Prep Swim Results
Thursday, September 19, 2002
Wayne
Memorial 102
Garden
City 71
September
17 at Wayne
200
medley relay: WM (Bree Lafortune, Elizabeth Kofahl, Ashley Cardwell, Emily Bowyer) 2:19.08; 200 freestyle: 1. Heather Quinn
(WM) 2:20.84, 2. Karin Grant (GC) 2:27.68; 200 individual medley: 1. Kathleen Sweeney (WM) 2:38.87, 2. Jana Rosinski (GC)
2:51.58; 50 freestyle: 1. Ashley Lewis (WM) 28.51, 2. Liz Newcomb (GC) 28.56; diving: Kristi Igo (WM) 125.95; 100 butterfly:
1. LaFortune (WM) 1:10.13, 2. Newcomb (GC) 1:14.83; 100 freestyle: 1. Quinn (WM) 1:09.2, 2. Bowyer (WM) 1:10.94; 500 freestyle:
1. Karin Grant (GC) 6:45.35 *the only win for GC*, 2. Breanna Porta (WM) 7:02.11; 200 freestyle relay: WM (Sabrie Miller,
Kofahl, Jordan Deron, Quinn) 2:02.4;
100 backstroke: 1. LaFortune (WM) 1:08.18, 2. Sweeney (WM) 1:11.16; 100 breaststroke: Cardwell (WM) 1:28.58; 2. Lehman (WM)
1:31.16; 400 freestyle relay: WM (LaFortune, Kofahl, Fournier, Sweeney).
Dual
meet records: Wayne, 2-0 overall, Garden City 0-2 overall.
Fordson edges Cougars
Sunday, October 6, 2002
Host
Garden City had a chance to win its meet Thursday with Dearborn Fordson if it went
1-2 in the 400 freestyle relay. The Cougars went 1-3, however, and wound up with a narrow 83-81 loss to the Tractors. “It
was very close but we were outswam,” said Garden City coach Julie Johnston. “I will be the first to say I underestimated
Fordson. I should have put Karin (Grant) in the 500 free or 200 free to give us another first.” Liz Newcomb earned a
pair of firsts for the Cougars (0-4, 0-2 Mega Blue) by winning the 50 free (29.5) and the 100 butterfly (1:23.1), while Jana
Rosinski won the 200 individual medley (2:50.8) and the 100 backstroke (1:19.5) and Grant won the 100 free (1:06.6). The three,
along with Erica Ravi, won the 200 free relay (2:06.0) and the 400 free relay (4:45.9).
Grant also took second
in the 50 free (29.8) and Jessica Muņoz, Brittany Gnida, Allison McDonnell and Ravi won the 200 medley
relay (2:58.0).
“We had some good
performances,” said Johnston. “Amanda Gill never swam on a team until
2 weeks ago and she just got touched out for third in the 100 backstroke.”
Eagles topple Garden City, 97-71
Thursday, October 10, 2002
The first-place finishes
were virtually even when Thurston and Garden City swam on Thursday night.
But the Eagles’ depth
helped them to a 97-71 win over the visiting Cougars.
“We had enough seconds
and thirds and that helped us a lot,” said Thurston coach Samantha Brand.
“It was a close meet,
literally. (Thurston’s) Melanie Flesher and (Garden City’s Liz) Newcomb tied in the 50 free (both at 29.24) but
Newcomb touched out. We had four swimmers sitting out and for us to win was really good.”
Thurston’s Hannah
Leitch took a pair of individual wins, taking the 100 backstroke (1:10.18) and the 100 freestyle (1:04.56), while Stephanie
Farkas won the 100 breaststroke (1:26.74).
What helped the Eagles
was winning all three relays. Leitch, Farkas, Amanda Shafer and Flesher won the medley relay (2:22.23), Flesher, Natasha Tenerovich,
Farkas and Samantha Bonior won the 200 free relay (2:02.13) and Leitch, Tenerovich, Flesher and Bonior won the 400 free relay
(4:34.08).
