Did you see that?
April 30, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
It's only the end of April. But a number of Michigan's contenders already are in championship form.
Check out our best of results, news and notes from the week that was April 23-28.
Boys Track
What a toss: Walled Lake Central junior Cullen Prena tossed the discus an incredible 187 feet, seven inches, to win the event at the Oxford Invitational by nearly 36 feet. In fact, the toss would've won every MHSAA Final dating back to 2003. Earlier in the week he broke the Oakland County record as well. He also won the shot put at Oxford. (Oakland Press)
Girls Track
South still on top: Reigning MHSAA Division 1 champion Grosse Pointe South earned a strong early win at the Michigan State Spartan Invitational ahead of a field that included annual powers Rockford and Williamston and a strong DeWitt team. Bay City Western won the boys meet. (Playmakers.com)
Baseball
Flint Final set: Goodrich’s Bob Foreback and Davison’s Timm Rye will bring more than 1,000 victories worth of experience into this season’s Greater Flint Area Baseball Tournament championship game when their teams face off on Memorial Day. The two will meet after emerging from the field this weekend. (Flint Journal)
How do you score that: Most telling lines from the Kalamazoo Gazette’s story about Comstock turning a triple play and three double plays in one game came from Comstock coach Rich Bailey: “We have not played particularly good defense. In fact, our defense has been a problem. The skill is there; the execution hasn’t been.” (Kalamazoo Gazette)
Girls Soccer
Poll position: Rochester Adams continued to affect the Division 1 rankings while moving up itself. Adams likely helped to knock rival Rochester out of this week’s honorable mentions with a 2-0 win Thursday. The Friday before, Adams downed then top-ranked Troy 4-1. The Highlanders have opened 7-0 and are ranked No. 3 in Division 1. (Oakland Press)
Boys Basketball
Flint Powers coach moves on: Tim Herman led the Flint Powers Catholic boys basketball program only seven seasons, but they were seven of the Chargers’ most memorable. Herman resigned his post last week after more than 100 wins and the team’s only MHSAA championship, in Class B in 2009. (Flint Journal)
Football
Michigan's finest take next step: At least nine former MHSAA athletes were drafted by NFL teams (by my count) over seven rounds Thursday through Saturday. They were:
- DE Nick Perry (Detroit Martin Luther King/University of Southern California) Green Bay, first round
- DT Mike Martin (Detroit Catholic Central/University of Michigan) Tennessee, third round
- QB Kirk Cousins (Holland Christian/Michigan State University) Washington, fourth round
- WR Keshawn Martin (Westland John Glenn/Michigan State University) Houston, fourth round
- CB Chris Greenwood (Detroit Martin Luther King/Albion College) Detroit, fifth round
- S Trenton Robinson (Bay City Central/Michigan State) San Francisco, sixth round
- LB Audie Cole (Monroe/North Carolina State University) Minnesota, seventh round
- RB Edwin Baker (Oak Park/Michigan State University) San Diego, seventh round
- K John Potter (Grand Haven/Western Michigan University) New York Jets, seventh round
Editor's note: Did we miss something? Comment below and tell us about it. Is there an event coming up that we should make sure to note? Comment or e-mail [email protected].
Northville Finishes 3rd-Straight Trip to Kellogg as 1st-Time Finals Champion
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 23, 2024
BATTLE CREEK – As the Northville volleyball team knows all too well, only one team in each division can leave Kellogg Arena happy each year.
For the first time Saturday, the Mustangs were that team in Division 1.
After finishing as runner-up in 2022 and losing in the Semifinals in 2023, Northville got over the hump this year, defeating Rockford 26-24, 25-16, 25-27, 25-22 to claim its first Finals title on the volleyball court.
“Every time I’ve walked out of this place, I’ve been sad for the last two years,” Northville senior Molly Reck said. “Being able to leave happy is just an indescribable feeling. I can’t even put it into words.”
Reck and her twin sister Mallory, along with senior setter Ella Craggs and junior libero Giselle Burlingame, were part of each team that made it to the final weekend over the past three years. On Saturday, they were winning not only for themselves and their teammates, but everyone who had come with them before.
“Their sister, Abby Reck, when we were in the Finals (in 2022) came into the locker room and said, ‘You’ll be back, this will help you,’” Northville coach Sarah Lindstrom said. “(Former players) Greta McKee, Ashlee Gnau, Avry Nelson, Ava Thomas, these players that were here for the last four years that bought into what we were bringing to Northville. Northville was good at volleyball before, but these kids trusted us and our coaching staff, and this wasn’t just for the people here. We kept saying during that match, this is for all of your teammates in the past that have built something, brick by brick they put together what we think might be a dynasty. We’re just so grateful for everybody that’s been a part of this.”
The Reck twins and Craggs led the Northville attack Saturday, with Molly (26) and Mallory (20) combining for 46 kills and Craggs finishing with 49 assists. Mallory Reck added 15 digs, while Molly Reck had 10.
But they were far from alone. Burlingame had 18 digs, while junior Kaylyn Tuck had seven kills and four blocks and senior Brooke Feller had six blocks.
“We put a lot of work into – I kept telling them, ‘The three of you (Reck, Reck and Craggs) can’t win a state championship,’” Lindstrom said. “‘We’ve seen that before. You need other people around you.’ And we work on our cohesiveness all the time and building up those other kids.”
Northville (41-2) nearly swept its way to the title, as it had a match point in the third set. But Rockford held on, thanks to a pair of kills from Olivia Hosford to take a 25-24 lead, and eventually won the set to force a fourth.
“I just have so much confidence in every single one of my teammates,” Rockford senior Layla Visser said. “I know what we can do. We can put the ball away, and we can make the right play no matter how many points we’re down.”
That confidence in each other carried over to the fourth set for the Rams. While it was mostly back and forth, Rockford was able to build a 20-16 lead before Northville closed on a 9-2 run to win the title. Mallory Reck served out the final four points, with a pair of aces to close the victory.
“In my head I was kind of just thinking, ‘As much as I don’t want to serve this ball, I know the feeling of being on the other side, and they don’t want to pass this ball just as much,’” Mallory Reck said. “So, that kind of just calmed me down and I was thinking, ‘Serve to get an ace.’ That’s what we’ve worked on all year; we’ve focused really hard on serving. I just took a deep breath and just served it.”
Hosford led the Rockford attack with 22 kills, adding 11 digs. Sophomore Mallory Wandel had 16 kills and 19 digs, while Visser had 10 kills. Isabella Delacher had 25 assists, Ashley Williams had 22 assists, and Eleanor Goad had 12 digs for the Rams (41-10).
“Proud of our girls. They battled against a very good Northville team,” Rockford coach Kelly Delacher said. “It felt like we might have been down and out after the second set and midway through the third set, and they did a great job of battling back to force that fourth set. Overall, proud of my players and proud of our seniors and the way they led us out there.”
PHOTOS (Top) Northville’s side of the court celebrates Saturday, including Brooke Feller (4). (Middle) The Mustangs’ Molly Reck (8) sends a spike into an awaiting Rockford block. (Below) Northville players raise their championship trophy. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)