Last night, the girls swim and dive team had an outstanding meet against Byron Center for their senior night. Although they couldn’t hold onto the win, their strong efforts and hard work showed through as they ended with a final score of 84-101.

The 200-yard medley relay team began the meet. Freshmen Maggie Holt, sophomores Kayla Quach and Nora Magers, and senior Sydney VanLente all helped bring this relay to a second-place finish in an extremely close matchup where they only fell short by 0.38 seconds. The 200-yard free relay team also showed their incredible skill in an even closer matchup. Freshmen Allison Meny and Mady Scarlato, junior Ashley Schenck, and Sydney VanLente finished the race with a time of 1:47.65, only falling short of first by 0.10 seconds.

“I think we did very well and I am excited for our conference and state meet,” Sydney said. “My favorite thing about senior night was seeing everyone up in the stands, it was so fun having support and overall having such a fun time celebrating with my team.”

Following were the individual races. Sydney VanLente started the Rangers off strong as she came in first place in the 200-yard free with a time of 2:02.46. Allison Meny led FHC to two more first-place finishes, both in the 50-yard free where she earned a time of 26.39, and the 100-yard free with a time of 57.80. Ashley Schenck came out strong in the brutal 500-yard free where she took first place with a time of 5:47.05, beating out the second-place finisher by over thirty seconds. The 100-yard breast was a successful event as our two senior swimmers were able to place in the top three. Sydney VanLente secured another first-place finish with a time of 1:12.68 and fellow senior Annie Douma took third with a time of 1:19.19.

“The 100-yard breast has become one of my favorite events so it was nice to swim well in that event, especially on senior night,” Annie said. “My favorite thing about senior night was not only reflecting and really realizing I’m nearing the end of my swim career, but also just feeling all of the support of every team member and parent around me.”

The Lady Ranger Divers had an outstanding performance. All six divers had the chance to compete in the 1-meter diving competition. Junior Rachael Yeager took second place in the competition with a score of 197.95 and was the highest scorer for FHC. Senior Payton Dailey was able to make an appearance for senior night after being out with an injury. She earned her second-best score of the year with 156.40 and took seventh place.

“I think the meet went pretty well, I hadn’t actually dove in a month and a half because of my back so it went as well as it could’ve for those circumstances,” Payton said. “There were a lot of things I loved about senior night, after the meet we all had dinner together and it was super sweet. The old coach that I have had for the past three years also came and I just loved to see her.”

The girls are approaching the end of their regular season meets. Their last one will be on Tuesday, October 25, at 6:00 p.m. at East Grand Rapids.