Plainwell made the long road trip to DeWitt for the 2015 Invitational Meet. This one is scored a little different by only allowing each team to score up to two swimmers per event. The Plainwell Dads all looked sharp in their traditional Hawaiian shirts as the meet got under way. Plainwell came out swinging in the Medley Relay with a 1^st place/State Cut time by Ernst, Burgess, Nyberg, Keator and a 9^th (actual 5^th Place) by the team of Lamorandier, Singh, Hills, Varley. In the 200 Free, Betz and Havenaar swam in the second fastest heat and took 1^st and 3^rd respectively.  Klein did a beautiful job of setting up a rival swimmer for a come from behind 4^thplace, fun stuff!  In the 200 IM Jewell swam up from an 8^th place seed to take 5^th and shaved 2 seconds off her seed time.  In the 50 Free McKenzie and Moore both dropped time and Moore grabbed the heat win.  Keator swam up from her 8^th place seed to take 4^th place overall.   Zimmer dove to a 2^nd place against some tough competition and Clemens was able to secure a strong 11^th place.   Hillmann swam up from her 8^th place heat seed to take 5^th in the 100 Back. Also in the 100 Back, Ernst swam to 1^st and took home the pool record.  In the 100 Breast Evans had 10 second drop and took her heat!  Also in the Breast Stroke Burgess continued to chip away time swimming to a 5^th place overall, while Singh was able to secure 9^th (8^th actual).  Plainwell finished 3^rd overall while swimming against a strong field including some D2 schools. The day concluded in the parking lot with the traditional tailgate. Thank you parents for the delicious bounty that we enjoyed!

                                                     Brian Ernst

Plainwell 121.5   Sturgis 64.5

 

The Lady Trojans continued their winning ways at home against Sturgis by a score of 121.5 to 64.5. The Medley Relay team of Ernst, Burgess, Nyberg, and Jones scored a 1^st place and posted a State Qualifying Time to start the meet off right. Keator, Jones, and Varley respectively swept the 50 Freestyle and Pierce, DeLaet, and Hillman respectively swept the exhibition heat. In Diving Zimmer scored 1^st, Clemens was 3^rd, and Shannon grabbed 4^th with B-E-A-utiful performances. In the 100 Fly Nyberg earned a hard fought 2^nd place and had an early season drop in time.  In the 100 Free DeLaet, McKenzie, and Widman swept the first exhibition heat, while Moore, Hillman, and Evans respectively swept the second heat again showing some nice Plainwell depth. Klein swam to a 1^st in the 500 Free. Nyberg took 1^st in the 100 Back, while Lamorandier dropped some time to grab 4^th. In the 100 Breast Burgess dropped time on her way to 1^st, Singh took 3rd, and Jewell stole 4^th. Finishing things off in the 400 relay Keator, Varley, Jones, and Nyberg had a solid 1^st and Havenaar, Betz, Hills, and Klein stole 2^nd from Sturgis, great job ladies! The girls had some close racing and fought for points across the board, keep up the hard work! State Qualifications: 200 Medley Relay: Ernst, Burgess, Nyberg, and Jones, 100 Free: Ernst

                                                                Brian Ernst

Welcome to the 2015 Plainwell Swim & Dive Season

 

Plainwell 108  Mattawan 77

 

The Lady Trojans opened the 2015 dual meet season at WMU against Mattawan by winning 108 to 77. It was great to see many returning athletes and the introduction of a large freshmen class. Team captains Allison Singh, Veronica Klein, Abby Ernst, and Jessica Nyberg led the charge as Plainwell’s depth earned them a sound win. Junior Emma Varley had some excellent splits in the freestyle events and Junior Emily Zimmer won the diving event.  Sophomores Cassy Keator, Marlee Burgess, and Colby Hills picked up where they left off last season scoring valuable points where the team needed them. Freshmen Naomie Delaet, Shanyn Jewell, Hailee Lamorandier, and Madison Moore had outstanding first meet performances, showing us a glimpse of Plainwell future. Finally Leah Brady and Sarah Shannon made their diving debuts by impressing the crowd with their spectacular body control. State Qualifications: Abby Ernst 200 Free, 500 Free

