Mercy regains its county crown, winning 2023 Oakland County championship

Mercy regains its county crown, winning 2023 Oakland County championship

By Matthew Mowery

Oakland Press

October 1, 2023

Dethroned in last year’s as the county champ after a reign of nearly two decades, the Farmington Hills Mercy Marlins reclaimed their county crown with a first-place finish at Saturday’s Oakland County Swimming and Diving Championships at Lake Orion High School.

“It did (feel weird). I mean, it’s funny because we never walk into this meet talking about winning, and we swam well, last year, but yeah, we walked out of here and it felt a little odd,” longtime Mercy coach Mike Venos said. “So yeah, things things kind of feel back to normal right now.”

Despite just two first-place finishes — in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays — the Marlins placed a swimmer in the top six in every event but one, finishing with 280 points, 134 more than their nearest competitor.

Huron Valley United finished second with 156 points, leading a tightly-packed group of seven teams within 20 points of each other, four of those — West Bloomfield (140), Stoney Creek (139.5), Bloomfield Hills (139.5), Farmington (139) — within a two-point spread.

Five events into Saturday’s action, and Venos had a pretty good feeling about how things were going.

“The big thing is state meet our focus is always at the end of the year. And this is this is a nice gauge. … Primarily, we come here, especially with a kid who doesn’t have a state cut. It’s nice to get some of those state cuts out of the way before the end of the season. And we have a handful of new kids were taken to the statement. So yeah, we’re, we really feel good about today,” Venos said. “One of the seniors, Savannah Sneyd, who has been sitting on the sidelines and watching us, one of the hardest workers that I’ve ever had, it was just incredible to see her get it cut today. Watching Savannah get her cut in the fly, I turned to Drew (Edson) my assistant coach and said, ‘If Savannah gets a cut today, no matter what happens, we’re gonna walk out of here happy.’”

Freshmen Leah Greaves and Campbell Shore combined with sophomore Mackenzie Conway and senior Amylia Higgins for a first-place finish (1:38.13) in the 200 freestyle relay, while junior Kathleen Schwab replaced Conway to team with the other three in a first-place finish (3:36.05) in the 400 freestyle relay.

West Bloomfield’s Elizabeth Eichbrecht defended her county title in the 200 freestyle (1:49.70), and was four-tenths of a second from breaking a 10-year-old record in the 100 butterfly, posting a first-place time of 0:54.91.

South Lyon’s Emma Klotz won both sprint events, taking first in both the 50 (23.88) and 100 (52.58) freestyle events, while Stoney Creek’s Julia Walser won the 200 individual medley (2:08.95). Birmingham Seaholm’s Kelley Hassett won the 500 freestyle (5:02.29) and Berkley’s Bryce Scully won the 100 breaststroke (1:05.07), while South Lyon East’s Sophia Lickman defended her county title in the 100 backstroke (0.57.31).

Farmington’s team of Sydney Visser, Emme D’Errico, Annika Cho and Mackenzie Bushey won the 200 individual medley relay (1:49.58) to start the day.

The Division 1 state runner-up last year, Novi’s Lorelai Maisano broke the Oakland County and KLAA records with her first-place total of 449.70 points in 1-meter diving, while Oxford’s Ellie Setter’s 436.30 score (2nd place) broke her school’s record, as well as the OAA Blue standard. Rochester Adams’ Elizabeth Woollcott scored 358.35 to finish fourth, setting a new OAA Red record, while Katelin Carter’s 269.85 (16th place) broke the Walled Lake Northern record.

Madison Heights Lamphere’s Kelsey Milz broke the MAC Gold record with her 54.31 swim in the 100 freestyle, while Huron Valley United’s Mya Hutchinson, Annabelle Thompson, Coral Hebert and Elle Dameworth set a new school record (3:38.22) with their second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.

