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Girls Varsity Swimming 2008
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.
GL-W-LC vs. Chelsea
We concluded our regular season tonight with a win for the JV and a loss
for the varsity at Chelsea.
The JV was led by strong efforts from all members. Leading the way in
scoring was our two leading scorers for the season in Michelle Pitchford
and Kayla Bedaine who both knocked home 2 goals. Also netting goals was
Ona Price, Shelby Becker, Jenny Sturdevant and Jennie Brown. We did a very
nice job of passing the ball the entire game in what became our most
balanced scoring game of the season and even came through late to push to
the 8-6 victory. That concludes the regular season schedule for the JV who
began the season 0-1. They then rattled off 9 straight wins to finish the
season an incredible 9-1. The season is not over however as we still have
the Pioneer Invite and the district tournament.
The varsity game was a contrast in styles of play. With our girls being
very inexperienced with the shallow water we were beaten 3-5. We won the
two periods that were played in our deep end 3-2 but was unable to solve
the riddle when Chelsea had the shallow water. This was certainly a trying
loss and one that teams must grow and learn from. That is exactly what we
will do heading forward into the rest of the season. We received goals
from Elizabeth Sullivan, Emily Fairless and Katie Simon and were led in
steals by Frankie Crowell with 4. Morgan Lowery drew 2 kick-out fouls and
we received strong contributions from our bench in Kenzie Gatewood and
Monica Pomaville. I'm sure everyone on the varsity is happy to put this
game in the rear view and get set for this weekend and the district
championships. The loss drops our overall record to 9-8 on the season.
GL-W-LC vs. Holt-EL
A contrast in emotions on Friday night as our girls took on Holt-EL for
the 4th time this season. The varsity got off to an extremely slow start
and fell behind by 5 early. We eventually suffered a tough 5-9 loss while
the JV swam to a dominating 9-0 effort for their 3rd win in as many games
vs the combined efforts of Holt and East Lansing.
Kicking things off the varsity was caught quite off guard early on and it
showed on the scoreboard as we trailed 5-0 after 1 period. We definitely
were out-coached this evening as Holt-EL did a great job shutting down our
primary offensive weapons and finding another source of offense proved to
be too tall a task. This certainly gives me, as a coach, and our girls a
tremendous challenge in finding another consistent source of offense going
forward. We were led offensively by Katie Simon who logged her 54th and
55th goal of the season to break our single season record for goals. She
also contributed 2 assists while making 2 steals. Morgan Lowery and Emily
Fairless also scored goals with Morgan contributing an assist as well. The
highlight reel play of the night came courtesy of our goalie Lydia Kramer
and she scored from beyond half court in the top left corner of the goal
for her first goal from the goalie position. She also held her own while
logging 16 saves with 1 assist and 1 steal. Defensively we were led by
Elizabeth Sullivan who made a career high 6 steals and Jessica Hileman
also did a great job on the defensive end by grabbing 4 steals. Our major
issue this evening rested with shot selection and turnovers as we need to
improve greatly in these two categories going forward with our season.
The JV game was full of highlights as we swam away with a strong 9-0
effort. Congratulations to Liz Hoard for her first career shutout while
making 3 saves and making 2 steals. We were the best we have ever been
tonight defensively and it showed while not only not allowing a goal but
only allowing 3 shots. Leading the way in the steals category was Shelby
Becker and Taylor Warstler who recorded 8 and 7 steals respectively. Erika
Miller also helped out greatly as she had 4 steals to go with her 1 goal
and 1 assist. Shelby and Taylor also scored 2 goals each to complete a
great all around game by both girls. Also scoring goals was Jennie Brown
(2), Jennie Sturdevant (1) and Michelle Pitchford (1). Both of Jennie
Brown's goals were great moves on the goaltender and were hammered home
with authority. Also contributing on the defensive end was Dayle McLeod as
she made several strong plays for the ball.
The JV ran their win streak to 8 games while moving to 8-1 while the
varsity fell to 9-7 on the season. We are back in action next week on
Thursday for our final regular season match-up of the season at Chelsea.
We then travel to Ann Arbor Pioneer for a 4 game tournament on Friday and
Saturday. Our 4 games at Ann Arbor are against Saline, AA Pioneer, Chelsea
and Holt-EL.
GL-W-LC vs. Dexter
Our second to last home game concluded with a split with Dexter as the JV
came away with an 8-5 win while the varsity fell 4-9.
