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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:

Fowler’s Elizabeth Hufnagel drives toward the lane during her team’s Division 4 Final win over Ewen-Trout Creek on Saturday.

Fowler Takes Final Steps to 'Finish' Best in Division 4 for 3rd Time in 5 Seasons

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 22, 2025

EAST LANSING – Fowler’s Katie Spicer recalled all season the disappointment of losing in the Division 4 Semifinals to finish the past two.

She didn’t want to relive that emotion to close her final year in an Eagles uniform.

Spicer and her teammates ended their season on top again after downing Ewen-Trout Creek 53-29 Saturday morning in the Division 4 Final at the Breslin Center.

It was the third Division 4 title over the last five years for Fowler (27-2).

“That feeling of getting so close and not being able to finish, it hurts a lot,” said Spicer, who led Fowler with 17 points on 5 of 9 shooting.

The Eagles’ Neelah O’Rourke (12) gets up a shot from the post.“Obviously it felt great that we made it here, but it hurt falling short. So we used that a lot as motivation throughout the whole year. It helped a lot.”  

It was another dominating performance for the Eagles, who won every MHSAA Tournament game by more than 21 points.

“These seniors have been locked in,” Fowler head coach Nathan Goerge said. “We talked about some preseason goals, and I had open communication about what we wanted. And the message all season has been ‘Finish’ because we knew where we got last year, and the girls didn’t like that feeling of losing in the Semis.

“Every time they broke a huddle, every time they left a locker room, it was always ‘finish’ and I'm just so happy that they were able to do that this year.”

Fowler forced eight turnovers during the first quarter, but led only 14-8 as Ewen-Trout Creek junior guard Emma Besonen scored all of her team’s points, including burying two deep 3-pointers.

Fowler went ahead by double digits (19-8) in the second quarter when Spicer lofted a perfect pass down court to Neelah O’Rourke for a lay-in.

A driving lay-up by freshman Bree Besonen during the waning seconds of the first half closed the gap to 23-16. The Besonen sisters combined to score 14 of the Panthers’ first-half points.

Fowler scored the first six points of the third quarter to push the lead to 29-16. Paige Thelen’s offensive rebound and put-back during the closing seconds gave the Eagles a commanding 42-19 advantage as they outscored E-TC 19-3 during the period.  

“Very proud of the girls, especially in the second half,” Goerge said. “We had some defensive lapses in the first half, and to their credit they had some good looks and made some shots.

“The girls really picked it up and played our style of Fowler girls basketball, and I thought that was the difference in the second half. We played with so much more energy and did a fantastic job.”

Senior Elizabeth Hufnagel added 10 points, five rebounds and three steals for Fowler, while Brooke Weber also had 10 points.

E-TC’s Bree Besonen (20) works to get to the basket with Fowler’s Selena Stump defending.“Coming back here and winning it my senior year is a great feeling,” Weber said. “I think our ability to run and stay focused and locked in really helped us. This is amazing.”

The Panthers (27-2) played in their first championship game since the Class D Final in 1985 and had no seniors on their roster. 

“They have a place in history at our school, and I’m super proud of them,” Ewen-Trout Creek head coach Jacky Besonen said. “Fowler is very balanced, they are very physical and strong and their defense caused some problems for us tonight.

“I was crying during the ceremony, but they were not tears of sadness. They were tears of joy that I’ve been holding in for days because I’m just so happy that they got to experience this being here at the state championships. I told them many times that you are living a dream that a lot of little girls hope to get to.”

Emma Besonen led the Panthers with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, while Bree Besonen had nine points and Irelynd McGeshick finished with seven points and 11 rebounds. 

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Fowler’s Elizabeth Hufnagel drives toward the lane during her team’s Division 4 Final win over Ewen-Trout Creek on Saturday. (Middle) The Eagles’ Neelah O’Rourke (12) gets up a shot from the post. (Below) E-TC’s Bree Besonen (20) works to get to the basket with Fowler’s Selena Stump defending. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)