In addition to the 50 free,
Newcomb won the 100 butterfly (1:18.24), Karin Grant won the 200 free (2:19.34) and the 500 free (6:22.15) and Jana Rosinski
won the 200 individual medley (2:48.09).
Cougars 4th
Sunday, October 13, 2002
Led by Jessie Frendo’s
ninth-place finish, Garden City came in fourth at the Mega White girls Cross Country Jamboree on Wednesday.
Frendo came across the
line in 22:25 as the Cougars wound up with 120 points overall. Allen
Park won the meet with 45 points, while Ypsilanti was second
with 54, Wyandotte was third with 67 and Southgate
failed to finish five runners.
Jamie Davis was 24th
for the Cougars in 24:08, Emily Fairchild was 28th (26:59) Karin Grant was 29th (27:20) and Kaeli Czarnota
was 30th (27:40).
Allen
Park’s Jackie Gaydos led the field in 19:14. The Cougars
will run at the Mega White Jamboree on Thursday at Ypsilanti High
School’s Simpson Trail.
A side
note to that article… As you can see Kaeli and I had the exact same time. I was keeping up with Emily until I had to
go up this monster hill the second time and Kaeli was way behind us the whole time. Well, when I started to die she started
catching up. I didn’t see her until she pulled ahead of me with about 100 meters to go. You would’ve had to have
been there to fully grasp the reserve energy I managed to pull out to sprint to that finish line. It almost looked as if I
was just running a 100 meter dash at a track meet. It was another one of those competitive moments I was so proud of and will
never forget.
Patra leads Redford Union at Gabriel Richard Invite
Thursday, October 17, 2002
(I’m
skipping the half about the boys results)
Maria Dadourian led the
RU girls by finishing 27th (21:49), while Alene Davis was 57th
(23:33), Stephanie Cetnar was 82nd (25:00), Nicole Gourlay was 88th
(25:33) and Christy Frederick was 89th (25:34).
Thurston was paced by Laurie
Stenzel in 41st (22:55), with Natalie Wasio in 66th (23:55) and Emily Szymanski in 68th (23:59).
Jessie Frendo was tops
for Garden City, which ran without three-time state qualifier Joelle Davis. Frendo was 45th in 23:10, while Jamie Davis was 62nd (23:44), Emily
Fairchild was 96th (28:02) and Karin Grant was 97th (29:32). *Note: I didn’t come in last, though
it may seem that way.*
“Joelle spent last
week in the hospital with an infection,” said Garden City coach Rob Phillips. “She didn’t run in this and
might not run in the league meet on Thursday.
“I’m hoping
to have her back for the regionals.
“We had a little
mental letdown in this because we ran well on Wednesday. We ran a good first mile, but none of the kids stayed in the race
for the second mile.
“By the time we tried
making it up in the third mile, it was too late. We did have a bright spot though from Jamie Davis, who ran her personal best.”
Cougar girls fifth
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Garden City’s girls
squad struggled at the Mega White meet on Thursday at Ypsilanti, failing to post
a team score with just four healthy runner.
“We had two girls
out with injury or illness and another had a swim meet,” said Garden City coach Rob Phillips. “Joelle Davis is
still sick and she’s been our for a while.”
Jessie Frendo was 15th
in the meet in 22:44, while Jamie Davis was 17th (23:12), Emily Fairchild was 27th (27:34) and Kaeli Czarnota was 28th (27:35).
Allen Park’s Jackie Gaydos shattered the course record by 45 seconds, finishing
in 18:40.
Depth stops GC
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Garden City took more than
its share of firsts on Thursday afternoon against Taylor Truman/Kennedy.
But the Cougars only had
one second-place finish and one third-place finish – both belonging to Erica Ravi – and as a result, lost 95-73.
