C.C. Thomas
Sports Scene
Riley Hilbrandt says she feels more comfortable in the water than she does on land.
And the times and places the Heritage junior swimmer has earned during her career for the Hawks shows why.
“Swimming comes naturally to me, but I have had to work very hard to get where I am,” Hilbrandt said. “I just feel better in the water than I do on land.”
Hilbrandt has excelled in every event she swims for Heritage, but the 200 IM and 100-yard breaststroke are her signature events.
In her first two seasons for the Hawks, she took seventh and eighth place respectively in the 100-yard breaststroke at the Division 1 state finals.
This year, swimming for her YMCA club team at a national event in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Hilbrandt took 18th place in the 200-yard breaststroke .
But what makes coach Ken Howenstine happy to have Hilbrandt on his team is that she will do anything to help the Hawks win.
“Usually a swimmer specializes in certain events, but she is so versatile she can do it all,” Howenstine said. “Last week, we swam against Midland, and they had a couple of good sprinters. For us to win the meet, we had to stop them from going one and two in the sprint events. We thought we could take points away from them there by having Riley swim the the sprint events, and she won first place in the 50. And then she swam the 100 and beat them there, too, so basically she is used in any event we want her. She can swim anything,” he added. “She holds the pool record at Fenton in the backstroke. If we have a chance to win a dual meet, we basically swim her against the other team’s best swimmer. Generally she doesn’t lose, and it doesn’t matter what event.”
Hilbrandt said her swimming and her competitive edge began at a young age.
“I started swim lessons at Saginaw Valley at the age of four,” Hilbrandt said. “I swam there for six months, and they told me I should be on the swim team, so I joined the Saginaw Sharks.”
There she swam in all events, which makes her versatile and enables her to help her team where needed.
“It doesn’t bother me [that I swim many events]; whatever I can do to get more points for the team,” Hilbrandt said. “And it helps me swim faster times, which is good with me.”
Hilbrandt practices up to 21 hours a week and says she hopes to use those faster times to improve on her two state places in the 100 breaststroke.
“I’m hoping to finish first or second at the high school state meet my junior or senior years,” Hillbrandt said. “I also want to get top 8 at our national meet for our YMCA swim team.”
Howenstine sees continued improvement in his driven swimmer, who is the defending Saginaw Valley Conference champion in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 IM.
“Realistically, I see her continuing her domination at the conference level and to improve on her points at the state level,” Howenstine said. “That is motivation for her. Also motivation for her is times. We talk times to the girls all the time.”
That and her future in swimming motivate her.
“I’m motivated to swim in college; that is my top motivation,” Hilbrandt said.”I would like to swim at a Division I college, out of state some where. That pushes me to be my best.”