Ten student-athletes will compete in the MHSAA Swimming and Diving State Championships

Ten student-athletes will represent Walled Lake Consolidated Schools this weekend at the MHSAA Swimming and Diving State Championships.

The combined team of Walled Lake Central and Walled Lake Western are sending five swimmers and divers to the Division 1 State Meet at Jones Pool on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. Vikings’ senior Leila Allen is the only Central swimmer that qualified. She’ll compete in the 100 yard butterfly, 200 yard medley relay and 400 yard freestyle relay. The Warriors’ seniors Brinley Evink (100 yard backstroke), Emmy O’Connor (1M diving), Aly Paolicchi (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle), and Sofia Polo (100 yard breaststroke) also qualified in individual events. Evink, Paolicchi and Polo will team up with Allen in the 200 yard medley relay and 400 yard freestyle relay as well.

Walled Lake Northern will send five swimmers and divers to the Division 2 State Meet at the Holland Aquatic Center. This is the first time since 2019 that a Knights’ relay team qualified for the state finals. This year, the team made up of Josie Behnke, Hannah Hulliberger, Brooke Marriott and Molly Zuska will swim both the 200 yard medley relay and 400 yard freestyle relay. Freshmen Behnke (100 yard fly and 500 yard freestyle), Marriott (500 yard freestyle), and Zuska (200 yard freestyle and 500 yard freestyle) also qualified for individual events. Hulliberger qualified in three individual events, but will only swim in the 200 yard IM and 100 yard breaststroke due to MHSAA rules only allowing swimmers to compete in four total events. The senior captain also qualified 100 yard fly. Fellow senior captain Kate Carter will compete in the 1M dive as well.