The Pioneer girls’ swimming and diving team dominated the MHSAA Division 1 State Finals last year, winning eight events and finishing with 322 points, more than 100 points better than runner-up Northville. There is no reason to think we won’t see a similar scenario play out this season.
The Pioneers are chasing a fourth consecutive state title at the Division 1 State Finals on Nov. 17-18. The Division 1 finals are at EMU while the D-2 meet is at Holland Aquatic Center.
Top-ranked Pioneer is loaded again and have gone undefeated this season, defeating fourth-seeded Northville 139-46 in a recent dual-meet and cruising through an always challenging SEC schedule.
Last year, the Pioneers won despite graduating a strong senior class. They cruised to the program’s 19th State Title with the 20th waiting on the pool deck at EMU.
Huron, who finished 19th at last year’s State Finals, will join the Pioneers in Ypsilanti.
Skyline and Dexter will compete at the Division 2 State Finals. The Eagles landed in sixth place at last year’s meet while the Dreadnaughts touched 15th overall in impressive showings.
Here are the local swimmers who have qualified for the state meet.
PIONEER – D1
Qualifiers – Swimming
Stella Chapman
Yan Yee Adler
Jayla Kuzak
Kate Van Ryn
Suryn Lee
Harper Feyen
Amani Sanogo
Cecilia Cook
Ursula Ott
Reese Heidenreich
Bridgette Kamara
Meg Pinkerton
Rachel Brewbaker
Ava Griffith
Qualifiers – Diving
Grace Daly
Arianna Pagel
Lisa Pando Rasia
HURON – D1
Qualifiers – Swimming
Sawako Sakamoto
Juna Sakamoto
SKYLINE – D2
Qualifiers – Swimming
Britta Coultas
Allie Deininger
Shannen Lee
Juliana Peoples
Adrienne Schadler
Sofia Torres
Anika Vaitkevicius
Sophia Nielsen
Qualifiers – Diving
Violet Schrag
Payton Oleksinski
Teagan McCallian
DEXTER – D2
Qualifiers – Swimming
Swimmers with state qualifying times are as follows:
200 medley relay team
200 IM – Delaney Parker, Kayce McAllister
50 free – Kayce McAllister
100 fly – Delaney Parker
100 free – Kayce McAllister, Harper Brown
100 back – Kayce McAllister
100 breast – Delaney Parker, Harper Brown
200 free relay team
400 free relay team
Qualifiers – Diving
Bella Larson