The JV kicked things off with a quick start that netted zero goals as
Dexter's goalie turned away our initial burst. Dexter then turned the
tables and jumped on top by a goal mid way through the first. Our girls
showed great resolve however and pushed back to take a 6-2 halftime lead.
We were dealt a serious blow to our defense early in the 3rd period as
defensive specialist and captain Monica Pomaville was ejected after
picking up her 3rd personal foul. We responded very well to close out the
game and capture the 8-5 win. We were led in goal scoring by Kayla Bedaine
(3) who continues to be aggressive offensively and her goal tally is now
at 12 after scoring none last season. Also getting in the scoring act was
Kassie Briggs who netted 2 to move her total to 11. Monica Pomaville,
Shelby Becker and Taylor Warstler also chipped in a goal apiece. Liz Hoard
continues to be very solid in net as she had 5 saves and 2 steals against
5 goals allowed. Shelby led the team defensively with a career high 5
steals and Jennie Brown led the team with 2 assists.
The varsity opened with a flurry against the No. 6 team in all of Michigan
as we jumped on top on a backhand from Katie Simon. After Dexter responded
Morgan Lowery hammered home her 21st goal of the season for a 2-1 GL-W-LC
lead. Dexter scored again late in the 1st and we entered the 2nd period
all square at 2. However, in the 2nd Dexter showed its experience and went
on a 6-0 run to lead 8-2 at the half. Our girls certainly did not go away
as they fought back and won the 2nd half 2-1. In fact if not for our poor
2nd period we outscored this team 4-3. We received a very balanced effort
tonight with everyone chipping in with solid efforts. Aside from Morgan
and Katie, Emily Fairless and Erika Miller also put home goals. Katie's
goal was her 53rd goal of the year which is 1 shy of Lydia's team record
set last season. Speaking of our junior goalie standout she made 12 saves
with 1 steal and continues to prove she is one of the best in the area.
Frankie Crowell also was impressive defensively as she made 4 steals and
played very solid offensively as well.
Overall the JV turned in a very solid performance while the varsity proved
tonight that they can hang with the elite teams in the state. The varsity
falls to 9-6 while the JV wins its 7th straight and jumps to an incredible
7-1. Be sure to come out Friday for senior night vs district and CAAC
rival Holt-EL.
GL-W-LC at Mason Bulldog Tourney
The Mason Bulldog Invitational began Friday night with a victory for our
varsity over the Okemos 'B' squad 20-8. The 20 goals is the most our
team has ever scored and the 12 goal margin is also the best in the
short existence of our water polo program. After falling behind 1-0 our
girls really clamped down and scored at will the rest of the way.
Leading the assault was Katie Simon who had a career high 9 goals.
Morgan Lowery grabbed 3 goals of her own while Erika Miller, Jessica
Hileman, Monica Pomaville, Elizabeth Sullivan and Michelle Pitchford
also scored a goal. Lydia Kramer made 6 saves in goal before playing
part of the 4th period in the field. The result? 3 goals in 3 minutes of
play. Katie made her debut in goal and made one save. Emily Fairless led
our team in assists with 3 and Erika Miller led us defensively with 2
steals. It was a great opportunity for some of our JV girls to play up
with the varsity and hopefully that experience will help propel them for
the rest of the season. Our record improves to 7-4 with 3 varsity and 1
JV game remaining in this tournament.
After a lopsided win on Friday night against the Okemos 'B' team our
girls got a dose of reality vs the Okemos 'A' team bright and early
Saturday morning. Our girls certainly put together a great effort in
this game though we were defeated 6-14. Our goal scorers were Katie
Simon (3), Emily Fairless, Lydia Kramer and Monica Pomaville. Lydia
made 10 saves while Taylor Warstler made he debut in goal by making 3
saves. This was a respect game for our girls as we have been destroyed
every other time we played Okemos who is ranked 8th in the state. We
played them tough and served notice that we are pushovers no longer.
Our next game was the JV team taking on the Holt-EL JV. This game was
highly competitive and was extremely important as many of our newer
girls played a ton of minutes. Our girls fought very hard for our 11-5
win on a night where our bench was limited to 3 players. The highlight
of the game had to be the first goal of Annika Van Wieren's career.
