The Trojans swim and dive team is looking forward to another busy month in October.
BY MATT McCLELLAND
In mid-September the Trojans swim and dive team headed out to Milan to face off with three of the top Division 3 squads in the state. Detroit Country Day (30th) finished about even with Trenton (26th) at last year’s state meet, while Milan placed 10th and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood finished second, behind only perennial powerhouse East Grand Rapids.
CK looked every bit the part of state runner-up, gearing toward a potential title this November as it steamrolled each of the other teams. On the day, Trenton finished with a record of one win and two losses, beating out DCD, and losing in a competitive meet to Milan.
Coach Jim DeRupa highlighted several swims, starting off with Jane McClelland’s state qualifying 500 yard freestyle. Her time of 5:31.67 easily got under the state qualifying time of 5:36.19, and in her first 500 swim of the season showed that she is in good form to make another run at the state meet. Last year, she had Trenton’s highest state finish coming in 10th place.
Next up was Gwyneth Hodge with her 200 yard individual medley swim. Her time of 2:59.22 impressed her coach who commented that she is off to a great start. The 200 IM is perhaps the best assessment of a swimmer’s overall well roundedness in the pool, as it requires a mastery of all four strokes.
It’s always an interesting race to watch, as the lead positions frequently change from stroke to stroke. The butterfly specialists always get out to the front early, but then the backstrokers come into play in the next 50. The third 50 is where you see the biggest movements, as the breaststroke often has the greatest disparity between swimmers. Being the slowest of the four strokes, a top breaststroker can make up as much as five seconds against a weaker opponent.
They all finish with the freestyle, and that is a measure of just how much petrol is left in the tank. After the first 150, that final 50 is a real gut check to see who can outkick the others in a race to the wall. Great job getting off to a solid start Gwyneth!
Speaking of endurance, sophomore Delilah Yarbrough had the double dip challenge of competing in the 200 and the 500 yard freestyle events. Her times of 2:30.39 and 6:38.31 show a big improvement over her times a year ago. Having watched Delilah during her freshman campaign in 2018, and then covering the track team in the spring where she frequently ran the 1600 and 3200 meter races (roughly 1 & 2 miles), it is clear that the hard swim work that Delilah put in over the summer is paying big dividends. Keep an eye on her, as I expect that she will be scoring many points for the Trojans over these next three seasons.
The final batch of swim highlights all come from the same event, the 100 yard breaststroke. DeRupa noted that both Jessalyn Marshall and Kelly Truitt got off to strong starts for their competitive season. They finished third and fourth, respectively, with times of 1:17.09 and 1:17.10, an excellent start to a season where both aspire to placing well at the state meet. Also in that event, freshman Emma Donovan achieved the county cut swim standard with her 1:24.05 and Olivia Menzer was just 0.3 seconds off the county cut of 1:26.09 with her 1:26.39.
On the day, Trenton’s lone victory came in the diving portion of the meet. Sophomore Samantha Plough’s six dive total of 198.05 was nine full points ahead of the second place diver from Cranbrook. Samantha has had an excellent start to her sophomore season, with high expectations of placing well at the state meet. As a freshman last November, she finished in the top 16. This year, it seems within her reach to achieve the top eight – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, we will enjoy the season and marvel at the improvement of both the divers and the swimmers.
Right now, the swimmers are putting in many miles each week as they build up their strength. The 6 a.m. swim and weight room sessions will pay off in late October and November when they will have the ability to push through the exhaustion and achieve their lofty goals.
The divers’ repetitions will also pay off, as their highly technical maneuvers will become second nature, and then they will earn the high marks they desire from the judges.