10 to Remember from 2011-12
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 11, 2012
Second Half's mission in this, its first school year, was to tell the best stories behind the scores and highlights of MHSAA competition.
Of course, every score and especially every championship has a story behind it. The MHSAA awarded 127 team and many more individual championships in 2011-12. Obviously we can't reflect on them all. But these 10 performances were loaded with prestige, drama and accomplishment that made them incredible stories for high school sports fans regardless of hometown or allegiance.
10. Grand Ledge gymnasts earn No. 5
The Comets had to fend off a charge by Canton, but won their fifth-straight MHSAA team title by 0.825 of a point with a final score of 149.400. The fifth-straight title tied the record set by Ludington from 1975-79 and extended Grand Ledge's first-place streak to 75 consecutive events. The next day, senior Christine Wilson and junior Sara Peltier swept the Division 1 and 2 individual titles, respectively.
9. West Bloomfield's Erin Finn joins elite
The Lakers junior said after her Division 1 cross country win that she'd dreamt of winning that title since she learned how to walk. She finished fourth as a sophomore before winning the championship by a little more than a second. After establishing herself as one of the top distance runners in the country in competitions over the winter, Finn finished the school year by winning the 3,200-meter run at the Division 1 Track and Field Final.
8. More and more Morley Stanwood
The Mohawks girls pulled off a rare feat this school year -- after winning their second MHSAA volleyball title in the fall, they added a first-ever girls basketball championship. Both efforts were keyed by seniors Alexis Huntey and Bailey Cairnduf, who had the most and second-most kills in the Class C Volleyball Final and then combined for 45 points and 25 rebounds in the basketball championship game.
That argument was made after Lansing Sexton claimed its second-straight Class B boys basketball championship in dominant fashion. The Big Reds finished 27-1, their only loss by a point to Detroit Pershing, and have won 74 games over the last three seasons -- tied for sixth-most in MHSAA history for that long of a stretch. Guards Denzel Valentine (Michigan State), Anthony Clemmons (Iowa) and Bryn Forbes (Cleveland State) all signed to play at Division I colleges this fall, with junior Jalen Hayes and freshman Trevor Manuel likely joining them in a few years.
Coyotes junior Sami Michell established herself as one of the top hurdlers in MHSAA history at the Division 3 Final by becoming the first Lower Peninsula girl to win four events at a championship meet since Mason County Eastern’s Maria Shoup in 1979. She set Division 3 records in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump, and her 300 time also was the best in MHSAA Finals history, regardless of division or class. She also won the 200.
Top-ranked Grand Haven's latest run at an MHSAA championship seemed all but over when Grosse Pointe South led the Class A final by 18 points with just under 10 minutes to play. But Shar'Rae Davis' fullcourt sprint and score that began with 12 seconds to play gave the Buccaneers a 54-53 win and their first title. It was the third-longest comeback in MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals history.
Livonia Ladywood had been a favorite to win its first MHSAA title all season -- with four-year pitcher Briana Combs in the circle. But when Combs couldn't finish the Semifinal because of an injury, rarely-thrown sophomore Lauren Hayes stepped in. All she did was finish that game and throw a three-hitter against Saginaw Swan Valley in the Final, while also getting three hits and driving in two of the team's four runs in the championship win.
St. Johns senior Taylor Massa finished off one of the most celebrated careers in MHSAA wrestling history with his fourth championship and not one loss during his high school career. Massa claimed the title at 171 pounds this year to go with others at 145, 152 and 160. He became the 15th in MHSAA history to win four titles, ranks 20th with 221 wins and seventh in the national record book for consecutive victories.
Grosse Pointe South's girls running teams had arguably the most dominant school year in MHSAA history, first winning the Division 1 cross country title before doing the same this spring in track and field. And the Blue Devils did it with mostly the same nucleus contributing to both -- particularly juniors Hannah and Haley Meier, sophomore Kelsie Schwartz and freshman Ersula Farrow. Those four combined to run a national record time of 8:48.29 in the 3,200 relay at the Division 1 Final this spring.
1. Short walk, championship run
Second Half was created as a place to tell great stories, Cass Tech made it easy on the first day of the Football Finals. The Technicians arrived at Ford Field after a short walk from their school. They had never played in a Final before and were unranked entering the postseason. They arrived with a strong group of seniors, but also a freshman quarterback named Jayru Campbell who ended up throwing five touchdown passes in a 49-13 win over No. 2 and perennial powerhouse Detroit Catholic Central.
