GIRLS SWIMMING: Mercy again dominant in winning 11th straight Oakland County title

Marian, Rochester Adams follow in loaded field

BY DAN STICKRADT

CORRESPONDENT

dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

Twitter: @LocalSportsFans

LAKE ORION —  Dominating.

Farmington Hills Mercy has redefined the term inside the Oakland County Girls Swimming and Diving circles.

The Marlins, ranked third in the state in Division 1, captured their unprecedented 11th straight Oakland County Championships title Saturday at Lake Orion High School, rolling up 392 points to finish well ahead of the star-studded field that featured 12 county schools that are either ranked in the top 10 or listed as honorable mention in the polls.

Mercy, which also won its 13th county crown in 14 years, captured six of 12 events and recorded 28 overall places over 12 events to run away with the meet title, which serves notice to state leaders Saline and Ann Arbor Pioneer that the Marlins will once again be state title contenders.

Birmingham Marian was a distant second with 258 points, Rochester Adams claimed third with 226 points, while White Lake Lakeland (216), Lake Orion (170), Birmingham Seaholm (162), North Farmington (116), Farmington Harrison (111), South Lyon Unified (101) and Birmingham Groves (84) rounded out the top 10 in a field where 22 schools scored points.

Mercy bookended the meet with a pair of county records.

First, Katie Minnich, Alaina Skellett, Allison Lobbia and Kendall Goit joined forces to win the 200 medley relay (1:46.63) in the first event of the afternoon. Goit, Minnich, Skellett and Ellyse Conn ended the meet with a 3:31.99 clocking in the 400 freestyle relay, another new county mark.

“It’s a tribute to all of the girls that we’ve had here over the years. You don’t win that many county championships if you don’t have hard-working girls,” said Mercy coach Shannon Dunworth. “They’ve taken it on the chin already this season (at another invitational) but have just worked hard to get better every meet.”

Conn came back to win the 200 IM (2:05.91) and 500 freestyle (4:57.22), Skellett claimed the 100 butterfly (55.86), and Minnich touched first in the 100 backstroke (55.60) for the Marlins.

“We have a lot of tradition at Mercy, so many great swimmers over the years. We have a lot to live up to. We have to carry on the tradition,” said Conn.

the county swim meet is the first meet of the championship season and it helps set the stage for the key meets down the stretch.

“I love this meet,” added Dunworth. “It’s as good a meet as there is in the state the whole year. Our girls realize that. The competition is amazing each year. And this helps prepare us for the state meet.”

Marian’s Sophia Schott had a grand day, setting the county meet record in the 50 freestyle (23.58) while swimming a leg on the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:38.38). She was joined by Sister Christina Schott, Mary Kate Nodland and Lauren Biglin in the victorious quartet.

Schott broke a record that has stood for 21 years.

I know I never could have gotten it without lots of hard work,” said Schott. “You work so hard all year for meets like this and this is your shot to do something special. I just give it my all when I’m (against great competition).”

Walled Lake Central’s Amanda Ling won the 1-meter diving event with 453.30 points, some 76 points ahead of the nearest competitor.

North Farmington’s Emma Bradley earned the title in the 200 freestyle (1:52.87), Lake Orion’s Claire Abbasse captured the 100 freestyle (51.86) by five one-hundreths of a second over the aforementioned Schott (51.91), and Lakeland’s Isabel Fairbanks rounded out the winners with a victory in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.81).

OAKLAND COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

(Oct. 3 at Lake Orion H.S.)

TEAM SCORES — 1. Farmington Hills Mercy, 392; 2. Birmingham Marian, 258; 3. Rochester Adams, 226; 4. White Lake Lakeland, 216; 5. Lake Orion,, 170; 6. Birmingham Seaholm, 162; 7. North Farmington, 116; 8. Farmington Hills Harrison, 111; 9. South Lyon Unified, 101; 10. Birmingham Groves, 84; 11. West Bloomfield, 73; 12. Walled Lake Northern, 68; 13. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 62; 14. Novi, 56; 15. Royal Oak, 44; 16. Troy, 42; 17. Bloomfield Hills, 40; 18. Clarkston, 35; 19. Rochester, 31; 20. Walled Lake Central, 20; 21. Milford, 17; 22. Birmingham Detroit Country Day, 1; 23. (tie) Berkley, 0; Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 0; Waterford United, 0; Oxford, 0; Farmington, 0; Rochester Stoney Creek, 0; Troy Athens, 0; Auburn Hills Avondale, 0; Madison Heights Bishop Foley Catholic, 0; Ferndale, 0; Ferndale University, 0; Madison Heights Lamphere, 0; Holly, 0; Ortonville Brandon, 0; Southfield Unified, 0; Hazel Park, 0.