She made a nifty move and pocketed the ball in the back corner of
Holt-EL's net. Michelle Pitchford also broke out in this game as she
recorded a career high 8 goals. Not to bad for a girl in her first
year of playing water polo. Hillary Albert and Shelby Becker also
recorded goals to cap our scoring. Taylor Warstler played very well in
her first full game in net. She contributed 9 saves and only allowed 5
goals. Kassie Briggs and Monica Pomaville each contributed greatly as
well as Kassie had many tremendous shots turned away and Monica played
excellent hole defense. This was the 5th win in a row for our JV team
and we improved to 5-1.
The best game of the day and probably the tournament came in our game
against Holt-EL. Our girls controlled the action early and never
trailed as we captured a thrilling 7-6 victory. Holt-EL beat us last
year by 14,9 and 9 goals last year and 1 and 2 goals this year. For
our girls to breakthrough and capture a victory against this team says
a lot about our continued improvement. Leading the way offensively was
Katie with 5 goals and Elizabeth Sullivan who passed for 2 assists and
made 3 steals. Emily Fairless scored 2 goals with her last score being
the game winner with 30 seconds to play. We were really saved by Lydia
in goal as she made a career high 19 saves and turned away countless
opportunities from point blank range. Monica and Kenzie Gatewood did a
tremendous job in hole defense today as they both stepped up and made
life difficult for Holt-EL's hole players. Jessica Hileman also came
up very big by playing very strong help defense in assisting Monica
and Kenzie in the hole. Really an exemplary performance from our
girls.
Our final game of the tournament game was in the 3rd place game vs
Chelsea. Chelsea defeated us 7-13 last season. On Saturday we took
down yet another team with more experience to capture 3rd place in a
field of 8 teams by a score of 6-4. This was certainly a test of our
stamina as we have played 6 games in 3 days. We passed the test with a
tough victory against the team that will likely be standing between us
and a trip to regionals in May. Leading our team in scoring again was
Katie who grabbed 5 goals with Erika Miller hammering home our other
goal. Erika also led the team with 2 assists while contributing 3
steals as well. Leading our girls in the steals category was Elizabeth
with a career high 6 steals. Lydia again was brilliant in goal as she
made 6 saves and really controlled the game from her goalie position.
Enough cannot be said about the job Kenzie did in hole defense in this
game. She played heavy minutes for the first time this year and
responded with a very good performance defensively. Aiding in that
effort again was Jessica Hileman who did a great job of playing both
her girl and helping in hole D.
Overall I was extremely pleased with our performances this week. For
the week we went 6-1 as a team and Katie Simon was among the
tournament leaders with 21 goals in our 4 games. As stated earlier our
JV moved to 5-1 on the year and the varsity improved to 9-5. Our
improvement has been stellar all season so lets continue that trend
next week as we face off against 6th ranked Dexter and Holt-EL at
home.
GL-W-LC vs. Portage Northern
We got back into action after a long Spring Break
tonight and the rust was evident early on for both the varsity and JV
teams. The varsity broke through and scored an 8-6 win, while the JV
cruised to a 10-3 victory over the visiting Portage Northern team.
Kicking the night off was the varsity team that found a very tough
battle from this Portage Northern team. They were very sound
defensively and it showed as we were unable to run our fast break like
we would like to. We made a very strong adjustment in the game and
found other ways to score, this is a very good sign that our girls are
really starting to become complete water polo players. Katie Simon
scored 5 goals to lead our scoring charge. Katie is starting to calm
down and be more confident with her surroundings, thus, making better
decisions. Emily Fairless, Frankie Crowell and Elizabeth Sullivan also
netted goals for our team. Lydia Kramer continues to shine in goal as
she recorded 17 saves with 2 steals and 1 assist. Crowell led us in
steals again with 4 and we were 1 for 1 in power play opportunities.
Kenzie Gatewood and Jessica Hileman continue to contribute in a big
way off the bench with good defense and solid decision making.
Finally the JV played a very strong game and captured a strong 7 goal
win. Liz Hoard had an outstanding game in goal as she made 6 saves and
forced at least 6 more over the net with her strong presence. Kayla
Bedaine played her best game for sure as she logged 3 goals and all 3
were very aggressive moves. Kassie Briggs matched Bedaine's total with
3 goals of her own while Michelle Pitchford, Jennie Brown, Jenny
Sturdevant and Taylor Warstler each cashed in a goal apiece. We
utilized pump fakes very well in this game and it showed with a very
solid shooting percentage. Monica Pomaville had 4 assists to go along
with 6 steals as she played very good hole defense. Shelby Becker also
made a lot of plays that do not show up in the stat sheet as she
harassed the hole set for Portage Northern and prevented good scoring
opportunities.
