Lake Orion High School’s Girls? Swim and Dive team shattered two OAA Red Division League records and amassed three individual titles and two relay championships on their way to a strong third-place finish at the 2015 OAA Red Division League Championships held last week at LOHS.
On the swimming side, freshman Claire Abbasse was the champion in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
Her time of 51.49 seconds in the 100 free broke the OAA Red Division record previously held by LOHS alum and Olympic Trials qualifier Annie Jongekrijg.
Junior Sarah Hennings won her league championship in the 100 butterfly. Her winning time of 55.38 seconds was just .06 seconds away from setting a new league record as well.
On the relay side, the 400 free relay team of Claire Abbasse, senior Kirstyn Abbasse, junior Zoe Quinn, and Sarah Hennings won first place and beat the previous OAA Red Division record by almost two seconds. Claire Abbasse (backstroke), junior Amanda Keller (breaststroke), Sarah Hennings (butterfly), and Kirstyn Abbasse (freestyle) also were the champions in the 200 medley relay.
Other top-eight finishes in the individual events included Kirstyn Abbasse, third place in the 500 free and fourth in the 200 free; Sarah Hennings, fourth in the 100 back; Amanda Keller, sixth in the 100 breast; Zoe Quinn, fourth in the 50 free; and sophomore Eliana Ritt, seventh in the 500 free.
Other top-16 performances from the Dragons included the 200 freestyle’Eliana Ritt, 14th; the 200 individual medley’senior Nicole Horvath, ninth; junior Katharina Czerny, 15th; and Amanda Keller, 16th; the 100 butterfly’Zoe Quinn, 14th; the 500 freestyle’freshman Emily Diener, 12th; and Katharina Czerny, 14th; and the 100 breast’Nicole Horvath, 14th.
Also earning top-24 finishes were Emily Diener, 18th in the 200 free; sophomore Hannah Quinn, 18th in the 100 breast; and sophomore Megan Buckner, 22nd in the 100 breast.
In diving, sophomore Colleen Campbell came in eighth place, and senior Abigail Slater was 11th. Both divers will move on to represent LOHS at the Regional Diving Championship on Nov. 12.
LOHS Coach Darin Abbasse said that he was ‘very happy? with everyone’s performances and is looking forward to watching his team prepare for the Division 1 MHSAA State Championship meet, which will be held Nov. 20-21, 2015, in Holland, Michigan.
The LOHS 2015 state team includes individual qualifiers Claire Abbasse, Kirstyn Abbasse, Sarah Hennings, Amanda Keller, and Zoe Quinn; relay qualifier Eliana Ritt; and alternates Emily Diener and Nicole Horvath.
‘Lake Orion finished seventh in the state last year, and the team’s goal is to match or improve on that placement this season,? said Coach Abbasse.