The Lady Rangers competed in the conference meet this weekend against other teams at Northview High School. The ladies competed Friday in the prelims and then Saturday in the finals in order to find out who would qualify for states, which some did.

Senior Jessica Schellenboom was a key swimmer for this meet, she placed first in the 100-yard Breaststroke with a final time of 1:04.60, which set a record in not only the Northview pool but in the Conference meet. She also placed first in the 50-yard Freestyle with a final time of 24.27, which sophomore Emily Johnson and senior Kara Bolger qualified for States in.

“I think that we did really well,” Jessica said. “There are a lot of people who got state cuts and best times.”

Jessica continued helping the team by swimming the Breaststroke in the 200-yard Medley Relay, along with sophomore Olivia Hooper swimming the Backstroke, Olivia also placed second in the individual Backstroke. Others that helped in the 200-yard Medley Relay were junior Sarah Schenck swimming the Butterfly and sophomore Emily Johnson swimming the Freestyle with a finishing time of 1:48.98. Kara Bolger and Sarah Schenck also participated in the 400-yard Relay along with juniors Maggie Zorn and Olivia Luplow, in which they were able to make a team that qualified for States.

Senior Lauren Gesik was the highest placing FHC diver. She finished in 15th place and will move on to Regionals this Thursday, with hopes of qualifying for the Division 2 State meet.

“I’m most proud of our team for coming together for this meet and doing really well by working together, ” junior Sarah Schenck said.

The ladies also added to their list of state qualifiers were: sophomore Emily Johnson and senior Kara Bolger in the 50-yard Freestyle, junior Olivia Luplow in the 200-yard Freestyle, freshman Maggie Hier and junior Sarah Schenck in the 200 IM, and Sarah Schenck also qualifying in the 100-yard Butterfly. The All-Conference girls this year are senior Jessica Schellenboom, junior Sarah Schenck and sophomores Emily Johnson and Olivia Hooper.

“The biggest challenge was to take a lot of young and newcomers, blend them together, and convince everyone that they’re a competitive team,” Head coach Denis Neat said. “That all started off by winning the Spartan Relays and winning a couple good meets throughout the season, which has proved to them that they’re a good team.”

FHC had a very strong meet this weekend and came in second place, behind East Grand Rapids.  It was a team effort, as 93% of the individual swims on Friday were personal best times for the Rangers. The qualifying girls head next to the MHSAA Diving Regionals on Thursday, November 8 and to the MHSAA Finals on November 16 and 17.