Both teams performed very well and both games served as an example of
the improvement our teams have shown. Certainly last year the varsity
does not win the game tonight and the JV game would have been much
closer. We have come a long way since last year and still have a
tremendous distance to go if we want to finish this season where we
would like to. Portage Northern has had a team for a very long time
and for us to notch a pair of wins against them says a lot about our
progress. The JV improves to 5-1 while the varsity moves to 6-4 on the
season. The Mason Invitational this weekend is up next, our endurance
will surely be tested.
GL-W-LC vs. Haslett (round 2)
With our varsity playing first the action heated up very quickly on
Tuesday night at Grand Ledge High School as we hosted Williamston/Haslett
in the 2nd of our match ups this season. The result was a 12-6 win for our
varsity and a 9-4 win for the JV.
The varsity game got going quickly in our favor as we scored the games
first 3 goals and quickly H/W was asking for timeout. Showing they are a
well coached team they bounced back and scored two goals of their own to
end the period at 3-2. We would go on to win the next 3 periods as well
and the game at 12-6. Our leading scorer on the night was Morgan "The
Nightmare" Lowery as she raced to a career high 5 goals. Katie Simon did
her part and scored 4 goals (one in each period) though she was very well
defended. Elizabeth Sullivan tallied another goal and so did Allison
Rehagen on a very nice shot to the far corner of the goal. Emily Fairless
showed off a very nice backhand goal late in the game to round out the
scoring. Lydia Kramer made 9 saves with one assist and 3 steals.
Defensively we were led by Frankie Crowell who continues to show a knack
for the ball which was evinced by her 11 steals! Elizabeth and Jessica
Hileman also played great defense by grabbing 3 and 2 steals a piece.
Katie Simon also registered a career high 6 assists.
The JV game followed the same pattern as we were able to strike early and
then Haslett/Williamston adjusted and offensively things slowed a bit. We
still were able to capture a 9-4 win behind the best game of the season
for junior Goalie Liz Hoard. Liz made many tremendous saves and covered
rebounds very well. She finished with 8 saves and 1 steal. Our leading
goal scorer for the game was Kayla Bedaine who netted a hat trick with 3
goals. Michelle Pitchford and Monica Pomaville each scored 2 goals as
well. Contributing two goals in addition was Jenny Sturdevant who had a
breakout game both defensively and offensively. Jenny moved well without
the ball and made the most of her scoring opportunities as she scored on
both of her shot attempts. Defensively this was the best game we have
played against a very worthy opponent. We had 8 assists on 9 goals which
is indicative of our good passing and unselfishness. Monica in particular
continues to shine for the JV as she logged a very full game with 2 goals,
2 assists and 7 steals. Shelby Becker made her debut with the JV and
quickly contributed an assist and 2 steals. The sky is the limit for our
only lefty on the team.
Great game tonight from both teams. Our varsity improved its record to
5-4, the first time our girls have had a winning record in a season! The
JV moved to an impressive 4-1. Remember our game on Friday is canceled so
our next game doesn't come for at least another week. Have a great Spring
Break.
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.
GL-W-LC vs. Holt-East Lansing
What fun and competitive games Friday night at Holt for our young
ladies. The JV came away with a 12-10 victory while the varsity dropped
a heart breaker 8-10.
The JV game saw our girls jump out to quick lead after 3 very good fast
break goals that were executed to perfection. However, Holt-EL showed
great resiliency and was able close to within 1 goal at 11-10 late in
the game. In the end though we were able to execute late and add an
insurance goal from freshman Kassie Briggs. Leading our team in scoring
was Michelle Pitchford who notched 4 more goals tonight including a
buzzer beater (March Madness worthy) at the end of the 3rd period.. That
makes 8 goals for Michelle in 2 games! Also breaking out offensively was
Lansing Catholic senior Carrie Hileman. Carrie racked up her first ever
hat trick and did a great job leading our counter attack. Kassie Briggs
logged 2 goals with 4 assists while Jennie Brown, Kayla Bedaine and
Monica Pomaville all chipped in 1 goal each. As a team we had 15 steals
and really helped trigger our counterattack. Liz Hoard had her best game
as a water polo player and made 6 saves and certainly has benefited from
her past experiences. Ona Price played some tough defense while Annika
Van Wieren contributed some strong minutes off the bench.
