ROCKFORD ATHLETICS I HOME OF THE RAMS

The Rockford Girls Swim & Dive program continued their role through OK-RED Conference play when they defeated the visiting Grand Haven Buccaneers 193-122. This meeting of the Rams and the Bucs, both mentioned in top rankings by MHSAA coaches polls, looked to be a potential preview of the OK-RED Conference championship meet in November, but it was the Rams who led wire-to-wire on Thursday night after an unfortunate false start for Grand Haven in the opening relay event put the Rams on top at the outset. For full meet results, please go to swimcloud.com and search for Rockford High School. The Rams took first place in 10 of the 12 available events on Thursday night, with 13 individual Rockford swimmers and divers placing top 3 in their respective events. Five Rams went home with new varsity letter cut times, along with three new MISCA Meet and one new MHSAA Division 1 State Championship Meet cuts, along with five relay qualifiers for the MISCA and four for the State Meets. The Rams move to 2-0 in OK-RED Conference play, while Grand Haven drops to 1-1. With Hudsonville defeating Grandville Thursday night as well, the Eagles move into a tie with the Rams atop the conference. Grand Haven moves down to third, ahead of West Ottawa and East Kentwood, who also competed on Thursday but no final score was available at the time of writing. In the latest MHSAA coaches poll, release September 25, the Rockford Rams moved up a spot to the No. 8 ranked team in Division 1, while fellow conference team Grand Haven moves down to an Honorable Mention (previously No. 8). Full rankings can be found here: https://www.mhsaa.com/rankings?sport=Girls%20Swim%20and%20Dive The 71 point difference between the Bucs and the Rams is the largest under the tenure of Head Coach Samantha Velting, who over five years has seen the average margin of victory in Rams-Bucs affair hover at 32.4 points, which is practically nothing in high school dual meets. The Rams return to the water for more OK-RED competition on Thursday, October 9th, when they travel to East Kentwood to take on the Falcons. Meet begins at 6:00 PM. Follow Rams Swim & Dive on Instagram! @rockswimdivegirls