High 5s - 4/24/12
April 24, 2012
Each week, Second Half gives "High 5s" to multiple athletes and a team that have performed exceptionally on the field or made a notable impact off of it.
Please offer your suggestions by e-mail to editor Geoff Kimmerly at [email protected]. Below are this week's honorees:
Mallory Weber
Northville senior
Soccer
Weber, a two-time Division 1 all-state forward, leads one of the best teams in the state. Northville is 5-0-2 and ranked No. 3, with its most significant win so far coming last week, 1-0 over reigning Division 1 champion and current No. 5 Novi. Although Weber did not score that goal, she did help open up the field by drawing two and at times three defenders. She has nine goals and five assists this season, and has signed with reigning Big Ten regular-season champion Penn State after also considering the University of Maryland and the University of Miami (Fla.). She also played basketball at Northville.
For love of the game: "I love soccer. It's so competitive. It's just fun. It's fast-moving; basketball you stop so much, but in soccer you're always continuing."
I learned the most about soccer from: "Probably my (club) coach Andy Vanover. He was my coach for probably six years, and he taught me to never give up. That work ethic is part of what makes my game so hard to defend."
I model my game after: FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi. "Just how he's so good with his foot skills. That's the biggest part of my game I try to work on."
Up next: Weber is undecided on her major at Penn State, but is considering something in food science and nutrition. "I just like the whole thing of how food affects your body, how it plays into your performance."
Jake McFadden
Clare senior
Track and Field
McFadden won the 110-meter hurdles (14.9 seconds), the 300 hurdles (39.3) and the 200 dash (22.3) on Saturday at the Remus Chippewa Hills Invitational as Clare scored 174 points to finish first. He's the reigning MHSAA Division 3 champion in both hurdles races and helped Clare to a third-place team finish at the 2011 Final. He also owns school and Jack Pine Conference records in the 110 (14.82) and 300 (39.28), according to a report by the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun. McFadden played football in previous falls until this school year, when he switched to cross country to help him get into better shape for track season.
Up next: McFadden has signed to run track at Michigan State University, and will study biomedical engineering. "I just like the working-with-my-hands aspect, making new things (like) replacements for hips and knees, making innovations in that kind of stuff."
Quick learner: McFadden shot put and ran on a relay in junior high, but didn't try hurdling until high school. "I just watched a lot of film on myself, just fixed stuff there."
I look up to: "I'd say my brother (Mike McFadden, a 2010 Clare grad). He's the one who really got me into track. He played baseball freshman year and ran track sophomore year, and he really liked track. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and see what I could do."
Crossing over: "I played football every year but senior year. I ran cross country this year. It was a good experience, got me in shape. I ran about what I wanted to run, time-wise."
Stevensville Lakeshore softball
In a battle of top-ranked teams, Stevensville Lakeshore -- ranked No. 1 in Division 2 -- downed Division 1 No. 1 Mattawan 4-3 in eight innings to win Saturday's Mattawan Invitational. The Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference rivals also met in last season's Mattawan championship game, with Mattawan winning in eight innings, and again in last weekend's Portage Invitational final -- a 4-2 Wildcats win. Mattawan had won 38 straight games before falling to Portage Central earlier Saturday.
Lakeshore also beat Division 1 No. 3 Grandville, 7-1, and Vicksburg 6-1. The Lancers improved to 11-2 with the tournament sweep.
This spring's previous honorees
Sarah Appold, Saginaw Valley Lutheran softball
Nick Stiles, Bath baseball
Elementary School Rivalry Set Stage for Clio's Climb Into Statewide Elite
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 22, 2026
Players on the Clio softball team credit their togetherness for their success this season.
The Mustangs are 28-4 this year, ranked No. 4 in Division 2, and feel their close bond on and off the field can elevate them to a third-straight District title, and hopefully much more.
But things weren’t always so friendly, as many of the players started as fierce rivals on either side of the Orange Crush vs. Aftershock rivalry.
Like any good Under-10 matchup, those games were played for the ultimate prize: elementary school bragging rights.
“We always wanted to be the best team,” said senior Kelcy Sperling, a former member of the Orange Crush. “Then we could go to elementary school and say that we’re the best.”
The epic matchups … were actually kind of one-sided, and ultimately played between friends.
“We weren’t very good,” said junior Veronica Tate, a former member of the Aftershock. “They kicked our butts every single time. We just hated them, but we were all friends in the end.”
While the vitriol may not have been there, clearly the talent was, even if eventually banding together to win at the high school level was the furthest thing from their minds.
“I think back then we were just so in the moment,” said junior Addie Taylor, another Orange Crush member. “We were with our best friends, our parents were the coaches, it was just so much fun.”
The Mustangs are still having plenty of fun as they’re rolling to another successful season under coach Kevin Coombe.
Now in his seventh season, Coombe has Clio softball among the contenders in Division 2. The District title in 2024 was the program’s first since 2016, and now they’re looking to get beyond the Regional for the first time since 2004.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Coombe said. “This year, we took the extra step and we’re a little bit better than we’ve been in the past. Year after year of being a solid team has led to the girls buying in.”
As he was building the program, Coombe knew what was coming up and that it could be special. While the team is mostly comprised of upperclassmen, Coombe starts as many freshmen (three) as seniors.
“Oh yeah, we knew what we had coming in as a younger group,” Coombe said. “And they had a good solid core they were going to be joining with. We had a good hope this was going to be the season we would have. We have a pretty dominant pitcher that we can rely on to keep us in games, and we hit from one to nine in the lineup.”
Pretty dominant might be underselling Taylor, who has already committed to play at Wayne State. The junior has an earned-run average below 1.00 and four no-hitters on the season. She’s quick to give credit to those around her, though.
“It makes me a lot more confident knowing that if I make a mistake or miss a spot, something small like that, my teammates are going to pick me right back up,” Taylor said. “I can smile and laugh about it, and make sure I don’t do it again. I love having good coaches and teammates that will pick me up.”
It’s not just the defense helping pick Taylor up, it’s also an offense that is averaging more than 10 runs per game.
“If somebody is having an off day, we just be sure to pick up our teammates with a hit,” Tate said. “We don’t let our energy fall. It’s really important to stay positive and pick up your teammates. As soon as someone’s energy is down, we try to pick up the whole team.”
The hope is that combination of pitching and hitting can lead to extending the District title streak and a historic Regional run. Of course, to accomplish those, the Mustangs will likely have to get through Frankenmuth and Goodrich. It was the Eagles that had long stood in their path to a District title, and again this year look formidable, ranked No. 6 in Division 2.
And it’s Flint Metro League rival Goodrich that has ended each of their past two seasons in the Regional Final. Clio is 1-2 against the Martians this season, splitting their regular-season doubleheader and losing 3-2 this past Tuesday in the conference tournament.
“I think (having rivals standing in their way) makes us want to work hard,” Sperling said. “I know that in practices before those games, we work really hard, and we work hard all the time. But for practices and even warm-ups before those games, we’re locked in and we want to go play our best.”
Knocking off rivals to do something the program hasn’t done in so long would be a moment Sperling and her teammates would never forget, mostly because they’d be doing it together.
“It would mean so much to me,” Sperling said. “This group of girls, I’ve been playing with them since I was 8 years old. So being able to accomplish that with my team would mean so much to me.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Clio’s Kelcy Sperling waits on a pitch during a game this season. (Middle) From top, Evey Wagner, Addie Taylor and Veronica Tate also have been among significant contributors during the Mustangs’ surge. (Photos courtesy of the Clio softball program.)