Former MHSAA Coach Lands in NHL
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 5, 2013
This week in the year 2000, Jon Cooper had just finished his first season coaching at any level, having guided the Lansing Catholic hockey team to its first Regional championship in 25 seasons.
It would be the only season Cooper – a local lawyer and former player at Hofstra – would coach the Cougars. But it also was the start of a nearly unimaginable rise that saw him hired to coach the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning two weeks ago.
As the saying goes, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Cooper always was friendly and helpful to this then just-starting local media member, and despite his lone season coaching the Cougars quickly built a local fan base that continues to cheer him on from afar.
An NHL.com piece last week led with the high school angle. Click here to check it out. He took over a team 16-18-2 and near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but Cooper surely will have plenty rooting him on from the MHSAA hockey ranks as he works to bring the franchise back to the playoffs – and we’ll work to catch up with him this summer during his first NHL offseason.
Grand Haven athletics 'Exemplary'
The Grand Haven High School athletic department received this year’s Exemplary Athletic Program Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association during its annual conference last month in Traverse City.
The program was established in 1998 to recognize outstanding athletic programs and give high school administrators a vehicle by which to self-assess their practices and measure improvements.
Characteristics of “exemplary” programs include district-wide commitment, excellence in advancing the growth of well-rounded participants and serving the needs of all involved including parents and staff, and sustained success in teaching the values of high school athletics.
Click for more details on award criteria and a list of previous winners, and additional coverage by Grand Rapids’ WZZM.
Volleyball teams 'dug' deep
Michigan high school volleyball teams playing "Dig Pink" matches combined to raise more than $50,500 for cancer research last fall to rank sixth nationally, according to the Side-Out Foundation, a non-profit organization that heads up the “Dig Pink” initiative.
Class D Engadine raised the most among MHSAA schools – $5,200 – with Kent City, Bronson, Grand Ledge, Allendale, Stevensville Lakeshore, Monroe, Waterford Mott, Coldwater and Grand Blanc also contributing to the grand total. Also, Grand Ledge’s Katie Everts received a Side-Out Ambassador Program award, one of 10 handed out to individuals nationally.
Total, more than $1.1 million was raised nationwide.
Name that trophy
Few if any schools in Michigan have done more work in researching and identifying the trophies in its case than Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, which will celebrate its 100th season of boys basketball in 2013-14.
It's rare the Eaglets historians can’t determine what a trophy celebrated. In this case, hopefully you can help.
We believe it’s a basketball trophy from the 1930s – but haven’t been able to pin down a season or a level of the MHSAA tournament. A few things that make this one unique are the plaque presentation, as opposed to a standard trophy, and the large MHSAA seal in the center. Any ideas? Email me at [email protected].
Giving back to those who gave
Those from the U.S. 23/I-94 area surely remember the tornado that tore through Dexter a little more than a year ago, on March 15, 2012.
Dexter track coaches Bob and Katie Jazwinski are remembering those who helped them rebuild after their home was destroyed by the storm.
In a Second Half report last year, Bob Jazwinski said he’d seen athletes and coaches from Adrian, Ann Arbor Pioneer, Pinckney, Chelsea, Ann Arbor Skyline, Whitmore Lake and the USA junior hockey team among the many who flocked to the community to lend a hand in the cleanup.
The Jazwinskis began repaying the favor three weeks ago on the storm's one-year anniversary with the Dexter F 3.1 Tornado Run/Walk that benefited non-profit organizations that had donated for storm recovery the year before.
Click to read the March 30, 2012 story about Adrian athletes’ contributions to the clean-up.
Last call for basketball
We got off to a late start on entering basketball schedules for this winter – but thanks to some incredibly helpful school, official and fan inputters, we were able to catch up quickly and finish with a nearly-complete list of results and standings for this season.
Still, there are some schools with incomplete schedules or a few scores missing. And before everyone forgets completely about this season, we’re hoping for a little help in finishing this enormous task.
Please check out your team’s page on MHSAA.com and help us fill in missing scores and fix inaccuracies. The latter could include just about anything – an incorrect game date, incorrect opponent or score, team missing from league standings, etc. For corrections, please email me directly at [email protected]. (Note: If a game was cancelled, don’t just delete it – contact me and I’ll add “cancelled” to avoid confusion.)
