a different team when swimming a dual meet with Waverly last Thursday. Just a week earlier, the season got off to a rocky start while swimming at the thirtieth annual Waverly Relays. We certainly looked tougher and far more excited... it was good to see.

Junior Hillary Albert and Freshman Lindsay Brown earned swimmer of the meet status for their strong swims. Lindsay had best times in all of her swims including a great swim in the 100 breaststroke with a time off 1:22.71. Hillary had a great race in the butterfly, swimming a strong second 50 to take second place over Waverly standout Emily Fairless.

A number of other GL Swimmers also had a strong meet. Sophomore Ona Price also had a good night, with a personal best time in the 50 free and a strong 100 breaststroke that was just 1 second from her lifetime best. Kassie Briggs continued to swim well as she swam an early season lifetime best in the 100 backstroke while taking third place. Diver Dana McNeil got the win with a score of 149.75. She was followed closely by Junior Bethany Engel who finished second. Senior Katie Simon had a two win night taking convincing victories in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly. Katie capped off her night by making a Division 1 state cut in the 100 freestyle while leading off the 400 freestyle relay. Seniors Michelle Pitchford and Lydia Kramer also picked up wins in their strongest events, the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, respectively. Other Grand Ledge Swimmers who earned personal best times Thursday include Peri McLeod, Alyssa Miller, Lauren Stensen and Dayle McLeod.

The girls swam a strong meet and started off what we hope will be a long run of dual meet victories this season. Up next is the our home opener, against Battle Creek Central on Tuesday.

GL at Waverly Relays
Quite the bumpy beginning for this season's version of the Grand Ledge Swimming and Diving Team. We swam a solid meet good enough to place 2nd in the 12 team meet but had to settle for 6th due to some uncharacteristic mistakes on the starting blocks. Even with DQ's of two relays that placed 2nd we placed in the top half of the meet that included many teams we will see later on this season.

Leading the way was the breakout performance of sophomore Kassie Briggs who amassed lifetime best swims on 1:02.07 in the 100 Free, 31.88 in the 50 Back and 29.94 on her relay 50 Back. Kayla Bedaine (50 Fly), Onahlea Price (50 Free) and Michelle Pitchford (200 Free) chipped in with either a lifetime best or a best unshaved time. Congrats ladies on a fine performance.

Next up we face off with our rivals from down the road the Waverly LC Warriors.

Water Polo 2008
GL-W-LC End of Year Banquet
The Grand Ledge-Waverly-Lansing Catholic 2008 Water Polo season officially culminated with our banquet on Wednesday night. It was a great night to reflect on a tremendously successful season for our sophomore water polo program. After going 4-10 last season our varsity improved to 14-13 and our JV went from 3-4 last season to 9-1 this year. We improved from top to bottom this season and this night was a great way to celebrate that fact.

The night was highlighted by the presentation of the awards and they were as follows: Most Dedicated and MVP went to Lydia Kramer. Most Improved went to Jessica Hileman, Rookie of the Year went to Liz Hoard and JV MVP went to Monica Pomaville. Defensive Player of the Year was awarded to Frankie Crowell and the Oil Can Award was presented to Katie Simon. We also announced our captains for the 2009 season with Lydia Kramer, Emily Fairless and Elizabeth Sullivan being voted captains by their teammates.

Congratulations to all the girls for their outstanding effort and on a wonderful season. Thank you to our seniors Carrie, Jenny, Jessica, Frankie and Taylor. Good luck in your future endeavors and thank you for your contributions to this program, you will be missed.

Academic All-State
Hillary Albert
Kenzie Gatewood
Emily Fairless
Katie Simon
Elizabeth Sullivan
Liz Hoard
Lydia Kramer
Allison Rehagen
Monica Pomaville

All Region Honorees
2nd Team - Katie Simon
Honorable Mention - Lydia Kramer
THANK YOU PARENTS!!! Special thank you to all the parents that drove this weekend and throughout the entire season. We certainly could not have accomplished what we accomplished without your unbelievable support. We truly have top notch parental support, thank you so much.

GL-W-LC at Michigan Water Polo East Regional Tournament
The 2008 season of the Grand Ledge-Waverly-Lansing Catholic Water Polo team came to a close on a very high note at the Regional Tournament this weekend at Birmingham Groves. We went 1-2 on the weekend with losses to #3 Ann Arbor Pioneer and #9 Okemos, while capturing a victory over our cross-town rivals Holt-EL.

