This past weekend, seven of the girls on the swim and dive team competed in their last meet of the season. The MHSAA Division Two State Finals is a hard meet to make it to, but the talent these girls showed throughout the year proved that they were more than ready for the challenge. 

Junior Rachael Yeager was the only diver to make it to the state meet. After finishing in eleventh place at the regional competition last weekend, Rachael was able to qualify for the state finals. She put up a hard fight in the 1-meter dive prelims and gave her thirty-nine opponents a tough score to beat. Unfortunately, after finishing with a final score of 229.25 she ended up in seventeenth place, just one place shy of qualifying for the finals the next day.

The 400-yard free relay team put up a good fight in the prelims against their twenty-three opponents. Freshman Maggie Holt and Allison Meny, junior Ashley Schenck, and senior Sydney VanLente were able to drop their entry time by an impressive 0.52 seconds earning them the nineteenth place, but unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to qualify them for the finals. Sydney VanLente, Ashley Schenck, Allison Meny, and freshman Mady Scarlato were part of the hardworking 200-yard free relay team. Sadly, the team added some time to their entry time and ended up finishing in twenty-fourth place and weren’t able to qualify for the finals.

“I wish that I would’ve had a better mindset going into the meet, I thought I would be more pumped up but I wasn’t and I think that played a part in my performance,” Mady said. “My goal was to make it to the states and I got to go with my best friends so I was pretty happy with how the season ended.”

Finally, Maggie Holt, Allison Meny, and Sydney VanLente were all able to qualify for their own individual races. Maggie was able to represent herself in the 100-yard backstroke, where she finished with a time of 1:04.33 placing thirtieth. Both Allison and Sydney were able to race in the 200-yard free. Allison took fortieth with a time of 2:02.58 and Sydney took twenty-second with a time of 1:58.94. Lastly, Sydney competed n the 100-yard fly where she took twenty-fourth with a solid time of 1:01.38. Unfortunately, after a very tough fight,  none of the girls were able to qualify for the finals. 

“States for me was a lot of pressure to do well, there were a lot of really fast girls to compete against and it was a lot to take in,” Maggie said. “I wish we all had a better mental space this year, but that is a goal for next year’s team.”

Although the season didn’t end quite as planned for some of the girls, this team had a spectacular year. Not everyone is able to experience going to the state competition, but the hard work and dedication these athletes put in this season proved that they belonged.