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Preview: Girls Finalists Ready to Replay

June 8, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

There appears to be a pattern forming here. 

For the second straight season, Rockford and East Grand Rapids from the west and Birmingham United and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood from the east will converge to decide the MHSAA girls lacrosse championships, this season at Brighton High School.

The Division 2 Final will be played at 2 p.m., followed by Division 1 at 4:30. Both will be broadcast on MHSAA.tv, available with subscription, with audio available on MHSAANetwork.com. Click for more information, including all tournament results.

Below is a look at all four contenders, with player statistics through Regional Finals.

Division 1

BIRMINGHAM UNITED
Record/rank: 12-9, No. 5 at end of regular season
League finish: Second in Oakland Activities Association
Coach: Jen Dunbar, 15th season (record N/A) 
Championship history: Four Division 1 titles (most recent 2012), runner-up 2016.
Best wins: 11-9 (OT) over No. 3 Hartland in a Semifinal, 15-14 (OT) over No. 4 Bloomfield Hills in a Regional Final, 15-8 over No. 8 Ann Arbor Pioneer, 14-13 over No. 7 Brighton, 14-13 over Division 2 No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Marian.
Player to watch: Danielle Augier, sr. A/M; Grace Fischer, sr. D; Grace Murray, sr. A (Statistics not submitted). 
Outlook: The reigning Division 1 runner-up is looking to reverse last season’s 12-9 championship game loss to Rockford. Birmingham opened this season with three wins and then six straight losses; it’s currently on a 9-3 run and avenged one of those recent defeats by beating Bloomfield Hills to win the Regional. Augier was a star last season as well.

ROCKFORD
Record/rank: 19-2, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Mike Emery, 10th season (180-41-6) 
Championship history: Division 1 champions 2010, 2013-16.
Best wins: 22-4 over No. 6 Northville in a Semifinal, 12-8 (Regional Final), 12-6 and 15-3 over No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills United, 26-1 over No. 8 Ann Arbor Pioneer, 17-2 and 25-6 over Division 2 No. 9 Grand Rapids Christian, 18-1 and 22-3 over Division 2 No. 6 Caledonia, 20-6 over Division 2 No. 1 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 18-8 and 17-7 over Division 2 No. 2 Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 16-6 and 20-7 over Division 2 No. 3 East Grand Rapids.
Players to watch: Brooklyn Neumen, jr. M (64 goals, 43 assists); MeKenzie VanderMolen, jr. M (47 goals, 29 assists); Karrington VanderMolen, soph. M (74 goals, 12 assists), Sydney Zimmerman, fr. A/M (53 goals, 27 assists).
Outlook: The Rams have won four straight Division 1 championships and continue to add big-time scorers to a dominating roster. In addition to those mentioned above, sophomore attack Isabelle Holmes had 24 goals and 42 assists and junior attack/mid Margaret Hammer had 28 goals and 15 assists entering this week. The two losses came against teams from out of state, the first by only a goal.

Division 2

BLOOMFIELD HILLS CRANBROOK KINGSWOOD
Record/rank: 22-5, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic League Division 1
Coach: Greg Courter, third season (57-16) 
Championship history: Division 2 runner-up 2015 and 2016.
Best wins: 21-14 and 19-7 (Pre-Regional) over No. 10 Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, 21-14, 19-9 and 19-7 (Regional Final) over No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Marian; 16-9, 11-5 and 14-8 (Semifinal) over Okemos; 23-9 over Division 1 No. 5 Birmingham United, 11-5 and 15-14 over Division 1 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills United, 18-2 over Division 1 No. 8 Ann Arbor Pioneer, 19-5 over Division 1 No. 4 Bloomfield Hills.
Players to watch: Isabelle Scane, jr. M (137 goals, 35 assists); Brigitte Ballard, jr. G (8.24 goals-against average); Sophia Milia, jr. A (80 goals, 55 assists); Delaney Langdon, jr. M (55 goals, 25 assists). 
Outlook: This will be the Cranes’ third straight MHSAA Final, and they’ve played all the contenders to prepare for this point – including taking an early 8-6 loss to East Grand Rapids. The only other in-state defeat came to Division 1 top-ranked Rockford. Scane added three more goals in the Semifinal, and her 140 this season are the second most in MHSAA history. Adding firepower are sophomore attack Jessica Geiger (45 goals, 13 assists), junior attack Olive Stevens (28 goals, 19 assists) and junior defense Georgia Hinnant (28 goals, 11 assists).

EAST GRAND RAPIDS
Record/rank: 19-6, No. 3 at end of regular season
League finish: Third in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Rich Axtell, eighth season (156-27) 
Championship history: Division 2 champions 2012-16.
Best wins: 19-17 over No. 2 Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the Regional Final, 8-6 over No. 1 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 18-3 and 13-10 over No. 6 Caledonia, 17-6 and 17-4 over No. 9 Grand Rapids Christian, 20-6 over Division 1 No. 8 Ann Arbor Pioneer, 14-3 over Division 1 No. 5 Birmingham United, 12-6 and 10-9 over Division 1 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills United, 11-9 over Division 1 No. 3 Hartland, 18-11 over Division 1 No. 7 Brighton.
Players to watch: Lindsay Duca, sr. A (15 goals, 52 assists); Mary Schumar, soph. A (71 goals, 30 assists); Rebecca Scobell, sr. G (7.50 goals-against average); Audrey Whiteside, soph. M (87 goals, 16 assists).
Outlook: The Pioneers made their way back to the final day of the season in part by avenging a regular-season loss to Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the Regional Final. The only other in-state losses were twice to Division 1 top-ranked Rockford. Duca was a star last season as well and distributes to a number of talented scorers; sophomore mid Olivia Brown adds 33 goals and senior mid Emily Roth 28 as 10 players total had at least 10 goals entering the week.

PHOTO: East Grand Rapids’ Madison Micho (12) and Cranbrook Kingswood’s Isabelle Scane battle for possession during last season’s Division 2 Final. 

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