In the last regular dual meet against East Grand Rapids, junior Maggie Hier stood out among the other swimmers of the girls swim and dive team and took initiative in trying to motivate her teammates to perform their best against their tough rival. The girls swam well and their effort was high, but unfortunately for FHC, they took the loss by a score of 117-69. 

“Overall, we were disappointed with the loss, but we enjoyed some great individual performances heading into next week’s conference meet,” head coach Dennis Neat said. “This is a great rivalry between two elite programs. We prepared by working hard every day in practice and talked and practiced details so that we were ready for tough situations.”

Maggie swam very well against the Pioneers, and her teammates were impressed by her performance. 

“Maggie had an amazing meet last night, including a state cut in the 100 fly,” senior Emily Johnson said. “I am so proud of her.”

Maggie was a part of the first place in the 200-yard Medley Relay as well as the second-place 400-yard Free Relay, and she took second place in the 100-yard Back. She achieved her state position in the 100-yard Fly with a time of 1:52.18. 

The other top two swimmers following Maggie were junior Jessica Doyel and freshman Olivia Oorbeck. Jessica won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.88 and took a second-place finish in the 200-yard Individual Medley. She was also a member of the winning 200-yard Medley Relay and second-place 200-yard freestyle relay. Olivia won the 500-yard freestyle and placed fifth in the 200-yard Individual Medley. She was also a member of both the second place 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays. 

The top three divers for the Rangers were sophomores Olivia Thornley, Noelle Stewart, and freshman Rachael Yeager. Olivia placed fourth with a score of 189.15, Rachael fifth with a score of 187.20, and Noelle placed sixth, scoring a 184.80. All of the divers competed well and some even had to partake in other aspects of the meet. 

“[Sophomore[ Payton Dailey, Noelle, and I had to fill in for a relay,” Olivia said. “We didn’t have enough swimmers so we stepped in for them.”

 Despite the loss, the girls are prepared and eager to compete in the conference tournament next week and show the other schools in the OK White conference what they are made of. 

“This was our last team event prior to the conference tournament. Due to the special requirements that athletics has had to endure this fall, our diving team will be competing on Thursday at East Grand Rapids while the swimmers will be at Northview on Friday and Saturday,” Neat said. “This was done to reduce the social distance concerns of so many athletes in one area and hopefully keep everyone healthy for those who have qualified for the state tournament in two weeks.”

The girls will compete in the OK White dual conference meet on November 5th at 6:00 PM, the 6th at 3:00 PM, and on the 7th at 2:00 PM.