Ok, so I'm not a poet but the Okemos girls put on a show this weekend to claim their 8th straight Leage Championship and their 26th League Championship in the last 33 years.  The Chieftains won 8 of the 12 events including all 3 relays in convincing fashion.

 

200 Medley Relay--What happens when you put the fastest backstroke split, breaststroke split, butterfly split and 2nd fastest...

Former Okemos girls high school coach and current Capital Area Swim Team(CAST) coach Rick Edwards died today after battling pancreatic cancer since April.  There is no one in the mid-Michigan area who did more for the sports of swimming and diving and water polo than Rick did over the past 38 years.  He coached over 75 high school All-Americans during his career.  More recently he coached...

In our final dual meet of the season the OHS Chieftains defeated the OHS Trojans.  The coaching braintrust used this meet as a final tune-up for the league meet and a last chance to see how the girls could swim before the start of the taper.

 

Okemos event winners were:

200 Medley:  Alex Basford, Chloe White, Allie Gerras and Erica Frankfort

200 Free: Mariya Smith

50 Free: Krystalle...

Former Okemos Head coach and current CAST and Holt assistant coach Rick Edwards will be admitted to Sparrow Hospital tommorow for a battery of tests.  Rick was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year and has undergone extensive treatment including the removal of his pancreas.  Rick was making excellent progress in his recovery, but has recently been set back with jaundice, loss...

Waverly LCC put up a good fight, winning 2 of the first 3 events and surprising our medley relay team before eventually falling the the Chieftains.  The husband and wife Hill combination have put together a team which placed second only to our Okemos in the Waverly Relays and has gone on to win all their dual meets in their CAAC Division.   Unlike some of the other local competition, it...

The girls kept their dual meet streak alive with a victory over the Trojans.  Some of the Chieftain parents appeared conflicted having attended ELHS, but the kids were glad they made the move to Okemos.  Event winners were:

 

200 Medley--1:58.27  Lauren Dudley, Madison Batchelor, Laura Kruger, Amelia Marsh

200 Free--2:02.88 Kylie Holden

50 Free--:25.90 Lauren Dudley

Diving--233.6...

Ten members of the team travelled to Ypsilanti to compete at the Eastern Michigan University pool in the yearly coach's invitational meet.  This meet is open to all 3 Divisions and has qualifying standards in order to compete.   Athletes included Senior Casie Walker, Juniors Lydia Roth, Carolyn Wallace, Lauren Dudley, Mariya Smith and Amelia Marsh and Sophomores Kylie Holden, Christine...

It was Senior Night at the Okemos cement pond.  This meet also pitted Okemos Head Coach Patrick Saucedo against his alma mater Jackson and his wise mentor Coach Pat Briggs.  Jackson coach Briggs runs a classy program and always seems to get the most out of his pool of talent.  A year from now Jackson will likely be the #2 team in the CAAC.  Coach Saucedo showed he learned his lessons...

Most of the girls got a chance to swim some off events in this unique invitational meet.  Several of the top teams in the state competed so there were plenty of great races.  #1 in D1 Pioneer won the meet followed closely by #1 in D3 EGR and #6 in D2 Jenison.  The Okemos team is training hard and the times are right where they should be at this point in the year.

We have 5 swimmers...

The Chiefs travelled to Harry Hill to take on the Everett Vikings in a CAAC Blue conference match-up.  Coach Patrick shuffled the line up to see how some of the newer swimmers would fare swimming in the top heat and they came through with flying colors.  1st place finishers were:

 

200 Medley--Alex Basford, Chloe White, Allie Gerras and Erica Frankfort

200 Free-Senior Amber Nolan

The Okemos girls ran out of gas today in their 3rd big meet in the last 5 days.  The final result of the meet was not a complete surprise since Holland carries a #2 state ranking, Groves carries a #5 ranking and Okemos carries a #8 ranking.  The task was made even more difficult this year when the tri-meet scoring changed from the previous 2 years to include the top 3 swimmers from each team...

The Chieftain team had little trouble tonight in handing Holt a 73 point defeat.  The Okemos girls won all 3 relays, went 1-2-3 in the 100 free, and 1-2 in the 50, 100 fly, 100 back and 400 Free Relay.  The crowd was large and loud(thank-you high school boys) and the times were quick.  The many winners for Okemos were:

 

200 Medley--Lydia Roth, Lauren Dudley, Kylie Holden, Amelia...

In what many predicted would be a close Okemos victory instead turned into a blow out.  The Grand Ledge coaches have done an outstanding job the past few years turning a once dormant program into a competitive team year in and year out.  There is no doubt the Grand Ledge girls will have another great taper and swim "lights out" at the League Meet, but tonight it was all Okemos and...

Coach Patrick was able to change up his line up tonight to allow many different swimmers to compete in the scoring heat of the meet.  Event winners included:

 

200 Medley Relay--Alex Basford, Chloe White, Allie Gerras and Nicole Baron

 

200 Free-Maria Aultz

50 Free-Krystalle Double

Diving--Carolyn Wallace

100 Free Amber Nolan

500 Free Maria Aultz

200 Free Relay--Kylie Holden,...

Okemos swam to another impressive non-conference victory tonight over the Falcons of East Kentwood raising their dual meet record to 2-0. The 2007 team was honored before the meet with the raising of the League Championship banner. The enthusiasm carried over to the meet where the girls won all 12 events, set 2 pool records and achieved 5 new individual state cuts.

Amelia Marsh wins "swimmer...

The dual meet portion of the Okemos season got off to a fast start with a strong showing against the Portage Central Mustangs. Okemos won all of the events other than the 200IM.
Double individual event winners were Kylie Holden, Amelia Marsh and Lauren Dudley. Single event winners were Madison Batchelor and Carolyn Wallace. Carolyn posted a nice early season score of 233.70 in the diving and...

Last Wednesday evening, Okemos won their 7th consecutive Waverly Relay Meet. The 50 point margin of victory was the largest in recent memory and perhaps the largest in the history of the meet. It was evident from the stands that the girls' hard work over the summer with CAST puts them much further ahead of last year's team at the same point of the season.

In the 12 team field which included all...

The 2008 Chieftain Girls Swimming and Diving team is receiving some early statewide recognition with the #6 ranking in the pre-season rankings. The rankings are based upon 2007 performance, returning swimmers and divers, summer performances and incoming freshmen.
The D2 list is as follows: 1. Mercy, 2. Holland, 3. Seaholm, 4. Forest Hills Central, 5. Groves, 6. Okemos, 7. Jenison, 8. Dexter 9....

Our home base has been repaired, so we will now return this Sat. from 8:00-10:15am, 8/30/08. Practice at Haslett tonight still.

Captains for the 2008 Okemos Girls High School Swimming and Diving team are senior Krystalle Double and juniors Lauren Dudley, Amelia Marsh and Lydia Roth. Krystalle scored in the consolation finals of both the 200 and 500 free at the 2007 league meet. Lauren placed 2nd in the 200IM and 3rd in the 100 Breast at the 2007 league meet, was All-State in both free relays and was named to the Lansing State...