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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:

Harbor Springs players celebrate during Friday’s Division 4 championship win at DeMartin Stadium.

Harbor Springs Strikes Early, Shuts Down Shrine to Claim 1st Finals Title

By Brian Freiberger 
Special for MHSAA.com

June 12, 2026

EAST LANSING – Harbor Springs returned to an MHSAA girls soccer championship game Friday for the first time since finishing Division 4 runner-up in 2001.

The Rams departed with their first Finals title after a marvelous 2-0 win over Royal Oak Shrine Catholic at DeMartin Stadium.

"This is incredible and I'm proud of the team," Harbor Springs junior Stefi Reskevics said. "From the start of the season we knew that we had to do something great." 

Shrine got out on the front foot to start, but eventually, the Rams would find their rhythm after the 10-minute mark. 

Nearly halfway through the first half, Harbor Springs senior Sophie Barnadyn flipped the field and found a wide-open Reskevics for a couple of touches and a rocket from outside the box that passed the Knights goalkeeper.

Harbor Springs’ Meme Animikwam (13) and Shrine’s Samantha Donley make contact with the ball at the same time. The Rams had many chances throughout the first half, but most of those opportunities were turned away by Shrine junior defender Maddie Malkowski. 

Harbor Springs would go into the break with a sizeable control on the time of possession and shots on goal. 

"This puts Harbor Springs on the map, and this program has been very successful since 2001," Harbor Springs coach Aaron Riley said. "I'm glad that we won it for that team. The ladies appreciate the community support."

Both teams would go back and forth throughout the start of the second half. 

Shrine came out strong again, but the Rams turned away multiple chances. 

Both teams battled in the midfield until Reskevics was injured at midfield halfway through the period. 

Harbor Springs senior Lizzie Bassett received a free kick after the injury that turned into a breakaway and a penalty kick after the goalkeeper committed a foul inside of the box. 

Bassett managed to find the net with a low left-side shot to give the Rams a commanding 2-0 lead. 

"It's crazy that we made school history. This is the best team that we could have done it with. We worked really hard all season, and I'm just proud of everyone that we accomplished our goal," she said.

Shrine would have multiple opportunities throughout the rest of the game but couldn't find the back of the net thanks to great play from sophomore goalkeeper Lillian McShannock to complete the shutout.

Donley (9) battles the Rams’ Addison Zulski (14) for possession.  The goal for the Rams (20-1-2) was to slow down Shrine sophomore Julia Kraemer, who led the Knights in goals this season. Lilly Barnadyn and Makenna Brey led the defense.

The Knights ended their season with an 11-9-2 record.

"We played really well despite the score. We had a wide-open shot in the first five minutes and didn't put it away," Shrine coach Mark Soma said. "We did everything we wanted to do as a group, and as a team you can't complain about that. Sometimes you just lose games because the team gets one or two more opportunities than you do.

Harbor Springs did a good job and scored when they needed to. ... It just seemed it was one of those days where they weren't going in. ... We played a great game, and the girls should be proud." 

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PHOTOS (Top) Harbor Springs players celebrate during Friday’s Division 4 championship win at DeMartin Stadium. (Middle) Harbor Springs’ Meme Animikwam (13) and Shrine’s Samantha Donley make contact with the ball at the same time. (Below) ,Donley (9) battles the Rams’ Addison Zulski (14) for possession.