Highlight Reel: Birmingham Schools Do Well At Cross Country, Swimming Events

Girls Swimming

Marian, Seaholm, Groves

The top swimmers in the area all competed at Lake Orion on Friday and Saturday in the 2011 Oakland County Girls Swimming and Diving Championships.

Farmington Hills Mercy finished in first place in the team standings by a wide margin with over 350 points. Marian finished in second place while Seaholm (fifth) and Groves (eighth) both finished in the top 10.

To automatically qualify for the meet, students had to swim better than cut-off times set for each individual event by Sept. 25.

There was also a consideration cut-off time for all events. If a race had less than 40 swimmers reach the automatic qualifying time, then the event was filled out by girls that reached the consideration cut-off time.

The Mustangs won two events on Saturday: the 200 meter freestyle relay while Jaynie Pulte won the 50 meter freestyle. Meanwhile, Annie Lazor won the 100 meter breaststroke for Groves.

Boys, Girls Cross Country

Groves, Seaholm

All three divisions in the Oakland Activities Association held their second set of Jamboree meets on Wednesday.

In the OAA Blue Jamboree, held at the Oakland Community College Orchard Ridge Campus, Groves had mixed results. The Falcons boys finished near the bottom in sixth place — only Hazel Park and Southfield finished with fewer points on the day. In addition, Groves didn't have a single runner in the top 10 on the boys side.

That wasn’t the case for the Falcons girls. Jackie Feist finished with the best individual time by nearly a minute over Lauren Bos from Royal Oak. Teammate Taylor Hartley finished in seventh place. The two top 10 finisheres propelled the Groves girls team to a second place finish behind Harrison.

At the Stoney Creek Metropark, Seaholm had similar results in the OAA Red Jamboree. The Maples boys finished in second to last while the girls won the event.

The girls had three runners in the top 10 led by Aubrey Wilberding’s third place finish. Her sister Tess Wilberding finished in sixth place and Audrey Belf finished in seventh. Zack Demko, however, did give the boys one top 10 finish by coming in seventh in the boys division.

Football

Groves

The Groves football squad capped off its wild run to the top of the OAA Blue division with a huge 56-14 win over Avondale Friday night at home.

By beating the Yellow Jackets, Groves is now in sole possession of first place with a  5-1 record in the Blue. A win next week will clinch the school’s first playoff appearance since 2004.

Both quarterback Joe Mayone and running back Keon Collier were terrific in the win. Mayone had over 200 total yards and three touchdowns. Collier also had over 200 yards in the game and he added two touchdowns. The first team offense scored every time it touched the ball and had the game all but wrapped up by halftime with a 30-0 lead.

Seaholm

Seaholm bounced back from its loss to Avondale last week with a 34-18 win Friday night against Hazel Park. It is 3-2 in the Blue on the season and is now tied with four other two-loss teams. Overall, the Maples are 4-2 on the season and two wins away from a guaranteed playoff spot.

Brother Rice

The quest for 400 wins will have to wait at least one more week for Brother Rice head coach Al Fracassa.

Fracassa’s team lost 10-9 at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in overtime on Friday night. St. Mary's senior wide receiver Christopher Woolen scored the winning touchdown in overtime and a win over its Catholic League rival.