Monroe County Girls Swimming meet becomes showcase for Milan

MILAN – Everyone knows Annabelle Williams is Milan’s best swimmer.

She won a state championship last season in the 200-yard freestyle and shared Monroe County Region Girls Swimmer of the Year honors with fellow state champ Lauren McNamara of Flat Rock.

But she is much more than just that.

Coach Dan Heikka also says she is the hardest worker on the team.

If that’s not enough, she’s also the team’s unofficial chauffeur.

Williams picked up three of her teammates and drove them to the Monroe County Girls Swimming Championships at Milan.

“Everyone when I picked them up was so excited about today,” Williams said.

Part of that excitement comes from having Williams as their teammate.

The senior dominated the 100 and 200-yard freestyles and swam on two winning relays to lead Milan to the County Championship.

The Big Reds won all but two events to pile up 612 points. That was 145 points better than runner-up Dundee.

Bedford was third with 409 followed by Monroe with 291, St. Mary Catholic Central with 241, and Erie Mason-Ida 198.

“We knew we would be strong,” Milan coach Dan Heikka said. “We talked coming in that our main goal was to swim well.”

Milan accomplished that.

Lila McKenna dropped more than seven seconds off her previous best in winning the 500-yard freestyle in 5:31.66, Kiera Luhrs ruled the 50 freestyle in :24.79 and butterfly in :59.55, Mary Kate Wayne was the champion in the individual medley with a time of 2:22.19 and the breaststroke at 1:09.36, Kaylin Brown won diving and Megan McChesney and Laila Nemeth posted huge time drops.

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But the ringleader is unquestionably Williams.

She was clocked at :52.57 in the 100 freestyle and 1:54.84 in the 200.

“I was really close to my best in the 200,” she said. “I was really excited about that and the 100, too.”

Williams, who was voted the meet’s Most Valuable Swimmer, might have turned in her best performance in the final event of the day.

Dundee had a comfortable lead for more than half of the 400 freestyle relay, then Wayne brought Milan back and Williams pulled away in the final leg.

“The girl in front of me (Wayne) was fantastic,” Williams said. “She just came off swimming the breaststroke. For me, when I got in the water, I just raced.”

Heikka says Williams is always ready to race.

“Annabelle just did what she does,” Heikka said. “She’s very motivated. It’s nice when your best swimmer is also your hardest-working kid. She’s low-key, but she’s a fierce competitor.”

Heikka also was impressed with Luhrs.

“Luhrs had an incredible day,” he said. “She had a lifetime best in the 50 and was pretty close in the fly.”

Milan won two of the three relays with Williams, Kam Stripp, McKenna, and Luhrs in the 200 and Krista Cook, Stripp, Wayne, and Williams in the 400.

“It was crazy,” Williams said of Milan’s performance. “There was a lot of energy.”

Dundee had a good day, too.

The Vikings hit six new state-qualifying times.

“We’re kind of a small team, but all of our times were personal bests except maybe two,” Dundee coach Sarah Eubanks said.

Dundee won the two events that didn’t go to Milan.

Joslyn Ball took the backstroke in :58.82 and swam with Kaylee Imo, Sara Carter, and Lillian Ratliff on the winning medley relay.

Other Dundee standouts were Brooke Hester, Kaylee Desbrough, Alexis Colby, and Natalie Bron.

Divers Claire Johnson, Zoe Dusseau, and Ashlyn Willams went 2-3-6 to lead third-place Bedford. Gabby Pisanti was second in the 100 freestyle and third in the 50, and Alexa Fuleky was the runner-up in the backstroke.

Other Top 10 finishers for the Mules were Mia Tennant, Peyton Prielipp, Annabelle Hill, Laila Villa, Gabby Pisanti, Lindsey Andrews, Gabby Dutridge, Izzy Bischman, and Taylor Sadoski.

Monroe coach Erin Dowen was delighted to see her team log 162 more points in the meet than it had last year.

“It was a true team effort,” she said. “Every kid swam their best and every girl scored. I haven’t had this much fun at a meet for a long time.”

The top scorers for the Trojans were Sophia Smith, Nicole Rykse, Abby Dieckmann, Delani Willey, Kate Rolinski, Lauren Lahna, Phoebe Lieaert, and Madison Mahoney.

Maya Zaleski was third in the 100 and fifth in the 200 for SMCC. Other top Kestrels were Monika Burkardt, McKenzie Kidd, Kate Rutkowski, and Kaylee Kamprath.

"We had multiple personal-best times throughout the team," SMCC coach Gretchen Bylow said.

Erie Mason-Ida got strong performances from Sophia Sorg, Alexis Etue, Jessica Lay, Summer Smith, and Riley Jacobs.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Milan dominates Monroe County Girls Swimming Championships