Girls’ Swim and Dive Set For Another Season of Successes
The Skyline swimmers and divers gather around Assistant Coach Paul Griffin at an early season duel meet. Credit: Jae Lee
After finishing seventh at Division 2 State Championship last season, the Skyline Girls’ Swim and Dive team is set to dive into another successful season with seven returning state qualifiers. The Eagles enter the season ranked fourth in Division 2 statewide.
The entire 13th place medley relay of Shannen Lee (’24), Sophia Nielsen (‘24), Allie Deininger (‘24), and Lauren MacNeil (‘23) return. MacNeil took 26th in the 50 freestyle while Nielsen finished 27th in the 100 breaststroke.
The loss of the 50 freestyle state champion, Claire Kozma (‘22), will leave a large hole to be filled on both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Kozma will be swimming at Case Western Reserve University in the Fall.
From their runner-up 200 freestyle relay, Deininger, MacNeil, and Lily Cleason (’23) return. Cleason, Lee, and Deininger were on Skyline’s 400 freestyle relay which was disqualified.
Cleason, a University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) commit, was the 100 backstroke champion and 6th place finisher in the 200 freestyle at last year’s State Championships. Cleason comes off a blazing club season where she qualified for Summer National Championships in the 100 backstroke.
Individually, Deininger took 17th in the 100 freestyle. Lee finished 4th in the 100 back and 13th in the 100 free.
In addition, a strong group of 9th graders joins the team. Annabelle Balazar has best times under the state cut in all four freestyle distances. Maya Goldstein brings a 100 backstroke best time under the state cut. Etta Bawol (‘26), Evie Edlund (‘26), Zola Saigal (‘26), McKinzie Turriff (‘26), and Thea Yocum (‘26) also join the Eagles. Sofia Torres (’25), who transferred to Skyline this year, is likely to contribute in Freestyle and butterfly.
On the diving side, Skyline returns 18th place finisher Violet Schrag (’24) and 33rd place finisher Ella Bentley (’25). Sylvia Biermann (‘26) and Teagan McCallion (‘26) will look to bolster diving.
Mo-Jo Murrett returns to her 15th year of coaching the Eagles. Assisting her will be Paul Griffin and Lindsay Balazar. Coaching diving will be Miranda Eberle.
Captained by Cleason, Lee, and Diver Maddie Robbins (’23), the Girls’ Swim and Dive team will compete on the following dates (see graphic)
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Lucas Caswell is a founding writer and the editor-in-chief of the Skyline Post. In his free time, he swims (a lot), writes for SwimSwam, plays quiz bowl,...