We kicked off the tourney on Friday versus the 3rd ranked team in the state Ann Arbor Pioneer. Our girls fell 5-11 but really played very strong against a very seasoned opponent. I was extremely pleased with the way our girls did not back down and played without fear against a true juggernaut opponent. Pioneer raced to a 4 to 0 lead but our girls responded very strongly and closed the gap to 2-5 by halftime. Our offensive firepower came courtesy of Emily Fairless as she netted 3 goals on well placed shots that had the opposing goalie guessing. Also getting in the scoring act was Katie Simon who notched 2 more goals to her season tally. Liz Hoard played a strong game while making 6 saves and Lydia Kramer played very aggressive defensively as she had 4 swipes. Erika Miller and Shelby Becker played very strong games as well with Erika logging a drawn kick-out and Shelby setting up a goal with her passing.

After a pleasant hotel stay down the road Friday night our girls took on our CAAC rival Okemos early Saturday morning. We came out firing on all cylinders but quickly our mistakes in the passing game cost us dearly. After grabbing a 2-1 lead our girls were outscored 2-14 the rest of the way in a game where the final score (4-15) was not indicative of how even our teams are. Our major issues came when we were saddled with 10 ejection fouls and by making 22 turnovers. Scoring goals in the game was Lydia (2), Morgan Lowery and Katie. Kenzie Gatewood and Elizabeth Sullivan played a great game defensively as they had 2 steals a piece with Kassie Briggs chipping in a theft as well. Kayla Bedaine had great movement from her 2 meter position and so did Allison Rehagen who shook off a pair of claw marks to the face sustained at the hands of a Pioneer player the day before. Liz was steady in goal by making 4 saves and recording 1 steal.

The final game of the season and tournament came against a familiar foe as our girls locked up with Holt-EL for the sixth time and final time this season. I was extremely pleased with our execution during this game as our girls dominated the 2nd half and took home 7th place at Regionals with a 10-3 victory. I was especially proud of the fact that our season ended last season with a 9 goal loss to Holt-EL. Our efforts all season were rewarded with a very well played game by our girls on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. With the score 4-3 heading into the 4th period it looked as though the team with ball last may squeak out a narrow win. However, our girls exploded to score the last six goals of the game to post the final tally. We received a much welcomed boost offensively from Frankie Crowell as she played her final water polo game and cashed in two goals from the outside to finish with 2 goals, 1 assist and 3 steals. Frankie's defense is really what makes her invaluable so when she contributes offensively it is a welcomed bonus. Scoring our other goals was Lydia and Katie who both slammed home 4 goals. Liz saved her best for last as she climbed the ladder a few times during this one and made 8 very crucial saves. Unsung hero awards for this game go to our defense with Frankie, Jessica Hileman, Kenzie, Monica Pomaville, Elizabeth, Shelby and Allison standing out with excellent help defense. Lydia led the way in the steals category with 7 and Emily continued to show a knack for facilitating our offense in the form of 3 assists.

This game truly was a great way to end the season especially since the victory pushed our team to a winning record for the season of 14-13. This season saw our team take tremendous strides on all levels and in all facets of the game. I look forward to seeing everyone at the banquet on May 28th at Grand Ledge High School. The banquet will be semi-formal (no jeans or tennis shoes) for the girls and come as you are for all parents.

GL-W-LC at Districts
Our remarkable showing at the district tournament concluded on Saturday as we played No. 5 Dexter and Holt-EL. We fell early in the day to the eventual champion Dexter 5-11 and then lost a close game to Holt-EL 9-11. Our efforts for the weekend were truly remarkable considering all of the outside factors happening with ours girl's schedules. Many sacrificed prom or put off prom plans in order to be there and ensure a great showing for our schools and that effort is greatly appreciated. Huge thank you to all the parents for providing rides and enabling our girls to pull this weekend off. And again a big thank you to our girls for their dedication and unbelievable efforts.

As for the games themselves we certainly were able to see the very best Dexter had to offer. They did a tremendous job of passing and taking shots that were well placed and always on target. It was clear early that they were a team on a mission, but to our credit our girls stuck it out and fought valiantly to the end. We trailed 8-1 at half and I gave the girls the goal of winning the second half as a way to prove we were better than we showed in the first half. 2nd half score: GL-W-LC 4 Dexter 3. We played with a lot of pride and showed great fight, something that was welcomed by their coach. In our cage Liz Hoard played a very solid game as she turned away many very nice attempts en route to making 7 saves with 2 steals. Lydia Kramer played the 1st period in net and recorded 4 saves and then shifted her attention to scoring goals rather than stopping them. She was very effective as she managed 3 goals and 4 steals. Also getting in the scoring act was Emily Fairless with 2 goals. Leading the way in the assist category was Monica Pomaville with 2 and in steals we were led by Lydia (4) and Morgan Lowery who grabbed 3 steals. We were also able to convert our first ever 6 on 4 opportunity with great success as Lydia rocketed home one of her 3 goals. Dexter is a great team and we have played them fairly well twice this season. We just need to keep taking steps forward.

