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].
Swartz Creek Girls Complete Championship Climb with Historic Sweep
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2025
WATERFORD —Swartz Creek girls bowling coach Mike Vanderkuur has never had to look far to try and emulate the state’s gold standard.
Ever since starting the middle school bowling program for Swartz Creek 12 years ago and taking over as head coach of the high school team seven years later, Vanderkuur has soaked up everything league rival and neighbor Flint Kearsley did en route to winning nine Division 2 titles over the last 11 seasons.
“It’s always been my goal to do what Kearsley has done,” Vanderkuur said. “It was definitely where I wanted to get to.”
Vanderkuur and Swartz Creek arrived Friday during the Division 2 Team Final at Century Bowl, finishing first out of the qualifying block and then rolling to its first championship.
The Dragons finished their run with a three-game sweep of Cedar Springs in the final, winning 148-138, 223-115 and 201-196 in the best-of-five Baker game format.
Vanderkuur and his bowlers were obviously emotional afterward, reflecting on the fact they spent years together through the middle school program and on the high school team working for this moment.
“Every one of these girls besides two started in sixth grade,” Vanderkuur said. “They’ve stuck, stuck and stuck all the way up.”
As it advanced, Swartz Creek felt like it was destined for a championship match against Kearsley, but the bracket didn’t pan out that way.
In the semifinals, Cedar Springs earned a four-game win (146-162, 172-157, 188-158, 175-148) over Kearsley to set up the matchup with Swartz Creek, which defeated Sparta 210-148 in the fifth game of a semifinal match.
But in its first appearance in the championship match, Cedar Springs couldn’t muster the same energy against Swartz Creek.
“Honestly, I just think our girls ran out of steam,” Cedar Springs head coach Crystal Morales said. “I think the energy was pretty much out. It kind of fell apart at the end.”
Swartz Creek had a score of 3,337 out of the qualifying block, well ahead of No. 2 seed Bay City John Glenn’s total of 3,196.
The Dragons then earned a four-game win over Mason in the quarterfinals.
Swartz Creek was a bit surprised to not see Kearsley in the championship match, but didn’t let up against Cedar Springs.
“I dreamt of it,” said Swartz Creek senior Kaidance Gates-Leonard. “I wish the older girls (before) would have made it. But we do good every year, and we deserve it.”
Morales said the main goal for her team was to make it out of the qualifying block, and Cedar Springs managed to do that by 74 pins as the No. 7 seed.
The Red Hawks then got hot, starting with a four-game win over John Glenn in the quarterfinals before knocking off Kearsley.
“After the first individual game, I didn’t think we were in the cut,” Morales said. “That last (individual game), we pulled a 934, and I was like ‘We might have just pulled ourselves in this.’
Kearsley was the third seed out of the qualifying block and defeated Three Rivers in the quarterfinals in four games.
Sparta recorded a five-game win over New Boston Huron in the other quarterfinal.