EVENT RESULTS

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Farmington Hills Mercy (Katie Minnich, Allison Lobbia, Alaina Skellett, Kendall Goit) 1:46.63; 2. White Lake Lakeland, 1:48.18; 3. Birmingham Seaholm, 1:L48.56; 4. North Farmington, 1:48.84; 5. Birmingham Marian, 1:50.29; 6. Rochester Adams, 1:50.96; 7. Farmington Harrison, 1:52.57; 8. Walled Lake Northern, 1:52.80; 9. Birmingham Groves, 1:53.17;  10. South Lyon Unified, 1:53.43; 11. Lake Orion, 1:53.45; 12. Novi, 1:53.91; 13. Bloomfield Hills, 1:52.26; 14. West Bloomfield, 1:54.73; 15. Troy, 1:55.62; 16. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 1:56.17.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Emma Bradley (North Farmington) 1:52.87; 2. Kendall Goit (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:53.86; 3. Kirstyn Abbasse (Lake Orion) 1:54.32; 4. Anuschka Sambel (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood) 1:56.11; 5. Camille Rochaix (Birmingham Groves) 1:56.17; 6. Lauren Biglin (Birmingham Marian) 1:56.18; 7. Erin Santella (Rochester Adams) 1:56.69; 8. Morgan Jones (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:57.36; 9. Katy Kouvaris (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:57.58; 10. Emma Harris (Royal Oak) 1:57.72; 11. Claire McGinnis (Rochester Adams) 1:57.72; 12. Victoria Thor (Rochester) 1:58.51; 13. Kate Doyle (White Lake Lakeland) 1:58.68; 14. Erin Judd (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:58.71; 15. Madison Clement (Bloomfield Hills) 1:58.90; 16. Alexandra Cortez (Novi) 1:58.92.

200 IM — 1. Ellyse Conn (Farmington Hills Mercy) 2:05.91; 2. Courtney Connolly (White Lake Lakeland) 2L8.72; 3. Katie Minnich (Farmington Hills Mercy) 2:09.84; 4. Nicole Pape (Rochester Adams, 2:09.96; 5. Julia Boswell (Royal Oak) 2:11.45; 6. Melanie Dunnuck (South Lyon Unified) 2:12.24; 7. Mya Loniewski (Farmington Hills Mercy) 2:!2.42; 8. Annette Dombkowski (Farmington Hills Mercy) 2:12.58; 9. Jamie Miller (Rochester Adams) 2:13.46; 10. Lena Li (Birmingham Seaholm) 2:!3.61; 11. Rebekah Irwin (Birmingham Marian) 2:14.18; 12. Johanna Lohner (Rochester Adams) 2:14.85; 13. Reese McCorry (Rochester Adams) 2:15.04; 14. Caroline Reamer (Farmington Hills Mercy) 2:15.56; 15. Joanne Tan (Troy) 2:15.76; 16. Charlotte Pierce (Birmingham Groves) 2:16.09.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Sophia Schott (Birmingham Marian) 23.58; 2. Claire Abbasse (Lake Orion) 23.70; 3. Kailyn Swantek (Birmingham Marian) 24.23; 4. Ashley Turak (Farmington Harrison) 24.41; 5. Ava Barnthouse (West Bloomfield) 24.71; 6. Kate Rogowski (Clarkston) 24.86; 7. Bella Smith (White Lake Lakeland) 24.88; 8. Grace Xu (Farmington Harrison) 24.90; 9. Ava Bianchi (Novi) 24.93 24.93; 10. Hannah Chao (North Farmington) 24.95; 11. Mary Kate Nodland (Birmingham Marian) 24.98; 12. Linnea Anderson (Birmingham Seaholm) 24.99; 13. Riley Faulkner (White Lake Lakeland) 25.06; 14. Haley Dolan (Birmingham Seaholm) 25.15; 15. Christina Schott ((Birmingham Marian) 25.20; 16. Zoe Quinn (Lake Orion) 25.31.

