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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:

Spring Lake's Megan Guczwa sprints the final leg of the 1,600 relay Saturday at Hamilton.

Spring Lake Girls Win Meet's Final Race to Clinch 1st Finals Championship

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

May 30, 2026

HAMILTON — It’s not unusual for a track & field state championship meet to come down to the final event.

What was unusual Saturday was the number of teams that still had a chance to win going into the last event of this year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Girls Finals. 

Going into the 1,600 relay – the meet’s final event – the top four teams were separated by just three points, making for quite a dramatic finish. 

Leading by one point heading into the event, Spring Lake held on to the top spot, winning the 1,600 relay to clinch the team title with 42 points total. 

The Spring Lake team of Cora Parker, Macy Subka, Kaleigh Clark and Meghan Guczwa won in an LPD2 Finals-record time of 3:55.25, breaking the old record of 3:56.07 set in 2000 by Battle Creek Lakeview.  

Holland Christian was runner-up with 35 points, while Ludington was third with 31. 

“I was a ball of anxiety up in the stands,” Spring Lake head coach Marina Samp said. “But it was great seeing them go out, get the early lead, hold on, never let go, hammer it home and get the record on top of it.”

It was Spring Lake’s first Finals title in girls track.

“We knew this was possible,” Samp said. “We were just like, ‘Can we make it to the end? Can we put together the perfect season? This is what we were going for.” 

Both Dearborn Divine Child junior Aubrey Wilson and Ludington freshman Eliza Schwass made runs at winning three individual titles before settling with a pair apiece. 

However, “settling” for two individual titles was still obviously thrilling for both. 

The 2025 champion in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, Wilson repeated in both, winning the 100 in a personal-best time of 11.50 and the 200 in 24.10. 

Dearborn Divine Child's Aubrey Wilson pushes through the finish of a sprint championship.Wilson also was going for the title in the 400 dash, but didn’t quite have the energy in that race, finishing eighth. Haslett’s Chrstina Dixon finished first in 55.69 seconds.

However, after that result, Wilson quickly regrouped for the 200 and left no doubt in that sprint. 

“I just kept walking and kept in focus,” Wilson said of bouncing back for the 200. “Even though I performed bad in one race, I didn’t bring it to my other one. I’m happy about that.” 

Wilson said she might try to run the 400 and go for three individual titles again at next year’s Finals meet.

“It’s a lot of hard work and dedication, but hopefully next year I’ll perform better,” she said. 

Schwass was attempting to win the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and looked to be on track for that quest after winning the 1,600 in 4:53.12 and the 800 in a meet-record time of 2:08.62, topping the previous record of 2:09.92 set by Layla Jordan of Goodrich in 2024.

But as was the case with Wilson in the 400, Schwass just didn’t quite have enough left in the tank, although she still finished second in the 3,200 in a time of 10:43.09. Pinckney junior Jaelyn Ray won in 10:36.99.

Schwass said she determined earlier this year that she could go for the win in all three events, and nearly pulled it off in her first high school championship meet. 

“I wasn’t too nervous,” she said. “I just kind of focused on my training and telling myself I was ready for this.”

The other multi-event winner Saturday was Subka, a junior who swept the two hurdles races after finishing third in the 300 and not placing in the 100 last year.

Subka said the big difference was a new indoor athletic center that the school opened during the winter, which took her training to a whole new level.

“I’ve been able to be there all winter,” she said. “I also play soccer in the spring. A lot of technical work, and soccer I get a lot of conditioning from.”

The field events saw a pair of repeat champions in Stevensville Lakeshore’s Leigha Whitman in the long jump and Wayland’s Evie Mathis in the pole vault.

Also claiming championships Saturday were Grand Rapids Christian in the 400 relay, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the 800 relay and Holland Christian in the 3,200 relay, Freeland’s Payton Maxey in the shot put, North Branch’s Aubree Deshetsky in the discus and Hastings’ Bella Friddle in the high jump. Sturgis' Vivian Massey won the adaptive shot put.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Spring Lake's Megan Guczwa sprints the final leg of the 1,600 relay Saturday at Hamilton. (Middle) Dearborn Divine Child's Aubrey Wilson pushes through the finish of a sprint championship. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)