                                                             Guest contributor-Brian Ernst

                       2014 Year End Recap

Michigan D3 State Finals Oakland University

200 Medley Relay Team: 15^th  Place: 1:56.30

Abby Ernst (Back Stroke 28.09)  Emma Seiler (Breast Stroke 33.42)
Aaryn Jewell (Butterfly 28.35)  Laura Jones (Freestyle 26.44)

200 IM 16^th Place

Abby Ernst 2:22.70

 100 Freestyle 19^th Place

Aaryn Jewell  56.65

Diving 25th Place
Emily Zimmer

 200 Free Relay 12^th Place 1:43.66

Laura Jones 26.85, Jessica Nyberg  25.70
Emma Seiler  26.01, Aaryn Jewell 25.10

 100 Backstroke 8^th Place

Abby Ernst 1:00.16 

400 Free Relay 11^th Place 3:46.12

Jessica Nyberg 56.87, Emma Seiler 57.33
Abby Ernst 56.55, Aaryn Jewell 55.37

                   2014 Conference Final Meet Results

200 Med Relay:

2^nd Place: Abby Ernst, Emma Seiler, Jessica Nyberg, Laura Jones 1:55.82

9^th Place: Mikah Havenaar, Karlee Gauthier, Colby Hills, Emma Varley 2:05.41

200 Free:

3^rd Place: Aaryn Jewell,  8^th Place: Veronica Klein, 12^th Place: Kaitlin Oakes

 200 IM:

2^nd Place: Abby Ernst, 12^th Place: Mikah Havenaar, 13^th Place Marlee Burgess

 50 Free:

10^th Place: Laura Jones, 13^th Place: Emma Seiler,  

1 Mtr Diving:

5^th Place: Emily Zimmer, 8^th Place: Jaidin Clemens, 12^th Place: Molly Wright
100 Butterfly:
4^th Place: Aaryn Jewell, 6^th Place: Jessica Nyberg,
100 Freestyle:

5^th Place: Laura Jones, 8^th Place: Emma Seiler, 12^th Place: Emma Varley, 15^th Place: Cassy Keator

500 Freestyle:

6^th Place: Karlee Gauthier, 8^th Place: Veronica Klein, 10^th Place: Kaitlin Oakes,

200 Free Relay:

3^rd Place: L. Jones, K. Gauthier, E. Seiler, A. Jewell

10^th Place: A. Singh, V.Klein, M. Burgess, K.Oakes 
100 Backstroke:

2^nd Place: Abby Ernst, 8^th Place: Jessica Nyberg

100 Breaststroke:

4^th Place: Karlee Gauthier, 13^th Place: Marlee Burgess, 16^th Place: Allison Singh

400 Free Relay:

4^th Place: V. Klein, J Nyberg, A. Ernst, A. Jewell

9^th Place: C Keator, K. Oakes, A. Singh, E. Varley

Sorry for the delay, blog problems.

Our lady Trojans final two meets of the regular season consisted of hosting South Haven on Oct 21^st  and seven days later they would be on the road taking on our cross town rival Otsego Bulldogs. Both meets were a good opportunity for Coach D to clean up some last minute details in prep for our upcoming conference finals. This would also be a time for some of our younger swimmers/divers to show their stuff in some varsity final heats. Our underclassmen did not disappoint performing well across the board to help our Trojans bring home victories.

Against South Haven some of our Trojan top performances were turned in by Seiler, Klein, Oakes and Keator taking 1^st in the 200 medley. Maddie Betz and Kylee Hillmann went 2^nd and 3rd in the 200 free. Emma Seiler and Veronica Klein took 1^st and 2^nd in the 200 IM. Jessica Nyberg and Emma Varley would repeat the previous finish with their own 1^st and 2^nd place finishes. Emily Zimmer and Jaidin Clemens both dove fantastic with 1^st and 2^nd place finishes. Colby Hills and Laura Jones took 1^st and 2^nd in the 100 fly. The 100 free top spots would go to Mikah Havenaar for 2^nd and Jaqueline Brignall 3^rd. Toughing out the 500 free with gutsy performances was Maddie Betz finishing 1^st and Kylee Hillmann finishing 2^nd. The 200 free relay was full of surprises and divers (Yes I said divers). Clemens and Zimmer would try their luck swimming by helping out Havenaar and Betz to finish 4^th. Mikah Havenaar looked strong in her 2^nd place finish in the 100 back as did Emma Varley with her 3^rd place finish in the 100 breast. Closing out the night in our 400 free relay with a 2^nd place finish was the team of Singh, Hillmann, Betz and Havenaar. Final Score: Plainwell 110 South Haven 71.