In our final game of the tournament we played a familiar foe in Holt-EL. In our 5th game with our CAAC rivals we were clipped 9-11. Our girls showed great resiliency and played one of the more entertaining games of the tournament. This marked the first time Lydia played a game from start to finish in the field, a trend that may continue as we go forward this season and next. Lydia showed off her cannon arm by scoring 5 goals and grabbing 4 steals. Katie Simon reappeared in the goal scoring department as she logged a hat trick with 3 goals, one on an elegant put back set up by an Emily Fairless shot. Elizabeth Sullivan capped our scoring with a nifty move from her 2-meter position. Liz showed she is more than capable in net as she made 13 saves and kept us close throughout. Emily facilitated our offense very well with 4 assists and displayed a tenacity in playing hole defense that has previously been absent. Unsung hero of the game would be Morgan as she drew a 5-meter shot (Lydia cashed it in) and provided 2 assists. Really a solid team effort throughout the game. Erika Miller, Allison Rehagen, Kenzie Gatewood and Monica really played tough defense and made Holt-EL rely on well placed long range shots for their offense. Kudos as well to Kassie Briggs and Kayla Bedaine on very strong showings in their first few games at the varsity level, these experiences should prove invaluable looking ahead to next season.

Our record at the district tournament was 1-2 and moves our season record to 13-11. 13 wins for a team that recorded 4 all of last season is an amazing accomplishment for such a young program. We get to try to add to that total next week as we take on the Ann Arbor Pioneer varsity squad in our first game at the Regional Tournament.

GL-W-LC vs. Haslett at Districts
History was made Friday night at the Central District Tournament as our girls, in our 2nd year of existence, defeated a very game Haslett team to advance to the Regional Tournament next week. Huge congratulations to our girls on a fine effort all season and in this game. Making the Regional Tourney is a very nice stepping stone for our water polo program.

As for the game we scored first and never trailed as we were able to overwhelm Haslett-Williamston by a score of 12-4. Leading the way offensively was Katie Simon as she converted 5 goals while making 3 assists. Also contributing offensively was Emily Fairless (2), Kayla Bedaine (1), Erika Miller (1) and Elizabeth Sullivan (1). Rounding out the scoring and stepping up tremendously was Jessica Hileman who scored 2 goals and was (as always) tough defensively. Jessica really helped change the momentum of the game, as Haslett had closed within two just before halftime, by converting a 5-meter free shot into a goal. We regained the momentum with that shot and we enacted something that has been worked on in practice extensively. After that shot our junior standout goalkeeper Lydia Kramer clamped down and did not allow a goal the rest of the way. She finished with 12 saves, 1 assist and 3 steals for the evening. Special congrats as well to Kenzie Gatewood and Frankie Crowell as they mad life hard for Haslett all night with very tough defense. Frankie snagged 6 steals while Kenzie pestered every hole set in her reach. Elizabeth led the way in the steals category with 7. Emily really played maybe her best game to date as she found success in a variety of ways. In addition to her 2 goals, she recorded 3 assists, 3 steals and did a great job of being mobile on the offensive end.

Wonderful effort all around by our young ladies. They have certainly given us all something to be very proud of. Our march continues tomorrow at Mason vs district favorite Dexter at 11 AM and then another game later in the day, time TBA.

GL-W-LC at Pioneer Invite
We had an incredible weekend at the Pioneer Invitational as our girls played to a 3-1 record and a 9th place finish in the 16 team field. Our goals for the weekend were to play a lot of people and get back to having fun playing the game of water polo. I believe we succeeded in both of the those categories and our play displayed that fact.

Our first game came Friday night and was to be our only loss of the weekend in a tight game with AA Pioneer's A JV team. Though we fell, 6-8, we had great efforts throughout and were led in scoring by Katie Simon who netted 3 goals and Emily Fairless who scored 2 goals. Also getting in the scoring act was Lydia Kramer from her goalie position as she scored from half court as the 3rd period buzzer sounded. Leading the assist category was Morgan Lowery with 2, while Shelby Becker and Frankie Crowell each contributed 3 steals. Monica Pomaville and Hillary Albert each threw in an assist as well in a game that featured a wide array of substituting.

