State meet coming up on Nov. 21-22

By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
 LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion High School girls swimming and diving team aimed to finish within the top three in the OAA Red Championships last week in Bloomfield Hills, finishing fourth out of the six teams at the meet.
The team has won six dual meets and lost five. They also finished in fourth place in the Fenton relays and in 10th place in the Oakland County Championships.
Head coach Haley Grisdale said her team has demonstrated “tremendous” growth this season as swimmers at all levels. Some have tried new events, done more underwater kicks off a wall, earned personal bests and more.
“The progress from August to now that me and my assistant coaches have seen is tremendous,” Grisdale said. “Just the growth, I would say, in and out of the water for our girls and the confidence that they have when they get behind the blocks is something that I’m really proud of being their coach.”
Grisdale said the team has more time to rest ahead of the postseason than during the regular season. During the regular season, practices focused on “building a base,” aerobic swimming and what swimmers can handle in the water. The girls also did two-a-day practices, including two to three morning practices each week on top of afternoon practices Monday through Saturday, Grisdale said.
Now practices are more sprint-focused, meaning maximum power and effort, and are more focused on details like relay starts, turns, breakouts and breathing, according to Grisdale.
“We’re shortening the yards and we’re increasing the intensity,” Grisdale said.
Grisdale hopes that better times will come with more rest.
“Last year we finished second in the OAA Red which was a very big deal for us, so this year I would definitely like to be top three,” Grisdale said. “But it’s going to be very competitive with all of the groups that we got going on.”
The OAA Red contains several top division one and two teams, according to Grisdale, including Seaholm, Rochester Adams, Groves and more.
LOHS’s team of 31 is made up of nine seniors, juniors and sophomores plus four freshmen.
Senior captain Lillian Larson will swim the 200 IM, for which she is a state qualifier. Grisdale called Lauren Geda one of the 10 best divers in the OAA Red and said Geda “is definitely going to make an impact,”
She also said junior Gianna Perazza qualified individually for the 200 freestyle, and is close to qualifying in 100 freestyle individually.
While swimming is a sport dependent on individuals, Grisdale said the team will need to work to score points for their team.
“This is just going to be … an all-team effort,” Grisdale said. “It’s going to take everybody coming together and working as a group.”
The OAA Red Championships was from Nov. 6-8. The MHSAA division one diving regionals are scheduled for Nov. 14, and the state meet is scheduled for Nov. 21-22 at Holland Aquatic Center.