ROCHESTER HILLS – The Farmington Hills Mercy Marlins hit the pool like a tidal wave and rolled over their competition behind wave after wave of swimmers to win Saturday’s Division 2 state championships at Oakland University.

“I think the feeling is indescribable. The energy that was here today, and the same thing with last year. It’s more than words can describe, and my heart is just so full being a part of this team,” senior captain Kathleen Schwab said.

The Marlins had more swimmers than anyone else who qualified for the finals, and they had a big day on Friday to ensure a high percentage of them made the final eight, as opposed to the consolation finals. By the time the Marlins finally got a state champion in the seventh event of the meet – sophomore Campbell Shore in the 100-yard freestyle – they had built a lead of nearly 100 points over the second-place team.

“The thing I love about Mercy is that it’s a true team effort. We scored multiple girls in almost every event,” Mercy head coach Mike Venos said. “We always talk about being something bigger than ourselves. There is a winning culture in the halls of Mercy, and it’s not just swimming. These girls know that when they walk into a place that they are going to be successful. They are strong young women. They know what needs to be done, and really, it makes our job easy as coaches.”

The Marlins would eventually win by a shade over 120 points, finishing with a score of 375.5 – nearly 50 points higher than they had last year when they won the state title. Mercy also won the 200-yard freestyle relay (Shore, Mackenzie Conway, Ella Hafner, and Avery Tack) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (Shore, Hafner, Tack, and Leah Greaves).

Grosse Pointe South and Birmingham Seaholm finished second and third, and both had early leads in the team competition as they also had large numbers of swimmers at the competition. But once Mercy placed three swimmers in the third event final, the 200-yard IM, including two swimmers in the top-five, they had a clear lead in the team standings that they would never relinquish, as they just had too many swimmers scoring points going forward.

“We always talk about (how) it’s got to be done on Friday. You swim on Friday so you can have fun on Saturday, and they really did a nice job,” Venos said. “Once they got some of the nerves out of the way of our first swim, we just got the ball rolling. A couple of those individual swims yesterday really lit us on fire.”

Birmingham Groves (sixth) and South Lyon East (tenth) also finished in the top-ten of the team competition. While few Oakland County teams won state titles, there were many runner-up finishes among local swimmers.

Junior Ella Hafner (Mercy) finished second in the 200 freestyle. Tack finished second in the 200 IM, Avery Anderson (Seaholm) in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke, Ella Hafnear (Seaholm) in the 500 freestyle, and Olivia Kamp (Groves) in the 100 breaststroke also had runner-up finishes. The Seaholm 400 freestyle relay of Abigail Stanley, Skyler Jansen, Noelle Schneider, and Avery Anderson) and Mercy’s 200 medley relay team (Leah Greaves, Clare Hafner, Kathleen Schwab, and Mackenzie Conway) both had second-place finishes as well.

Mercy will graduate only three swimmers while returning the vast majority of their team next year, including Shore and Tack.

“It’s really exciting to see these underclassmen grow," Schwab said. "I think we have a really good, strong team, and we’re going to be really strong for the next couple of years. And I’m really excited to see where this team goes.”