Our second game came on Saturday against the Ann Arbor Pioneer C JV team. We were able to dominate this game from start to finish and capture a 10-0 victory as our fill-in goalie Taylor Warstler made the saves she needed to and snagged a shutout in her 2nd ever game in net. Taylor made 4 saves to go along with 1 assist. In the goal scoring category we were led by our fill-in hole set Lydia Kramer. Lydia took full advantage of her role by cashing in 3 goals with 2 assists, 2 drawn kick-outs and 3 steals. Also getting in the scoring act was Kassie Briggs (2), Emily Fairless (2), Kayla Bedaine (1) and Elizabeth Sullivan (1). Capping the scoring was Kenzie Gatewood who notched her first career goal on a great five-meter shot. Monica Pomaville and Jessica Hileman led the way defensively with 4 and 2 goals a piece.

In our third game we were matched against the Okemos 'B' team which is composed of JV players and varsity subs for the Chieftains. In an extremely exciting game we were able to come away with an 8-7 sudden death overtime victory. Again leading the way offensively was Lydia by virtue of her scoring 5 goals (1 in each period including the overtime game winner). Kenzie, Elizabeth and Monica also scored goals while Emily, Morgan and Katie Simon contributed 1 assist each. Defensively Erika Miller and Jennie Brown both excelled and tallied 2 steals apiece. In goal, Liz Hoard fought off sickness made 7 saves and turned away three 6 on 5 opportunities. Liz showed great dedication by making the tournament though she was not feeling 100%.

The final game of the day for our girls was our third go round with Ann Arbor Pioneer, this time in the form of their JV B team. We played very well defensively and secured a 7-1 victory for our third victory on the day. Our efforts defensively were led by Emily as she snagged a season high 6 steals. Liz made 12 saves in goal and recorded 1 steal as well. Allison Rehagen shrugged off a pop to the nose in the Okemos game to play very strong at her 5-meter position while grabbing a handful of steals. Lydia finished off her great day with 3 goals and 2 steals. Also scoring goals was Katie (1), Emily (1) and Morgan (2). The most intriguing stat of the game had to be the fact that we had 7 assists by 7 different people on all 7 goals.

Our record improves to 12-9 for the season and we get back into action this Friday at Mason for the District Tournament.

East Kentwood Tournament
We had a very exciting two days at East Kentwood during their Spring Fling Tourney. We played 4 games in 2 days vs Ann Arbor Pioneer JV, East Kentwood JV, Rockford JV and Holt-EL varsity to cap the weekend. With this tournament being our first of the season I believe our girls did a very good job of representing our schools and ourselves very well by coming away from the weekend with a 2-2 record.
Our first game of the weekend was Friday night vs perennial state power Ann Arbor Pioneer. Pioneer jumped on us early 2-0 but we were able to survive that spurt and capture an 11-8 victory. Katie Simon scored all 4 of her goals in the 1st period to lead our team in that category. Morgan Lowery banged home 3 goals as well in her only appearance of the weekend. Hillary Albert, Elizabeth Sullivan and Emily Fairless each notched a goal. Lansing Catholic senior Jessica Hileman scored her first goal of the season on a nice shot in the 2nd period. Lydia Kramer blocked 11 shots, passed for 3 assists, made 3 steals and was overall very strong in goal. Simon also logged 4 assists.

Our first game on Saturday was against the host team the East Kentwood Falcons. We played our best team game of the season as we grabbed a 14-4 victory. Our 14 goals were scored by 10 different players and we registered a season high 19 steals. Lydia played goal in the first half and left to play the field after leading us to a 6-0 lead on 6 saves. Liz Hoard took over in the 2nd half and played very well by grabbing 2 saves. Scoring goals for our team was Frankie Crowell, Erika Miller, Katie Simon (2), Hillary Albert (2), Jessica Hileman, Monica Pomaville (2), Elizabeth Sullivan, Allison Rehagen, Emily Fairless and Lydia Kramer (2). Frankie also recorded a team best 7 steals in the game.

Our game vs Rockford was a humbling experience as the Rams came out tough, played that way the entire game and claimed a 4-8 win. Rockford is a very well coached team and very skilled in every part of the game. Playing games like these are really good learning experiences for the rest of the season and the fact that we played them tough should help our confidence going forward. We trailed by as many as 7 but closed with a nice flurry to get within 4 goals. Katie Simon scored all 4 of our goals in a variety of ways including her now patented back hand. The rest of our girls had some very nice scoring opportunities but the Rockford goalie was equal to the task and made several tremendous saves. Lydia made 8 saves while Kenzie Gatewood made 2 steals in the game.

