The Drive for Five is complete.
The Pioneer girls’ swimming and diving team did what they do best – win state championships – at last weekend’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 swimming & diving championship at Holland Aquatic Center. The heavily favored Pioneers left little doubt of their dominance as they racked up 386 points, 164 points better than runner-up Jenison (222).
Northville finished third with 165 points, followed by Grand Haven (142), Zeeland (138), Canton (133) and Rockford (129). SEC rival Saline finished 17th with 48 points while Huron earned three points.
Let’s get back to Pioneer.
The five straight state titles isn’t even the longest in school history. Pioneer won nine titles in a row from 2000-2008.
Pioneer didn’t win any individual race but the team’s depth filled the pool with talent in every event. They won two relays, placed second in the other and had 26 individual entries seeded to score (among the top 16 in their events).
“We were favored coming in and favored all season, but the girls weren’t complacent and they didn’t take anything for granted,” Pioneer coach Stefanie Kerska told MHSAA after the meet. “They showed up every single day as if they were the underdogs, and I really respect their work ethic and how they conducted themselves in and out of the pool each day.”
Pioneer opened the meet with a second-place finish in the medley relay. The team of Bridgette Kamara, Ursula Ott, Meg Pinkerton and Cecilia Walusek finished in 1:43.45, a fingernail behind Jenison (1:43.05).
The Pioneer team of Reese Heidenreich, Katelyn Van Ryn, Ott and Pinkerton won the 200 free relay in 1:34.47, just beating Jenison (1:34.52) to the wall. Pioneer’s team of Heidenreich, Jayla Kuzak, Cecilia Cook and Van Ryn won the 400 free relay in 3:28.59.
In the 200 freestyle, Walusek was seventh (1:54.48), Harper Feyen was 12th (1:56.35) and Ava Griffith was 13th (1:56.73).
The 200 IM is the perfect example of Pioneer’s depth. Ott touched second with a time of 2:04.83 with Jayla Kuzak sixth (2:07.68) and Heidenreich seventh (2:09.07). They weren’t done. Cook was 13th in 2:11.50 and Kamara was 16th in 2:12.23. That all added up to 62 points for the purple and white.
In the 50 free, Van Ryn was fifth in 23.48 and Pinkerton 11th in 24.27.
The Pioneers also splashed up 27 points in diving as Gracy Daly was fifth (368.65 points) and Arianna Pagel was sixth (367.55).
The Pioneers landed three swimmers in the top nine in the 100 free with Van Ryn (fourth, 51.79), Heidenreich (seventh, 53.16) and Pinkerton (ninth, 53.21).
Pioneer went 6-7-8 in the 500 free with Walusek (5:10.2), Suryn Lee (5:11.74) and Feyen (5:12.05). Jayla Kuzak was 12th in 5:13.15.
In the backstroke, Kamara was seventh (58.23), Cook was 10th (58.98) and Kamara was 14th (1:00.27).
The Pioneers went 2-3 in the breaststroke with Ott taking second (1:02.66) and Tallulah Beg touching third (1:04.92). Pioneer’s Suryn Lee was ninth in 1:06.31. Huron sophomore Juna Sakamoto was 14th in 1:07.71.