“We didn’t
have a lot of depth in this meet,” said Garden City coach Julie Johnston. “They averaged nine points per event
and we only got seven, despite winning a lot of them. We did have a lot of personal bests and our second stringers are closer
to third, fourth, and fifth places.”
Karin Grant had a pair
of wins in the meet, taking the 200 freestyle (2:27.6) and the 500 free (6:37.0). Liz Newcomb won the 50 free (29.47) and
the 100 butterfly (1:19.9), while Jana Rosinski took the 100 backstroke (1:17.6) and the 200 individual medley (2:51.5).
Rosinski, Ravi,
Newcomb and Grant also won the 200 freestyle relay (2:07.9) and the 400 free relay (4:45.1). Ravi had
her second in the 100 free (1:12.0) and third in the 200 free (2:42.8).
Cougars fall, 103-80
Sunday, October 27, 2002
Garden City didn’t
win its Thursday meet with Lincoln Park.
“But even though
we lost the meet, the girls did an outstanding job,” said Cougars coach Julie Johnston after her team’s 103-80
loss to Lincoln Park. “It came down to who out touched who. Most of them
had their personal-best times.”
Karin Grant took a pair
of wins, taking the 200 freestyle (2:22.9) and the 500 freestyle (6:26.5), while Jana Rosinski won the 200 individual medley
(2:42.98) and Liz Newcomb won the 50 freestyle (28.65). Grant, Rosinski, Newcomb and Allison McDonnell won the 400 freestyle
relay (4:44.6).
Newcomb was also second
in the 100 butterfly (1:14.9), Erica Ravi was second in the 100 freestyle (1:12.2), Rosinski was runner up in the 100 backstroke
(1:16.5) and Grant, Rosinski, Newcomb and NcDonnell were second in the 200 freestyle relay (2:05.2).
Crestwood stops Cougars, 115-54
Thursday, October 31, 2002
Karin Grant and Jana Rosinski
won a pair of events, but Dearborn Heights Crestwood won the meet as the Chargers toppled Garden City, 115-54.
“We had Liz Newcomb
out with a bad shoulder and we were resting her,” said Cougars coach Julie Johnston. “Otherwise, the race would
have been closer. I think the girls were outstanding. There were a lot of touchouts in each race. They tried really hard.”
Grant won the 200 freestyle
and the 100 butterfly, while Rosinski took the 100 backstroke and the 200 individual medley. Erica Ravi was second in the
100 freestyle, while Grant, Rosinski, Ravi and Allison McDonnell were second in the 200 free relay
and the 400 free relay.
(The
following article is from my high school’s paper. Keep in mind that they have to write the articles a couple weeks before
they are able to actually sell the paper.)
Breaking records and striving to improve
Thursday, October 31, 2002
Although the girls’
swim team hasn’t come off to a great start, it still has over half the season to improve. The Garden City girls’
swim team is in the Mega Blue Division and is currently zero and two in the league and zero and four overall. However, their
record doesn’t necessarily show what they’ve accomplished so far this season.
This year at the Wayne
Invitational the record of the 200 freestyle relay was improved to two minutes and six seconds. Jana Rosinski, junior captain;
Erica Ravi, sophomore; Liz Newcomb, junior captain; and Karin Grant, senior captain, were the girls who increased the record
to that.
Grant said, “We didn’t
realize, at first, we had broken the record. It wasn’t until a week later that we were surprised with the news.”
And their coach Julie Johnston,
physical education, said that they aren’t done yet, her senior captain has to agree that she also hopes the team becomes
faster by the end of the season.
Almost half of this year’s
swim team consists of freshmen and sophomores. Grant says because of that they’re still trying to see what works best.
There are only two seniors and eleven returners, and with seven meets left there is plenty of time to improve.
Julie Johnston also said,
“The team is very coachable and they just need to work a bit harder if they want to win.”
Panthers grab Mega Blue crown
Sunday, November 10, 2002
With its swimmers eligible
for points in 43 spots, it was almost certain that Redford Union was going to win the Mega Blue championship on Friday night.
