Oakland University, Rochester MI. – In spite of being one of the smallest represented teams at Oakland University on Saturday, the Chelsea Michigan girls swim and dive team took a fourth-place finish in the Division 3 state finals. East Grand Rapids took first place while Cranbrook Kingswood and Bloomfield Hills Marian finished second and third respectively.
The Bulldogs finished with 131 points overall just 3 points ahead of Hamilton, which gave them enough points to place and bring another trophy home to their school. The Bulldogs, in spite of only having just a few girls competing represented their team very well.
Seniors Savannah Fisk and Melina Almhiemid took 14th and 16th in the diving competition. Fisk will be diving for Eastern Michigan University next year. Sophomore Bella Turner finished 8th in the 200-yard freestyle and earned the team 12 points with a 7th place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a great time of 52.88, less than a second off from first place finisher Greta Milnes from East Grand Rapids.
Senior Alexis Nelson took 5th place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.20 just .25 of a second of the first-place finisher Hannah Fathmam of Hamilton but it got her team 14 big points while Senior Abby Robbins earned 14 points for her Bulldogs with a 5th place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“I’m very blessed to be a part of such a great team this season”, Nelson stated. “They’re one of the reasons I stay positive. I couldn’t thank them enough. I’m very thankful to be coached under Andrew Thomson and assistant coach Jon Oasterlee. I can’t wait to see what Hope College has for me next year.”
The Bulldogs tied for third with Bay City John Glenn in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time 1:38.48 earning the team consisting Of Alexis Nelson, Olivia Prodin, Olivia Olk, and Bella Turner 31 more points. In the final event of the day, this same team would take a 4th place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay giving them 30 points towards their big finish.
“There was nothing easy about this, the girls had to fight hard because it was only a 3 point difference between 4th and 5th place and it came down to the last race, the relay,” said Chelsea first-year head coach Andrew Thomson. “When we started way back in June the girl’s goal was to finish in the top 4 and to have it pay off at the end like this, you can’t ask for much more, they did their absolute best and I’m very proud of them.”