TEAM SCORES: 1. Farmington Hills Mercy, 280. 2. Huron Valley United, 156. 3. West Bloomfield, 140. 4 (tie). Stoney Creek, 139.5. 4 (tie). Bloomfield Hills, 139.5. 6. Farmington, 139. 7. Berkley, 137. 8. Birmingham Seaholm, 136. 9. Rochester Adams, 117. 10. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 100. 11. South Lyon, 99. 12. Lake Orion, 92.5. 13. South Lyon East, 89. 14. Birmingham Marian, 84. 15. North Farmington, 68. 16. Novi, 64. 17. Royal Oak, 62. 18. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 55. 19. Walled Lake United, 36.5. 20. Walled lake Northern, 34. 21. Oxford, 33. 22. Birmingham Groves, 32. 23. Madison Heights Lamphere, 24. 24. Detroit Country Day, 21. 25. Troy, 18. 26. Rochester, 15. 27. Clarkston, 14.

200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Farmington (Sydney Visser, Emme D’Errico, Annika Cho, Mackenzie Bushey), 1:49.58. 2. Berkley, 1:50.61. 3. Bloomfield Hills, 1:52.24. 4. Birmingham Seaholm, 1:52.39. 5. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 1:52.59. 6. Farmington Hills Mercy, 1:52.79.

7. North Farmington, 1:52.90. 8. Rochester Adams, 1:53.20. 9. Birmingham Marian, 1:53.34. 10. South Lyon, 1:53.69.

200 FREESTYLE: 1. Elizabeth Eichbrecht, West Bloomfield, 1:49.70. 2. Kelley Hassett, Birmingham Seaholm, 1:52.50. 3. Amylia Higgins, Farmington Hills Mercy, 1:54.55. 4. Peyton Nugent, Rochester Adams, 1:56.20. 5. Maeve Goymerac, Stoney Creek, 1:56.36. 6. Emme D’Errico, Farmington, 1:56.54. 7. Kate Rhodes, Lake Orion, 1:57.30. 8. Delaney Dalziel, Royal Oak, 1:57.73. 9. Annaliese Thompson, Huron Valley United, 1:58.62. 10. Mya Hutchinson, Huron Valley United, 1:58.80.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Julia Walser, Stoney Creek, 2:08.95. 2. Joy Lyons, North Farmington, 2:09.59. 3. Emma Ciesla, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 2:11.62. 4. Campbell Shore, Farmington Hills Mercy, 2:12.40. 5. Hailey Garvey, South Lyon, 2:12.65. 6 (tie). Demetra Bicos, Bloomfield Hills, 2:12.71. 6 (tie). Annika Cho, Farmington, 2:12.71. 8. Julijana Jelic, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2:14.40. 9 Kathleen Schwab, Farmington Hills Mercy, 2:14.58. 10. Lucy Truesdell, Royal Oak, 2:15.48.

50 FREESTYLE: 1. Emma Klotz, South Lyon, 23.88. 2. Bailey Robinson, Bloomfield Hills, 24.49. 3. Maddie Collins, Berkley, 24.62. 4. Meghan Bluethmann, Birmingham Marian, 24.71. 5. Leah Greaves, Farmington Hills Mercy, 24.82. 6. Elle Dameworth, Huron Valley United, 24.83. 7. Kelsey Milz, Madison Heights Lamphere, 24.84. 8. Coral Hebert, Huron Valley United, 24.86. Taylor Robinson, Rochester, 24.89. 10. Aly Paolicchi, Walled Lake United, 24.99.

1-METER DIVING: 1. Lorelai Maisano, Novi, 449.70. 2. Ellie Seiter, Oxord, 436.30. 3. Tristan Krajcarski, Oxford, 385.20. 4. Elizabeth Woollcott, Rochester Adams, 358.35. 5. Jordyn Coin, Clarkston, 335.15. 6. Lola Beer, Huron Valley United, 326.50. 7. Jamie Vincent, West Bloomfield, 320.60. 8. Kristin Losey, Troy, 312.25. 9. Madeline Vartanian, Detroit Country Day, 305.80. 10. Morgan Rea, Rochester Adams, 297.30.

100 BUTTERFLY: 1. Elizabeth Eichbrecht, West Bloomfield, 54.91. 2. Sophia Lickman, South Lyon East, 57.84. 3 (tie). Bryce Scully, Berkley, 57.91. 3 (tie). Julia Walser, Stoney Creek, 57.91. 5. Emma D’Errico, Farmington, 58.45. 6. Kathleen Schwab, Farmington Hills Mercy, 58.64. 7. Maeve Goymerac, Stoney Creek, 59.03. 8. Bryn Cusack, West Bloomfield, 59.19. 9. Emma Ciesla, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 59.30. 10. Maddie Dicks, North Farmington, 59.34.

