The ROHS Girls Swim and Dive Team took the top spot at the 2023 OAA White Division 1 League Meet, which was hosted by Royal Oak Middle School on November 1st- 3rd. While the Ravens weren’t yet able to compete in the diving category, the swimmers competed in prelims and finals against the teams from Stoney Creek, West Bloomfield, Berkley, Rochester and Troy.
Senior captain, Delaney Dalziel, placed first in both of her events and was one of three swimmers who earned “Senior of the Meet” honors.
While the divers this year were all new and in the process of learning enough dives to compete, the Ravens won all but one dual meet contest, placed first in the league meet, and several members of the team advanced to the MHSSA Division 2 State Meet hosted at the Holland Aquatic Center in Holland, Michigan on November 17th-18th.As one of the team captains, Dalziel was pleased with the team’s successful season.
“Swimming is so hard. It takes a physical toll on your body. When you combine the physical toll with the mental aspect within a two hour span, you have to think about each individual race, which all have different considerations. We all worked so hard and it was really exciting to see it all pay off,” she said.
The girls did have some challenges during the competitive season. One challenge was training new divers in the skills necessary to perform the six dives required in order to compete. Other factors that impacted the Ravens included one dual meet loss to the Berkley Bears and dealing with some injuries that impacted some team members for the long-term.
“Losing to Berkley was the only dual meet loss within our league. We also had three concussions this season, which left three swimmers unable to compete for weeks,” Dalziel said.
The Ravens trained under the guidance of longtime coach Tracy Kalinowski, who was honored with the Coach of the Year honors at the league meet.
“I’m honored to win coach of the year, but truly it comes from the team of 33 girls who put in the work and gave it their all at the league meet,” Kalinowski said.
The girls also found guidance and ongoing support from assistant coach Jacob Donnelly and diving coach Doug Clark.
Dalziel credits the coaches for their investment and enthusiasm.
“Some of my best memories from swimming are after a good race, when you get out of the pool, and you go to talk to Tracy, or she comes running to you because she is so proud of what you’ve accomplished,” Dalziel said. “Tracy and Jacob always get excited for everyone, whether it’s your good swims or your bad swims. They are fully invested in your performance and you can tell they really want you to be successful. After a bad swim, they’re totally in your corner with support.”
The team’s championship season concluded with the MHSSA Division 2 State Swim Meet hosted at the Holland Aquatic Center on November 17th-18th. Dalziel was joined by other state qualifiers, including: Jordan LaBarge, Kassidy Collins, Kaitlyn Eberhardt, Kamryn Eberhardt, Lauryn Guns, Mira Tariff, Lucy Truesdell and Molly Truesdell. The swimmers strengthened their bonds through several activities during the week prior to the meet.
“We went to Kyoto for dinner, out to breakfast together after a morning practice, and we had a movie night together,” said Dalziel. “Our practice time gets moved back because of the middle school swim, so we have about an hour and a half together before practice, just to hang out and joke around. We had to plan our merch out for states.”
Outstanding accomplishments also included new ROHS records. The 200 Medley Relay record was broken at the league meet by Kaitlyn Eberhart, Lauryn Guns, Lucy Truesdell and Dalziel. The 200 Free Relay record was broken at the state meet, and included Kassidy Collins, Kaitlyn Eberhardt, Lucy Truesdell and Dalziel, with a time of 1:40.75.
Looking forward, Dalziel has high hopes for next year’s team.
“I’m excited to continue to watch the team in future years,” she said. “We’ve always had a team with a lot of depth, and I think that will continue. We have a lot of talent across all grades, and I know my coach has already started looking into next year’s new class of freshmen.”
