Lady Dreadnaughts Surpass Season Goals at State Swim and Dive Meet

A news release:

After ending last year’s season in 15th place, the Dexter Dreadnaught swimmers and divers set their sights on Top10 at the 2013 Girls’ Division 2 State Championships.  They achieved that, and more, with a seventh-place finish – one point shy of sixth – by posting several lifetime-best performances at the meet held at Eastern Michigan University, Nov. 22-23.  

“We finished one point out of sixth, which was a huge step for us,” Dexter coach Cory Bergen said. “We weren't on anyone's radar to finish this high. I knew we would swim well and I fully expected us to crack the top 10. It was just a matter of how high we could go. After Friday's performance, we definitely made our presence felt. We really focused on improving this season and achieving more at the state meet, and this weekend was a culmination of all our efforts.”

Bergen said the girls’ progress through the regular season and into the championships was dramatic.The Lady Dreads overachieved in almost every event. The 400 free relay team of sophomore Gretchen Schultz, juniors Allison Franz, Reagan Maisch and Sarah Daugherty made a big impact coming in fourth place in 3:35.09 – a 9-second drop from the end of the regular season, earning All-State honors.  

The 200 free relay team of senior co-captain Abigail Mesaros, Franz, sophomore Lizzy Merriman and Daugherty were equally impressive bringing home more all-state accolades with a strong sixth place finish.

“This relay epitomized our team and our season,” Bergen said. “Not one of these girls made the state qualifying time in the 50 free this year, but together they achieved greatness.  We hadn't had an All-State relay in this or any event since 2009 and this year we have two and just missed a third.”

Other big jumps came in the 100 free where Schultz leap-frogged from 27th to a 10th-place finish, and Daugherty raced from 26th to 12th. Franz also clocked a strong swim in the 500-free, ending up in ninth – a 10-second drop from her regular season personal best.  Franz and Daugherty finished 12th and 14th in the 200 freestyle, coming into the meet in the 18th and 19th positions.

Merriman had two of the meets biggest breakout performances in the 200 Individual Medley and the Breaststroke.  Merriman made individual all-state honors twice with two eighth-place finishes.Those times made her the third fastest breaststroker and fifth- fastest IM'er in Dexter history.

Other notable showings included ninth place by the medley relay team of Maisch, Merriman, A. Mesaros and Schultz, which was the third-fastest medley in program history.  Schultz also helped the team by earning 10th place points with an impressive 24.68 in the 50 Free.

Senior Morgan Cole chipped in with a 16th place in the 500 Free event with a nine second drop in time and a personal best in the 200 Free. Sophomore Kate Mesaros became the seventh-fastest breaststroker in Dexter history while finishing 20th in the 100 Breaststroke.  

She also swam a personal best on the way to finishing 21st in the 200 IM. Fellow sophomore Nell Kacmarek followed suit with her personal best while placing 23rd in the 500 Free. Maisch finished just out of the scoring in the 100 Backstroke with a 17th place finish but secured a 16th place in the 200 IM. In doing so, Maisch became the 5th fastest 100 backstroker in program history and the seventh fastest IM'er. Dexter also saw two divers – Sophomore Kaylee Witte and Junior Taylor Sloan – advance past regionals to dive in the Finals.

Dexter enjoys a long history of success in swimming and diving, including 16 straight SEC White Championships.  This season did not disappoint.  The strong showing at the State Meet came on the heels of an 11-1 dual meet record, with the Dreadnaughts only falling to Saline – a team that finished in 2nd place at the Division 1 Championships.  With strong total-team performances, the Lady Dreads bested both Skyline and South Lyon during the regular season – squads that ended the year 3rd and 4th, respectively, at the D1 Meet.