ELHS Girls Swim Team Dives Into New Season

What a difference a weekend makes. 

Just before the Holt Invitational Swim Meet on Saturday, Aug. 24, East Lansing High School swim Coach Madelyn Zink, wasn’t expecting much. In 2023, behind state qualifier Sarah Bergdolt, ELHS won the Holt Invitational. This year, it fell on a SAT testing date, so the expectations were much lower. 

“We’re going to be down a bunch of swimmers, so this will be a great opportunity to have a competitive practice,” Zink said.

By the time the water had settled in Holt’s pool, however, ELHS was celebrating a dominant win amassing 637 points, ahead of runner up Holt’s 357. Zink was understandably exuberant and expressed her excitement to see what the team can do going forward.

Replacing Bergdolt, who graduated last June, is not going to be easy as she was a rare state qualifier for ELHS. However, this year’s team is dominated by seniors, and Zink is confident she will find swimmers who have the potential to make it to the state tournament.

At Holt, Olin Moyer (Jr.), Peyton Roland (Sr.), Rachel Capriotti (Sr.), Katherine Aupperlee (Jr.) all were close to or exceeded their personal best times. 

The team saw contributions from veterans and new swimmers. 

“Freshmen Mayra Cangelosi, Zoe Salvador and Ruth Nowodworski are all new members to the team who exceeded expectations, and we cannot wait to see what else they accomplish this year,” Zink said

In her fifth season as the head coach, Zink has made some major changes to her practices. ELHS has adopted the University of Florida’s practice routines which has swimmers in the water four hours a day for five days a week. In addition, they all spend two days a week doing weight training an hour each day. 

If the team takes the next step this year, Zink will credit the hard work the swimmers have put in over the summer. Many of the girls participated in summer lessons through Trojan Aquatics, while several others served as lifeguards and camp counselors teaching younger swimmers. 

Leadership is key to the success of any team, and Zink is blessed with an experienced group of swimmers. 

Senior Katie Palsrok agrees. 

“Having a lot of seniors is a good thing, we’re all so close,” she said. 

This bond was also praised by junior Sophie Bellon and sophomore Martha Stathopoulos. Bellon noted how welcoming the upperclasswomen were to their younger colleagues. 

Palsrok said that the tight relationships between the swimmers will be a big factor in the team’s success. 

“Every year we are so close to winning our conference,” she said. “We have finished second all three years I have been here. My happiness doesn’t depend on winning every single meet, but it would be great if we stick together and win the conference.”

Bellon noted that maintaining the current positive environment will make them all better swimmers. 

“Individual success helps make everyone better,” she said. 

Stathopoulos’ goal is simple: “I want to improve my own times and help my friends improve theirs.”

Many swimmers had high praise for their coaches. Palsrok noted that Zink and Assistant Coach Katie Smith are understanding and empathetic. 

“They can be your friend, but they can push you too,” she said. 

Palsrok and Bellon agreed that it is helpful that the coaches are also teachers at the high school because they know what the students have to go through every day.

“Ms. Zink teaches algebra, so she is used to working with kids who struggle,” Palsrok said. “It humanizes her and that makes us want to work harder for them.”

The diving team is coached by Tom Coleman who has coached at ELHS for 20 years.

“I’m a realtor by trade, not a teacher or coach,” he said. “When one of the coaches asked for my help, I came out and was hooked in less than five minutes.” 

Coleman expects to have at least one state qualifier this year. Senior Bronwyn Minnick finished 10th in the state last year, and Coleman expects even more in her senior year. 

Coleman has his divers working hard for two hours every day. He has taken advantage of technology that didn’t exist when he first started. Each dive in practice is recorded and the divers can see immediately what was working and where their mechanics went wrong. The divers critique each other in real time. 

“They have such great camaraderie and they really help each other out,” Coleman said.

As he watched a young diver on the board he noted “This one is afraid of smacking the water. We have to help her overcome that.”

As for the season ahead, Zink sees the biggest competition in the conference coming from Okemos and DeWitt. After the outstanding performance in Holt, Zink just might have the team to beat in the CAAC Blue division this year.