GIRLS SWIMMING: Rochester Adams clinches OAA Red Division title
Highlanders win state’s top league for first time in
decade; Seaholm, Lake Orion follow in star-studded field
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
Dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
LAKE ORION –– Competing in the ever-tough OAA Red Division, all of the stars must align just perfectly in order to claim a conference championship.
Those stars made a shape of a Highlander Friday night for Rochester Adams, which put the finishing touches on its first OAA-Red Division championship in 10 years with an impressive performance at the conference meet at Lake Orion High School.
Adams flexed some serious muscle by scoring an impressive 497 points to win the league meet by 86 points.
Coupled with a perfect 6-0-0 dual meet record, the Highlanders clinched their first outright championship in the OAA-Red
since 2004.
“It’s been quite a long while since we’ve had a group like this,” smiled 20th-year Adams coach Tim Hickey, who has qualified 18 athletes for the state finals. “The last time we had this much talent was in 2004, the last time we won this league. We have a lot of great girls on this team, a lot of depth, and I think that makes a big difference.”
Over 11 events, Adams ony had three champions, but also came away with two runners-up, five third-place finishers, four fourth-place finishers and a pair of fifth-place finishers to showcase their top-tier talent. The top 16 in in each open event and the top seven relays in each of the three relay events all score points.
The Adams foursome of Allison Zweng, Clare Langenderfer, Nicole Pape and Krystal Kaaras set the tone in the finals with a 1:48.24 clocking in the 200-yard medley relay. Pape also touched first in the 50 free (23.86) and 100 breaststroke (1:04.78) to pace Adams.
“We have a very talented senior class, plus some really good underclassmen. We have a nice group mof freshmen that have really helped and the sophomore class has (become) stronger,” offered Hickey. “We have a nice mix of (returning talent) and newcomers. We thought based on our team that we might have a shot at this and they were able to pull it off this season. This is a very difficult league to win.”
Birmingham Seaholm finished second at the conference meet with 411 points, while Lake Orion (325), Clarkston (282), Bloomfield Hills (240), Farmington Harrison (155) and Birmingham Groves (126) rounded out the team scores.
Seaholm was also second in the dual meet standings at 5-1-0, followed by Lake Orion (4-2-0), Clarkston (3-3-0), Bloomfield Hills (2-4-0), Groves (1-5-0) and Harrison (0-6-0).
Birmingham Seaholm’s Mykala Arnold won the 100 freestyle (52.19) and 100 backstroke (57.51), while she joined Allie Russell, Emily Abbott and Hannah Eriickson for a win in the 200 medley relay (1:38.42) for the Maples.
Lake Orion also had three winners on the day Bethany Abramczyk won the 200 yard free (1:54.26), Sarah Hennings took home the crown in the 100 butterly (56.88), while Hennings and Abramczyk also joined forces with Kirstyn Abbasse and Danielle Kudla for a victory in the 400 free relay (3:35.26).
Birmingham Seaholm’s Mykala Arnold won the 100 freestyle (52.19) and 100 backstroke (57.51), while she joined Allie Russell, Emily Abbott and Hannah Eriickson for a win in the 200 medley relay (1:38.42) for the Maples.
Clarkston’s Ceren Ege won the 200 IM (2:07.59) and Kelsery Gilbert the 500 free (5:04.38) for the Wolves.
Bloomfield Hills’ Erika LaCasse captured the one-meter diving events(382.65 points), as the Blackhawks took four of the top six slots to round out the winners.
Veteran Lake Orion coach Darin Abbasse beleives that the OAA-Red’s strength and depth wil be opn shcase next weekend at the Division 1 and Division 2 state finals, where all seven schools are expected to score well.
“To be honest, our league should do just fine again at the state finals, just like in most years,” said Abbasse. “I expect us, Clarkston and Bloomfield Hills will score some points in Division 1, while Adams and Seaholm could be top-five in
Divison 2. Groves and Harrison also have some big-mmet performers and North Farmington (out of the OAA White Division) should also score well.”
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