The final game of the night was a anti-climatic finish vs Holt-EL. We have certainly played better games than we did in this one but were still able to come within one goal of victory, losing 7-8. We were plagued by turnovers in the 1st and 2nd period and dug ourselves a hole we could not recover from. We played a much stronger 2nd half and were able to swim to a 4-1 advantage in said half. Frankie Crowell played very tenacious defense (something that is becoming her specialty) and made 6 more steals in this game. Elizabeth Sullivan led the way in scoring with 3 goals while Katie Simon put two more home. Allison Rehagen and Emily Fairless rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. Lydia made 7 saves and had 4 steals. Freshman Kassie Briggs played a strong game, chipped in an assist and played strong defense.

Congrats to all the girls on a very strong showing at the tourney this weekend. Our girls won 4 games all year last year (3 over Haslett) and already this season our girls have been victorious 4 times. The experience we gained this weekend will be invaluable as we go forward this season and into the post season. Our record moves to 4-4 on the season.

GL-W-LC vs. Mason
Our young ladies on both the JV and Varsity squads notched two wins in impressive fashion Tuesday night in Mason vs the Bulldogs. The JV were victorious 12-2 and the varsity captured an 11-0 victory.

The JV girls were led by a stellar performance from junior captain Monica Pomaville. Monica played excellent hole defense and also logged 2 goals, 3 assists and 2 steals. Kassie Briggs and Taylor Warstler each grabbed hat tricks and Carrie Hileman netted 2 more goals while battling asthma. Kayla Bedaine added another goal for the season and freshman Ona Price scored her first career goal while playing her best game to date. Liz Hoard also played her best game while recording 10 saves on 12 shots. Annika Van Wieren drew a kick-out and made her first career assist.

The varsity game saw history made as junior goaltender Lydia Kramer recorded the first shutout in Grand Ledge-Waverly-LC history. Lydia made 11 saves and also grabbed 5 steals. The key to our success was not only Lydia's outstanding play but also the play of our other defenders. Everyone on the roster contributed to our shutout. Mason defeated our varsity 9-5 last season in a game that Mason led 9-1. This game saw our girls score 5 goals in the first period! Leading our team in goal scoring was Morgan Lowery with 4 goals. Katie Simon overcame a tough day out of the pool to score 3 goals and pass for 2 assists. Also recording scores were Frankie Crowell, Elizabeth Sullivan, Emily Fairless and Allison Rehagen. Crowell also nabbed 5 steals to lead us in that category. Jessica Hileman and Kenzie Gatewood led us defensively with countless "hustle" plays to prevent scoring opportunities for Mason.

We made a lot of great decisions in these two games and really looked as though we were understanding the game and getting to where we needed to be. A+ effort in this game and a very high grade in execution as well. The JV improves to 3-1, while the varsity move to .500 at 2-2.

2008 Banquet a Success
The 2007-2008 edition of the Grand Ledge Mens Swimming and Diving officially concluded last night as our banquet came to a close with a number of highlights. To kick the night off freshman Eric Bayley was recognized with the Rookie of the Year Award for his efforts in the 200 and 500 Free events. The Most Spirited Award was presented to junior Paul Cleaveland and freshman Mike Mandley for their enthusiasm and commraderie this season. The most difficult award of the night proved to be the Most Improved Award as so many candidates were viable options. Finally the team voting settled on sophomore Paul Wilkes who increased his varsity point total by over 100 points from last year. The MVP vote was a landslide victory for junior John Fitzgerald as he excelled in a number of events and scored at the Division 1 State Meet. The prestigious Linda Seibold Outstanding Senior Award was given to senior Garrett Kromer for outstanding achievement in and out of the pool and for 4 great years as Grand Ledge Swimmer. Past winners of the Seibold Award include Spencer Johnson, Nick Ballou and Hugh MacDowell. Finally the 2008-2009 captains were announced and our number jumped from 2 to 6 as Max King, Brad Bouchard, Paul Cleaveland and Jordan Mannor join Fitzgerald and Kentner as captains next season. As for other post season awards John Fitzgerald was honored by the area coaches as a member of the Zone 7 All Area 1st Team Selection. Sophomore Anthony Mauro received 2nd Team honors while junior Curtis Kentner and Paul Wilkes received Honorable Mention accolades for their contributions this season. Congrats on a fine season to all team members and I am sure we are all looking forward to getting back at it next season.

