Sadie Huizenga, Makenzie Baldwin are Holland Sentinel diver, swimmer of year

Dan D'Addona, The Holland Sentinel
·4 min read
Zeeland's Sadie Huizenga poses for a portrait Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, at Zeeland West High School. Huizenga has been named The Sentinel's Diver of The Year.
Zeeland's Sadie Huizenga poses for a portrait Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, at Zeeland West High School. Huizenga has been named The Sentinel's Diver of The Year.

ZEELAND - Sadie Huizenga found a new outlook on diving this year.

When combined with her already quite stellar ability, the Zeeland senior put together the best season of her career.

A third consecutive conference championship, plus a regional championship and an all-state performance put the finishing touches on a spectacular career.

Huizenga was selected as The Holland Sentinel Girls Diver of the Year for the third consecutive season, while West Ottawa sophmore Makenzie Baldwin was selected as Girls Swimmer of the Year.

Huizenga finished seventh at the Division 1 state meet, the final meet of her high school career.

"I feel like this season went really well. Being in a new headspace felt like a new sport almost," Huizenga said. "I felt really confident with all of my dives. I felt like all the work I put in was coming together at the right time at the end of the season, which made me more confident to do better than I thought I could."

At the OK Rainbow Conference meet, Huizenga won with 419.5 points, nearly 80 points ahead of the rest of the field, which included five other state meet qualifiers.

Zeeland's Sadie Huizenga poses for a portrait Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, at Zeeland West High School. Huizenga has been named The Sentinel's Diver of The Year.
Zeeland's Sadie Huizenga poses for a portrait Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, at Zeeland West High School. Huizenga has been named The Sentinel's Diver of The Year.

"Conference was my best score of the year. It was definitely a boost toward regionals and state," Huizenga said. "Winning conference for a third time is really special. It is one of the biggest meets and the level of competition is really good. It gave me confidence to win regionals, and it carried through."

Huizenga had a new dive that helped her scoring. A 2 1/2 pike that had a higher degree of difficulty than her other dives, leading to higher scores.

"I did that for the first time at conference and it was a lot of points. My 2 1/2 twister was another big one that made a big difference," Huizenga said.

But perhaps the biggest moment of Huizenga's legacy came at the state meet after things didn't go well the first few rounds. She was 20th, just making the first cut, before rallying to finish seventh and earn all-state.

"The first day didn't go well at all. It was nerve-wracking. My next three were better, and I was in 12th after the next cut. I had to get my head back together the second day and regroup, and my last three dives were how I wanted them to go," she said. "It was a big comeback. My goal was to get all-state, which is top eight. Going from 20th to seventh, 'Wow.' Being able to regroup was huge."

Huizenga was ready for the top level competition since her conference is full of state qualifiers. It made each dual meet a little more of a challenge.

"I definitely do better under pressure, so those meets against Holland Christian and Hamilton and a few others are big competition. It helps me know I have to get stuff done to come out on top," Huizenga said. "It helped me do the best I can do."

West Ottawa's Makenzie Baldwin is one of the top backstrokers in the state.
West Ottawa's Makenzie Baldwin is one of the top backstrokers in the state.

That was something Baldwin felt in the pool as well.

The sophomore bounced back from a somewhat disappointing 15th place in the 100 freestyle at the Division 1 state meet to finish fourth in the 100 backstroke, the highest finish of anyone in the area across all three divisions.

Baldwin finished the 100 backstroike in 57.32 seconds. Her 100 free time was 55.36.

She also helped the Panthers take eighth in the 400 freestyle relay and 10th in the 200 medley relay.

"She really hangs on to the water well in the backstroke. She is probably one of the fastest backstrokers flag-to-flag, and the underwaters are coming around," West Ottawa coach Steve Bowyer said. "She also has great closing speed. She is always there at the end."

All-Area Girls Swimming and Diving

FIRST TEAM

  • Makenzie Baldwin, West Ottawa (SOY)

  • Sadie Huizenga, Zeeland (DOY)

  • Emily Asselin, Holland Christian

  • Lorelai Bremer, West Ottawa

  • Maddie Brink, Holland Christian

  • Baylee Davis, West Ottawa

  • Claire DeKievit, Holland Christian

  • Emma DenUyl, Hamilton

  • Madison Ensing, Zeeland

  • Anevay Hagar, Hamilton

  • Maria Heeres, Holland Christian

  • Natalie Legg, Holland

  • Oriana O'Mealey, West Ottawa

  • Annie Petrak, Holland Christian

  • Kalyna Pyk, West Ottawa

  • Lilly Ryden, Holland Christian

  • Eden Siegers, Holland Christian

  • Paige Swarthout, West Ottawa

SECOND TEAM

  • Samantha Bolt, West Ottawa

  • Jocelyn Borg, Hamilton

  • Abigail Brinks, Zeeland

  • Josie Fynewever, Hamilton

  • Adaline Garvelink, Hamilton

  • Sabrina Iverson, Holland Christian

  • Delaney Ketchum, Zeeland

  • Grace Langeland, Hamilton

  • Kiera Lewis, Hamilton

  • Miriam Lopez-Koolhaas, Holland

  • Lydia Lucas, Hamilton

  • Lilly Mendels, Holland

  • Jenna Meyer, Zeeland

  • Scarlett Nykamp, Holland Christian

  • Emma Reilly, Hamilton

  • Ruthie Ryden, Holland Christian

  • Thy Tran, Holland

  • Eva Whiteman, Holland

  • Layla Winklepleck, Hamilton

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Sadie Huizenga, Makenzie Baldwin are Holland Sentinel diver, swimmer of year