Did you see that?
June 11, 2012
Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The second weekend of this spring's MHSAA Finals is behind us, with four more champions awarded in girls and boys lacrosse.
Below is our sampling of what struck us most from last week's many highlights as we kick off the final week of the 2011-12 school year.
Girls lacrosse
Birmingham wins thriller: Birmingham United scored the last three goals in Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 Final to edge Hartland 12-11 in overtime. (Grand Rapids Press)
East Grand Rapids ends perfectly: The Pioneers won their first girls lacrosse championship –17-6 over Okemos in Division 2 – and finished this spring 28-0. (Grand Rapids Press)
Boys lacrosse
Again, it’s Brother Rice: The Warriors continued their hold on the MHSAA Division 1 championship and handed Ann Arbor Pioneer its only loss this season with a 14-8 win Saturday. (Detroit Free Press)
Rangers come back for more: Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central scored the final four goals of the Division 2 Final to edge reigning champion Detroit Country Day 7-6. (Second Half)
Soccer
14 goals, 2 wins: Grandville Calvin Christian eliminated two other top-10 teams in Division 4 during last week’s Regional. The No. 4 Squires first defeated No. 8 St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic 7-0, then No. 2 Kalamazoo Christian 7-2 in the final. (Grand Rapids Press)
DeWitt returns: The No. 4 Panthers earned a Division 2 Semifinal matchup with Plainwell by beating No. 5 Grand Rapids Christian 1-0 in their Regional Final. DeWitt fell to Plainwell in a 2011 Semifinal, but returns a number of players from that team. (Lansing State Journal)
Softball
Decade of dominance: The Gladstone softball team earned its 10th-straight Regional championship with 7-0 and 6-2 wins over Tawas and Traverse City St. Francis, respectively. Gladstone won MHSAA championships in 2009 and 2004, and was ranked No. 7 heading into this postseason. (Escanaba Daily Press)
Fantastic first: Swartz Creek won its first Regional by downing Alpena 2-1 in a Division 1 Final at Saginaw Valley State University. The Dragons are 34-6 and also have set a school record this spring for wins. (Bay City Times)
Baseball
Brighton beat Brother Rice: The unranked Bulldogs downed the top-ranked Warriors 4-1 in the Regional Final at Novi. Brighton rode the arm of pitcher Colin Nash, who moved to 8-0 this season. (Detroit News)
Bears also take out No. 1: The top-ranked team in Division 2 also fell, thanks to No. 10 St. Joseph. The Bears downed Richland Gull Lake 6-5 in eight innings before beating Coldwater for the championship. (St. Joseph Herald-Palladium)
Golf
No 300 here: No. 2-ranked Plymouth and unranked Saline and Canton all broke 300 at the Division 1 Regional at West Shore Golf and Country Club in Grosse Ile. Plymouth won the title with a 296, but Saline was only two behind and Canton came in at 299. Canton’s Donnie Trosper, a freshman, won the individual championship with a 67. Saline had beaten those two teams in the District. (MHSAA)
Marquette Boys Conquer UP Division 1 Again in Potentially Record Fashion
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2025
KINGSFORD — Was there really ever a doubt the Marquette boys would capture the Upper Peninsula Division 1 track & field title Saturday?
The Sentinels left no doubt as they ran away with their fifth-consecutive championship, scoring a possible state-record 200 points.
Marquette, which won for the ninth time in 10 years, was followed by Sault Ste. Marie (65) and Kingsford (53).
“They’re a real hard-working group,” Sentinels coach Derek Marr said. “We talk about effort and attitude. We give the guys challenging goals and support them with continuous positive reinforcement.”
Marquette senior Michael Cattoor set the U.P. all-Finals pole vault record at 14-7, shattering the previous all-time best (14-0 in Class A-B) by Wade Hodge of Menominee in 1992 and the former D-1 record (13-8) set by Dayton Miron of Escanaba six years ago.
He also topped the previous school record which he shared with classmate Drew Bradley at 14-6 since Wednesday.
Bradley was runner-up this time at 14-0. Ishpeming Westwood junior Louis Salmi placed third (13-6), and Gladstone sophomore Andrew Karl was fourth (12-6).
“I had the guy from Gladstone and Drew here to push me,” Cattoor said. “Drew and I have been pushing each other back and forth. It’s good to have that competition in practice. We’ve been putting in extra time. We stayed about an hour extra each day.”
Marquette grabbed the top three places in the 200-meter dash, led by senior Jacob MacPhee in 22.72 seconds. He was followed by juniors Pierce Pittsley (22.87) and Ford Richardson (22.95).
MacPhee added a first in the 400 relay (50.69), helped the Sentinels set the U.P. Finals record in the 800 relay (1:36.30) that surpassed the 15-year-old record by Kingsford (1:36.73), and anchored the winning 1,600 relay (3:34.44).
Sophomore Lucas Ballard added a first in the 800 (1:58.09). He was followed by Houghton junior Luke Hill (1:59.72) and Marquette junior Beepsee Teeple (2:00.88).
“I’m excited about it,” Ballard said. “We had a good day. It was great running with our seniors for the last time. I’ll probably take a week off and get back in training.”
Sentinels’ senior James Barch earned his first 1,600 title in a personal-best 4:19.52, followed by Sault junior Gabe Litzner (4:20.16) and Ballard (4:21.40).
“I was hoping to sneak under 4:20 in the last meet of the year,” Barch said. “This is pretty satisfying. I ran 4:22 twice. Last year I had a 4:35 here. I decided if anybody took the lead, I’d go with them. If they slowed down, I’d take it. We have a team that’s deep, which makes it fun. It’s nice to have guys to run with. It makes you want to get out and run more. Cross country definitely gave us momentum for track. With all of us around 15 minutes, it makes it exciting.”
Litzner improved on last year’s U.P. D-1 record time by more than four minutes in the 3,200. He ran a 9:31.20 on this sunny and mild afternoon compared to 9:35.63 at the end of last season.
“I didn’t really have much of a strategy,” he said. “I wanted to take the lead at different times to spice things up a little. I’m happy about it. I actually went out a little slow, then picked up the pace in the last 600 meters. I really pushed myself in the end.
“This is a big confidence builder. Things didn’t go quite the way I planned this year. This will motivate me to do some hard training during the summer.”
Litzner will be among several U.P. distance runners in pursuit of the all-time two-mile record (9:22 in Class C) set by Fred Teddy of L’Anse in 1972.
Sault junior Javonte Bellamy captured the 100 title (10.97), missing the U.P. Finals record by just two hundredths of a second, and Negaunee senior Brady Mager broke the 40-second barrier in the 300 hurdles for the first time, winning in 39.88.
Marquette junior Jacob Norman won the 110 hurdles at 15.52, edging Mager by 13 hundredths of a second.
PHOTOS (Top) Marquette's Kyler Sager crosses the finish line first in the 400 relay Saturday. Other members of Marquette's team included Drew Bradley, Pierce Pittsley, and James Goodwin. (Middle) Menominee's Darrent Butler wins the high jump with a jump of 6-4. (Photos by Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)