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High 5s: 11/14/12

November 19, 2012

All three of this week's honorees have achieved some sort of first-time stardom this fall, either individually or as a team. And both Carli Snyder and Alex Grace will be back next fall to continue building on these accomplishments. 

Carli Snyder
Macomb Dakota junior
Volleyball

(UPDATED 11/19) Snyder, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter, was an all-stater her first two seasons of high school. But she will be remembered even more for leading Macomb Dakota this fall to its first MHSAA championship in any girls sport. The Cougars defeated Temperance Bedford in three games in Saturday's Class A Final at Kellogg Arena. Snyder unofficially finished this season with 913 kills, good for seventh in the MHSAA record book since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. Her 31 kills against Bedford were third-most for a Final during that time. Snyder already has committed to sign with the University of Florida next year. She likely will be among frontrunners for next fall's Miss Volleyball award. 

Title talk: "We wanted this thing so bad. Every girl on this team wanted it so badly. Megan (Manierski) was setting the ball perfectly. She made it very easy to get kills. ... Just talking about this moment, this gym, it makes you just want to play harder than you ever have."

Winning recipe: "We've been a competitive team in practice and in games all year, so I think that helped us at that moment (in three close Finals games) when we just didn't want to lose. We refused to lose. ... We support each other no matter what. And we hustled so hard."

Shake it up: "We have some secret handshakes with other people, but mine are very complex. I don't know how we went about that. Megan and mine is from "Parent Trap," and then Megan Downey and mine, we just made it up at team dinner. We make it a bit more complex than it needs to be, but it's fun. And it's a great thing to calm us down for a game when we've played a bad one before."

Had to be a Gator: "I like warm weather. I love the coaches. I actually called Florida for my recruiting phone call because I was kinda bored one day at home and I was like, 'I got a letter from them.' I fell in love with the coaching staff, and I told my mom that I needed to go on a visit down there. It's incredible, and when I went down there I was even more in love. Even on the phone, I knew this is where I would end up. It's just that feeling. You know when you get that feeling, and it's incredible."

Click to read more.

Alex Grace
Saginaw Swan Valley sophomore
Football

The Vikings' leading rusher is also one of the leading rushers in the state this season heading into Saturday's Division 4 Semifinal against Detroit Country Day. Grace has gained 2,091 yards plus run for 27 touchdowns, and needs only 109 yards and three more scores to make the MHSAA record book in both categories. He ran for 182 yards and three scores in the Vikings' Regional Final win over Croswell-Lexington. Grace took over as Swan Valley's running back this season after the graduation of his brother Johnathan, who rushed for 1,790 yards last season and now plays at Michigan Tech. Both brothers ran on Swan Valley's 400-meter relay that finished runner-up at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track and Field Final in the spring. Alex is 6-0 and 185 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds.

I'd like to run like: "Even my brother. I like to look at myself as close to him. Professionally, (Minnesota Vikings back) Adrian Peterson. He's a tough runner, fast. He's strong."

Underdogs again: "The last game against Croswell, they were the No. 2 team and we were predicted to lose. But we came back and beat them. I use that underdog feeling to work harder each day."

Best brotherly advice: "Work hard, and if there are doubters, don't let them get you down."

Science and math: (My favorite classes are) biology and economics. They just come easy to me. I enjoy it."

Click to read more. 

Flint Beecher football

The Buccaneers, coached by former Michigan State and NFL standout Courtney Hawkins, were one of the final teams selected for the playoffs, at 5-4 after a 3-4 start. But Beecher advanced to this week's Division 7 Semifinal against Detroit Loyola by eliminating reigning champion Saginaw Nouvel, 19-15, in last week's Regional championship game. Beecher, now 8-4, has made the playoffs six straight years. The first of that run came in Hawkins' second as coach and after 12 straight losing seasons. 

Click to read more. 

Previous 2012-13 honorees:

News 2023

Michigan's Ranking for High School Sports Participation Continues to Outpace Population

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

September 4, 2026

Michigan enjoyed the sixth-highest boys participation in high school sports nationally in 2025-26, moving up one spot in that ranking, and maintained its girls and overall rankings of eighth as well – continuing to outpace where it ranks nationally for population of school-aged children according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Michigan’s overall participation ranking was based on a total of 295,634 participants, data collected as part of the annual national participation study conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) – of which the Michigan High School Athletic Association is a member. That total number of participants counts students once for each sport played, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.

A total of 171,573 boys participants moved Michigan up to sixth nationally on that list, after ranking seventh the past two school years and ninth in 2022-23. The girls total of 124,061 participants ranked eighth for the third-straight school year after Michigan was listed ninth for girls participation also in 2022-23.

Meanwhile, Michigan continued to rank 10th for both high school-aged boys and girls populations – and all high school-aged children combined – according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Three sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments moved up on their respective national lists. Michigan counted the fifth-most boys basketball players, the state’s highest ranking in that sport since 2012-13 and two spots ahead of 2024-25. Girls competitive cheer also moved up two spots to ninth nationally, and boys wrestling moved up one spot on its list to seventh.

Participation in several more MHSAA sports continued to outpace the state’s ranking for high school-aged population.

For girls, bowling (third), tennis (third), golf (fourth), cross country (sixth), track & field (sixth), volleyball (sixth), basketball (seventh), softball (eighth), swimming & diving (eighth), and soccer (ninth) joined cheer in ranking higher than their population listing of 10th nationally. Among boys sports, bowling (second), ice hockey (fourth), golf (fifth), track & field (fifth), tennis (sixth), football (all contact formats combined – sixth), cross country (seventh), swimming & diving (eighth), baseball (ninth) and lacrosse (ninth) joined basketball and wrestling in exceeding the boys ranking of 10th for population. Boys soccer participation placed 10th on its national list.

Only 12 states sponsor alpine skiing, but Michigan again ranked third on both the girls and boys lists for that sport.

Nationally, participation in high school sports increased for the fifth consecutive year and set another record, with the total of 8,415,684 participants an increase of 1.8 percent from 2024-25. The total included 4,761,095 boys and 3,654,589 girls – both record highs as well – according to figures obtained from the 51 NFHS member state associations, which include Washington, D.C.

Eleven-player football remained the most popular boys (and overall) sport, totaling 1,043,716 athletes. Next on the boys list were outdoor track & field, basketball, soccer, baseball, wrestling, cross country, golf, tennis, and swimming & diving, respectively, repeating the same top 10 as in 2024-25.

For girls, the top nine sports remained the same from the previous year – outdoor track & field, volleyball and soccer, in that order, followed by basketball, softball, competitive spirit, tennis, cross country and swimming & diving, respectively. Flag football moved ahead of lacrosse into the 10th spot this past school year.

Texas (911,405) and California (859,022) remained atop the list for overall state participation. Ohio (347,994) ranked third, followed by Illinois (326,756), Pennsylvania (315,647), New York (312,563), Florida (311,233), Michigan (295,634), New Jersey (273,711) and Minnesota (241,536).

The NFHS participation survey was started in 1971 and compiled in its current form through the 2018-19 school year, resuming annually with the 2021-22 survey.

The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS writes playing rules for 18 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and Washington, D.C., the NFHS reaches more than 19,800 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including more than 8.4 million in high school sports.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.