GL vs. Ionia
What a grand way to cap the 2007-2008 dual meet season as our guys swam to a season record of 5-5 and a 112-74 win over the Ionia Bulldogs. We captured 7 first place finishes (8 if you count the 400 Free Relay which was DQ'ed but won by a healthy margin) and swam an overall strong meet.
The race of the night involved junior Curtis Kentner, sophomore Anthony Mauro and freshman Eric Bayley in the 500 Freestyle. Curtis provided the pace as Eric and Anthony kept things close throughout but in the end Eric was able to secure the win in a lifetime best of 5:31.02. Curtis and Anthony each swam to unshaved best swims of 5:33.40 and 5:33.15. Eric dropped 8 seconds from his best time, Curtis dropped 10 seconds off his best unshaved and Anthony dropped 14 seconds off his best unshaved. Also making an impact was junior Jordan Mannor who exploded to a lifetime best on the 400 Free Relay of 57.30. Jordan also posted strong times in the 50 and 100 Freestyles. Freshman David Smith captured his first varsity win as he swam to a lifetime best of 1:09.00 in the 100 Butterfly. He also notched a lifetime best in the 200 IM (2:31.20) to place 3rd. The 200 Freestyle Relay also came away victorious with the team of Jordan, Jason Robeson, Curtis and Anthony taking 1st by over a second. Junior Noah Staten and freshman Casey Haggerty had a great race in the 100 Free as both young men logged 1:02s. Seniors Nick Kenny and Garrett Kromer were sent off in fine fashion as Nick was a part of the winning 200 Medley Relay team and Garrett placed 4th in the 100 Breaststroke. Freshman Andrew Bristol swam to a best time in the 100 Breast of 1:33.82 and fellow freshman Doug Barger did the same in 1:47.04.
Very nice job to all swimmers and divers. Lets get charged up for the CAAC meet in only one and a half weeks. - Coach Townsend

GL vs. Jackson
Tonight we swam to 29 lifetime best swims and set up very well for our final meet of the season vs Ionia. Although we fell to the Jackson Vikings, 54-116, we had a number of great swims in a pool where good swims are hard to come by. The loss drops our record to 4-5 and 3-3 in the conference.
Highlights from the meet start with sophomore Paul Wilkes who dropped 6 seconds in his 200 Free (2:06.70) and another 2 seconds in his 100 Butterfly (1:11.43). Freshman Chris Cornell continues to make a strong push for Rookie of the Year as he recorded two lifetime bests in the 200 Free (2:10.73) and the 500 Free (6:13.28). Brad Bouchard established a strong seed time for the conference meet in the 100 Backstroke with a best time of 1:09.67. That is nearly a second faster than last year at the conference meet! Leading the way in the 100 Breaststroke was the tandem of junior Curtis Kentner and sophomore Anthony Mauro who both recorded lifetime best swims. Anthony also notched a best time in the 200 IM. This meet served a solid remind of where we need to be when the season ends. Jackson ended up on top in this meet but with a great taper and focus we can make the heavily favored Vikings sweat on the 23rd.
-Coach Townsend

GL vs. Everett
I was pleasantly surprised tonight with the number of tough, gutsy swims our young men were able to perform in a hard fought victory over the Everett Vikings, 108-77. Despite a very high training regiment this week and practice immediately before the meet our guys really swam to their potential and beat a very good Everett team.
Swimmer of the night, in my eyes, was freshman Eric Bayley who notched a lifetime best in the 200 Free (2:08.78) and returned later to duplicate that feat in the form of a 5:39.77 500 Free. Eric placed 4th in the 200 Free and 2nd in the 500 Free. Sophomore Paul Wilkes also had a tremendous meet with a best in the 200 IM (2:23.67) and a 16 second drop in the 500 Free (5:42.79) to place 3rd. Senior Nick Kenny broke out with a lifetime best unshaved swim that claimed 2nd in the 100 Breast (1:14.97) and freshman Chris Cornell (58.64) and junior Jordan Mannor (59.37) teamed to place 3rd and 4th respectively in the 100 Freestyle. Junior Diver Dan Pawlak recorded a 2nd place finish in the diving portion of the meet with a lifetime best score of 169.45. Freshman Mike Mandley and Jason Robeson both contributed a lifetime best swims in the 100 Breaststroke for Mandley and the 50 Free for Robeson. Taking individual wins for the evening were John Fitzgerald (200 Free), Curtis Kentner (100 Fly) and Anthony Mauro (100 Free). - Coach Townsend

