They came seemingly out of nowhere, but this underrated sport, which is full of incredible athletes, is looking to bring home some hardware.
If you haven’t heard, the girls’ varsity swim team has a lot of members who qualified for states this year, more than in the last few years. Those qualified swimmers include seniors Maggie Holt and Allison Meny, juniors Linnea Dicander and Ellie Palmer, and sophomore Ciana Fors individually, plus sophomores Lola Lipke and Natalie Holt for relays, with opportunities left for more of their teammates to join them. Maggie Holt is not new to being a state qualifier, but making the cut this year has been extra special.
“Making states again this year has been relieving since I’ve been making states since freshman year,” Maggie said. “But it also has been very rewarding because I’ve made more state cuts than I have before this year.”
Another special story surrounding these qualifiers is the story of junior Linnea Dicander, as she is a foreign exchange student from Sweden.
“It feels amazing! I honestly didn’t expect it, especially since this is my first and only year here,” Linnea said. “I was just trying to do my best at the first meet, and when I found out I made it to states, I was really surprised, but super proud. It’s a really cool way to start my time here.”
This major achievement takes a lot of hard work and dedication to accomplish; a team doesn’t just spit out seven state qualifiers without some sort of change. And the team really did put in the work to make this happen; junior Lola Lipke correlates this to being the reason that so many swimmers made it.
“We have worked extra hard this year with double practices 3 times a week,” Lola explains. “Also putting in the work in the weight room and early mornings.”
But extra practices and weight room visits were not the only change that influenced this influx of swimmers going to states; there were also developments in the team itself that contributed to this rise.
“I think this year we had new faces on the team like our exchange student from Sweden, Linnea, and one of our sophomores, Ciana, is back in the pool after being injured last year (both of these girls have at least 4 state cuts each),” Maggie explains. “Both of these girls have not only pushed all of the former state team people to be faster but also almost everyone on the team to be faster.”
It’s also important to consider the mental and emotional aspects, too, as that can be night and day in helping an athlete with their confidence. Having a good connection as a team can lead an athlete to be more determined to better themselves for the sake of their team, which can, in turn, help other teammates become better, which seemed to be prevalent in this year’s success.
“Teamwork and motivation [helped contribute].” Linnea said, “Everyone really pushes each other and supports each other. Even without relying on the coaches much, the team itself keeps everyone driven and makes the season fun.”
This same factor was a cause for a lot of excitement within the team. All of the athletes worked really hard to be the best they could, and so when so many made it to states, it was cause for much celebration for their teammates and friends, who knew they had put everything they had into gaining this achievement.
“The team has worked really well together this year,” Lola explained, “Everyone was really excited to have so many of us together this year at states.”
So surely, with all of these incredible swimmers representing Forest Hills Central at states, there must be hope that one of the Lady Rangers can become the next state champions to walk the halls here.
“Yeah, I think Ciana has a really good chance,” Linnea reports. “She’s been swimming so well this season, and if she swims like she’s been training, she could definitely take a title.”
Unfortunately, there really isn’t much confidence going into the tournament from the rest of the team. The general consensus is that the girls are going to walk away empty-handed, but still put on a good show.
“I don’t think that someone will get first place at FHC,” Lola said. “I believe that almost all of the people going to states can place in the top eight, which is a huge accomplishment!”
Whatever happens at the State tournament on November 22nd, it’s important to celebrate the fact that so many of our peers have accomplished something truly amazing, that they’re about to compete with the best high school swimmers in the state of Michigan. So congratulations to Linnea Dicander, Ciana Fors, Maggie Holt, Natalie Holt, Lola Lipke, Allison Meny, Ellie Palmer, and whoever else may join them, and good luck at States.
