The Salem, Canton and Plymouth swim and dive girls finished off their season strong with Salem finishing fourth with 471 points, Canton finishing sixth with 421 points and Plymouth finishing seventh with 285 points at conferences,  held on Nov. 5.

Canton swim senior Camille Carpenter said, “Our season went great. We won every dual meet in our division, including our division meet. Conferences also went well; almost everyone got their best times of the season. I dropped almost 30 seconds in my 500 freestyle and got my personal best in my leg of the 100 in the 400 freestyle relay.”

John Kemski

Canton swim senior Isabel Ewers  noted that the season went very well.  “All of the freshman and new swimmers brought so much fun to the team,” said Ewers. “They were able to win all of the dual meets against the other teams in our division. They were also able to win the big division meet making it four years in a row.”

Carpenter said, “A normal day for us would be waking up at around 5:00 on Mondays and Thursdays for morning practice. We would swim from 5:30-6:30 then shower and eat. After school, practice starts at around 2:30 and goes until about 5:00. We swim through endless sets until 4:30 then have dry-land after where we do abs, cords, and starts.”

“Some key swimmers were Meghan Mans, Jessica Clark, Sophia Balow and Jenna Leppek,” said Ewers. “They were able to beat the pool record that was set in 2001 in the 400 free relay. Some key divers were Annika Wang and Rachel Socha. But when it comes to swimming, everyone’s times matter and everyone played a role in the team’s success.”

Plymouth swim senior Beth Hendersen said, “Our season went fairly well. Despite some minor issues, many girls were able to improve their times and scores. Great friendships were built and continued as well.”

John Kemski

Plymouth senior Kathryn Waters said, “The season went well. The girls on our team worked very hard this season and were able to achieve a lot of great times.”

Plymouth swim sophomore Vy Nyguen said, “Some of our key swimmers were definitely our state relay team of Kelsey Peregord, Kathryn Waters, Regan Peregord and Grace Maclellan. For our divers, veterans Beth Henderson and Olivia Richmond had key performances, as well as our newcomer Tori Silvester.”

Expanding on Plymouth’s practices, Hendersen said, “We arrive at 5:30 and stretch for about 15 minutes. Swimmers go do conditioning while the divers begin to dive. The swimmers come back in and swim for about two and a half hours. With about an hour left, divers go do conditioning.”

Plymouth swim sophomore captain Kelsey Peregord said, “We don’t have practices before school, but our after school practices are pretty intense. We, the swimmers, usually swim about 4,000-6,000 yards over a two hour period, as well as some rough dry-land workouts before we get in the pool.”

During the meet, Salem senior Heather Stoliker said, “We placed fourth at the conference meet [trailing Northville, South Lyon, and Novi].”

“Before school practices were tough,” said Salem senior Heather Stoliker. “Finding strength to get out of bed was one thing, but after getting to the school at 5:00 am, finding the motivation to run and lift weights was another thing. We did it though, because the rest of the team was there with us. The support that we have for each other is great.”

Salem swim senior, Kate Cousino said, “The season went really well this year! We had a new coach but he did a great job adjusting to our team.”

Stoliker identified key members of the Salem swim team. “There are so many talented swimmers on our team but Camille Burt is definitely a key diver,” said Stoliker. “She won first place at conferences. Not only is she amazing at what she does, but her sense of humbleness about how great she is makes her an even better competitor.”