Regional Small Team Champions!!

LAC earns 1st place at the Lake Superior Regional Meet!

What an awesome weekend! I would first like to thank all of our parents and swimmers who volunteered to help run the meet. This is a very important part of being a successful club, and we pulled it off with tremendous success.

If you have been around our team for a while, you understand that it is really growing and the quality of our swimming has improved tremendously over the last couple of years. This was evident as we won the “small team” trophy this weekend, by scoring more points than any other team in our division!! This is obviously exciting and we want to keep it going - as I feel we are just in the beginning stages of its growth. I can’t wait to see our team this spring/summer and into the 2025-26 year!!

A few highlights from our swimmers this weekend:

Avery Collins - This is Avery’s first regional meet and we just keep seeing her improve! On Saturday she swam a best time in both the 50 freestyle and 50 butterfly, then she anchored our 200 freestyle relay in a blazing 28.65!

Sophia Diaz-Andrade - Sophia dropped an amazing 4 seconds in her 100 freestyle on Saturday and participated in the State Qualifying 200 Free Relay!

Gavin Hegner - What a year Gavin has had! He had previously qualified for the MAGS meet in the 50 - 100 - 200 Breaststroke events plus the 100 IM. On Saturday he Qualified in the 50 fly and the 400 IM and won both! Sunday we saw his success continue by winning the 100 fly (with a MAGS qualifying time of 58.97), and winning the 200 IM (with another MAGS cut). He also earned his best time in the 100 freestyle!

Noah Hess - Noah is having a great first year in the 11-12 age group. It is always difficult to compete “down age-group”, but he’s showing this is possible! Noah previously qualified for the MAGS meet in the 200 backstroke and on Saturday he added the 50 backstroke (1st place) and the 50 fly (1st place). He continued this success on Sunday, getting 1st in the 100 back! This earned him another MAGS qualifying time. He continued by swimming his best time in the 50 free and 500 freestyles.

Addie Japinga - What a weekend for Addie! On Saturday she not only qualified for the MAGS meet in the 100 breast but she won the event AND broke our 9 year old club record (1:18.12)! Sunday, Addie continued her success as she qualified for the MAGS meet in the 50 and 200 Breaststrokes! She also broke another club record in the 200 Breast!!

Ava Kirkham - Ava has had an awesome winter starting with huge drops at the Jenison Meet. This weekend she continued to show improvement by dropping another 2 seconds in the 200 free (2:17)! On Sunday she earned 3 more best times in the 50 and 200 breaststroke plus dropping another 4 seconds in the 500 to a stellar 6:00.8! 

Paityn Kirkham - Paityn hit her MAGS time at Jenison last week in the 50 free (27.72). Saturday she didn’t slow down even a little! She started off by winning the 100 freestyle with a state qualifying time of 1:00.83! She was also a part of the 200 free relay which also qualified for the MAGS meet. Sunday, Paityn continued her success with an amazing 16 second drop in the 200 IM (2:43)!

Raegan Magnus - Awesome weekend for Raegan! On Saturday she got her best time in the 100 IM (1:04.17), the 200 Free (2:00.99), and won the 50 free with a time of 25.13! On Sunday, she continued her successful weekend by winning the 100 freestyle with a best time of 54.87! She also had her best time in the 50 backstroke and competed on the 200 medley relay.

Oliver Osborne - Oliver is our youngest representative this weekend at 10:) He has had two amazing weekends at Jenison and then this weekend. On Saturday we saw him get his first qualification into the 10 and Under State Championships in the 50 backstroke (39.9 and 2nd place!). Sunday his success continued as we saw him post 3 more best times in the 100 back, 50 free, and 50 breaststroke! 

Josie Pawlowicz - Josie saw some great swims at Jenison, qualifying for the ULTRA meet in the 50 breaststroke (32.95). This weekend she continued her good swimming by going her best time in the 100 IM (1:08.08) and splitting a fast 26.8 on our 200 free relay. On Sunday, Josie started the day with a second place finish in the 200 breaststroke (MAGS cut)!

Avery Russell - Avery is finishing up her swimming career in Battle Creek before heading to Calvin College to compete in the tough MIAA swimming conference! She has explored many new events this winter and is seeing some amazing success. On Saturday she got her best time by nearly 5 seconds in the 200 backstroke and another best time in the 200 butterfly! On Sunday she started the day with a personal best in the 100 backstroke, then capped the day off with her best swim of the meet in 500 freestyle (5:24.88)!! 

Lauren Schillio - Lauren is coming off a very successful middle school season and we saw on Saturday that she didn’t miss a beat! She was able to get her best time in the 50 freestyle (27.36) and went a blazing fast 26.72 on the 200 free relay! On Sunday she continued her improvements in the 100 backstroke and the 50 backstroke. 

Ava Schuemann - Ava earned best times in the 100 free, 50 back, 100 back, and the 50 free this weekend! She was also a part of the State Qualifying 200 Free Relay and 200 Medley Relay.

Mia Schuemann - Mia had an amazing weekend, as she competed in 4 individual races and a relay. She started the meet with her lifetime best swim in the 100 breaststroke (1:21.75)! She started Sunday with another personal best in the 50 breaststroke (36.10). Great job Mia!!!

Ava Siedelberg - Ava Earned pest times in the 100 free, 100 IM, 200 Free, and the 50 free. She dropped nearly 5 seconds in the 100 butterfly to earn her a qualification to the MAGS meet! Ava was also a part of the 200 free and medley relays which will also represent LAC at the MAGS meet.  

Claire Thomas - Claire swam in her first big USA meet this weekend. She swam the 50, 100, 200, and 500 Freestyle races. She did an outstanding job working through the nerves of being at a meet like this, ending with her personal best in the 500 freestyle!

Gio Trejo-Uribe - Gio had an amazing meet! He earned MAGS qualifications in all 6 of his races this weekend! These highlights included an 8 second drop in the 200 fly, 6 second drop in the 200 Breast and a 4 second drop in the 100 breast!

Geovanna Veiga Triebel - Geovanna swam just on Sunday this weekend but she made the best of it! She was so excited to see her 100 free best time of 1:04.61, dropping over 2 seconds off her best!

Blake Walters - Just aging up into the 13-14 age group it is always tough! Blake was able to hit her 50 free Regional time at the Jenison meet and just missed out on multiple other qualifying times! I’m looking forward to seeing what Blake does this next year, as she is improving everyday.  She swam the 50 freestyle twice on Saturday, once as an individual and again on the relay. Her time of 30.23 on the relay was the best time she’s ever gone!

Payton Werner - Payton had another amazing weekend:)  On Saturday, she earned best times in the 100 IM and 50 butterfly (qualifying for the MAGS meet by getting 2nd place). All of her other races she swam great and just missed state qualifying times. As mentioned before, competing “down” age-group is tough! I’m very excited to see how Payton develops over the next 12 months and seeing her with 6 races at the MAGS next year!