High 5s - 2/14/12
February 13, 2012
Every Tuesday, Second Half honors 2-4 athletes and a team for its accomplishments during the current season.
Have a suggestion for a future High 5? Please offer your suggestions by e-mail to [email protected]. Candidates often will have accomplished great things on the field of play -- but also will be recognized for other less obvious contributions to their teams, schools or the mission of high school athletics as a whole.
Daisy Ference
Northville freshman
Gymnastics
Ference, only a 14-year-old freshman, came into the Feb. 4 Canton Invitational at least somewhat under the radar – and left as a favorite to win the MHSAA Division 1 individual championship next month. Ference won the Division 1 competition at Canton with an all-around score for 37.925. Earlier this season, according to a Birmingham Observer & Eccentric report, Ference set Northville’s school bars record with a 9.8.
The Mustangs finish the regular season with a meet tonight at Livonia Churchill and their league championship meet Saturday.
“I love my team, and I want to do well for them. I am motivated by positive encouragement and winning.”
Up next: Ference obviously has a few years to decide what she’ll pursue after high school. But she does hope to continue competing. “I am very determined and ambitious, but my final destination has yet to be determined,” she said. “Gymnastics will always be a part of my life, and hopefully a part of my career.”
I learned the most about gymnastics from: “My high school coach is Erin McWatt, and my main club coach, from Michigan Elite Gymnastics Academy, is Kim Tanskanen. I have been taught by the most talented and dedicated coaches, and I appreciate their love and dedication. They taught me to work hard, and success will follow. They taught me dedication and hard work pays off.”
Chris Hass
Pellston senior
Basketball
Hass, a 6-foot-5 point guard, is averaging 30.9 points per game this season and has scored 2,241 total during his four-year high school varsity career. His points total is 10th-best in MHSAA history and just 600 shy of the record set by Mio's Jay Smith from 1976-79. He's also averaging 8.5 rebounds and six assists per game. Pellston is 14-1 and ranked No. 3 in Class D, with a chance to avenge its only loss Wednesday in a rematch with No. 1 Bellaire. Hass has signed with Bucknell.
"I try to get as many assists as I can now. But for my team to be successful, I need to score. We have very talented ball players on this team. But that's one of my roles."
Up next: "One thing I was looking at college for wasn't just the next four years of life, but the rest of my life. If I don't go to the next (basketball) level after college, I'll have an education that will allow me to get an outstanding job anywhere. I'm going into either mechanical engineering or business management."
I learned the most about basketball from: "Definitely my father (Cliff, also his high school coach). He's always pushing me to be better than who I am. I think a lot of kids who are good when they're young, they're just told how good they are. My dad always kept pushing me to work on this, work on other things. ... He always keeps pushing me to be better than I am right now."
I look up to: "I've always wanted to be like Jesus Christ. He'd be my main one, then my dad and my sister (Stephanie, who formerly held the MHSAA girls basketball record for career points).
Shelby wrestling
Just because Shelby moved down into Division 4 for wrestling this season doesn’t meant its road to the MHSAA Finals got easier. Case in point: last week’s District matchup against Hesperia, which had reached the Quarterfinals 11 straight seasons.
But thanks to the Tigers 36-26 win, it won’t be 12. Shelby, ranked No. 4 entering the postseason, got past a major obstacle in downing the No. 3 Panthers, who also had reached the Division 4 championship match three of the last five seasons.
Shelby is seeking its first MHSAA team championship since 1972, but long has been considered a power in the southwestern corner of the state. The Tigers advanced to the Division 3 Quarterfinals in 2009 and lost in Regional Finals the last two seasons and in 2007 – twice by just two points during that time.
Shelby is the only ranked team at its Regional on Wednesday at Blanchard Montabella. The Tigers will face Traverse City St. Francis, and with a win either Sanford-Meridian or Leroy Pine River in the Regional Final.