The varsity game looked like it may be a route early for Holt-EL as they
jumped to a quick 2-0 lead and our girls seemed to be caught a bit of
guard. We recovered to tie the game before the end of the period at 2
and remained deadlocked at 5 at the half. From there Holt-EL went on to
outscore our girls 5-3 in the second half but not before our girls
served notice that they are here to compete and won't back down to
anyone. We played this team, that beat us by 14,9 and 9 goals last
season, even for two periods and won the 4th period 3-2. Losing the
third period 3-0 was the only time our girls slipped up. Lydia Kramer
put on an impressive display in net and made 16 saves while drawing
praise from numerous people watching the game. Our fast break
counterattack was on full display tonight led by Morgan Lowery who
banged home 3 goals. Elizabeth Sullivan scored 2 goals and Emily
Fairless put a score home as well. Waverly senior Frankie Crowell played
her best game to date by recording 2 assists and 4 steals. Finally Katie
Simon scored 2 goals despite being hampered by foul trouble early and
fouling out early in the 3rd period. Kenzie Gatewood and Lansing
Catholic senior Jessica Hileman contributed greatly on the defensive end
with both notching 2 steals and making some very good hustle plays that
don't show up in the stat sheet.
As stated earlier I was very proud of the effort our girls showed
tonight in a very spirited match-up where the more experienced team came
away victorious but a tremendous amount of respect was exchanged both
ways. Great job girls! The JV moves to 2-1 and the varsity falls to 1-2.
GL-W-LC vs. Haslett-Williamston
We earned our first victory of the season Thursday night for both the JV
and Varsity team vs a tough Haslett-Williamston team. The quality of play
was vastly improved from when our teams got together last season but the
result was the same for our girls.
The JV game was a tale of two halves for our first year junior goalie Liz
Hoard. Liz thrived in the second half and made 8 saves for the game and
made 1 steal. We were led in scoring by another first year junior in
Michelle Pitchford as she scored her first goal of the season and then
followed that with 3 more for a total of 4 for the game. Waverly senior
Jenny Sturdevant got involved with some tough D and netted her first goal
of the season. Junior Monica Pomaville cashed in with 2 goals and senior
Taylor Warstler and junior Jennie Brown both contributed a goal apiece.
Junior Dayle McLeod and freshman Kassie Briggs led the way with 2 assists
each. It was a very exciting game that saw our girls play very tough and
really get a chance to showcase the skills we have learned in the first
week of the season. Final score 9-6 GL-Waverly-LC
The varsity game was a spirited affair with our girls coming away
victorious 11-6. Our girls showcased our fast break/counter offense in
fine fashion and it paid off with a flurry of quick goals. Offensively
junior Katie Simon scored 4 goals, had 2 assists and 1 steal while not
committing a turnover. Lansing Catholic junior emily Fairless, juniors
Elizabeth Sullivan and Morgan Lowery came away with their first goals of
the year as all three put 2 shots in the net. Senior Lauren Brown capped
the scoring with her first goal of the season. Sophomore Kenzie Gatewood
and junior Allison Rehagen both recorded assists on very unselfish plays.
In a night where we scored 11 goals it was hard for any defender to steal
the show but junior Lydia Kramer certainly played an awesome game. Lydia
recorded 18 saves while also grabbing 6 steals and being the catalyst of
our fast break attack.
Great games by both teams. Both teams moved to 1-1 for the season.
GL-W-LC vs. Okemos
The 2008 season of the Grand Ledge-Waverly-Lansing Catholic Womens Water
Polo Team kicked off against perennial state powerhouse Okemos. Our JV
dropped a tough game 3-13, while the varsity fell short 1-19.
I was very pleased with both teams effort and poise in tough games.
Scoring for the JV was sophomore Kayla Bedaine, freshman Kassie Briggs and
senior Taylor Warstler. Freshman Ona Price also did a good job by
contributing 2 steals and playing tough throughout. Junior Liz Hoard
played her first game in goal and made 4 very nice saves and learned a
tremendous amount.
In the varsity game our inexperience was exposed though we did play
considerably more competitive than we did last season. Our lone goal was
netted by junior Katie Simon on a nifty backhand in the 4th period. Junior
Lydia Kramer played very well in her first game as the regular goaltender.
The future looks very bright for both teams. Very fine effort to begin the
season as both teams drop to 0-1 on the young season.
