By Teddy Rydquist

Leader Sports Writer

The Oxford Wildcats girls’ swim and dive team opened their season with a 105-80 home victory over Lake Orion on Aug. 29.

Winning 11 of the 12 events, the Wildcats set the tone as they defeated the Dragons for the first time in the 14-year history of the girls’ swim and dive program.

Two Wildcats, senior Ashlee Weltyk and sophomore Cali Schnur, qualified for the Division I State Meet at the Holland Aquatic Center in November.

Weltyk qualified in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:00.29 and won the 200-meter individual medley (2:15.96).

Schnur also won two events, qualifying for the state meet in the 100-meter butterfly (59.83) and the 50-meter freestyle (26.15).

“Our goal is to have all potential state cuts made by the end of the Oakland County Championships (OCC) in early October,” said Head Coach Jacquelyn Rank.

“All three relays and a few more individual state cuts are attainable in the next few meets. I’m very proud of the girls, but we have a long season ahead of us.”

In addition to Weltyk and Schnur, two other Wildcats – juniors Grace Charnstrom and Jenna Fister – qualified for the Oakland County Championships at Lake Orion High School on Oct. 5.

Charnstrom’s 100-meter breaststroke time of 1:11.72 moved her into second-place on Oxford’s all-time top-ten list.

Completing the 200-meter freestyle in 1:58.30, Fister made some history, too. This clip was good enough to place her third on the all-time list.

Following a very solid season-opening performance, the Lady Wildcats will look to achieve a couple more OCC and State Meet qualifying times when they travel to West Bloomfield to face the Lakers on Thursday, Sept. 5.

The first of three consecutive road meets, this will be another opportunity for Oxford to prove themselves against an OAA White foe.

Oxford will next be in action at home on Saturday, Sept. 21 when they host the Oxford Diving Invitational.