PHOTO: The Morley Stanwood girls basketball team prepares to celebrate as the final seconds tick off in the Mohawks' Class C Final win. (Click to see more photos from High School Sports Scene.)
Preparation Pays Off as Janczarek Caps Lake Orion Career with Best Finals Finish
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2025
The recent stretch of warm weather might have melted snow and ice and indicated ski season is over, but don’t tell that to Broden Janczarek.
Since he left the Division 1 Finals on Feb. 24 at Nub’s Nob, the senior from Lake Orion has been his usual busy self.
He has been to training and racing sessions in Oregon, Colorado, and Canada, adding to his world skiing travels.
Janczarek said the highlight came last summer, when he traveled to Chile (during its winter) to enjoy two weeks of breathtaking scenery, food that was cooked by chefs each day and skiing.
“We were staying right at the base of the mountain,” he said. “We were walking out of our little condo, skiing open to close and then starting right back over the next day.”
While his experiences skiing around the world and on junior circuits are near and dear to him, so is his experience skiing for the high school team, which was beyond fruitful.
During his time in high school, Janczarek:
- Won the Southeast Michigan Ski League giant slalom and slalom titles last year, and the slalom this year. He was second in giant slalom this season.
- Qualified for the MHSAA Division 1 Finals all four years. (This season the Dragons qualified as a team as well.)
- Posted three top-10 finishes at the Finals, including a runner-up in giant slalom this season.
- Accumulated a 4.0 grade-point average in the classroom.
Then again, competing as a skier from Southeast Michigan and nearly beating elite skiers from the Upper Peninsula and the northern part of the Lower Peninsula shouldn’t have been much of a surprise, since he has done it for years at weekend junior competitions.
“It was nice to kind of show them what’s going on in Southeast Michigan,” Janczarek said.
Janczarek said his love for skiing started early in life, beginning when his dad taught him the sport at age 3. He got serious into racing when he was 7, and by the time he got into high school he was already accomplished, having trained with Pinnacle Alpine Racing based out of Pine Knob.
He said there were two big components that drew him most to the sport.
“Partially the adrenaline rush of racing, but also the community,” he said. “You wouldn’t realize it with skiing because it’s more of a solo sport. But the team bonding you make and the close friendships you have, it can make or break your experiences in the sport. I was fortunate to have some good teammates, some good friends and even better coaches along the way.”
Lake Orion head coach Karl Basigkow said the biggest thing that has separated Janczarek from the rest is the way he prepares for different tracks, gate placement and terrains each course has presented.
“He’s a student of the sport,” Basigkow said. “His technique is excellent. Every race course and venue is different, and with that in mind the tactical side is always in development.”
What also has complemented Janczarek on the slopes has been his time on the pitch as a soccer player.
He played soccer at Lake Orion for all four years of high school primary as a center back, which he said gave him extra cardiovascular endurance for ski races. In turn, he said skiing and all the concentration that sport forces an athlete to develop have helped him be a better soccer player.
“If I had just done one over the other, I wouldn’t have been a better athlete for it,” he said.
At the Finals, while the biggest accomplishment was finishing second in the giant slalom — which was his best finish at a high school state meet — the biggest compliment to him might have been how he handled one mishap in the slalom.
Janczarek had a straddle on the first run of slalom that pretty much took him out of the competition, but he didn’t hesitate to go up for his second run and finish.
“I know there is a lot of people in the sport of ski racing that if they have a bad run, they’ll just not take their second run or just leave and go home,” he said. “I think it’s important you give your all every time you’re on the ski hill.”
Janczarek will continue to give it his all in college, as he plans to ski for Northern Michigan University.
He said he wants to stick with skiing “as far as it will take him,” whether it’s something beyond college competitively, or just as a coach to influence others.
Basigkow said Janczarek was generous with his time all season in the way he counseled younger skiers on Lake Orion’s team, and saw firsthand how coaching could be in his future.
“Just to get other people the same love for the sport I have,” Janczarek said.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Lake Orion's Broden Janczarek cuts past a gate during a slalom run at the Division 1 Finals at Nub's Nob. (Middle) Janczarek comes to a stop after a giant slalom run. (Click for more by Tori Burley.)