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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:

Grass Lake's Emily Brown takes a powerful swing during her team's Semifinal win over Algonac.

Grass Lake, Clare Do Double Damage to Earn Spots on Championship Day

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

June 13, 2025

EAST LANSING — Hitting balls to the gaps has been the backbone of Grass Lake’s offense all season.

So it was fitting that was the case again during the first MHSAA Division 3 Semifinal on Friday. 

The Warriors hit a pair of gap shots that ended up producing three runs in a 4-2 triumph over Algonac in a matchup of teams both looking to make their first championship game appearance.

Grass Lake entered the game with 93 doubles on the season, tied for 23rd most in state history. 

“They are so comfortable taking those short, compact swings and finding the gaps,” Grass Lake head coach Roger Cook said of his players. “I think that has helped us a lot with the doubles.”

The first big hit to the gap came in the third inning courtesy of senior Nadene Hubbard, who laced a 2-run double to right-center that drove in two runs and made it 2-1 Grass Lake. 

The Warriors took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Bree Salts, and then with a runner on first and two outs in the sixth, junior Leilah Smith hit a line drive to the gap in right-center that ended up scoring senior Emily Brown from first base. 

Grass Lake (40-4) also got a good pitching performance from junior Morgan Conrad, who allowed single runs in the first and seventh innings, but nothing in between. Conrad struck out 11, walked two and allowed four hits, saying her curve ball and rise ball were on point. 

“Just keeping (their lineup) off-balance, trying to go out and then try and bring it back up,” she said. 

Things did get a little uncomfortable for Conrad and Grass Lake in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

The Muskrats (24-15-1) made things interesting by scoring a run on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 game, then putting runners on first and second base with one out.

But Conrad got out of the jam with a strikeout and a popup to end it. 

“I just kept taking deep breaths and telling myself, ‘Have fun. It’s OK,’” Conrad said. “I just knew my team had my back and would get the outs. I was just trying to stay confident.”

Algonac took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by junior Ava Murray. The Muskrats couldn’t get anything going after that until the seventh inning when they nearly pulled off a rally.

“I feel like that’s kind of how our season has been going,” Algonac head coach Natalie Heim said. “We’ve been coming from behind, and we had the top of our lineup coming up. At the end of the day, somebody had to lose. Unfortunately it was us.”

Grass Lake finished with 10 hits.

Click for the full box score.

Clare 2, Ravenna 1

Clare senior Morgan Campbell and head coach Shane Kelly disagree on whether Campbell was in a slump entering their team’s Semifinal against Ravenna. 

But what can be agreed upon is that Campbell might have delivered the biggest hit in school history for Clare. 

With two outs and a runner on first base following an error in the bottom of the sixth inning, Campbell blasted a double to left field to drive in what turned out to be the game-winning run. 

Ranked No. 1 going into the MHSAA Tournament, Clare (39-2) advanced to its first championship game. 

Clare's Kyley Wyman (2) drives a pitch Friday.“I’ve been going through a slump, and that was my time to come out of it,” Campbell said. 

Kelly feels a bit differently about Campbell’s “slump.”

“Morgan has never been in a slump,” he said. “She’s been hitting the ball hard, doing all the right things in practice and listening to the coaches. When she got up there, I said, ‘Morgan, she’s going to throw you a strike on that first pitch. Don’t miss it.’ She didn’t miss it.”

Campbell’s hit was the difference in a nice pitchers’ duel between Clare junior Kyley Wyman and Ravenna sophomore Natalie Rosel.

Wyman threw a three-hitter, striking out 11 and walking one. Rosel allowed just four hits, striking out four and walking one. 

No. 4 Ravenna broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when junior Riley Homoly walked with the bases loaded. But Wyman kept the score at 1-0 by getting out of the inning via a popout and a strikeout. 

In the fifth, Clare tied the game at 1-1 on a 2-out single to right by senior Alissa Brandon. That ended up setting the stage for Campbell’s heroics in the sixth. 

Wyman pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to secure the victory. 

Ravenna finished 34-5, but has a bright future with just two seniors on the roster. 

“I feel good about this team,” Ravenna head coach Dave Sherman said. “Yeah, we lost this game. But they battled all season long and it was a great season. There are great kids on this team, and I love them all. We’ll be back.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Grass Lake's Emily Brown takes a powerful swing during her team's Semifinal win over Algonac. (Middle) Clare's Kyley Wyman (2) drives a pitch Friday.