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High 5s: 5/15/12

May 15, 2012

This week's honorees include arguably Michigan's top distance runner, top lacrosse player, and a baseball team looking to assert itself at the top while representing the state's largest city.

Lauren Hooker
East Grand Rapids senior
Lacrosse

(Updated May 19) Hooker, who plays attack, led the Pioneers to a 20-0 start. She's scored 101 goals -- already third-most for a single season in the MHSAA record book, and more than 25 percent of her team's total. Add in her 33 assists, and her 134 total points are fifth in MHSAA history for one season. East Grand Rapids is ranked No. 1 both in Division 2 and regardless of division based on the computer rankings supplied by LaxPower.com. Hooker also was the low scorer on the Pioneers golf team that finished eighth at the fall's Division 3 Final, and she missed the individual top 10 by only two strokes. She's signed to play lacrosse at Marquette University next season.

Scoring touch: "I don't try and dodge all the time. I don't like to work my way through people to score. I just try to find an opening."

Up next: "I'm not exactly sure yet (what I'll study), probably something in the sciences. Maybe something like criminology. I always wanted to be an FBI agent when I was growing up."

I learned the most about lacrosse from: "Two of my best friends play for the University of Oregon (Jana and Jess Drummond). And Coach (Jeff) Oates has spent a lot of time with me, talking to me, helping me during the offseason."

Different strokes: "I love the intensity (of lacrosse). I love the team aspect. It's competitive, but fun at the same time. Everyone on our team loves it together. ... In golf, I like how you're still part of the team, but an individual. To help the team, it's on you. It's a good contrast to lacrosse." 

Garret Zuk

White Lake Lakeland senior

Track and Field

Zuk, the reigning MHSAA Division 1 cross country champion, ran career bests of 9:09.2 in the 3,200 meters and 4:16.92 in the 1,600 to take first in the former and second by two hundredths of a second in the latter at Saturday's Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship meet at Pinckney. But his best moment might've come when he finished second on purpose -- to Walled Lake Northern's Devin Kimberlin in the 3,200 last Tuesday after pacing the sophomore through the race to a career-best time, and then letting him win at the end. (Click to read more). Zuk was an MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award winner this winter and is the co-salutatorian of his class with a 4.22 grade-point average. He will run this fall at Michigan State University.

"I've done it for kids on my own team. Normally, I'm in a position where things are still hanging in the balance and we need the points to win. But the way this meet was ... there was no way we could win. I saw the kind of effort Devin was trying to put in, and there was no reason not to help out."

Up next: Zuk will run both cross country and track at MSU, as is the norm at the college level. He's planning to study mechanical engineering, with an eye on the aerospace field -- think NASA, Boeing, etc. Not surprisingly, math is his best subject.

I learned the most about running from: Retired longtime Lakeland coach Randy Wilkins and current cross country coach Joe Verellen. "The combination of those two (taught me) a lot of what I know and what I practice in my running.

I look up to: "Every American distance runner has to look up to Steve Prefontaine at one time or another. What Pre stood for, the way he went about running; it's inspiring to everyone."

Detroit Western International baseball

The Cowboys are 22-4 and winners of 11 straight heading into Friday afternoon's Detroit Public School League Tournament semifinal. They are the top seed after finishing the league regular season undefeated, and have their sights set on a trip to Battle Creek this month after coming within an out of the MHSAA Semifinals a year ago. Of 16 players on this spring's team, 14 were on last year's as well. Click to read more.

This spring's previous honorees

Southfield Christian's Brock Morris, middle, crosses the finish line first in the 200 on Saturday, just ahead of Riverview Gabriel Richard's Derek Lesko to his left and teammate Jadon Staten to his right.

Southfield Christian Boys Win Final Event to Clinch Program's 1st Finals Title

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

May 31, 2025

HUDSONVILLE – Win and make school history.

That’s what it came down to for Southfield Christian in the pressure-packed final event of Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals at Baldwin Middle School.

The final heat of the 1,600 relay proved to be the deciding factor as the Eagles earned the dramatic victory and their program’s first Finals team title.

“We were down by three points, and we knew that we had to get first and they (Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep) had to get third,” Southfield Christian senior Brock Morris said. “I talked to my team and told them that this is going to be the last race that we will ever have, so go out and get a win.

“Crossing that line first was exhilarating, and I’m just excited to win, and make history and build a path for others to follow.”

Four points separated the top three teams entering the final race with Hackett owning a slim lead over Southfield Christian and Hillsdale Academy.

Morris joined fellow seniors Dylan Taylor-Wilkerson, Robert Brown and Jadon Staten in the clinching relay as they combined to clock a winning and personal-record time of 3 minutes, 24.36 seconds.

“We knew going into it that it was going to come down to us having to win, and I just told our guys, who are all seniors, this is the last race of your career so you have to put it all out there,” Eagles coach Andrew McFerrin said. “If you want to be state champs, you have to win this race. And that's what they went out and did, and I’m proud of them.”

Hackett's Sean Siems and Royal Oak Shrine's Abenezer Cerone lead the 800 championship race; Cerone would go on to finish first. The Eagles’ previous best finish was runner-up in 2019.

“We just had the pieces this year, and we were able to put it together,” McFerrin said. “I knew coming in we had fast guys, and they had to want it. They made it happen.

“It was nerve-racking throughout the day watching us go up and then down, and the 200 really helped us when we got first, third and seventh. That put us up and then we were just hoping and praying that we were going to pull it out, and that's what we did.”

Morris also anchored the winning 800 relay team and won titles in the 200 (22.31) and 400 (49.30).

“Brock is an outstanding athlete,” McFerrin said. “And just seeing how he has developed from his freshman year to now has been an absolute pleasure.”

The Eagles finished with 60 points, edging Hackett by one. Hillsdale Academy took third with 50 points, and 2024 champion Fowler (44.5) was fourth. 

“To be honest, I didn't think it was going to come down to the final event and I thought Southfield Christian was going to have it from the get-go,” Kalamazoo Hackett coach Charissa Dean said. “But these boys battled their little hearts out, and I couldn't really ask them to do any more. They had a phenomenal day with PRs all over the place.”

Junior distance runner Marek Butkiewicz led Hackett with a pair of wins in the 1,600 and 3,200 and was part of the winning 3,200 relay.

“The mindset was if I just do what I've been doing the whole season, then I'm coming away with what I came away with,” Butkiewicz said. “I knew I was going to end up with leads in both of them.”

Two other athletes also repeated as Finals champions, with Fowler’s Brady Feldpausch winning the 110 hurdles and Morrice’s Oliver Long securing top honors in the shot put.

Fruitport Calvary Christian senior Bradley Richards, competing as part of a cooperative with Muskegon Catholic Central, won his second high jump title after previously finishing first in the event in 2023. The Cornerstone University basketball and track commit cleared a personal-best 6-10¼.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Southfield Christian's Brock Morris, middle, crosses the finish line first in the 200 on Saturday, just ahead of Riverview Gabriel Richard's Derek Lesko to his left and teammate Jadon Staten to his right. (Middle) Hackett's Sean Siems and Royal Oak Shrine's Abenezer Cerone lead the 800 championship race; Cerone would go on to finish first. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)