The Tigers also advanced nine wrestlers from Saturday’ individual District at Hesperia: Junior Nick Bantien (119, fourth place), sophomore David Guerra (125, third), senior Jordan White (135, second), senior Trevor Dezwaan (140, second), senior Houston Jones (145, fourth), senior Dillon Sibley (152, fourth), senior Mason Courtright (171, first), junior Dillion Ankney (215, first) and junior Austin Felt (103, first).
Hartland Soars on Vault in Final Rotation To Finish Repeat Championship Run
By
Brad Emons
Special for MHSAA.com
March 7, 2026
HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP – Friday’s MHSAA Gymnastics Team Final went pretty much according to script in what became a three-team race at Milford High School.
Hartland, scoring 146.50 points, fended off challenges from upstart Farmington United (145.45) and last year’s runner-up Rockford (143.85) to earn its second-straight title and third in school history.
Rounding out the top six in the 12-team field were Plymouth (142.325), host Huron Valley United (141.375) and Parma Western (139.750).
“It’s the best feeling ever, honestly,” Hartland coach Gavin Kress said. “It’s such a great feeling. You honestly don’t think about it until you are actually in it.”
Rockford has nine Finals titles to its credit, including three straight from 2022-24, while Farmington has five.
Hartland, which entered the meet after scoring a Regional-best 147.750, saved its best for last nailing the vault routine with a 37.425 on its final rotation.
“Event-wise, it was vault where we got four top scores that we needed,” Kress said. “That’s what pulled us (away from the rest of the field). Floor was really a beneficial thing for us, and I think ending on the vault gave us the push to get us the win.”
Among Hartland’s standouts was senior Alexis Fundich, who will attempt to win the Division 1 individual title Saturday after finishing second a year ago.
“We had a few mess-ups, but overall, we were working hard and did well, it was good” Fundich said. “That was a great way to end the meet, and it really solidified our spot. I think definitely it’s one of our strongest (apparatus). Our floor is pretty strong for us as well, too.”
Hartland won last year’s crown by 2.05 points over Hartland, but this time it was Farmington making a serious push.
“Honestly, that was not expected, but they did great,” Kress said of United. “Honestly, when we go out there, we watch Farmington and Rockford because we know they are our biggest competitors. To hear that they got second place was amazing, and they deserved that spot.”
Veteran Farmington coach Jeff Dwyer, finishing his 38th season, was elated with his team’s result.
“I knew we were in it with Rockford, Plymouth, Huron Valley, and I knew Hartland,” he said. “I kind of thought they were not maybe untouchable, but they’ve got some studs that are really hard to touch.
“Just proud of our girls. We couldn’t have done any better, I think. That was our highest score all year. And to close on the beam, you’re saying, ‘Come on,’ that’s a nerve-wracking event and I think we were the highest scoring beam team.”
Senior Mikayla Dicks was the all-around individual star for Farmington United with the meet’s highest total of 37.925. She posted the highest score on the uneven bars (9.475) and had the second-highest score on the balance beam (9.6) behind Huron Valley’s Stella Musialowski (9.725).
Meanwhile, Fundich posted a 37.625 all-around that was the meet’s second highest, thanks to tying for the top score on floor exercise with Rockford’s Elise Watkins (9.65) and scoring the second highest on the uneven bars.
“I can always count on beginning with her ever since her sophomore year,” Kress said. “She’s always been a clean gymnast and a strong gymnast. I can always rely on her out there and showing what she can do. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
Friday night’s event was a team competition, which will be followed by the individual Division 1 and 2 Finals competition beginning at noon Saturday at Milford.
“It feels really good especially losing those seniors (from last year), with all the hard work we put in,” Fundich said. “It’s an amazing feeling. We knew it was kind of between Farmington and Rockford. We kind of knew we had a little bit of competition. It got a little nerve-wracking towards the end, but we just still hit our routines and it paid off.”
PHOTOS (Top) Hartland’s gymnasts share a moment during their rotation on vault at Friday’s MHSAA Team Final. (Middle) A Huron Valley United gymnast competes on balance beam. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)