Title IX at 50: Wroubel Has Championed Girls School Sports from Their Start
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 16, 2021
Betty Wroubel began coaching as a middle schooler during the mid-1960s, when she organized, found a sponsor for and coached with a summer softball team that competed against surrounding cities.
She’s coached something every year since – and a whole lot more.
This week she’s leading Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s volleyball team as it chases what would be a fourth MHSAA Finals championship – the Fighting Irish take on Detroit Country Day tonight in a Division 2 Quarterfinal. She’s the third-winningest coach in MHSAA volleyball history, with a record of 1,634-327-132 since beginning her varsity coaching career at alma mater Clawson during the 1978-79 winter season.
But that’s just the start, and Wroubel has been part of Michigan’s girls sports rise and growth since the beginning.
She played basketball, volleyball, softball, tennis and ran track at Clawson before graduating in 1971, a year before Title IX was enacted. She then played volleyball, tennis and field hockey all for multiple seasons at Central Michigan University, graduating in 1975.
Wroubel returned to Clawson and coached basketball, volleyball and softball, then moved on to what was then Pontiac Catholic and later Oakland Catholic, and then Pontiac Notre Dame Prep when that school was formed beginning with the 1994-95 school year.
She’s led Notre Dame Prep’s volleyball team to Finals championships in 2007, 2013 and 2017 and coached Pontiac Catholic to the Class C softball championship in 1983 – the same year she earned her master’s degree from Michigan State University. Wroubel has led teams to a 908-310-41 record on the diamond, ranking among the state’s all-time winningest softball coaches as well.
But again, her coaching contributions – which are incredible – are only part of what Wroubel has given to athletics.
After previously serving as athletic director at Pontiac Catholic, she has served as athletic director at Notre Dame Prep since Fall 1994 and over the years has filled roles as assistant principal and co-chairperson of the health and physical education department, and taught sports medicine and leadership classes. She was named the state’s Athletic Director of the Year in 2020 by the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. She also received the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award in 2016 and an MHSAA Allen W. Bush Award in 2010 for her behind-the-scenes work in school sports.
Wroubel has received various national Coach of the Year honors, including from the American Volleyball Coaches Association in 2007 and National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association in 2019. She is a member of various Halls of Fame – she’s been inducted by the Detroit Catholic League, Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association, Michigan High School Coaches Association, Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association and the Michigan chapter of the United States Specialty Sports Association.
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Nov. 9: Pioneer's Joyce Legendary in Michigan, National Swim History - Read
Nov. 2: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field - Read
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
PHOTOS Betty Wroubel confers with her team during the 2017 Class B Volleyball Finals weekend at Kellogg Arena. (MHSAA File Photo.)
Saline Finds Winning Formula to Finish 1st Finals Trip as Division 1 Champion
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2025
EAST LANSING — The head coach hadn’t coached high school softball before last year, the ace pitcher is a junior who had never played on varsity before this spring, and the program itself had never advanced beyond the MHSAA Quarterfinal round over its long history.
Given all that, it certainly seemed like the definition of a stunning rise to the top for the Saline softball program, which captured its first Finals championship with a 5-2 victory over South Lyon in the Division 1 championship game Saturday at Secchia Stadium.
First, Saline head coach Rebecca Suiter hadn’t been a head coach in high school softball before being hired in December 2023. She has been a travel head coach, but her primary background was as an athletic trainer treating athletes, not coaching them.
“When I first got here, my goal was to get to know the girls and see where we were at,” said Suiter, who formerly was an athletic trainer at Brooklyn Columbia Central High School but is now a teacher at Saline. “Last year, they started to get to used to our philosophy. This year from the start, they bought in from the beginning. Each and every day they have put in the work to reach their goal. We would offer time for open hitting, and girls would be just showing up. This week, we were studying film and they were studying film on their own. They wanted it so bad.”
Junior ace Abby Curtis wasn’t even on varsity during Suiter’s first year, playing on the JV squad.
Committed to play next for Wayne State, Curtis went 20-0 this season and finished an incredible year by throwing a seven-hitter against South Lyon, striking out 13 and walking none.
“Our first practice, I had a feeling,” Curtis said. “There was an obvious chemistry and click we had from the get-go. We set high goals and reached them.”
Saline (40-3-2) reached the ultimate goal by avenging a loss to South Lyon in a Regional Semifinal last season.
Coming off a 5-4 win over 2025 champion Hudsonville in a Thursday Semifinal — a win that featured a 2-run rally in the top of the seventh inning — Saline’s offense was consistent throughout the championship game. The Hornets collected 10 hits and scored single runs in every inning except the fourth and the seventh.
Senior Ava Stripp broke a 1-1 tie in the second with a solo home run, and the Hornets took a 3-1 lead in the third inning on an RBI groundout by sophomore Gracelyn Waldrop. It was her second RBI of the day after she singled home the game’s first run.
In the fifth inning, Saline went up 4-1 on an RBI single with two outs by junior Madison Bellus. Saline got its final run in the sixth on an RBI double to the gap in left-center by Casey Griffin.
South Lyon scored a single run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by junior Ella Glowacki to make it 5-2, but couldn’t get closer.
South Lyon also scored in the first inning on an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of sophomore Isabella Bracali.
As improbable as Saline’s rise to the top was, it might have been even more unlikely to see South Lyon get this far in 2025.
The Lions last spring graduated all-state pitcher Ava Bradshaw, who as a freshman pitched a shutout in the 2021 Division 1 championship game to lead the Lions to victory.
South Lyon (33-8) also had a new coach in Jerry Shippe and was unranked heading into the MHSAA Tournament, but went on another unforgettable run to reach championship weekend.
“We flew under the radar all year,” Shippe said. “We played our last games at Clio before the playoffs. I took the team and told them, ‘You can win a state championship.’ They looked at me like, ‘Yeah, this old man doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’ Hey, they almost did. A couple of hits here and there, and they are. I’m proud of them.”
PHOTOS (Top) Saline players including Casey Griffin (3) celebrate during their Division 1 championship win Saturday. (Middle) Ashley Malinczak steps into her swing during an at bat for the Hornets.