Marquette County swimmers and divers edged out the rest of the Upper Peninsula when it came to All-Upper Peninsula honors after the MHSAA U.P. Finals was held for all sizes of schools at Marquette Senior High School on Feb. 21.

There were 31 swimmers and divers accorded honors overall, one more than the 30 originally planned almost certainly because there was a tie for the last spot on the girls All-U.P. list.

And of those 31 athletes, 16 — eight girls and eight boys — hail from Marquette County’s three swim and diving programs, Marquette, Westwood and Ishpeming-Negaunee.

Not surprisingly, considering the Sentinels ran away with both titles by nearly a hundred points in each meet, Marquette also carried off the lion’s share of All-U.P. honorees.

Westwood’s Kamryn LaVigne swims the girls’ 200-yard individual medley during the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals held at Marquette Senior High School on Feb. 21. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

But the majority of the U.P. couldn’t have been reached without the Westwood and I-N swimmers added in.

The Sentinels started out by capturing one of the two major awards, Girls Swimmer of the Year, which went to junior Kaytlin Roell.

The Boys Swimmer of the Year was accorded to Gladstone senior Tyler Soderman.

Other Marquette girls winning All-U.P. were senior Hailee LaCombe, senior Logan McFarren, junior Sophie Hausmann, junior Loralei Maki, junior Lola Sved and senior Edith Jentoft.

The Sentinels boys winning their All-U.P. honor were junior Beau Deiter, sophomore Anton Voigt, senior Jack Pozega, freshman Lucas Deiter, junior Josiah Youngren and senior Cade Kruhak.

One Westwood athlete in each group also earned All-U.P. — for the girls, it was junior Kamryn LaVigne, and for the boys, senior Isak Ruspakka.

And one I-N swimmer earned All-U.P., junior Trent Emard.

Here are the rest of the All-U.P. honorees, with their year and school:

GIRLS — Irene Neumeier, sr., Gladstone; Allison Deuter, soph., Kingsford; Isabeau Woodard, soph., Sault Ste. Marie; Aya Keteri, jr., Houghton; Kailey Matuszewski, jr., Kingsford; Aubree Peterson, soph., Kingsford; Skyla Hallquist, jr., Sault Ste. Marie; and Evelyn LaTendresse, jr., Houghton.

BOYS — Bryce Johnson, soph., Kingsford; Thomas Gibbons, jr., Kingsford; Tyler Soderman, sr., Gladstone; Ryker Medrick, jr., Sault Ste. Marie; Quinn Darr, soph., Rudyard; Lenden Ellis, fresh., Sault Ste. Marie; and Sam Lamirand, sr., Kingsford.

Story contents based on email received from Marquette head coach Nate McFarren. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.