The 2018 Varsity Swimming & Diving team got its season off to a roaring start on Wednesday evening with a third straight victory at the Howard Comstock Waverly Relays. 

The team was able to claim first place in 5 of the 9 relays contested and came away with a ten point victory over the Chelsea Bulldogs and the rest of the 12 team field. 

Leading the evening off was the first relay of the night the 200 Medley Relay. Senior Isabel Lee (Backstroke), senior Cami Magee (Breaststroke), freshman Alyssa Rainsberger (Butterfly) & junior Danielle Ries (Freestyle) sprinted their way to a narrow win with a time of 1:59.93 just .48 ahead of the 2nd place team from Okemos. Next up was the 4 x 100 IM relay that saw the Comets place 2nd despite 4 best times from the quartet of junior Grace Weston, senior Abby Ford, sophomore Olivia Vanderlaan & senior Andrea Mueller-Hayes. 

The third event of the night was the 400 Freestyle Relay which featured Rainsberger, junior Chloe Willlobee, freshman Allie Diller & sophomore Nicole Stensen placing 4th with a stellar time of 4:04.60 that placed the team 2nd overall heading into the diving break. 

The Comet divers did a phenomenal job placing 7th and scoring 7 desperately needed points in the process. Sophomore Katie Schlegel & freshman Jade Friedlis had a score of 130.60 points with each diver completing 3 dives each. 

The Comets really got on a roll after the diving break as the relay of Rainsberger, Ries, Lee & senior Anah Stahelin combined to claim the first of 4 straight relay wins in a time of 1:59.46. Next up the 500 Crescendo Relay team of junior Sam Usher (50), Diller (100), Stensen (150) & Ford (200) came together to claim a dramatic comeback win in a time of 5:04.32. Ford hit the water 6 seconds behind to start her leg but made up ground quickly and surged to the lead with 100 yards to go in the 500 yard relay. 

The 200 Backstroke Relay was next to occur and the Comets led wire to wire thanks to a great leadoff leg from junior Grace Weston. Mueller-Hayes, Vanderlaan & Lee all followed with strong swims in their own right and the team finished with a time of 2:00.25. The Breaststroke Relay was more Comet flexing as Abby Ford staked the team to a lead in the first leg it would never relinquish. This time Nicole Stensen, Cami Magee & Grace Weston closed the relay in a time of 2:14.62 and an 8 second margin of victory. 

The final relay of the night was the 200 Freestyle Relay which saw the team of Usher, Ries, sophomore Amelia Hofmeister & Cami Magee place 6th with a time of 1:51.19. 

Next up the team turns their attention to training as they lead into the meat of their 2018 campaign. The team will emerge from the Labor Day break with their home opener on Sept 6th vs the St Johns RedWings. 

Team Scores
GRAND LEDGE 233
Chelsea 223
Holt 206
Okemos 188
DeWitt 154
St Johns 151
Williamston 92
Waverly 85
East Lansing 73
Mason 61
Haslett 58
Lansing 14