But even coach Lois Cifaldi
was surprised by the ease of the Panther’s win – a 159-point margin over their nearest competitor.
“It was very surprising,”
Cifaldi said. “We had 43 places (in the final and consolation heats) going into the meet and the team next to us had
22. So I knew we were doing well out of the preliminaries.”
The Panthers, the league’s
dual-meet champions, won the meet with 376 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Taylor
with 217. Host Crestwood was third with 208, followed by Willow Run (142), Garden City (134), Lincoln
Park (128) and Dearborn Fordson (71).
“The girls were pleased
with their performances,” Cifaldi said. “There were a lot of personal bests and some fast times. Our girls were
getting personal bests and not getting firsts, so it must have been fast water.”
The Eagles took five firsts
on the evening – all three relays plus a pair from Rachel Rowe, who won the 200 IM (2:27.52) and the 100 butterfly (1:06.17).
Jill Thompson, Stacey Bowles,
Renee Amidon and Carly Hornyak won the 200 medley relay; Danielle Nyquist, Hornyak, Stephanie Bowles and Rowe set a school
record in the 200 freestyle relay (1:55.54); and Cristen Webster, Thompson, Stephanie Bowles and Rowe won the 400 free relay
(4:21.95).
Margaret Germain-Brown
took a pair of seconds in the 200 free (2:24.35) and the 500 free (6:24.69), Stephanie Bowles was second in the 100 free (1:04.8)
and Thompson in the 100 backstroke (1:14.65). Thompson was also third in the 100 free (1:05.03), while Amidon was in the same
spot in the 100 butterfly (1:15.26), Stacy Bowles in the 100 breaststroke (1:26.53) and Stephanie Bowles in the 50 free (27.74).
Lindsay Franti was fourth
in the 100 backstroke (1:16.76); Kristen Spangler was fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:26.54) and sixth in diving (204.20);
Webster was fifth in the 200 free (2:33.14) and the 100 backstroke (1:17.18); and Nicole Smithson was fifth in the 200 IM
(2:56.28) and sixth in the 500 free (6:47.98).
Garden City’s only
win came from Jana Rosinski in the 100 backstroke (1:14.38), while she was fourth in the 200 IM (2:45.47). Karin Grant was
sixth in the 200 free (2:53.12) and fifth in the 500 free (6:44.97); and Liz Newcomb was fourth in the 50 free (27.61) and
the 100 fly (1:15.64). The Cougars were also third in the 200 free relay 2:00.04), fourth in the 400 free relay (4:28.25)
and sixth in the medley relay (2:56.96).
All-League Selections
Thursday, December 5, 2001
(This list included
everyone that was all-league from all the Fall sports from all the area schools but I’ll skip right to the swimming
portion…)
Swimming
Mega Conference
Blue Division - Garden
City: Karin Grant, Liz Newcomb, Jana Rosinski; Redford Union: Renee Amidon, Stacey Bowles, Stephanie Bowles, Margaret Germain-Brown,
Carly Hornyak, Danielle Nyquist, Rachel Rowe, Kristin Spangler, Nicole Smithson, Jull Thompson, Cristen Webster.
All-Observer Girls Swim Teams
Thursday, December 26, 2001
(Skipping to the honorable
mentions…)
Honorable
Mentions
Livonia
Churchill: Magda Stawikowska, Lauren Siedlak, Sarah Timson; Livonia Franklin:
Alyssa Supplee, Lauren Kmet; Livonia Stevenson: Christine Perko, Jenna Caponey,
Amelia Polkowski; Livonia Ladywood: Katherine Johnston, Katie MacDonald; Westland
John Glenn: Kristyn Peterson; Wayne Memorial: Bree LaFortune; Garden City: Karin Grant, Liz Newcomb, Jana Rosinski; Redford
Thurston: Hannah Leitch; Redford Union: Rachel Rowe, Stephanie Bowles.