GL vs. ER-Char
Sort of an off night for us this evening vs Eaton Rapids/Charlotte. Our guys came off a tough day of training the previous day but we refuse to use that as an excuse for our team falling 81-105 at Charlotte. Instead I believe we are going to use this defeat as motivation to come back strong and finish out the duel meet season strong and push on into championship season.
Highlights of the ER meet include junior John Fitzgerald's showdown with fellow area star Eaton Rapids junior Garrett Greenland in the 500 Freestyle. John controlled the tempo of the race and eventually captured a strong victory in a time of 5:08.15. John also captured 1st in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:57.05 and fellow junior Curtis Kentner claimed victory in 2 individual races as well, the 200 IM and 100 Backstroke. Curtis' time in the 200 IM of 2:20.95 is a lifetime best by 2 seconds and really makes him a factor possibly in the 200 IM at the league meet. Another junior, Max King, displayed a very strong 100 Butterfly and received a lifetime best of 1:10.19 for his efforts. Also freshman Chris Cornell continues to display an uncanny ability in the 100 Breaststroke as he swam to a 3rd place finish and a lifetime best time of 1:14.46. Our 3 divers also impressed placing 2-3-4 in the meet and winning the diving for our team. Nice work Dan, Pat and CJ. - Coach Townsend

GL vs. Holt
A very fun meet with perennial conference power Holt got off to a pretty familiar start with the Rams taking the Medley relay by a healthy margin. From there Holt would go on to win the meet by a score of 116-70. However, our team swam much better than the score indicated as we recorded 38 lifetime bests two days after notching 35 best against Waverly-LC. 73 lifetime best swims in 3 days in my eyes is tremendous improvement. Junior Co-Captain Curtis Kentner led the way with 4 best swims in the 50 Fly, 100 Fly, 100 Back and 100 Free respectively. Freshman Chris Cornell logged his first individual varsity win in the 100 Breaststroke with an extremely encouraging 1:16.43. Prior to his breaststroke breakthrough Chris swam to a lifetime best of 2:33.84 which is over a 22 second drop! Another freshman, Mike Mandley, had two lifetime best swims in the 200 IM and 500 Free which totaled 25 seconds dropped between the two events. Junior Jordan Mannor proved his sub 1:00 100 vs Waverly was no fluke as he went 59.43 to score another best time. Junior Noah Staten grabbed a strong lifetime best in the 100 Backstroke (1:17.27) and freshman Eric Bayley scored 2 best swims in the 100 Breast (1:29.95) and had a breakout swim in the 200 Freestyle (2:11.93). Sophomore Anthony Mauro showed some promise in the sprint events after swimming the 200 and 500 Freestyles last season. Anthony dropped over a second and a half in the 50 Free and returned to swim a 54.45 on our winning 400 Free Relay. This loss drops our record to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference but we certainly maintained momentum heading into a tough week of training and meets vs Eaton Rapids and Everett. - Coach Townsend

See pictures from the GL vs. Waverly Meet
CLICK HERE for some photos from Mrs. Pawlak.

GL vs. Waverly
I was extremely proud of our performance tonight against a solid Waverly -LC group. We were able to snag a 100-83 victory and mark our 3rd win in a row after starting the season 0-2. Without question we were paced by Curtis Kentner, who notched dominant victories in the 200 (2:03.47) and 100 (55.60) Freestyles and lead our 200 and 400 Freestyle Relay teams to two more 'W's. Freshman Eric Bayley recorded a best time in taking 4th in the 200 IM (2:40.13) and broke the 1:00 barrier in the 100 Freestyle (59.73). Fellow freshman Casey Haggerty and Chris Cornell also had strong swims in the 500 Free (6:35.81) and 200 Free (2:13.20) respectively. Junior Brad Bouchard followed up his strong showing at the Haslett Invitational with 3 lifetime bests in the 200 Free (2:20.70), 100 Breast (1:32.62) and 100 Free (1:02.51). Junior Dan Pawlak captured the diving with a score of 154.30 and enabled our team to gain a strong advantage in the diving portion of the meet. We had 35 lifetime best performances tonight and those performances pushed our record to 3-2 (3-1). - Coach Townsend

Haslett Invite
We had an incredible day of improvement on display on January19th as our young men swam to a very strong 6th place finish at the highly competitive Haslett Invitational. After winning this meet the last two years our guys certainly did not let go of our crown without a tremendous fight. Getting things going for the day was John Fitzgerald who won the 200 Freestyle (1:52.33) by over 4 seconds and the 500 Freestyle (5:07.27) by almost 14 seconds. He also lowered his own Haslett pool record in the 500 and anchored our 4th place 200 Free Relay in 23.76. Curtis Kentner chipped in with a 5th place finish in the 200 IM (2:22.23) and a 7th place finish in the 500 Free (5:41.54). Anthony Mauro captured 6th and 2nd in the 200 Free and 100 Free respectively. However, the story of the meet was our younger swimmers and leading the way was junior Paul Cleaveland who notched a lifetime best in the 100 Breaststroke (1:24.87) and a season best of 2:48.33 in the 200 IM. This meet also saw sophomore Paul Wilkes, freshman Chris Cornell and junior Jordan Mannor record their first swims under the 1:00 barrier in the 100 Freestyle. Freshman Eric Bayley continues to improve with a very good 5:55 in the 500 Freestyle and solid contributions in his other swims. Max King, Mike Mandley and David Smith also had a good showing for the team in the 100 Butterfly. We certainly were the only team at the meet that can say we return every single point from this years meet into next year as our two seniors Garrett Kromer (flu) and Nick Kenny (prior commitments) missed this meet. - Coach Townsend

