After graduating some of the best swimmers in the state last season, the Pioneer women’s swim and dive team is reloading with a new batch of freshmen and captains. The four-peat state champions competed against Huron on Wednesday, Sept. 11th at home. They started off the season strong by winning the Pioneer relays and both dual meets, against Gross Pointe South and Northville. The team has been hard at work since practice started at the beginning of August with two-a-days and nine practices a week.

Diving started off the meet with Pioneer coming in the top three. Senior Grace Daly won, followed by Arianna Pagel and Lisa Pando Rasia. The swimming part of the meet started off strong as well, with the Pioneers winning their 200 medley relay (Yanling Adler, Sula Ott, Kate Van Ryn and Cecilia Walusek) with a time of 1:47.61.

In the 200 freestyle, Kate Van Ryn, Cici Cook and Amani Sanogo all got state cuts. Cecilia Walusek won with a time of 2:09 in the 200 I.M., followed by Suryn Lee in second and Ava Griffith in third. In the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, Sula Ott won and in the 500, Tallulah Beg and Suryn Lee came in first and second. Yanling Adler got her first state cut in the 100 backstroke, followed by Cici Cook. Lastly, the 400 freestyle A and B relays got state cuts and ended the meet on a high note.

All in all, the Pioneers got 24 state cuts across the board of individual and relay events combined. They beat Huron 149-37. Over the next two weeks, the Pioneers will continue to dominate in and out of the pool with their next meet next week against Lincoln. The team hopes to continue their five-year winning streak and secure another Conference and state title.