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Girls swimming and diving places third in Division II State Championship

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By Devlin Francis ’15 & Harrison Krasner ’14 | Staff Writers

Earning its best finish in South’s history, the girls swimming and diving team placed third at the Division II State Championship Meet at Oakland University on Saturday, Nov. 17.

This is the best placement yet after last year’s fourth place, said Catie Deloof ’15.

“Placing third overall and moving up from last year is a huge honor,” Gabby Deloof ’14 said. “Hopefully we can continue to move up next year.”

South had top 16 swimmers in every event except the 100 yard breaststroke, 500 yard freestyle and 1 meter diving. Overall the girls had top 16 swimmers in nine of the twelve events at the meet.

The team was projected to finish anywhere in the top three, head coach Eric Gunderson said. They stayed close with eventual state champion Holland High School and runner-up Ann Arbor Skyline for the majority of the meet. South’s final score was 190, compared to Holland’s 311.5 and Skyline’s 255.5.

Individual All-State swimmers included Gabby Deloof in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke, Catie Deloof in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle, and Claire Young and Jennifer Maiorana both ’16 in the 100 backstroke and butterfly, respectively, Gabby Deloof said.

Two individual school records were broken during the meet, one by Gabby Deloof in the 200 IM with a time of 3:05.22, and the other by Maiorana in the 100 fly with a time of 58.57, said Maiorana. Both records were previously held by Gabby Deloof and Maiorana, respectively.

South also had two All-State relays in the 200 Medley of Young, Gabby Deloof, Maiorana, and Catie Deloof, and in the 400 Freestyle of Gabby Deloof, Cassandra Morse ’14, Maiorana, Catie Deloof.

Along with finishing All-State, Catie Deloof also finished first in the 50 Freestyle, earning the title of state champion with a time of 23.66, 0.6 seconds short of the school record.

“I was in shock and surprised that I won and I couldn’t really believe that I won,” said Catie Deloof.

“My favorite part of the meet is spending time with the team,” she said. “Dropping times as well as being the state champion in my event was probably my greatest successes of the year.”

States was good for the team for more than just swimming, Gabby Deloof said. There was a lot of team bonding, she said.

“I never thought we could do so well,” said Maiorana. “I was really excited that we did as well as we did.”

Gunderson is really happy with how the team swam, and is looking forward to next season, he said.

“I’m really proud of what the girls did this year,” said Gunderson. “This being the best we’ve ever done at States, I’m proud of how they swam, and I’m proud to be able to coach such a great team.”

Photos By Harrison Krasner ’14

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