ONE-METER DIVING — 1. Amanda Ling (Walled Lake Central) 453.30; 2. Julia Feord (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood) 377.40; 3. Erika Lacasse (Bloomfield Hills) 373.55; 4. Caitlyn Canadi (South Lyon Unified) 364.35; 5. Jacqueline Bumler (West Bloomfield) 356.50; 6. Alexa Rybicki (Farmington Hills Mercy) 343.45; 7. Limmy Kim (Rochester Adams) 342.10; 8. Sophie Beck (Milford) 338.65; 9. Starr Bryan (South Lyon Unified) 309.20; 10. Alexa Bernstein (Walled Lake Northern) 306.25; 11. Paige Hartman (West Bloomfield) 297.10; 12. Jessica Woodman (Rochester Adams) 292.00; 13. Alicia Schmidt (South Lyon Unified) 289.20; 14. Elaine Thut (Birmingham Seaholm) 277.55; 15. Kelly Shrosbee (North Farmington) 266.05; 16. Alexis Bidwell (South Lyon Unified) 263.00.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Alaina Skellett (Farmington Hills Mercy) 55.86; 2. Sarah Hennings (Lake Orion) 56.49; 3. Courtney Courtney Connolly (White Lake Lakeland) 57.72; 4. Emma Hazel (White Lake Lakeland) 57.88; 5. Gabby Rosely (Walled Lake Northern) 58.21; 6. Nicole PApe (Rochester Adams) 58.34; 7. Linnea Anderson (Birmingham Seaholm) 58.60; 8. Anuschka Sambel (Bloomfield Hills Cranbroook Kingswood) 59.42; 9. Ava Barnthouse (West Bloomfield) 59.74; 10. Gabby Granata (Birmingham Marian) 59.81; 11. Lena Li (Birmingham Seaholm) 59.96; 12. Emma Noonan (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:00.55; 13. Adrienne Goins (Rochester Adams) 1:00.58; 14. Phoebe Benet (Birmingham Seaholm) 1:01.08; 15. Katy Kouvaris (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:01.16; 16. Birmingham Detroit Country Day, 1:01.44.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Claire Abbasse (Lake Orion) 51.86; 2. Sophia Schott (Birmingham Marian) 51.91; 3. Kendall Goit (Farmington Hills Mercy) 52.82; 4. Michelle Wang (Troy) 53.65; 5. Kailyn Swantek (Birmingham Marian) 53.68; 6. Kate Rogowski (Clarkston) 53.79; 7. Erin Santella (Rochester Adams) 54.42; 8. Alexandra Russell (Birmingham Seaholm) 54.46; 9. Riley Faulkner (White Lake Lakeland) 54.53; 10. Ashley Turak (Farmington Harrison) 54.60; 11. Christina Schott (Birmingham Marian) 54.83; 12. Hanna Erikson (Birmingham Seaholm) 54.94; 13. Ava Bianchi (Novi) 55.03; 14. Bella Smith (White Lake Lakeland) 55.16; 15. Madison Clement (Birmingham Marian) 55.26; 16. Erin Judd (Farmington Hills Mercy) 55.30.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Elysse Conn (Farmington Hills Mercy) 4:57.22; 2. Emma Bradley (North Farmington) 5:04.17; 3. Lauren Biglin (Birmingham Marian) 5:08.91; 4. Juli Boswell (Royal Oak) 5:10.12; 5. Annette Dombkowski (Farmington Hills Mercy) 5:10.83; 6. Claire McGinnis (Rochester Adams) 5:11.05; 7. Morgan Jones (Farmington Hills Mercy) 5:11.41; 8. Kate Doyle (White Lake Lakeland) 5:12.96; 9. Camille Rochaix (Birmingham Groves) 5:15.00; 10. Kirstyn Abbasse (Lake Orion) 5:16.39; 11. Reagan Wegener (Rochester) 5:16.49; 12. Caroline Reamer (Farmington Hills Mercy) 5:17.44; 13. Mya Loniewski (Farmington Hills Mercy) 5:20.94; 14. Lisa Lohner (Rochester Adams) 5:21.71; 15. Emma Harris (Royal Oak) 5:22.65; 16. Adrianna Waack (Rochester Adams) 5:23.29.