  Plainwell would follow up the South Haven win by taking 9 of 12 events on way to a 117 to 63 victory over Otsego. Marlee Burgess impressed with wins in the 200 IM and 100 Breast. Aaryn Jewell, Abby Ernst and Emma Seiler also had a two-win night by being part of the winning efforts in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay. Also taking first place finishes on the night were Veronica Klein in the 200 free, Emily Zimmer in diving, Emma Varley in the 100 free, Karlee Gauthier in the 500 free, Jaqueline Brignall in the 100 back, Jessica Nyberg in the 200 medley and Laura Jones in the 400 free relay.

Allegan and St Joe

With the season beginning to wind down over the last few weeks our girls have had to endure some emotional highs and lows. Although our Trojans performed well against Allegan on Oct 14^th things did not go exactly as planned. Allegan was primed, ready and I believe well rested. They had their eyes on a victory this night even if it meant sacrificing some end of the season time drops to do so. Allegan swam well and deserved the win by out touching us in a few key races that ultimately made the difference. Allegan 96 Plainwell 90.

Even though Plainwell came in beat up, sick, and short on numbers gutsy performances were evident everywhere. In the medley relay Ernst, Gauthier, Nyberg and Seiler finished 2^nd.  L. Jones took 2^nd in the 200 free and Abby Ernst came away with 1^st place in the IM. Aaryn Jewell just got touched out in the 50 free finishing in 2^nd and Kim Jones walked away with the top spot in diving. The butterfly event was another close race with Aaryn Jewell grabbing second While Abby Ernst also took 2^nd in the 100 free. Our 200 Free relay team of L Jones, Gauthier, Ernst and Jewell earned a hard fought 1^st and Emma Seiler cruised to 1^st in the 100 back. The breaststroke event was also close with Karlee Gauthier finishing in 2nd and our relay team of Jones, Jewell, Nyberg and Seiler would end the night with a second place showing in the 400 free relay event.

Two days later and coming off a very emotional Allegan meet PHS would take on visiting St. Joe. It would have been easy for our girls to lay down for this strong division two opponent but that’s not who they are and they proved it by reaching deep and performing well all night. When we look back on this season I believe the St Joe meet will be viewed as the meet and win that showed our girls true heart. Well done Trojan Swim & Dive!  Plainwell 100      St. Joe 86

PHS v. St Joe Results

200 Medley: 1^st Ernst,Gauthier,Nyberg,Seiler/ 3^rd Brignall,Sing,Hills,Jones/ 5^th Oaks,Havenaar,Havenaar,Hillmann

200 Free: 2^nd L. Jones/ 4^th V. Klein/ 6^th M. Betz

200 IM: 2^nd A. Ernst/ 4^th A. Singh/ 5^th M. Havenaar

50 Free: 1^st A. Jewell/3^rd E. Seiler/5^th C. Keator/ 7^th K. Havenaar

Diving: 1^st K. Jones/4^th E. Zimmer/6^th J. Clemens

100 Fly: 1^st A. Jewell/3^rd J. Nyberg/5^th C. Hills

100 Free: 2^nd L. Jones/3^rd E. Seiler/4^th K. Oakes

500 Free: 2^nd K. Gauthier/3^rd V. Klein/6^th K. Havenaar

200 F Relay: 2^nd Seiler,Jones,Jewell,Gauthier/3^rd Singh,Keator,Oakes,Klein/5^th Havenaar, Brignal, Havenaar,?

100 Back: 1^st A. Ernst/3^rd J. Nyberg/6^th C. Hills

100 Breast: 3^rd K. Gauthier/4^th A. Singh/5^th M. Havenaar

400 F Relay: 1^st L. Jones, Ernst,Nyberg,Jewell/ 3^rd Keator,Brignall,Oakes,Klein/ 5^th     Havenaar,Betz,Hills,?