Boys Varsity 2007-2008
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.
Congrats John
MHSAA D1 Swimming States
Our team's outstanding season was capped with a sensational individual
performance this weekend by junior Co-Captain John Fitzgerald in the 2008
Division 1 State Championships at Oakland University. John moved up from
his 20th seed to place 14th in the prelims of the 500 Free with a lifetime
best time of 4:55.06! That is less than a second from breaking the oldest
school record left on the men's or women's side. John returned for the
consolation finals on Saturday and swam a great race to finish in 15th
place overall. The team finished in 34th place at the state meet and along
the way John became the first male to score at the D1 State Meet for GL
since Joe Pierson captured the State Title in the 100 Breaststroke in
2001. Congratulations to John on a fine season and a fine showing at the
State Meet.
Coach Townsend
Second Shave
We certainly followed up our impressive conference performance with
a very strong encore Tuesday night at the 2nd Shave Meet back at Holt.
Our guys registered another 67 lifetime best swims and really laid the
foundation for an excellent effort next season. Our young men go from a
young rebuilding team this season to one of the teams contending for a
conference title next season.
The junior class really made a statement tonight and nobody epitomized
that fact quite like Jordan Mannor. Jordan swam to a 2:06.79 in the 200
Free (roughly a 12 second drop) and a 1:04.78 in the 100 Fly (over a 7
second drop). He finished off the night by splitting a 54.84 on the 400
Free Relay. Fellow junior Jason Robeson also had a huge night as he swam
to a 2:28.03 finish in the 200 IM and a 1:08.74 in the 100 Fly for two
substantial time drops in both events. Brad Bouchard had a great 500
Free and clocked a 6:02.19, while captain Curtis Kentner swam to a
lifetime best of 5:20.65 in that same 500 Free. Noah Staten trimmed over
15 seconds from his 100 Fly time while registering a 1:15.41 in that
event. John Fitzgerald had 3 swims and 3 lifetime best swims on the
night as he swam to a 57.96 100 Fly and 58.15 100 Backstroke.
The rest of the non-juniors also had a great meet led by Anthony Mauro
who notched lifetime bests in the 200 Free (1:57.26) and 500 Free
(5:23.80). Freshman Andrew Bristol swam to a 1:25.75 in the 100 Breast
while Doug Barger eclipsed the 1:10 mark in the 100 Free, coming in at
1:08.10. David Smith dropped 24 seconds from his 500 Free in going
5:56.52 and sophomore Paul Wilkes swam to lifetime bests of 2:01.93 and
5:34.72 in the 200 Free and 500 Free. Mike Mandley showed some promise
in the Breaststroke as he dropped 4 seconds to a 1:18.35.
Closing out their swimming careers were our seniors Garrett Kromer and
Nick Kenny. Nick had a lifetime best in the 50 Breast as well as the 100
Free. Meanwhile Garrett recorded a lifetime best in the 200 IM and the
500 Free. Both seniors contributions will be missed in and out of the
pool. Thank you for your fine efforts for Grand Ledge Swimming and
Diving.
Congrats to our guys on a terrific season. We definitely accomplished
the goals I made personally before the season began and I look fondly on
what the future might hold. Hopefully a strong contingent of Grand Ledge
fans can make it to Oakland University's pool to cheer on our own John
Fitzgerald as he makes a bid at our school record in the 500 Freestyle
at the Division 1 State Meet on March 7th.
Coach Townsend
CAAC
See pictures taken by Mr. and Mrs. Pawlak
HERE
LSJ Article featuring picture of Paul Wilkes
HERE
Be sure to see the LSJ photo gallery featuring picture of John Fitzgerald
HERE
CAAC Blue results
HERE
Check out our updated varsity records... Congrats John!!!
What an impressive
weekend by our young men. We were able to move from our pre-meet seeding
of 6th and capture 5th just 7 points from 4th place. For the season we
tied for 4th in the CAAC Blue with East Lansing courtesy of our victory in
the dual meet season. We recorded a staggering 69 lifetime bests on Friday
and another 34 on Saturday for a grand total of 103 LIFETIME BESTS! We had so
many unbelievable accomplishments it would be impossible to mention them
all right now so I'll just throw out some highlights.
We were led in the meet by John Fitzgerald who won the 200 Freestyle and
500 Freestyle. John set the Grand Ledge School Record in the 200 Freestyle
in 1:49.79, eclipsing Justin Mauro's year old record by nearly a full
second. John also extended his season Friday with a Division 1 State
Qualifying time and Holt Pool Record time of 4:57.34 in the 500 Freestyle.
