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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:

Ewen-Trout Creek’s Emma Besonen (22) directs the offense while Concord’s Cieara Barrett (12) defends Thursday at Breslin Center.

Ewen-Trout Creek Right on Time in Advancing to 1st Final Since 1985

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

March 20, 2025

EAST LANSING — Conventional wisdom might say having a roster with no seniors, four freshman and two eighth graders indicates a team is years away from state title contention.

But Ewen-Trout Creek head coach Jacky Besonen didn’t need to abide by that conventional wisdom at the beginning of this season, and Thursday’s Division 4 Semifinal against Concord showed why.

For the first time in 40 years, Ewen-Trout Creek will play for an MHSAA Finals championship in girls basketball following a 34-24 win over Concord.

Advancing to their first championship game since the Class D Final in 1985, the Panthers will go for their first title since winning the inaugural Class D crown in 1973.

Not bad at all for such a young roster that seems to be way ahead of schedule. 

“Last year we lost in the Regional Final to (eventual Division 4 champion) Ishpeming,” Besonen said. “We knew we could get to this point. As the year went on, the girls did a really good job of staying focused every game. We didn’t talk about it, but we knew it was a possibility to get to this point.”

Coming off a 47-37 win over St. Ignace in the Quarterfinals, Ewen-Trout Creek was able to draw some inspiration from the boys team that made it to the Division 4 Final in 2022. 

The Panthers’ Bree Besonen, right, walls off Bradie Lehman.“When our boys team went in 2022, I think that helped us a lot to be familiar with the atmosphere,” junior Emma Besonen said. “Seeing that they could do it like it was normal, we figured we could do it to.”

The Panthers survived a close, defensive grind of a game until pulling away late. A layup by junior Hannah Ferguson gave them a 27-24 lead with 5:18 remaining, and then a basket by freshman McKayla Basel with 1:24 left gave Ewen-Trout Creek a 30-24 lead.

A couple of defensive stops and four free throws by freshman Bree Besonen over the final minute wrapped it up for the Panthers. 

Besonen scored 15 points, junior center Irelynd McGeshick had eight and 15 rebounds, and Basel added eight points for Ewen-Trout Creek (27-1). 

Each team went 1 of 8 from 3-point range. The difference was that Ewen-Trout Creek got to the foul line more regularly. The Panthers made 9 of 13 free-throw attempts, while Concord connected on 1 of 5. 

“That was definitely a grind,” Jacky Besonen said. “Concord was really tough to score against and tough to stop. We were able to grind it out at the end and take care of the ball enough to get some points.”

Junior Cieara Barrett scored nine points to lead the way for Concord (22-5), which like Ewen-Trout Creek is also a young team.

The Yellowjackets will graduate just two players – Lauren Trader and Grace Thorrez. The roster featured four freshmen and four sophomores.

“I told the girls before the game that no matter what the result is, as long as they play hard and leave everything out there, then I’m proud of them,” Concord head coach ArShawn Parker said. “That’s what they did tonight. They left everything out there and played extremely hard. That’s all I can ask.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Ewen-Trout Creek’s Emma Besonen (22) directs the offense while Concord’s Cieara Barrett (12) defends Thursday at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Panthers’ Bree Besonen, right, walls off Bradie Lehman.