Well,
senior year on swim didn’t go as planned at all. I started getting sick right around the time of the Gabriel Richard
cross country meet and just kept getting worse. At leagues I had pneumonia and an eye infection in each eye. I was completely
drained because of the illness that I hyperventilated in three of four of my events in the finals. I was seeded to finish
1st in the 200 free and 2nd in the 500 free, but as you can see the illness killed that plan. Had I
not hyperventilated in the 400 free relay and swam a 1:01 instead of a 1:04 we may have come in third.
As you
can see I ran cross country and swam in the same season and I did earn varsity letters in both. I think it’s pretty
impressive that I started my cross country season by running a high 32-minute race and just a couple weeks later I managed
to cut 5 minutes off my time without actually going to cross country practices, other than the ones before school started
where I went to cross practice in the morning and swim practice in the afternoon. Once I was mentioned in the sports section
for two different sports (my name wasn’t specifically stated in the cross country one but I was the girl at the swim
meet) and once I was in my school’s paper and the Garden City Observer on the same day. Happy Halloween to me!
Senior
year on track didn’t go very well either thanks to the stupidity of doctors. I had to sit out the last two and a half
weeks because they were afraid I had a circulation/heart condition. Well, nobody found anything wrong with me in the end and
I ended up having to compete at leagues having not practiced for two and a half weeks. However, I was given the Most Dedicated
award by Coach Phillips for the second year in a row, an award that didn’t exist until my junior year. I wonder if Coach
gave it out this past Spring…
And
the more boring things...
Top
5 academic stars
Cougar
Tracks, June 3, 2003
Karin
Grant currently ranks number 3 in her class with a 4.405. Her school day consists of all weighted classes: AP English, Physics,
AP Calculus, Organic Chemistry, American Foreign Policy, and Spanish 5. Come September, Grant will attend Central Michigan
University. She will be majoring in either chemical engineering or secondary education in mathematics and chemistry. Grant
is the National Honor Society's historian, the Spanish Club's president, the Ecology Club's treasurer, and is also in Key
Club. She has taken part in track and the swim team for four years. During the last season of swim she was also on cross country.
For the last two years Grant has been all league for swim and the captain for her final swim season. Along with all her other
activities, Grant works in the high school cafeteria and as a part-time lifeguard. Over the summer she plans on just relaxing.
Grant has two favorite classes: Organic Chemistry with Ms. Bills and Calculus with Mr. Penski. When high school is over she
will miss doing the same thing everyday. But she definitely won't miss the large, inconvenient group of people suurounding
her locker enabling her to get to it. Though the two or three long lectures are not tempting her. Grant will miss all the
fun times she had at lunch in the commons with Ron Main and Sarah Condon. She will also miss most of the girls on the swim
team, especially Allison Pienkowski. She would like to thank Coach Phillips and Coach Murray for putting up with her. Grant's
final declaration is merely, "Coach Murray, where is my cheese?"
Allow me to explain some of the
things in that article. First, my final GPA was 4.417 and I still ended up being third. Second, I'm definitely not majoring
in chemistry, chemical engineering or secondary education. Third, don't knock cafeteria workers! We get paid and we get
free food so back off! Fourth, that large group of people was all the football players and cheerleaders, which made it even
worse. Sixth, Allison Pienkowski wrote the article and twisted my arm to mention her. Last, about the cheese, Coach Murray
always said to me "Would you like some cheese with that whine?" Me being a big fan of cheese always said yes but I never got
any cheese. :-(
I was also one of the two honorable
mentions from my school for the Garden City Observer's Academic All Stars, which is based on your GPA and your ACT/SAT score.
I had the highest ACT (32) and SAT (1330) score in my class and, obviously, the third highest GPA. On top of that, I was mentioned
in Detroit Free Press' Class Acts of 2003 on June 11, 2003 as one of Garden City's top seniors and in the Observer's Honor
Roll on July 31, 2003 for being named to the 2003-04 National Honor Roll.
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