For the 8th straight year the Okemos Chieftain girls walked away with the championship.  Coaches, swimmers and parents always enjoy this traditional start to the season.  It gives everyone a chance to see where their team stands relative to the local competition in an exciting relay format.  On their way to victory, Okemos won 6 of the 9 events.

 

The girls had a goal to break the 4 meet records Okemos did not already own and they wanted to achieve times which would be difficult for any other team to beat for many years.  They were successful in breaking all 3 swimming records in a convincing manner, but unfortunately only 2 of the 3 will be officially recognized in the record books.

 

The 400 free relay team of Lauren Dudley, Lydia Roth, Madison Batchelor and Amelia Marsh not only broke the meet record but also the pool record set way back in 1979 with their time of 3:40.9.  Lauren also achieved a 100 free state cut on her leadoff leg.

 

The 200 fly relay team of Laura Kruger, Lauren Dudley, Amelia Marsh and Kylie HOlden beat an East Lansing record set back in 1982 when local great Heather Strang competed.  The new record of 1:50.53 beat the old record by over 2.5 seconds.

 

Unfortunately, the girls were jammed by a dubious DQ call in the 200 backstroke relay so their time will never be recorded.  All 4 girls swam their hearts out with each of Lydia Roth, Lauren Dudley, Madison Batchelor and Amelia Marsh swimming personal best times to finish in 1:54.13 and over 2 seconds under the previous meet record.  Their time was also 6+ seconds better than the next fastest team.  This one would have stood for a long, long time.

 

The diving duo of Carolyn Wallace and freshman Carly Schafer dove well but came up about 5 points short of the diving meet record set by former Holt, MSU and Olypic diver Julie Farrell.  They still scored 216.1 and were 40 plus points ahead of the next best team.

 

The 200 medley relay team of Mariya Smith, Madison Batchelor, Laura Kruger and Lydia Roth got the meet rolling with a new state cut on their way to a first place finish in 1:57.87.

 

The crescendo relay team of Christina Bolema, Mariya Smith, Kelly Schwanner and Sally Yan brought home the gold with a time of 5:19.69.

 

In the closest race of the evening the 200 free relay combo of Kylie Holden, Sally Yan, Mariya Smith and Laura Kruger beat the 2nd place St Johns relay by a mere .01 second in a winning time of 1:48.62.   It was a good thing Laura didn't cut her fingernails the night before.

 

The 400 IM team of Saskia Moyer, Andrea Dantus, Kelly Schwanner and Kylie Holden placed a solid 2nd and the breastroke relay composed of Saskia Moyer, Andrea Dantus, Kelly Schwanner and Christina Bolema placed 3rd in another very close race.

 

Despite the unfortunate backstroke DQ, the girls still managed to win the meet by 26 points.  The 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams of St Johns, Jackson and Grand Ledge all swam well for their first meet and we will get a chance to swim all 3 later in the year in dual meet competition.  All in all a great start to the 2009 season.