Sturgis Girls Celebrate 1st Team Title, Multiple Multi-Event Winners Reign
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
May 31, 2025
HAMILTON – As they gave congratulatory hugs to each other on the infield following the 200-meter dash, Dearborn Divine Child sophomore Aubrey Wilson smiled at Saginaw Swan Valley senior Sydney Kuhn and good-naturedly said, “You can’t get all three” as the two shared a laugh.
Wilson had just edged Kuhn for the title in the 200, making their tallies of victories two apiece at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals.
From the team perspective, Sturgis ruled the day, winning its first Finals title with 54.2 points. Goodrich was runner-up with 39 points, one ahead of Saginaw Swan Valley.
Wilson repeated in the 100 meters with a time of 11.55 and then avenged last year’s second place to Kuhn in the 200, switching positions with Kuhn in a winning time of 23.85.
Wilson said the difference in that race this year was her increased endurance as a result of running 400-meter sessions during training throughout the season.
“I started running the 400 to make me stronger for the last 15 meters of the 200,” she said. “That’s where I lost it at last year. I just kept working hard because I really wanted this.”
While she didn’t quite reach three victories, it still was an outstanding meet for Kuhn, who will run collegiately for Michigan.
In addition to finishing second in the 200, Kuhn repeated in the 400 with a time of 54.70. Kuhn also won the 300 hurdles in a time of 44.29, returning to running that event this year after not doing so last year as a junior.
“I did it my freshman and sophomore year and then I stopped,” Kuhn said. “I’m doing it again this year because it might be something I do in college. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. It’s kind of riding a bike once you learn the hurdles form.”
Kuhn finished the meet by running a scintillating 53.8-second anchor leg for Swan Valley’s winning 1,600 relay, taking the baton with the Vikings in fourth place and racing into the lead to help Swan Valley win with a time of 4:00.66.
A third individual multi-event winner Saturday was Otsego junior Emma Hoffman. The junior swept the distance events, taking the 1,600 meters in 4:52.86 and the 3,200 meters in 10:27.44.
“Last year, missing out on all-state by one place was really hard,” Hoffman said. “This year, I wanted to get a good place. The experience helps you a bunch.”
Sturgis girls track & field coach Lesley Starkey said experience helped her team, given many of her athletes were freshmen and sophomores on the Finals runner-up team two years ago.
Relays were a big part of the win for Sturgis.
The team of Tenley Banaszak, Angela Cary, Hannah Garbine and Keyanna O’Tey won the 400 relay in 48.48 seconds, while Addison Eicher, Garbine, Sydney Bir and O’Tey won the 800 relay in 1:42.80.
Sturgis senior Eleena Kelley added a title in the discus with a distance of 135-9.
“We had a nice balance,” Starkey said. “We had field events represented well. I thought it was more of a team effort versus just a few events two years ago.”
PHOTOS (Top) Sturgis' Keyanna O'Tey carries the baton across the finish line for one of Sturgis' relay championships at Hamilton High School. (Middle) Dearborn Divine Child's Aubrey Wilson ducks past the finish line ahead of Swan Valley's Sydney Kuhn, right, in the 200. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Kingsford's Kreider Prepared for Next Level After Finishing Stellar Flivvers Career
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 19, 2025
KINGSFORD — After completing a successful high school volleyball career, Maddy Kreider is ready to take the next step.
The Kingsford senior is taking her talents to Michigan Tech, where she’s expected to continue primarily as a setter.
“That will be a big step for sure, but it’ll be exciting being with the girls,” she said. “The girls are taller in college. It will definitely be an adjustment, physically and mentally. We’ll be traveling longer distances, and it’ll be a matter of improving the mental part of my game.”
Kreider was selected the Upper Peninsula’s Defensive Player of the Year her final two seasons after the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association began voting for all-U.P. volleyball.
“That’s quite an accomplishment,” she said. “It’s a real honor playing with girls I grew up with. We had a great season.”
The 5-foot-8 setter was a four-year starter and two-year team captain at Kingsford, leading the Flivvers to three Division 2 District titles and back-to-back undefeated Great Northern Conference championships. She twice was named GNC Player of the Year.
She was also selected all-state first team in the fall and all-state second team in 2023, and all-region throughout her prep career. Her serving percentage also topped .900 throughout her four seasons on varsity.
Last fall, the Flivvers reached the Regional Semifinal at Manistique where they dropped a 3-2 decision to Kingsley.
“I thought we’d get through,” Kreider said. “We came out lights out in the first two sets, then it was close in the last three.”
Also among the team’s highlights this past fall was a victory at Calumet, approximately 2½ weeks after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Copper Kings on Kingsford’s home floor.
“We wanted to play them,” Kreider said. “They’re a great bunch of girls to play against. They’ve been the measuring stick up here for many years. Winning on their floor was super exciting. We knew we had to play well just to be competitive. That was a great confidence builder for our group. We were definitely on a high going into the District.”
The Flivvers opened their postseason with a 3-1 triumph over Houghton, then defeated Escanaba in straight sets in the District Final.
Kreider will join Calumet senior Maddie Torola at MTU this fall. Torola, who recorded a season-high 19 kills in the four-set victory at Kingsford, helped the Copper Kings finish 29-5 and reach the Division 3 Regional Final at Sault Ste. Marie where they dropped a 3-2 decision to Traverse City St. Francis.
“It was fun playing against her in high school,” Kreider said. “It will be even more fun playing as teammates. It’ll be exciting to be playing on the same team.”
Both will be playing under new head coach Cindy Pindral at Tech. Both of Kreider’s parents played for the Huskies, her mother (and Kingsford varsity coach) Jaclynn volleyball from 1998-2002 and her father Jason basketball from 1997-2000.
Maddy Kreider recently earned an additional honor when she was selected Female Athlete of the Year for Kingsford’s Class of 2025. She recently completed a solid track & field season for the Flivvers.
At the U.P. Division 1 Finals, Kreider placed fourth in the 100-meter dash (13.2) and anchored the Flivvers to a third-place finish in the 800 relay (1:51.57) and fourth in the 400 (53.03) on their home track.
Kreider was named one of 32 MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award winners this winter and plans to study exercise science and kinesiology at MTU.
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTOS (Top) Kingsford’s Maddy Kreider sets for her teammates during a match last season. (Middle) Kreider, right, takes a photo with Kingsford’s Male Athlete of the Year Gavin Grondin. (Photos provided by the Kingsford athletic department.)