Girls swim and dive takes third place in the OK White conference meet
More stories from Gwen Henderson
This past weekend, the girls swim and dive team competed in the annual OK White conference meet. The Rangers faced off against East Grand Rapids, Northview, Byron Center, Grand Rapids Christian, and FHNE. The girls took third place behind EGR and Northview, scoring a total of 387 points.
On the swimming team, four girls raced very well over the weekend, showing off their abilities in the last meet before states. Seniors Emily Johnson and Olivia Hooper with juniors Jessica Doyel and Maggie Hier won the 200-yard medley relay while setting a new conference and pool record.
Each of these girls also competed very well in their individual events. Emily took third in the 50-yard freestyle and sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke. Olivia took third in the 100-yard backstroke, while Jessica won the 100-yard breaststroke and placed seventh place in the 200-yard Individual Medley. Finally, Maggie took second place in the 100-yard Butterfly and fourth in the 100-yard Backstroke.
For the divers, sophomores Olivia Thornley, Noelle Stewart, and freshman Rachael (Jo) Yeager competed well against their opponents. Olivia placed fifth, Noelle placed tenth, and Jo placed 11th. Both Olivia and Noelle also qualified for the MHSAA Diving Regional tournament on Thursday, November 12th at Jenison High School.
Coming up next for the girls is the state meet; eight girls from the Ranger team will be moving ahead to swim in this meet. The girls attending states are seniors Emily Johnson, Olivia Hooper, Sarah Chesner and Ellie Field, juniors Maggie Hier and Jessica Doyel, sophomore Sydney VanLente, and lastly, freshman Olivia Oorbeck. Both Ellie and Sydney qualified for relays, and the rest of the girls are going for individual events.
“We will be ready for the meet which is two weeks away. It takes a couple of days to shake off the intensity of the past weekend with all of the excitement and expectation that everyone is working so hard to attain, and then we can focus on our last team meet of the season: the State Finals,” head coach Dennis Neat said.
The State Final meet will occur at Northview High School on Saturday, November 21st.
Gwen Henderson is a senior entering her second year on FHC Sports Report. She is excited to begin her final year as a Ranger and finish her last year with...