100 FREESTYLE: 1. Emma Klotz, South Lyon, 52.58. 2. Elle Dameworth, Huron Valley United, 53.15. 3. Bailey Robinson, Bloomfield Hills, 53.35. 4. Meghan Bluethmann, Birmingham Marian, 53.78. Campbell Shore, 53.93. 7. Kelsey Milz, Madison Heights Lamphere, 54.31. 8. Annaliese Thompson, Huron Valley United, 54.34. 9. Mackenzie Bushey, Farmington, 54.80. 10. Mya Hutchinson, Huron Valley United, 55.10.

500 FREESTYLE: 1. Kelley Hassett, Birmingham Seaholm, 5:02.29. 2. Amylia Higgins, Farmington Hills Mercy, 5:08.59. 3. Demetra Bicos, Bloomfield Hills, 5:13.04. 4. Jordan Laba, Rochester Adams, 5:16.02. 5. Delaney Dalziel, Royal Oak, 5:20.23. 6. Caroline Lee, Farmington Hills Mercy, 5:20.63. 7. Skyler Jansen, Birmingham Seaholm, 5:21.79. 8. Ashlyn Houtman, South Lyon East, 5:21.83. 9. Sydney Meyer, Farmington Hills Mercy, 5:23.09. 10. Josie Behnke, Walled Lake Northern, 5:28.40.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY: 1. Farmington Hills Mercy (Leah Graves, Mackenzie Conway, Campbell Shore, Amylia Higgins), 1:38.13. 2. Huron Valley United, 1:39.21. 3. West Bloomfield, 1:39.85. 4. Stoney Creek, 1:41.13. 5. Birmingham Marian, 1:41.98. 6. Lake Orion, 1:42.13. 7. Bloomfield Hills, 1:42.49. 8. Berkley, 1:42.77. 9. South Lyon, 1:42.88. 10. Novi, 1:43.92.

100 BACKSTROKE: 1. Sophia Lickman, South Lyon East, 57.31. 2. Bryn Cusack, West Bloomfield, 58.65. 3. Julijana Relic, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 58.94. 4. Avery Anderson, Birmingham Seaholm, 59.49. 5. Bernadett Denes, Stoney Creek, 59.97. 6. Annika Cho, Farmington, 1:00.73. 7. Peyton Nugent, Rochester Adams, 1:00.80. 8. Peyton Wasielewski, South Lyon East, 1:00.97. 9. Marin Norlander, Detroit Country Day, 1:01.10. 10. Gianna Perazza, Lake Orion, 1:01.24.

100 BREASTSTROKE: 1. Bryce Scully, Berkley, 1:05.07. 2. Mackenzie Bushey, Farmington, 1:05.15. 3. Brooklyn Ugorowski, Rochester Adams, 1:07.84. 4. Mia Mracna, Berkley, 1:08.41. 5. Olivia Engquist, Farmington Hills Mercy, 1:08.52. 6. Hailey Garvey, South Lyon, 1:08.58. 7. Hannah Hulliberger, Walled Lake Northern, 1:09.77. 8. Savannah Sneyd, Farmington Hills Mercy, 1:09.79. 9. Elizabeth Kurz, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 1:09.91. 10. Ally O’Brien, Birmingham Groves, 1:09.95.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY: 1. Farmington Hills Mercy (Campbell Shore, Kathleen Schwab, Amylia Higgins, Leah Greaves), 3:36.05. 2. Huron Valley United, 3:38.22. 3. Birmingham Seaholm, 3:38.39. 4. Stoney Creek, 3:40.23. 5. West Bloomfield, 3:41.33. 6. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3:46.02. 7. Lake Orion, 3:46.26. 8. Bloomfield Hills, 3:46.92. 9. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 3:47.74. 10. South Lyon East, 3:48.46.

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Mercy regains its county crown, winning 2023 Oakland County championship