John is now less than 3 seconds from the school record of 4:54.49.
In that same 500 event we saw our biggest drops of the meet as sophomore
Anthony Lugibihl dropped from a 7:03.73 to a 6:22.00 for a total drop of
41.73 seconds. Not to be out done freshman Casey Haggerty had his long
awaited breakout swim as he went from being seeded 18th at 6:35.81 to
scoring at 15th place in 5:53.57 for a drop of over 42 seconds.
Along with Casey our freshman class continued to contribute greatly as
Chris Cornell (200 IM, 100 Breast), David Smith (200 IM, 100 Fly) and Eric
Bayley (200 Free, 500 Free) scored in both of their individual events.
Eric was the Consolation Finals Champion in the 500 Free and David had to
jump a rival swimmer in the seedings in order to score in the 200 IM.
The senior class also represented itself very well as Nick Kenny swam to a
15th and 7th place finish in the 50 Free and 100 Breaststroke. Garrett
Kromer did a very nice job as he raked in 2 lifetime bests in the 100 Free
and 100 Breast.
Others scoring individually were juniors Max King (100 Fly, 100 Back),
Brad Bouchard (100 Back), Jordan Mannor (100 Free), Noah Staten (100 Free)
and Jason Robeson (50 Free).
Leading our Saturday charge was Curtis Kentner who blazed to a Consolation
victory in the 200 IM (2:13.91) and a 10th place finish in the 100 Fly
(1:01.11). Also sophomores Anthony Mauro and Paul Wilkes swam outstanding
as Anthony was 4th in the 50 Free and 5th in the 100 Free, while Paul was
7th in the 100 Back and 11th in the 200 IM. Both look to have very bright
futures and are only sophomores.
From top to bottom our whole team had incredible time drops as Friday we
had 58 swims and 57 lifetime bests. (Jordan redeemed his bad wall in the
50 by leading off the 200 Freestyle Relay in 24.52. A 1.27 second drop
which would have placed him 13th in the 50 Free.) Guys like Mike Mandley
and Paul Cleaveland made great strides as they look to be swimming on
Saturday next season.
Congrats to all the guys on a memorable weekend and a fun season. The
season concludes for everyone except Fitzgerald with the 2nd Shave meet
back at Holt on Tuesday. - Coach Townsend
CAAC Week Info
Boys07WeekSheetCAACIntinerary.pdf
CAAC Preview
Tonight I received the
heat sheets for the 2008 CAAC meet and it looks as though our young men
have their work cut out for them. On paper we are in 6th place going into
the meet with a score of 231 points. East Lansing is just ahead at 236,
Everett is 4th at 239, Jackson 305, Holt 454 and Okemos appears to lead
the way at 469.
We are led by John Fitzgerald who is the number 1 seed in both the 200
Free and 500 Free. John leads the 2 seed by nearly 5 seconds in the 200
and 10 seconds in the 500 Free. Hopefully a great taper will bring two
conference titles and two Division 1 state cuts Johns way. Also figuring
highly is Anthony Mauro and Curtis Kentner who are seeded in scoring
position in both of their events and could certainly move up and help our
team accomplish its goals.
After swimming only relays as a freshman, sophomore Paul Wilkes is seeded
13th in the 200 IM and 8th in the 100 Backstroke. Quite an improvement
after only one season and hopefully more improvement is coming on Friday
and Saturday. Freshman Eric Bayley finds himself seeded 8th in the 500
Freestyle, while classmate Chris Cornell is seeded 10th in the 100
Breaststroke. Junior Max King is in a good position as he is seeded 16th
in both the 100 Fly and 100 Back and junior Brad Bouchard is seeded 12th
in the Back as well.
The key to success in this meet is going to hinge greatly on the
performance of our guys that are seeded just out of scoring. Those people
include Garrett Kromer (22nd 100 Breast, 17th 100 Free), Jason Robeson
(20th 100 Breast, 19th 50 Free) and Noah Staten (18th 100 Free). In
position to score and looking to move up is Nick Kenny (50 Free, 100
Breast) and Jordan Mannor (50 Free, 100 Free). It will be key for our guys
to improve on our positions on Friday and then do the same on Saturday if
we any chance of catching Jackson, East Lansing or Everett. -
Coach Townsend
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
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