LAKE ORION — Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood’s girls swimmers and divers were primed last November to take the Division 3 championship they missed out on by 11 points a year earlier.
Six days before the event was scheduled to start, the MHSAA ordered a shutdown of high school competition because of COVID-19 concerns.
All’s well that ends well. It ended very well at the Lake Orion High School pool on Saturday for the Cranes. Competing after a two-month layoff, they splashed their way to 379 points to easily beat runner-up Hamilton’s 199 and Bloomfield Hills Marian’s 192.
The Cranes also were state champs in 2011, 2012 and 2017.
“It’s phenomenal,” first-year coach Paul Ellis said. “It makes me so incredibly happy as a coach. The credit goes back to all the girls on the team. Every single girl that was there today scored. Every girl contributed. That says everything about the character of the girls, their tenacity and dedication to what we have been doing.”
Kingswood won seven of the 12 events, and seniors Justine Murdock and Gwen Woodbury had a hand in all of them.
Murdock, who is headed to Northwestern, won the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.19) and 100 backstroke (55.04), setting pool records in both events.
Woodbury (committed to Ohio State) won the 100 freestyle (1:48.31) and 200 freestyle (50.29) events.
The twosome helped Cranbrook sweep all three relays as well.
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep finished ninth with 93 points, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett 11th with 68 points, and Madison Heights Bishop Foley, 21st with 30 points.
Mercy’s three-year win streak snapped
At Hudsonville High School, where the Division 1 championship was held, Farmington Hills Mercy’s three-year win streak was snapped.
The Marlins’ 184 points were a distant second to the 384 scored by Ann Arbor Pioneer.
Mercy senior Greta Gidley won two events: the 200 individual medley in 2:00.69 and 500 freestyle in 4:58.52. Both are pool records.
“Going into the last two weeks of the season I was kind of focused more on taking in the final times that I was going to get to have with this team,” Gidley said. “Getting to spend an extra few months with these girls because our season got delayed was really a blessing in disguise. It was fun to win, but it was really fun to spend time with my best friends.”
“She’s been the heart of this team for a while now, and she's leaving a really nice legacy,” coach Mike Venos said. “Our girls swam very well, and I just got done telling them that their mental aspect today is what brought it because physically, with the amount of time that we had off there, there was no reason to swim as fast as we did. It was their mental approach.”
The diving finals were held Friday. Mercy senior Ciara McCliment won ahead of 2019 champion Annie Costello of Ann Arbor Huron. McCliment scored 399.70 points, while Costello was runner-up with 363.75.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
