The 2018 Girls Varsity Swimming & Diving Team stormed to their 3rd straight CAAC Blue Meet win on Saturday evening at Mason High School with a program record 542.50 points.  

The team won the opening event, the 200 Medley Relay & never looked back en route to a 180 point margin of victory over their nearest challenger. The team was led by an extremely balanced lineup that kept the pressure on their competitors all weekend long. 

The opening event of the meet was the afore mentioned 200 Medley Relay and the foursome of junior Lola Mull, junior Grace Weston, Junior Danielle Ries & senior captain Abby Ford sprinted their way to a commanding win in a new school, pool & conference record time of 1:47.95. 

The first individual event of the day, the 200 Freestyle, was another dominating Comet performance as the team used scoring swims from 5 swimmers to add to their point tally. Grace Weston led wire to wire as she claimed the top spot with a new pool record time of 1:52.25. Sophomore Nicole Stensen placed 4th with a time of 2:02.29 and freshman Alyssa Rainsberger placed 5th with a time of 2:02.37. Completing the scoring was freshman Allie Diller who placed 9th and sophomore Amelia Hofmeister who placed 12th. 

In the 200 Individual Medley the team again saw 5 members contribute to the point total. This time Lola Mull claimed the top spot on the podium with a new pool & conference record time of 2:07.63. Senior Isabel Lee swam to a 5th place finish & junior Chloe Willobee used a big time drop to snare 7th Place points for the team. The senior duo of Anah Stahelin & Andrea Mueller-Hayes swam to 10th & 13th Place respectively. 

The onslaught continued in the 50 Freestyle as the team’s depth continued to shine through. Senior Abby Ford set a new school record in the event on her way to a 4th place finish in 24.79. Not to be outdone Senior Cameron Magee & junior Danielle Ries placed 5th & 6th each in lifetime best times of 25.67 & 25.71. Junior Sam Usher sprinted her way to 9th Place & junior Kamie Schulze made the most of her first trip to the CAAC finals with a 15th place finish time of 28.29. 

The diving event saw the team accomplish a big season goal as the trio of freshman Jade Friedlis, senior Maggie Mullins & sophomore Katie Schagel scored the first diving points for the team since 2012. Friedlis placed 4th with a score of 300.70, while Mullins placed 9th with a score of 256.80 & Schagel rallied to place 10th with a score of 251.00. 

The next event competed was the 100 Butterfly and that saw junior Danielle Ries claim her first ever CAAC Blue crown in a come from behind time of 1:00.21. Sophomore Amelia Hofmeister closed out her conference meet with her first ever trip to the championship finals as she placed 8th with a time of 1:10.93. 

The 100 Freestyle was a fantastic battle for 1st as Lola Mull battled the whole way and came away victorious with a new pool & school record time of 52.18. Rainsberger returned to log her personal best of 56.35 in a 6th place effort. Sophomore Olivia Vanderlaan blasted to her best time with of 57.96 to place 10th while Sam Usher placed 12th in 59.05 & Anah Stahelin placed 16th with a lifetime best time of 1:00.93. 

The longest event of the day proved to be the biggest strength for the Comets as they were able to score major points from 6 point scorers. Abby Ford swam to a new pool record and State qualifying time of 5:08.69 to capture the top spot. Nicole Stensen swam to 4th with a time of 5:29.62, Allie Diller swam to 5th in 5:47.24 & Chloe Willobee placed 8th with a season best time of 5:52.17. Rounding out the scoring for the team was junior Jordan Haywood who placed 10th with a massive time drop to 5:59.27 & sophomore Reese Carlson as she scored her first points of the meet with a new lifetime best time of 6:12.05. 

One of the best races of the day came in the second relay race, the 200 Freestyle Relay. The quartet of Cameron Magee, Danielle Ries, Alyssa Rainsberger & Grace Weston came from behind late to snare the narrow victory with a pool record time of 1:41.69 to just out-touch their nearest competitors from DeWitt High School by .17 seconds. 

The 100 Backstroke was another fabulous race as senior Isabel Lee came up just short of a conference title but still registered 3rd place in a new lifetime best time of 1:02.06. Olivia Vanderlaan also had her best time as she placed 6th and senior Andrea Mueller-Hayes had her season best time placing 8th in 1:09.02. 

The final individual event of the day came in the form of the 100 Breaststroke and Grace Weston made it 4 for 4 on league titles as she smashed the pool record and claimed the top prize with a new school record time of 1:04.77. Senior Cameron Magee swam to her best time of 1:11.16 and a 5th place finish. 

The final event was the 400 Freestyle Relay and it ended the same way the other two relays ended: with a Comet victory. The team of Abby Ford, Alyssa Rainsberger, Nicole Stensen & Lola Mull swam to the win in a new pool record time of 3:38.26. 

At the end of the meet junior Grace Weston was named the Rick Edwards Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet courtesy of her 4 event wins. 

The team is next in action on Tuesday at GLHS for the 2nd Shave Invitational & then at Eastern Michigan University on November 16 & 17 for the Division 1 State Finals. 

Final Team Scores:
GRAND LEDGE - 542.50
Holt -362.5
DeWitt - 332
Okemos - 319
St Johns - 201
East Lansing - 159
Haslett - 95