Did you see that? (10/29-11/4)
November 5, 2012
We had champions upon champions upon champions last week, whether they were winners of MHSAA Finals in cross country and soccer, Districts in volleyball or league champs in swimming and diving.
Girls cross country
Favorites make good: Reigning individual champions Erin Finn of West Bloomfield, Julia Bos of Grand Rapids Christian and Kirsten Olling of Breckenridge all repeated Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, with Macomb Lutheran North's Gina Patterson joining the group. Second Half talked to all four. (Division 1) (Division 2) (Division 3) (Division 4)
Boys cross country
Taking two titles: Highland Milford and Concord won both the MHSAA Lower Peninsula team championships in their respective divisions Saturday and also had the top individuals in those races. Second Half provided same-day coverage from every race. (Division 1) (Division 2) (Division 3) (Division 4)
Soccer
Headed west: A year after Detroit-area teams claimed all four MHSAA LP boys soccer championships, Grand Rapids area teams took back three. East Kentwood, Hudsonville Unity Christian and Grand Rapids South Christian won titles, while Hamtramck Freedom International kept one on the east side of the state with its first Finals win. Second Half covered them all. (Division 1) (Division 2) (Division 3) (Division 4)
Volleyball
Hang that banner: Bay City John Glenn won its first volleyball District championship in the 47-year history of the school, beating Essexville-Garber in four sets to claim a Class B title. John Glenn had to come back after dropping the first game. (Bay City Times)
Hang that banner, part II: Three Rivers also won its first volleyball District championship, downing Vicksburg in four games to claim the Class B championship. (Sturgis Journal)
Copper Kings, once again: After finding itself only two points from the District championship in 2011, and then giving up the final five to lose it, Calumet defeated rival Houghton in three games to take back the trophy after two straight Houghton wins. The Copper Kings are ranked No. 4 in Class C. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette)
West Iron ends near-decade of dominance: Iron River West Iron County had last won a District title in 2002, before nine straight by rival Iron Mountain. But the Wykons knocked out the Mountaineers in a Semifinal and came back from match point to score the final five and beat Ironwood for a Class C championship. (Escanaba Daily News)
Swimming and Diving
Holland still rules: Coming off their first MHSAA championship in 2011, the Dutch continue to roll and piled up seven O-K Green records in winning that league championship meet. Cassie Misiewicz and Holly Morren each set two individual marks. (Holland Sentinel)
Double Dow: Midland Dow won the Saginaw Valley League championship meet with 638 points, more than double that of the runner-up. The title was Dow's seventh straight. (Midland Daily News)
Wrestling
Longtime Napoleon coach steps down: Todd Anderson announced his resignation after running the program since 1990-91. His father Don Anderson started the program in 1967. (Jackson Citizen-Patriot)
Tennis
Forman is Mr. Tennis: Troy senior Brett Forman, the MHSAA Division 1 champion at No. 1 singles as a sophomore and runner-up this fall, was named Mr. Tennis by the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association. He finished his career with a 77-8 record. (Oakland Press)
Story of the Week
Kirsten fights on: A little more than a year ago, doctors found cancerous tumors throughout Kirsten Longstreth's body, including multiple in her lungs. But the Beaverton senior had fought back to nearly knock the cancer completely out, and while continuing to play sports including volleyball this fall. (Midland Daily News)
Ontonagon Tradition Continues as Super Sophomore Leads Latest Title Triumph
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 28, 2025
ESCANABA — When Jim Jessup goes into the Ontonagon school, middle schoolers ask him if he’ll still be coaching when they are old enough to join the high school golf team.
“The history of the community is the girls play golf, and they do really well,” Jessup said. “And they know that, so they want to be part of the team.”
The Gladiators continued their tradition of excellence Wednesday at Escanaba Country Club as they won their second consecutive Upper Peninsula Division 3 title and 24th Finals championship overall.
“I was expecting good things from this group,” Jessup said. “We did well last year, and we did well this year.”
More like dominated.
The Gladiators carded a 406 to finish 60 shots ahead of runner-up Big Bay de Noc. The top three individual golfers were all from Ontonagon — medalist Summer Stites, who shot a 98; Madyson Pantti (99) and Samantha Bailey (100).
“The girls worked hard the last few months,” Jessup said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of outdoor time until tournament time, which was kind of a challenge. But they stepped up to where I thought they should be.”
The springtime weather in the lake-effect snowbelts of the Upper Peninsula can certainly make golfing a challenge. So can not being able to use your driver effectively, but it didn’t stop Stites from climbing the leaderboard Wednesday.
“I couldn’t hit my driver, so I stopped hitting it,” she said. “And I just switched to my 7-wood, and that worked pretty well. Then my chipping was pretty good.”
Jessup said she did what he teaches his golfers to do in such a situation.
“We’ve talked about it before — if you can’t hit the driver, if it’s not working, go to something else,” he said. “I’ve even told them, ‘If you have to hit irons, just hit irons.’ You can still get home in regulation if you just hit good, straight irons. It’s better to be straight than crooked any day.”
Stites is only a sophomore. She finished in a tie for fourth as a freshman last year and will be a part of continuing the tradition going forward.
The Gladiators do lose two of their top three finishers from Wednesday, but they’re also developing more golfers through the local junior program.
“It’s going to be more of a struggle next year, but I'm determined that we’re going to try to defend,” Jessup said.
Big Bay de Noc’s Payton Pederson finished in fourth place with a 105. North Dickinson’s Aunika Lindholm won a one-hole playoff for the last spot in the top five. She carded a 109.
PHOTOS (Top) Ontonagon's Summer Stites watches a drive during Wednesday’s U.P. Division 3 Final. (Middle) Engadine's Sheyenne Nelson tees off during her championship round. (Photos by Jason Juno.)