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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:

Crystal Falls Forest Park's Vic Giuliani makes a move to get around Marquette's Halen McCollum and take a shot during a loss to the Sentinels on Feb. 17 at Northern Michigan University.

Forest Park Working to Make Most of Every Second in Drive to Return Downstate

By John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com

March 3, 2026

CRYSTAL FALLS — The Crystal Falls Forest Park boys basketball team appears to be on a mission as it progresses through the postseason.

Upper PeninsulaForest Park is fresh from earning its third-consecutive Division 4 District basketball title with a 73-38 defeat of Norway on Friday in Crystal Falls.

The Trojans (19-4) resume at 5 p.m. (CST) tonight when they face Felch North Dickinson in a Regional Semifinal at Kingsford.

“(North Dickinson has) a real good team,” Forest Park coach Jason Price said. “Nothing’s easy in the tournaments.”

The teams split during the regular season with North Dickinson taking a 57-55 decision at Crystal Falls on Jan. 20 and the Trojans rolling past the Nordics 77-39 on at North Dickinson on Feb. 2.

Junior Vic Guiliani, an all-state selection last winter who missed his junior football season due to a torn meniscus, returned to the Trojans’ basketball lineup shortly after the holidays.

Trojans coach Jason Price talks to his team between the third and fourth quarters against Marquette. “It feels real good to be back,” he said. “It took a lot of work to get back. It took a couple games to get back into the flow.

It also feels good to get three (District titles) in a row. We feel very lucky. Not every team can do that.”

The Trojans opened their postseason journey with an 80-38 triumph at Powers North Central last Wednesday, scoring four players in double digits in each District game.

A year ago, they reached the Division 4 Semifinals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, where they fell to eventual champion Wyoming Tri-unity Christian 67-46.

In 2024, Forest Park bowed to St. Ignace 68-51 in a Quarterfinal contest at Gladstone.

This year’s Trojans, with no seniors in the lineup, was led by junior Dax Huuki’s 23 points in Friday’s District Final.

They are wearing T-shirts which have “1920” printed below their team logo.

“That’s on there because that’s the number of seconds there are in a basketball game,” Huuki said. “That’s the type of effort we need all the time.

“This feels good. We worked hard for this all season. Coach told us to settle down and play our game.”

Forest Park turned the ball over just five times in Wednesday’s District opener and committed 10 turnovers in Friday’s championship contest. The Trojans know they’ll need to continue taking care of the ball tonight.

Forest Park's Dax Huuki goes up for two against Marquette's Carter Fierstine at the Vandament Arena. “They have three big guys,” Guiliani said. “They played in the state football finals last fall. They have some real good athletes. We’re playing unselfish basketball. I think we’re the most dangerous when we’re in a fast-paced game and hitting shots. We can also slow it down.”

Norway attempted to slow the pace early in Friday’s contest. The Trojans, however, led 36-20 at halftime and picked it up even more in the second half.

Huuki also has plenty of respect for the Nordics.

“They work as hard in the summer as we do,” he said. “The first game with them was hard. We just tried to learn from that. We have to play the way we know we can. We grew up together and know each other and how we play. Communication is so important.”

Tonight’s winner advances to Thursday’s Regional Final at Negaunee to face the winner of today’s Wakefield-Marenisco/Dollar Bay contest.

“These juniors have played together their whole lives,” Price said. “These are hard-working kids. They put the time in during the offseason. We settled in and played very unselfish again (Friday). We’re defending very well.”

John VrancicJohn Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

PHOTOS (Top) Crystal Falls Forest Park's Vic Giuliani makes a move to get around Marquette's Halen McCollum and take a shot during a loss to the Sentinels on Feb. 17 at Northern Michigan University. (Middle) Trojans coach Jason Price talks to his team between the third and fourth quarters against Marquette. (Below) Forest Park's Dax Huuki goes up for two against Marquette's Carter Fierstine at the Vandament Arena. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)