GL vs. East Lansing
Very nice team effort on Thursday night defeating a tough East Lansing team, 101-85. We received a number of great performances and raced to 30 lifetime best swims. Leading the way, with 3 victories, was John Fitzgerald who teamed with Nick Kenny, Max King and Jordan Mannor for the win in the 200 Medley Relay. John also captured the 200 IM and 100 Fly in two hard fought races. Paul Wilkes and Curtis Kentner both came away with their first ever varsity wins in the 100 Back and 500 Free respectively. Noah Staten returned to action and had a lifetime best in the 100 Fly, while our group of freshman continue to impress with strong swims throughout our lineup. We return to competition on Wednesday vs my alma mater the Lansing Eastern Quakers. - Coach Townsend

GL vs. Okemos
Sadly we lost to league favorite Okemos on Tuesday night but we received a tremendous effort from our young team. We still have a lot of work to do in order to get back into the top half of CAAC Blue Division but we are certainly headed in the right direction. Our wonderful efforts during Winter Break seemed to payoff especially from our second year swimmers. Sophomores Anthony Mauro and Paul Wilkes each swam very well and are embracing a larger role this season. Anthony recorded a lifetime best in taking 3rd in the 50 Freestyle (25.55). Mauro also logged a season best 5:49 in the 500 Freestyle and placed 2nd. Paul placed 4th in the 500 Free in a lifetime best of 5:59, marking his first venture under the 6:00 barrier. Finally first year junior Jason Robeson captured his first ever varsity win in his first ever varsity race. He won the 100 Breaststroke in 1:20.87 and out touched the nearest challenger by .02. Overall it was a great experience for our many freshman and I am very excited for our meet against a tough East Lansing team in Grand Ledge on January 10th. Our record now stands at 0-2 overall and 0-1 in CAAC Blue. - Coach Townsend

Busy part of season starts this week!!!
As the swimmers go back to school after break the meet portion of the season gets underway. We start back with two meets, at Okemos on Tuesday and at home vs. East Lansing on Thursday. On Wednesday, January 16 we swim Eastern at Hill and Haslett invite is Saturday, January 19. Good Luck Swimmers!

There were a number of pictures taken at the St. Johns meet.
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GL vs. SJ
Tough non-conference loss to St. Johns last night, 114-72. Top performers of the night started with freshman Eric Bayley as he swam an impressive 6:03.28 in the 500 Free. Add two more great swims of 32.10 in the 50 Back and 1:11.42 in the 100 Back and it made for a breakout performance for the freshman. Also shining last night was junior captain Curtis Kentner. Curtis swam to unshaved best swims in the 200 Free and 500 Free and captured 2nd in both events. His 2:02.89 200 Free is more than 6 seconds better than last year. Junior diver Dan Pawlak had a very impressive dual meet debut while scoring 165.45 good for a 31 point improvement over his lifetime best. Overall our team notched 46 lifetime best swims, thats a very impressive total. It was a great effort as we press on into Christmas Break and into January. - Coach Townsend

Congrats to John Fitzgerald on two CAAC Pre-Season Invite WINS this weekend. Great swims John!!!

2007 CAAC MEET CHAMPIONS
Seniors Ashley Bower and Lauren Brown, along with the power-packed junior class led the Comets to their first ever CAAC meet championship over perennial powerhouses Holt and Okemos. Junior Katie Simon was the only individual event winner of the day, taking the 100 Butterfly and breaking her own school record. In the process the team has made 9 DIV 1 state meet qualifying times. Simon has qualified in three events, including the 200 IM, the 100 Butterfly and the 100 Freestyle. Along with Simon, Michelle Pitchford has also qualified for three events, the 200 Freestyle, the 100 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke. The team has also qualified all three relays. The 200 Medley Relay (Morgan Lowery, Lydia Kramer, Simon, Lauren Brown), the 200 Freestyle Relay (Kramer, Olivia McCormick, Elizabeth Sullivan, Pitchford) and the 400 Freestyle Relay (Pitchford, Sullivan, Brown, Simon).

Congratulations Girls Varsity Swim Team
2007 Dual Meet Record: 7-2
Nice Job Girls!