Ann Arbor Pioneer, Birmingham Groves Take Divisional State Titles in Michigan

By Jason Marsteller

PHOENIX, Arizona, November 28. THE Michigan High School Athletic Association held its Division 1 and 2 Lower Peninsula State Championships from Nov. 17-18. Ann Arbor Pioneer took home the Division 1 title, while Birmingham Groves won the Division 2 crown.

Division 1
Ann Arbor Pioneer, winners of three out of the last four Swimming World Magazine National High School Championships, rolled to another victory with 359.5 points in Division 1. Holland High finished a distant second with 221 points, while Farmington Hills Mercy High took third with 159.5 points. Monroe High (146) and Livonia Stevenson High (104) rounded out the top five.

Canton High junior Allison Schmitt provided the first division record with a 4:50.79 in the 500-yard freestyle. That effort edged the 4:50.87 previously held by Northville's Ava Ohlgren since Nov. 18, 2005. Schmitt also doubled up with a pool-record time of 1:47.54 in the 200 free.

Pinckney High senior Alexandra Miller broke her own division record in one-meter diving with 424.50 points for the win. Her old record of 413.40 point came on Nov. 18, 2005. Notably, runner-up Marcella Barretta, a junior from Ford II High, cleared the previous standard with 414.95 points.

Two swimmers turned in event deuces as Pioneer High senior Carlye Ellis took home the 200 IM (2:04.76) and the 100 breast (1:04.05), while Kalamazoo Central High senior Brianne Powers touched first in the 50 free (23.40) and the 100 free (50.24).

Division 2
Birmingham Groves High took home the Division 2 team title with 276 points, while Dexter High placed second with 216 points. Forest Hills Central placed third with 206 points, while Milan High finished fourth with 191 points. Cranbrook Kingswood High closed out the top five with 186 points.

Dexter High senior Adrienne Woods started the meet off right by lowering her division record in the 200 free. She touched in 1:49.57, eclipsing the 1:49.98 set in 2005. She then doubled up with a division-record time of 50.39 in the 100 free. That erased the four-year old record of 50.83 set by Lindsey Smith from Dexter High in 2002.

Groves High senior Dana Christ set the division 200 IM record by touching in 2:03.43. That swim surpassed the 2:04.91 set by North Farmington High's Katya Bachrouche in 2005. Christ then lowered her 100 fly record with a 54.19 to win the event. The previous division standard was 54.34 set in 2005.

Bachrouche came back in the 500 free to smash her division record of 4:58.32 set in 2004 with a 4:52.35.

Division relay records also fell as the Cranbrook Kingswood contingent of Maeve McHugh, Rachel Dekar, Erin Kennedy and Zoe Lukas turned in a 1:46.55 that dropped the 1:47.38 set by Birmingham Groves in 2003 in the 200-yard medley relay. Dexter High foursome Lauren Daugherty, Ally Daily, Jessie Boren and Adrienne Woods also took down the 200 free relay division record with a 1:37.47 to eclipse the 1:37.86 set by their school in 2002.

In diving, East Grand Rapids High senior Chelsea Oates won with 447.55 points from the one-meter.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use