Northville’s Emily Roden earned All-State Division 1 honors in two individual and two relay events.
restrictions in place. “My practices where cut a little bit shorter, we had to go into two groups, rotate between dry land and actual swimming,” she said.
Staying In The Fast Lane Despite COVID break, future remains bright for swim star Roden Words by Brad Emons | Photos by Katya Zhavoronkova
A
fter being out of the pool for nearly three months because of the COVID-19 restrictions, Emily Roden was just thankful to return for her first club team practice with the Novi Sturgeons. And surprisingly the incoming Northville High sophomore didn’t feel like a fish out of water for that initial early June swim at the Novi Sports Club. “It was good, our coaches started us out pretty light, just ease back into things because we were off for so long,” said the reigning MHSAA Division 1 champ in the 100-yard butterfly. “But it was good to be back with everyone. We had to stay apart. There’s no two or three people in a lane, so it’s not exactly the same. But it’s good to be back.” The 5-foot-8 Roden is coming off a stellar high school
28 The ‘Ville
freshman season with the Mustangs where she earned All-State (top eight) honors in four different events at the Holland Aquatics Center including a victory in the 100 butterfly (55.43) and a third in the 200 freestyle (1:51.68). She also was a part of Northville’s fourth-place 400 freestyle relay with Laurel Wasiniak, Lulu Mans and Lauren Heaven (3:33.02), was well as a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley relay joining ranks with Malayna Mancinelli, Emily Lowman and Mans (1:46.86). Her last official meet came during the offseason on Feb. 7-9 at Oakland University in the Michigan Open. Representing the Sturgeons, Roden took runner-up honors in the 200-meter butterfly (2:19.74), a seventh in the 100 butterfly (1:05.12) and an eighth
in the 200 individual medley (personal best 2:26.72). For her efforts, Roden was recognized last month as an AllAmerican in the 100 butterfly, and – along with Wasinak, Mans and Heaven – the 400 free relay. Besides finishing up her ninth-grade classes, Roden discovered some other things during her swimming hiatus. She went on lots of bike rides and started doing puzzles. “It was pretty crazy, it was hard,” Roden said. “I tried to work out as much as possible, but it was hard to get motivated because I have nothing to train for right now except for keeping up.” Once she returned to her club team under the direction of coaches Bob Jenroe and Mark Winter, Roden began to feel more at home, but with some new protocols and
A SEASON TO REMEMBER With the girls swim team scheduled to start swimming Aug. 10 pending concerns of COVID-19, Roden will be following up an incredible ninth-grade season. Roden was among eight girls swim nominees statewide for the Detroit Free Press Sports Awards, which was held online on June 18. The nominees and winner were introduced via live stream by Olympic legend Michael Phelps. “Emily is very humble and modest, friendly, always smiling,” Northville coach Brian McNeff said. “She was pretty quiet during the year being a freshman with a lot of seniors on the team. She didn’t
Emily Roden stood atop the podium during most of her high school meets as a freshman.
