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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:

This is a photo of bowlers Sophia Best and Madison Martin wearing their tournament medals.

Churchill Pair Approaches Perfection, Aspires Toward Championship Contention

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

February 6, 2026

LIVONIA — Sophia Best said it was something she had never been a part of before. Madison Martin called it “mind-blowing.”

Greater DetroitDuring a doubles bowling tournament hosted by Livonia Clarenceville on Jan. 24 at Westland Bowl, Best and Madison, who are both seniors for Livonia Churchill, were certainly in the “zone.” 

In a Baker format, Best and Madison just kept striking, striking and striking as excitement built up for anyone witnessing their display. 

“It was really high energy,” Best said. “Just feeding off of each other. Once we started and going from strike to strike, it was feeding off of each other and it was really fun, obviously. It was something I’ve never done before. It was really exciting.”

Ultimately, the two ended up with a score of 299 in the first of two games. Best and Martin then produced a 255 in the second game to repeat as doubles champions at the tournament.

But the big show was obviously the 299.

“I thought I would be more nervous than I was,” Martin said. “Last year when we did this tournament, I was very nervous. I just kind of really locked in. I wasn’t as nervous. I just had to breathe and know what I had to do.”

For Churchill assistant coach Jason Proudlock, the performance wasn’t anything too surprising because it was simply par for the course from a tandem that’s done a lot for the program. 

Both are four-year varsity bowlers who last year helped guide Churchill to its first Regional title and Finals appearance in Division 1. 

This year, Churchill has two tournament wins and two second-place finishes as a team and is eyeing big things later this month; Regionals are scheduled across the state for Feb. 18-21, and Finals are Feb. 27-28.

“To me, that comes down to the leadership from Sophia and Madison helping the younger girls evaluate their games and make the right choices on the lane,” Proudlock said.

Best has qualified individually for the MHSAA Singles Finals each of her first three years in high school, and this year is leading the team with a 201 average. 

“To me, the growth is crazy how much we’ve grown,” Best said. “Even from the beginning of the season, it’s great to see all the growth we’ve had.” 

Martin has steadily improved since her freshman year and this year has really taken a leap, increasing her average by nearly 10 pins to 178, according to Proudlock. 

“This year, I’ve been focusing on keeping a good attitude no matter what happens and setting a routine for myself before I go bowl so I can keep everything the same,” Martin said. 

Even though they had good seasons their first three years of high school, Proudlock said the improvement this winter has been evident each time they have bowled. 

“Sophia, it’s her knowledge of the game and understanding her transitions,” Proudlock said. “She can read the lanes really well. Madison is more the mental side of it. She’s got more into the game learning from Sophia and taking my recommendations and applying them to her game.”

Of course, a big source of that improvement was the inspiration making the Finals last year provided heading into the summer. 

“In the summer, we each practiced a lot individually knowing we were going into this year with really good bowlers,” Martin said. “We wanted to take a lot of tournaments, get to states and go bigger than last year.”

Best has signed to bowl in college for William Penn University in Iowa, while Martin plans on bowling for the club team at Michigan State. 

Later this month, both hope to qualify for the Finals individually as a tandem, since Martin hasn’t quite been able to achieve that yet. Last year, she fell 40 pins short of qualifying. 

Even if that doesn’t happen, Churchill has a great shot to get back to the Finals as a team with senior tandem not many in the state can boast. 

“These two, you can’t replace them,” Proudlock said.  

Keith DunlapKeith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.

(Photo courtesy of the Livonia Churchill girls bowling program.)