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.)
Team of the Month: Grosse Pointe North Girls Soccer
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 28, 2023
The Grosse Pointe North girls soccer team won the Division 2 title this month after entering the postseason with just four wins. The Norsemen then became the first eventual champion to advance to a Final with single-digit victories – reaching 10 with a 3-2 shootout clincher over East Grand Rapids at Michigan State’s DeMartin Stadium.
There wasn’t a lot about GPN’s awe-inspiring run that fit the usual template – and no defining “aha” moment when coach Olivia Dallaire knew she had a champion in the making. Instead, the whole season was a building process – but with a clear turning point in the Regional Semifinal.
Coming out of a strong Macomb Area Conference Red, GPN had entered its District the second seed despite its overall record, and with confidence it could win that bracket. But now the Norsemen were facing No. 2-ranked Bloomfield Hills Marian (15-1-2), a nine-time Finals champion, and trailed 2-0 at halftime.
“That (second) half of that game is the turning point the girls still now talk about,” Dallaire said. “We were challenging them that winning the District was not enough; we have more that we can give. I think we came out in the first game of the region satisfied with getting that District title. We were hard on them at halftime. I think they were shell-shocked by Marian, a very good program, and just a little nervous and complacent.”
But Grosse Pointe North – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for June – came back to take Marian to a shootout in an eventual 3-2 win, then defeated No. 6 Trenton in the Regional Final and No. 10 Linden in the Semifinal before edging the No. 4 Pioneers at MSU.
A GPN championship run had a built-in storyline already with Dallaire, who as a junior played on the 2008 Norsemen team that finished Division 1 runner-up before playing her college soccer on the field at MSU where she coached this year’s team to the school’s first championship in the sport.
But of course the uncharted path made for even more. The Norsemen were outscored by a combined 21-16 during the regular season, but outscored six playoff opponents by a combined 11-5 (counting two goals that came with winning those shootouts.)
“I don’t know if I had one defining moment where I felt like we could go all the way and win the whole thing, just because we were challenged every step of the way,” Dallaire said. “Our game against Marian in the Regional Semifinal definitely was a big win and confidence booster for the girls and the coaches. Other than that, just when we got to the state Semifinal game, once we got that win (we) felt anything could happen in the final game. We really had to take one at a time.”
Dallaire also had played on North’s 2008 Class A girls basketball championship team and had plenty of experience with the specialness that goes with reaching a season’s final week. Senior Mia Stephanoff had just come off helping the girls basketball team to the Division 1 Quarterfinals this winter and could echo those sentiments. Stephanoff, by the way, scored the championship-clinching shootout goal against EGR.
GPN entered May with a 3-4-2 record, and after another loss ran off five straight draws. But throughout those ups, downs and lateral advances, Dallaire reminded her team their goal was to peak at the end of month – even if no one would have anticipated the team would climb that high.
“The girls were getting frustrated not seeing the success with the wins, and it was a constant weekly thing we had to remind them that as long as we were improving we were not as a coaching staff concerned about the wins and losses,” she said. “I think at some point they started to believe in that towards the end of our regular season, and when we got results against (Division 1 No. 12) Eisenhower and Anchor Bay and those types of teams … that was a good start to that playoff run.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
May: Gaylord softball - Report
April: Saugatuck girls soccer - Report
March: Croswell-Lexington competitive cheer - Report
February: Hart girls & boys basketball - Report
January: Taylor Trillium Academy girls bowling - Report
December: Byron Center hockey - Report
November: Martin football - Report
October: Gladwin volleyball - Report
September: Negaunee girls tennis - Report