#TBT: Before They Were Olympians
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 25, 2016
Michigan athletes enjoyed another banner showing at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro that wrapped up Sunday. We cheered for them all – but paid special attention to a handful who previously competed in MHSAA sports before achieving more at the international level.
Much of the following was taken from a recent series of MHSAA Instagram posts that highlighted our state’s Olympians with MHSAA ties. Athletes are listed with high school and graduation year.
Men’s Basketball
Draymond Green, Saginaw, 2008 – Green got a taste for championships in leading Saginaw to back-to-back Class A titles in 2007 and 2008 before starring for Michigan State University and now for the Golden State Warriors. He averaged nearly 10 minutes per game off the bench for the U.S. team, playing in all eight games during the undefeated gold medal march.
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Allison Schmitt, Canton, 2008 – Schmitt won the 200 and 500-yard freestyle championships at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals in both 2006 and 2007 and continues to hold the all-Finals records in both events; she then went on to shine at University of Georgia. She helped the U.S. 800-meter freestyle relay to gold and the 400 freestyle relay to silver, bringing her personal medal count to eight over the last three Olympics.
Women’s Crew
Grace Latz, Jackson Northwest, 2006 – Latz played volleyball during her high school career at Northwest. She took up rowing at University of Wisconsin and helped her quadruple sculls team to a fifth-place finish in Rio.
Grace Luczak, Ann Arbor Pioneer, 2007 – Luczak also was a high school volleyball player and rowed on Pioneer’s team (although crew is not an MHSAA-sponsored tournament sport, some schools have teams) before going on to University of Michigan and then Stanford University. She finished fourth in the pair at Rio.
Ellen Tomek, Flint Powers Catholic, 2002 – Tomek played basketball and softball for the Chargers and also made the Olympics in 2008 after taking up rowing at Michigan. She finished in sixth place this time in doubles sculls after finishing fifth in Beijing.
Men’s Track & Field - Discus
Andrew Evans, Portage Northern, 2009 – Evans played football, ice hockey and participated in track & field for the Huskies, winning discus at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals in 2008 and 2009. He finished 16th in qualifying at Rio, just missing the top 12 who advanced to the final competition.
Women’s Volleyball
Alisha Glass, Leland, 2007 – Glass remains arguably the top player in MHSAA volleyball history with records still for career kills, single-season aces and career aces (accomplished during the rally scoring era beginning in 2004). She led Leland to the Class D title in 2006 and then played at Penn State University – and this month set the U.S. team to a bronze medal in Rio.
Lauren Paolini, Saline, 2005 – Paolini was both a volleyball and basketball standout for Saline before moving on to the University of Texas. She served as an alternate for this Olympic team.
Additional Olympians with MHSAA ties
Cindy Ofili, Ann Arbor Huron, 2012, Great Britain – Ofili won three LP Division 1 championships and was on a winning relay in 2012 before going on to run at Michigan. She took fourth in the 100 hurdles in Rio.
Tiffany (Ofili) Porter, Ypsilanti, 2005, Great Britain – Porter still owns MHSAA LP Division 2 Finals records in the 100 and 300 hurdles and shares the record in long jump after winning six individual Finals championships over her four-year varsity career. Porter finished seventh in the 100 hurdles in Rio and also ran in the 2012 Olympics. She also attended Michigan.
Alex Rose, Ogemaw Heights, 2009, Samoa – Rose was the 2009 LP Division 2 champion in shot put before also competing at Central Michigan University. Like Evans, he also threw discus in Rio but did not qualify for the final with his top throw coming in 29th.
PHOTOS: (Clockwise from left): Allison Schmitt waves to the crowd during her last MHSAA Finals; Draymond Green is introduced before a Class A Final at the Breslin Center; Alisha Glass confers with a teammate during a Class D Volleyball Final; Portage Northern grad Andrew Evans.
