Source: MI Prep Zone

Author: PATRICK McINTYRE

LAKE ORION — If a swim and dive team wants to win a meet, winning the relay races are a good place to start.

For the second straight year Farmington Hills Mercy opened and closed the Oakland County swim and dive meet with not only a victory in the 200 yard medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay, but by setting a county record in the events.

The Marlins also got individual wins in the 200 individual medley (Ellyse Conn, 2:05.91), 100 butterfly (Alaina Skellett, 55.86), 500 freestyle (Conn, 4:57.22), and 100 backstroke (Katie Minnich, 55.60) on the way to their 11th straight Oakland County championship at Lake Orion on Saturday.

“I love this meet,” Mercy head coach Shannon Dunworth said. “It’s as good a meet as there is in the state the whole year. Our girls realize that. The competition is amazing.”

The Marlins finished with 392 points, 134 points better than Birmingham Marian’s second-place 258 points. Rochester Adams finished in third with 226 points. Lakeland earned a fourth place finish with 216 while the host school picked up a fifth place finish with 162 points.

Minnich’s 55.60 in the backstroke was more than half a second better than the county record in the event that was set by Novi’s Mallory Buha in 2012.

Perhaps the most impressive time of the day was when Marian junior Sophia Schott broke a county record that had stood since 1994 with a 23.58 in the 50 free.

“It’s very exciting,” Schott said. “I know I never could have gotten there without my teammates and lots of hard work. You work so hard all year, and this is your shot to do something, so you just have to give it all you have.”

Oakland County swimming and diving championships

— at Lake Orion

TEAM SCORES — Farmington Hills Mercy 392, Bloomfield Hills Marian 258, Rochester Adams 226, Lakeland 216, Lake Orion 170, Birmingham Seaholm 162, North Farmington 116, Farmington Hills Harrison 111, South Lyon 101, Birmingham Groves 84, West Bloomfield 73, Walled Lake Northern 68, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 62, Novi 56, Royal Oak 44, Troy 42, Bloomfield Hills 40, Clarkston 35, Rochester 31, Walled Lake Central 20 Milford 17, Birmingham Detroit Country Day 1

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS — 200 MEDLEY RELAY — Mercy (Katie Minnich, Allison Lobbia, Alaina Skellett, Kendall Goit) 1:46.63*; 200 FREESTYLE — Emma Bradley (North Farmington) 1:52.87; 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — Ellyse Conn (Mercy) 2:05.91; 50 FREESTYLE — Sophia Schott (Marian) 23.58*; 1 METER DIVING — Amanda Ling (Walled Lake Central) 433.30; 100 BUTTERFLY — Amanda Skellett (Mercy) 55.86; 100 FREESTYLE — Claire Abbasse (Lake Orion) 51.86; 500 FREESTYLE — Ellyse Conn (Mercy) 4:57.22; 200 FREESTYLE RELAY — Marian (Sophia Schott, Mary Kate Nodland, Christina Schott, Lauren Biglin) 1:38.38; 100 BACKSTROKE — Katie Minnich (Mercy) 55.60*; 100 BREASTSTROKE — Isabel Fairbanks (Lakeland) 1:06.81; 400 FREESTYLE RELAY — Mercy (Goit, Conn, Minnich, Skellett) 3:31.99*

* — new Oakland County meet record