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Farmington Hills Mercy (Katie Minnich, Allison Lobbia, Alaina Skellett, Kendall Goit) 1:46.63; 2. White Lake Lakeland, 1:48.18; 3. Birmingham Seaholm, 1:48.56; 4. North Farmington, 1:48.84; 5. Birmingham Marian, 1:50.29; 6. Rochester Adams, 150.96; 7. Farmington Harrison, 1:52.57; 8. Walled Lake Northern, 1:52.80; 9. Birmingham Groves, 1:53.17; 10. South Lyon Unified, 1:53.43; 11. Lake Orion, 1:53.45; 12. Novi, 1:53.91; 13. Bloomfield Hills, 1:54.26; 14. West Bloomfield, 1:54.73; 15. Troy, 1:55.62; 16. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 1:56.17.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Katie Minnich (Farmington Hills Mercy) 55.60; 2. Alaina Skellett (Farmington Hills Mercy) 56.13; 3. Gabby Rosely (Walled Lake Northern) 56.85; 4. Emma Hazel (White Lake Lakeland) 57.41; 5. Gabby Granata (Birmingham Marian) 58.88; 6. Hannah Chao (North Farmington) 58.90; 7. Sarah Hennings (Lake Orion) 59.54; 8. Jamie Miller (Rochester Adams) 59.84; 9. Caroline Hughes (Clarkston) 1:00.24; 10. Jackie Baldus (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:00.34; 11. Emily Mayoras (Novi) 1:00.40; 12. Michelle Wang (Troy) 1:00.88; 13. Johanna Lohner (Rochester Adams) 1:00.99; 14. Anna Geyer (South Lyon Unified) 1:01.51; 15. Taylor Rousseau (Bloomfield Hills) 1:01.70; 16. Camille Misra (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood) 1:01.71.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Isabel Fairbanks (White Lake Lakeland) 1:06.81; 2. Alexandra Russell (Birmingham Seaholm) 1:06.99; 3. Charlotte Pierce (Birmingham Groves) 1:07.35; 4. Rebekah Irwin (Birmingham Marian) 1:07.87; 5. Mackenzie Humphrey (Rochester Adams) 1:08.33; 6. Grace Xu (Farmington Harrison) 1:08.76; 7. Megan Hutter (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:08.83; 8. Julia Borri (Farmington Harrison) 1:08.89; 9. Alison Lobbia (Farmington Hills Mercy) 1:09.07; 10. Clare Langenderfer (Rochester Adams) 1:09.34; 11. Melanie Dunnuck (South Lyon Unified) 1:09.51; 12. Hannah Brown (Walled Lake Northern) 1:09.71; 13. Julianna Petrak (North Farmington) 1:09.86; 14. Amanda Keller (Lake Orion) 1:10.48; 15. Dayna Borregard (Farmington Harrison) 1:10.71; 16. Aubrey East (North Farmington) 1:11.37.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. Farmington Hills Mercy (Kendall Goit, Ellyse Conn, Katie Minnich, Alaina Skellett) 3:31.99; 2. Birmingham Marian, 3:33.73; 3. Lake Orion, 3:33.82; 4. White Lake Lakeland, 3:37.99; 5. Birmingham Seaholm, 3:39.97; 6. Rochester Adams, 3:$0.00; 7. West Bloomfield, 3:$1.41; 8. Novi, 3:42.01; 9. South Lyon Unified, 3:45.56; 10. Troy, 3:46.03; 11. Birmingham Groves, 3:46.70; 12. Rochester, 3:46.92; 13. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3:47.19; 14. Royal Oak, 3:47.24; 15. Walled Lake Northern, 3:47.58; 16. Bloomfield Hills, 3:52.94.

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