Dakota's Snyder a High Flier
November 19, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Carli Snyder was easy to find for a few reasons in the minutes before Macomb Dakota finished its first championship run Saturday at Kellogg Arena.
She was the only member of her team warming up in a power blue T-shirt, for example. Then there were the secret handshakes, each one different for every other starter on the floor.
But the most obvious show-stopper was simply the ridiculousness with which the 6-foot-1 Snyder smashed every ball into the wood below.
Especially at the high school level, an uncommon athlete is easy to spot. Snyder, a two-time all-stater who led the Cougars to the Class A title Saturday, is that athlete. She put the finishing touches over the weekend on one of the best hitting seasons in MHSAA volleyball history. And by this time next year, we might be calling her a two-time champion – and Miss Volleyball.
“Her sophomore year, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s so (good).’ And then coming into this year, you didn't think she’d get that much better,” Dakota coach Tracie Ferguson said. “It’s just amazing how much she’s gotten better. I didn't think it was possible because she was so good last year.
“It’s just her mentality on the court and her leadership on the court and just keeping those girls calm and saying, ‘ We've got this.’ She’s grown so much since she was a freshman, on the mental part of it.”
Snyder gets a Second Half High 5 for leading her team to an unprecedented height. Unofficially, she finished this fall with 913 kills – good for seventh for one season in MHSAA history since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. She had 31 kills in the Final, third most for a championship match since the scoring change. She also tallied 14 digs and three aces.
But this season, she took on something more that helped the Cougars go farther than they ever had during the 17-year history of the school.
“When I was a freshman in high school, we’d joke, ‘Freshman Carli lets out’ when I’d yell at the ref or something. I used to pull on my ears. I’d flip out if I did something wrong,” Snyder remembered Saturday. “This year, if I made a mistake, it’s next ball. Everybody knows I've got this, and it’s not the end of the world.
“A couple of years ago, it really seemed like it was.”
Dakota finished 19-27-3 the season before Snyder started high school. With her as a freshman, the Cougars improved to 28-17-4. Last fall, Dakota finished 32-13-2 and won a Regional title. And this season’s final record was 59-5.
That’s not to say Snyder was the only reason for the success. Half of Dakota’s starting lineup was seniors, and Snyder is one of four juniors talented enough to break into the main rotation. The rest of the lineup combined for 19 kills, and junior setter Megan Manuerski had 43 assists to also rank on the MHSAA Finals record book list.
But Snyder was the playmaker. Bedford managed only five blocks against Dakota. Snyder had only two errors on 54 attacks for an incredible .537 kill percentage.
“She’s pretty darn good. I wish she was a senior,” joked Bedford coach Jodi Manore, who has seen her share of big hitters over 28 seasons. “She was up over the top of us.”
Everyone knows by this point that Snyder is going to be on the attack just about every time. She had 50 of her team’s 94 kills on the weekend. Defenses are rarely caught off-guard. “It’s difficult. But I've played volleyball for a while so I’m not used to it, I’d say, but it’s kind of expected,” Snyder said. “And Megan, she puts the ball where sometimes the other team doesn't know. She holds the block so well."
Snyder will no doubt enter next season among favorites for that Miss Volleyball award, along with Battle Creek St. Philip hitter Sierra Hubbard-Neil among those who claimed championships over the weekend. Snyder also has already committed to play at the University of Florida, the Southeastern Conference champion this fall.
And she'll get plenty more chances to add to her legacy as the Cougars likely will enter next fall as Class A favorites again.
“Physically, yeah, she’s hitting the ball harder. She’s jumping higher. Absolutely,” Ferguson said. “But that’s going to continue as she grows.
“But the mentality part of it, she’s just such a great player to play with. You want her on your team. She’s just such a motivator and a confidence builder for the rest of them. She really led the way.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Macomb Dakota's Carli Snyder (5) celebrates a point with her team during Saturday's championship match. (Middle) Snyder swings on one of her many kills attempts against Temperance Bedford.