The girls of East Grand Rapids High School successfully defended their state title over the weekend, sweeping every freestyle race and breaking the state 200 free relay record in the process.
Coming up big in those wins were sophomore Gabby Higgins and junior Emily Converse, who combined to win all four individual free races.
Higgins, a state runner-up in both the 50 and 100 as a freshman, rose to the top of the state in her sophomore season. She knocked off returning state champ Stephanie Johnston in the 50, going 23.54 for the win. Johnston, of Hamilton High, tied for second with East Grand Rapids’ Lexus Van Hoven at 23.92.
Higgins came back to win the 100 free later on, going 51.80 with Van Hoven making it another 1-2 finish for the eventual state champs.
While Higgins ruled the sprints, her older teammate Converse dominated over a distance. Converse defended her 2013 state title in the 500 free, going 5:06.85 to win by a wide margin. She also added the 200 free title this year, going 1:53.37 to win by one second on the nose.
The two also combined to help East Grand Rapids pace both free relays. Higgins led off the 200 free relay in 23.63, with Converse swimming third. Also on the squad were sophomore Hanna Sanford and the sophomore Van Hoven, who anchored in 23.00. That team went 1:34.95 to break the Division 3 state record set by the same foursome one year ago. The whole relay will return to try to further improve that mark next year.
On the 400 free relay, it was Converse who led off, going 53.37 to put the team into the lead. Freshman Kennzie Hartmann followed along with Sanford and Higgins as the team went 3:32.39 to win. That included a field-best 51.57 anchor leg from Higgins. That whole relay will return next year with sights set on the Division 3 record set by East Grand Rapids last year at 3:30.35.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central took second as a team, and got event wins from Riley Kishman and Susan LaGrand.
Kishman, the 200 IM state champ in 2013, defended her title and added the 100 breast in her sophomore season. Kishman was 2:09.23 to take the IM over EGR’s Hartzmann, though that was over two seconds off what Kishman went to win the event last year. But late in the meet, Kishman hit a 1:05.71 in the 100 breast to take home the title after finishing second as a freshman a year ago.
LaGrand, a freshman this season, won the 100 fly for Catholic Central. Her 57.44 just beat out junior Varsha Yerasi of Detroit County Day.
Catholic Central also took the 200 medley, with LaGrand leading off, Kishman swimming breast and Taylor Vera and Liz Rabaut holding down the final two legs. LaGrand was the field’s best backstroker at 27.11, and Kishman had the fastest breaststroke split at 29.44 as the team went 1:48.16 to win handily.
In the 100 back, it was Hamilton junior Rileigh Eding who picked up the win, going 56.26, just over a half-second off the Division 3 record. The final individual win went to Milan junior diver Taylor Hosein, who repeated as state champ on 1-meter. Her score of 449.80 was about 20 points more than she scored last season. She’ll return for her senior season next year.
Team Scores
- East Grand Rapids – 424.5
- Grand Rapids Catholic Central – 267
- Holland Christian – 182
- Cranbrook Kingswood – 158
- Hamilton – 122.5