East Grand Rapids Topples Kingswood for Michigan D3 State Title

Nick Pecoraro
by Nick Pecoraro 0

November 17th, 2018 News

2018 Michigan D3 Girls Swimming State Championships

The finals for the D3 Michigan Girls state championships featured many hard-fought battles. In the final scores, East Grand Rapids came back to D3 and took the state championship after winning D2 last year and D3 in the year before. Kingswood and Hamilton also placed in the top three.

Rank School Points
1 East Grand Rapids 330
2 Kingswood 284
3 Hamilton 191
4 Marian 160
5 Chelsea 152
6 University Liggett 125
7 Holland Christian 120
8 Grand Rapids Christian 118
9 Notre Dame 112
10 Milan 89

In the 200 medley relay, Marian, East Grand Rapids, and Kingswood were even for the majority of the race. However, in a shocking twist, Marian and East Grand Rapids tied for the title with a 1:46.71. Kingswood finished in third with a 1:47.36.

In the 200 free, Sophie Housey of University Liggett took the title in a 1:48.37. Gwen Woodbury of Kingswood also broke the 1:50 mark with a 1:49.78.

In the 200 IM, a three girls were fighting for the top spot throughout the race. Sydney Higgins and Emma Israels of East Grand Rapids lead the race in the front half. Yet Ginger McMahon of University Liggett took the lead after the breast leg. In the end, it was Higgins who took the title with a 2:07.82. McMahon stopped an EGR 1-2 finish and took second with a 2:07.94. Israels settled for third with a 2:08.14. Later in the meet, McMahon went on to win the 100 breast with a 1:04.94.

Ellie Frost of South Haven dethroned Notre Dame’s Rhianna Hensler in the 50 free, as she took the title over Hensler by 0.09. Both Frost and Hensler broke the 24-second mark, finishing with 23.59 and 23.68 respectively. After the diving break, however, Hensler didn’t leave the meet without a title. Hensler defended her 100 fly title with a 55.67, tying her D3 state record.

In the 100 free, Liggett’s Housey, Kingswood’s Woodbury, and South Haven’s Frost met up for a great dual for a second individual title. It was Housey who took a double win with a 50.23. Woodbury finished second behind Housey again with a 50.91. Frost settled for third with a 51.54.

In the 500 Free, Plainwell freshman Riley Nugent took the title in a 5:02.02, dropping four seconds off her prelim time.

Leading into the 200 free relay, East Grand Rapids, Kingswood, and Hamilton lead the top 3 scoring schools.

The three schools also had a great battle in the 200 free relay. Hamilton had the slight lead going into the final exchange. Kingswood’s Woodbury and Hamilton’s Nella Pashak dropped 23.09 and 23.32 for their 50 splits to pull away from East Grand Rapids. However it was the Hamilton girls who defended their top prelims spot to take the title in a 1:36.30. Kingswood took second in a 1:36.60, East Grand Rapids took third in 1:37.43.

Kingswood’s Justine Murdock took the 100 back title with a 56.34. She beat out East Grand Rapids’ Higgins, who took second with a 56.90.

In the final event of the afternoon, East Grand Rapids secured their D3 state title by winning the 400 free relay with a 3:29.66. The girls of Hamilton took second with a 3:31.97 and secured a third place finish overall. Kingswood took third with a 3:32.08 and settled for second place overall behind EGR.

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About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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