Did you see that?
June 4, 2012
Saturday annually is the busiest high school sports day on the MHSAA calendar.
The Spring Finals match began with Girls and Boys Track and Field and Girls Tennis Finals at sites all over both peninsulas. There were Regionals for both boys and girls lacrosse, which finish up this weekend. And, of course, there were Districts galore for softball, baseball and girls soccer.
Here's our sampling of some of the highlights:
Girls Track and Field
19 records fall: It was quite day across the seven MHSAA Girls Track and Field Finals, with 19 records broken, and two athletes – Reed City’s Sami Michell and Norway’s Dani Gagne – winning four individual events apiece. (Second Half)
Coast to coast: The Grosse Pointe South 3,200 relay was responsible for one of two all-Finals records, and ran a time of 8:48.29 that also surpassed the national record for that event (but may or may not stand as the national record, depending on what other times were run and will be submitted after this spring.) (Detroit Free Press)
Boys Track and Field
LP filled with first-time champs: Lake Orion in Division 1, Auburn Hills Avondale in Division 2 and Lansing Catholic in Division 3 won their first MHSAA team championships. Also, nine records fell across the state. (Second Half)
Quite a comeback: Marquette trailed Gladstone by 27 points at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final with four events to run. But the Redmen outscored Gladstone 42-0 over those events to win their third straight championship. (Marquette Mining Journal)
Girls Tennis
Southeast sweep: Detroit suburban schools claimed all four MHSAA Lower Peninsula team championships – Grosse Pointe South in Division 1, Birmingham Seaholm in Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood in Division 3 and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in Division 4. (Second Half)
Freshman reigns: Utica freshman Davina Nguyen beat both the first and second seeds on her way to claiming the individual championship at No. 1 singles in Division 1. Nguyen was seeded fifth. (Macomb Daily)
Boys lacrosse
Cranbrook comes out on top: Cranbrook-Kingswood, ranked No. 3 in Division 2, emerged from a Regional that also included No. 4 Haslett/Williamston and No. 5 East Grand Rapids, beating the latter 8-4 in the Final. (Bloomfield Patch)
Girls lacrosse
EGR plays to top ranking, again: Rivals East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Catholic Central met in one of the multiple close Regional Finals, with the top-ranked Pioneers downing No. 2 GRCC one more time, 11-9. (Grand Rapids Press)
Baseball
It’s Holt, again: The Rams claimed their second championship in a week over rival Grand Ledge – both have been ranked in Division 1 this season. Two weeks ago, Holt split with the Comets to win the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue. Standout Justin Alleman gave up two hits and struck out 18 as Holt also won Saturday to claim a District title. (Lansing State Journal)
Softball
In the end, it’s Mattawan: The season-long battle for statewide Division 1 and Kalamazoo-area supremacy was decided in part at Saturday’s District at Portage Central. Reigning MHSAA champion Mattawan emerged as the winner from a field that included top-ranked Portage Central – which was upset by Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in a semifinal. (Kalamazoo Gazette)
Soccer
AAGR moves on: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, No. 8 in Division 3, shut out No. 7 Jackson Lumen Christi 3-0 in the Division 3 District final at Brooklyn Columbia Central (AnnArbor.com)
East Grand Rapids Extends Division 2 Reign with Sudden Victory
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2022
ROCKFORD – As a player from East Grand Rapids’ first girls lacrosse championship team in 2012, it means everything to Meggan Lloyd to uphold the Pioneers’ rich tradition.
She’s off to one heck of a start as the Pioneers’ head coach. She’s 1-for-1 in guiding her alma mater to Finals titles.
It wasn’t easy, but East Grand Rapids got it done Saturday in the MHSAA Division 2 championship game with a 12-11 sudden victory in the third overtime against Detroit Country Day at Carlson-Munger Stadium.
Senior Lizzie Lundeen’s goal 18 seconds into the third OT period secured the Pioneers’ eighth Finals championship over the last 10 years, not counting the 2020 season which was canceled because of COVID-19.
“I feel like being on some of the first teams that started the tradition, it’s really important that I see it through,” Lloyd said. “I feel like the team is kind of my baby in a way. I don’t ever want to see it dwindle or go away, so I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that we’re coming out strong every single year, no matter who’s on the team.”
Saturday marked the second thriller that East Grand Rapids (20-2) and Country Day (16-3) played this season. The Pioneers needed overtime for a 15-14 decision over the Yellowjackets on April 19.
The championship match was a dandy as well, featuring four lead changes as momentum swung back and forth.
Senior Eliana LaMange scored four goals for EGR. Sophomore Vivian LaMange had two goals and two assists for the Pioneers, who built a 6-3 halftime lead. Lundeen netted a hat trick. Senior Caroline Potteiger made seven saves.
Sophomore Emma Arico, daughter of University of Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico, tallied three goals and an assist to lead Country Day. Senior Ainsley Schilling had two goals and a pair of assists for the Yellowjackets, while freshman Mary Pavlou had two goals. Senior goalie Clara Yuhn made five saves.
“Flip of the coin in that game; flip of the coin. Hats off to EGR. They’re a fabulous program. The amount of depth that they have in their ranks is really something,” Country Day coach Emma Kuehl said. “I couldn’t be prouder of my team. You know, I don’t think a lot of people expected us to be here this year and they have worked tirelessly to get to this point, and I couldn’t be prouder.
“It’s almost worse going out like this,” Kuehl added with a grin, “because we were so close – so close. But, you know, we’ll use it as motivation for the future.”
The future is now for the EGR seniors, the core of whom won their third Division 2 title in as many opportunities.
Some do have lacrosse futures, such as Lundeen and Eliana LaMange, who are both Division I-bound athletes. The former is headed to Kent State and latter to Robert Morris. They’ll be rivals in the Mid-American Conference.
Before that, they wanted to leave a legacy at East Grand Rapids. Mission accomplished.
“At the end there, once we won the draw, I knew someone had to take charge. Once I popped out and got that pass, I went past my girl and I knew I had an opening so I just ripped a shot and it went in,” Lundeen said. “I was trying to make (Yuhn) think I was going to shoot low, but then it kind of went near her hip side, so lucky it went in.
“It was overwhelming when it went in. I couldn’t believe it at first,” added Lundeen, who immediately found herself at the bottom of a pile of teammates 10 yards from the goal where she scored the winner. “It was amazing. I was at the very bottom, crying like a baby.”
Eliana LaMange watched as Lundeen won the draw to start the third OT period and split four defenders. LaMange called it “awesome” on Lundeen’s part. Kuehl said it was a breakdown on her defense’s part.
LaMange said the match was intense, but she believes the Pioneers performed well under pressure.
“It’s pretty awesome to end our senior year like this,” LaMange said.
Lloyd said her team needed to put the ball away and eventually did. The rookie coach was proud of the Pioneers’ defense for stepping up and shutting out the Yellowjackets in overtime.
Winning state titles never gets old for EGR and Lloyd.
“Well, not for me – not quite yet,” she said with a laugh.
PHOTOS (Top) East Grand Rapids goalie Caroline Potteiger (43) stretches for the save during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Country Day’s Emma Arico (16) looks to make her move. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)