Why is this important? Two big reasons. First, MHSAA.com publishes the most complete statewide scoreboard with results from every corner of Michigan. And we have the most complete archive of basketball seasons available, currently dating to 2009-10. Help us fill in the blanks, and they’ll be saved for everyone’s benefit for years to come.
I thank you in advance for any help you are able to provide.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jon Cooper's bio appeared in the Lansing Catholic hockey team's yearbook for the 1999-2000 season. (Middle) Grand Haven athletic director Robin Bye (second from right) poses with Gull Lake athletic director and MIAAA Exemplary Committee co-char Marc Troop, Grand Haven athletic secretary Rita Way and Ann Arbor Greenhills athletic director and MIAAA Exemplary Committee co-chair Meg Seng after the Buccaneers received this year's award. (Bottom) Orchard Lake St. Mary's is hoping to identify the championship recognized by this trophy, believed to be from the 1930s.
2022 Runners-Up Climb Final Step to Give Grand Ledge Individual Title Sweep
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 11, 2023
WHITE LAKE — Grand Ledge senior Alaina Yaney came agonizingly close to winning an MHSAA Finals individual title last year.
And if you think that wasn’t on her mind for a full year, think again.
Yaney said she had notes written throughout her room in a quest to be better than a half-tenth of a point – the margin between her and 2022 first-place finisher Morgan Ruffing of Livonia Red.
“It was on my mind every single day at practice, and it motivated me to work harder,” Yaney said. “It was just one little toe point, and I knew that I could do it and I was very close. I had many things in my room reminding me to work harder.”
Instead of notes, Yaney will now have a Finals championship medal to display.
Yaney earned her redemption after a year’s wait, this time walking out of Lakeland High School as the Division 1 individual champion Saturday.
Yaney finished with an all-around score of 38.075, ahead of Ruffing and Emma Stewart of Salem, who tied for second with identical scores of 37.925.
Lacey Scheid of Friday’s team champion Rockford was fourth at 37.450, while Howell’s Maria Petru rounded out the top five at 37.375.
For Yaney, her day broke down like this:
Floor exercise. Yaney opened up in this event, and took second with a score of 9.575. “My mindset was to just go in calm, dominate and do what I knew I could do,” Yaney said. Ruffing won with a score of 9.800.
Up next for Yaney was this event, where she finished first with a score of 9.700. Stewart was second with a 9.575. “That is best my event,” Yaney said. “I just knew if I did what I know how to do, I would be fine.”
Bars. In her third event, Yaney finished third with a score of 9.325. Stewart was first with a 9.500, while Ruffing was second with a 9.425. “I was nervous because I had to make my new skill in order to get the score I needed,” Yaney said.
Beam. When Yaney got to her final event, she knew good scores in her previous three put her on the cusp of the title. “I just had to stay calm and focus and be confident that I could do it,” Yaney said. “I knew I was having good scores throughout the day, so it helped me stay calm.” Yaney delivered with a first-place finish, earning a score of 9.475. Stewart was second with a 9.400, and Scheid was third with a 9.350.
Vault.Yaney wasn’t the only Grand Ledge gymnast to leave with an individual title and redemption.
Teammate Lydia Beaton won the Division 2 competition with an all-around score of 36.650, finishing ahead of Coldwater’s Charlotte Calhoun, who had a 36.275.
Grace Spencer of Farmington United was third with a 35.825.
As was the case with Yaney in Division 1, Beaton was the runner-up last year in Division 2.
“I felt really confident,” Beaton said. “I woke up in the hotel room and I was like, ‘I’m going to win. I’m going to come in strong.’ I believed in myself.”
Beaton finished first in the vault (9.450) and the beam (9.575).
Yaney and Beaton’s titles helped Grand Ledge make up for what was a lower finish than usual at Friday’s team event, where the Comets finished in eighth place.
“I just knew they had a chance,” Grand Ledge head coach Duane Haring said. “All we talked about all day was to focus. If you focus, you could be there at the end. And they were there at the end. I’m so proud of them.”
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Ledge's Alaina Yaney competes on the uneven parallel bars; she finished third on that apparatus. (Middle) The top Division 1 individual finishers are recognized Saturday, including champion Alaina Yaney, far left, from Grand Ledge. (Below) Lydia Beaton competes on vault for the Comets, on the way to finishing first. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)