Brady Kendall Splits 22.45 Free, 23.64 Fly at MHSAA KLAA Conference Champs

2020 KLAA Girls Conference

• November 6th, 2020
• Novi, MI
• Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Results (MeetMobile)

The 2020 girls MHSAA KLAA conference meet was held this past weekend in Novi, Michigan. Northville High School got the ball rolling early, securing a huge victory in the 200 medley relay. Malayna Mancinelli led the squad off in 26.97, and was followed by Emily Lowman in 30.31, then Emily Roden in 25.19, and Laurel Wasiniak anchored in 24.17, for a 1:46.64. The Northville girls posted the only sub-1:50 time in the field.

Laurel Wasiniak, a junior, went on to win the next event – the 200 free. Wasiniak blew away her previous personal best of 1:55.40, tearing to a 1:53.09 to get her hand on the wall first by over half a second. She led the race from start to finish, splitting 26.00/28.26/29.04/29.79 respectively by 50. Northville teammate Julia Tuinman, a sophomore, was slightly behind Wasiniak the whole way through the race, establishing her own best of 1:53.78 for 2nd.

Another member of the winning medley relay, Emily Roden, went on to win the 200 IM decisively. Roden swam a personal best 2:07.09, thanks to 26.86 fly and 32.33 back splits for a 59.19 on the first 100. Roden then split 38.21 on the breast leg, and brought it home in 29.69.

Plymouth junior Brady Kendall won the 50 free with a personal best by .01 seconds. Kendall sped to a 23.22, taking down her 23.23 lifetime best, which had stood since the 2018 MHSAA State meet, when she was a freshman. Kendall went on to win the 100 fly by a large margin, swimming a 54.53. This time, Kendall narrowly missed her lifetime best, which stands at 54.51 from 2019. Kendall also split a 23.64 on the Plymouth medley relay, which finished in 1:50.93 for 2^nd place.

Novi junior Kotoko Blair won to 100 free convincingly, clocking a 51.56. This was another narrow personal best, as Blair came into the meet with a top mark of 51.64 from January of this year. Laurel Wasiniak swam another personal best for 2nd in this race, touching in 52.29. Wasiniak came into the meet with a best time of 52.53, from early March of this year. Salem senior Sabine Branford was right behind, clocking a 52.33.

Brighton sophomore Annika Geyer emerged victorious in a tight 4-way battle in the 500 free. Geyer led the way with a 5:04.33, followed by Julia Tuinman (5:04.55), Kayla McCall (5:04.61), and Jimin Son (5:05.22). Geyer, McCall, and Son swam similar races, while Tuinman got out to the early lead. Tuinman split 57.36 on the first 100, leading the field by a second. After the 4^th 50, Tuinman’s splits started floating up into the 31-second range, which brought her back to the field. Geyer used a field-leading 28.98 split on the last 50 to power herself into the wall first.

Salem freshman Claire Hammill led the way in the 100 back, swimming a 58.14 to get her hand on the wall ahead of Northville senior Malayna Mancinelli, who touched in 58.30.

Canton freshman Ellie Newman posted a 1:06.13 to win the 100 breast, getting her hands on the wall before Northville junior Emily Lowan (1:06.32), and Brighton junior Drue Thielking (1:06.46). It was Lowman who established the early lead, splitting 31.00 on the first 50, compared to 31.31 from Newman, and 31.53 from Thielking. Newman had the best closing 50, however, bringing it home in 34.82.

Novi claimed victory in the 200 free relay, with Kotoko Blair, Michelle Luo, Jimin Son, and Julia Katulski teaming up for a 1:36.85. Their splits were 24.18, 24.52, 24.89, and 23.26 respectively. Brady Kendall threw down a 22.45 split to anchor the Plymouth relay, which finished in 1:40.67.

After winning the first event of the meet, Northville came back to pick up a win in the last event of the meet, the 400 free relay. This time, Emily Roden and Laurel Wasiniak teamed up with Julia Tuinman and Ocean Taylor to get the job done. Tuinman led the squad off in 54.14, with Taylor going next (53.46), then Roden (54.49), and Wasiniak anchoring in a massive 50.65.