Streak Over, but the Hornets Bring Back Hardware

After three years of winning every time they jumped in the pool, the Saline High School girls' swim and dive team settled for second at Saturday's MHSAA Division 1 championship at Eastern Michigan University's Jones Pool.

The Hornets held and early lead but couldn't hold back the hard charging team from Farmington Hills Mercy, who outscored Saline 258-243.5 to win the state championship.

Saline took home the state runner-up trophy.

"Yesterday day we did enough to give ourselves a chance to win and today we just didn't have enough. Farmington Hills Mercy beat us. They kept moving up and doing the job. They had more bodies than we did. Hats off to them," said Saline head coach Todd Brunty.

Saline had a strong preliminary meet Friday. Based on the seeding, Saline held a slight edge. But in most of Saturday's events, the Hornets couldn't quite match Friday's placements. Farmington Hills Mercy, on the other hand, seemed to gain on Friday's placements in nearly every event.

"Our girls swam the best they could today. They poured their hearts and souls into it. Yesterday, we had a great day. Today, we needed to be a little better than we were," said Brunty.

Saline couldn't have asked for a better start to the day. In the 200-yard medley relay, Maddy Frost, Sammy Richart, Emily Lau and Cristina Czyrka set a new Division 1 record, winning the event in 1:45.97.

Sophomore Kate Rogers finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 1:52.47. Rogers came into the event as the eighth seed and beat her preliminary time by more than a second.

Czyrka took fifth (2:08.88) and Emily Lau was 10th (2:09.97) the 200-yard individual medley.

Saline held the lead over Mercy after Frost (5th, 23.85) and Flynn (6th, 24.07) added 25 points to the Hornets' tally in the 50-yard freestyle.

Through four events, Saline held a six-point lead on Mercy.

Mercy took the lead in the diving event. Emmy Orrico finished seventh to give Mercy 12 points and a 109-106 lead.

Emily Lau (8th, 57.27) and Serena Yan (12th, 58.44) scored the Hornets in the 100-yard butterfly, but Mercy had two girls finish 5-6 and Farmington Hills took a 136-118.5 lead.

Saline recaptured the lead in the 100-yard freestyle. Flynn (4th, 51.77) and Rogers (7th, 52.67) added 27 points to Saline's total. The Hornets led 145.5-137.

Mercy took the lead for good in the 500-yard freestyle race. Mercy placed two swimmers in the top five. Saline's lone swimmer in the event, Melanie Schroeder, took 14th in 5:08.55, besting Friday's time by more than a second.

In the 200-freestyle relay, Rogers, Lau, Schroeder and Flynn finished in 1:36.52 to take fourth. Mercy was third and led 198-178.5.

With time running short, the Hornets battled to close the cap. Frost finished third in the 100-yard backstroke (56.73). But a Mercy swimmer finished right behind her. Mercy also had three swimmers in the 14-15-16 spots.

Saline managed to gain ground in the 100-yard breaststroke. Sammy Richart placed seventh (1:05.95) and Czyrka was 12th (1:06.88). Mercy led 228-211.5 with one event remaining.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Frost, Rogers, Schroeder and Flynn helped finished in 3:29.91 to take third, edging mercy by just more than a second.

Flynn, the senior co-captain who helped Saline to state championships in her sophomore and junior years, said her team had nothing to be disappointed about.

"We gave it our best effort. I thought we did a great job," said Flynn, who will continue competing in the pool at Oakland University.

She reflected upon the success she and the team have enjoyed over the last few years.

"I've had a very successful swimming career at Saline High School, individually and with the team. We've had so many great days in my four years that we'll always remember," Flynn said.

She offered advice to the girls returning next year.

"Keep working hard. It will pay off as long as you put your heart in it," Flynn said.

Brunty said it was difficult for some of the girls to accept the defeat.

"They're champs. They play to win. Some of these girls have lost a meet before. So this was tough," Brunty said.

Brunty said he told the team they had to shake off any feeling of disappointment.

"They've got to move forward now. Some of the girls were like, 'How can you tell us to just move forward?' But that's what you need to do to get back here again and put yourself in a position to compete for the state championship," Brunty said. "Our goal at Saline is to compete for the state championship every year. We did that today. We made a meet of it. I'm very proud of our girls and our coaches and I fully expect to be back next year competing for the state championship."