BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
It’s an exciting, fun year for the Clarkston Girls Swim and Dive team as they continue to grow.
The team added 19 swimmers and divers to the roster including 12 freshmen.
“We are still seeing where we are at, figuring out where we want them, and rolling the dice as we go,” said Amber Miller, head coach, adding they are laying solid foundation for the girls to grow in the program. ” It will be a challenge for sure, but we are just taking every opportunity to grow, learn, and get better every meet that comes along, every practice that comes along. We are excited to where we can take them because there’s a lot of talent within them.”
The diving team has four new divers and they return Julia Hunt and Madison Verbeke, who competed at the state finals last year.
“Julia is doing fantastic,” Miller said. “Madison will be great to watch. She’s diving well. All divers are working hard to improve their dives and degrees of difficulty.”
The team is in the OAA Red this season.
“We are going against the best of the best every single meet,” Miller said. “We tell the girls there are no easy meets. Every meet is a challenge. Every single day we need to bring our ‘A’ game. There will be no easy tasks and a lot of character building but that’s how they get better.”
She added though it’s a rebuilding year, it will also be a fun year as they celebrate all the personal victories such as personal bests, time drops, overcoming fears, and learning and growing.
The Wolves lost to Groves during their home meet, Oct. 12.
They finished in third place in the three relay events. The team of Lizzy Craig, Jenna Brown, Lilly Kurmaniak and Allison Kirk finished the 200-yard medley at 2:03.91; the team of Craig, Brown, Kurmaniak and Emily Taverna finished the 200-yard freestyle at 1:54.92; and the team of Allison Kirk, Katie Harr, Rhys Jahn and Cora Randolf finished the 400-yard freestyle relay at 4:18.55.
For individual events, in the 50-yard freestyle, Kurmaniak finished in fourth place, 27.64;Craig, fifth place, 28.72; 100-yard backstroke, Kurmaniak, third place, 1:12.20; Faith Schmeling, fifth place, 1:22.11; 100-yard breaststroke, Brown, third place, 1:16.07, Olivia Zeiman, fifth place, 1:16.22; 100-yard butterfly, Jahn, fourth place, 1:17.16; Amelia Rowe, fifth place, 1:20.06; 100-yard freestyle, Brown, fourth place, 58.65; Harr, fifth place, 1:03.81; 200-yard freestyle, Cora Randolph, fourth place, 2:22.62 Jahn, fifth place, 2:33.57; 200-yard IM, Kirk, fourth place, 2:30.98; Harr, fifth place, 2:45.41; 500-yard freestyle, Kirk, third place, 5:49.98; and Randolph, fifth place, 6:14.71
Hunt finished the 1-meter diving event in third place with 161.65 points.
The Wolves opened the season with a loss to Marian, Sept. 10. Verbeke finished in first place in the 1-meter diving with 212.60 points. Alivia Walbridge finished in second place with 191.45 points and Hunt finished in third place with 157.85 points.
They finished in third place in all three relay events. The team of Randolph, Brown, Kurmaniak and Kirk finished in the 200-yard medley at 2:04.25; the team of Brown, Kurmaniak, Taverna and Celena Gaffey finished the 200-yard freestyle at 1:56.06; and the team of Kirk, Randolf, Craig and Gaffey finished the 400-yard freestyle at 4:23.07
For individual events, in the 50-yard freestyle, Kurmaniak finished in fourth place, 28.16; Gaffey, fifth place, 28.24; 100-yard butterfly, Kurmaniak, fourth place, 1:12.93; Harr, fifth place, 1:15.30; 100-yard freestyle, Brown, third place, 58.59; Randolph, fifth place, 1:04.16; 100-yard backstroke, Craig, fourth place, 1:10.23; Mary Sutherland, fifth place, 1:21.76; 100-yard breaststroke, Brown, third place, 1:15.53, Zeiman, fifth place, 1:22.12; 200-yard freestyle, Randolph, fourth place, 2:18.79; Craig, fifth place, 2:23.48; 200-yard IM, Kirk, fourth place, 2:30.53; Harr, fifth place, 2:44.47; 500-yard freestyle, Kirk, third place, 5:47.55; and Lucienne Lemieux, fifth place, 6:36.99.
The 2019 Clarkston Girls Swim and Dive team is: freshmen Katherine Harr, Emily Jackson, Clara Kociba, Lillia Kurmaniak, Lucienne Lemieux, Caitrin Luggar, Claire Mazure, Anne Sutherland, Paige Szerlong, Trisha Verbeke, Brittany Vidurri, Olivia Zeiman; sophomores Kaleolani Benson, Madeline Bloomberg, Erika Casetti, Addyson Gavey, Allison Kirk, Lauren Luginski, Cora Randolph, Emma Spitzer, Mary Sutherland, Rachel Troszak, Madison Verbeke, Alivia Walbridge, Sophia Walker; juniors Celena Gaffey, Julia Hunt, Aleksandra Luboch, Amelia Rowe; seniors Jenna Brown, Lizzy Craig, Rhys Jahn, Faith Schmeling, Emily Taverna and Kaitlyn Walters.

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