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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:

Standish-Sterling's boys bowling team poses with its championship trophy.

Standish-Sterling Proves Again that 'Everyone Loves a Comeback Story'

By Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com

February 28, 2025

JACKSON — A match for the ages deserved a finish like the one witnessed by bowling fans at JAX 60 on Friday.

And the Standish-Sterling and Croswell-Lexington high school bowling teams delivered.

Needing a mark in the 10th frame of the deciding fifth game of the Finals championship, Standish-Sterling senior Zach Bell stared down the 4-pin and toppled it, sending his team and its fans into a frenzy that only happens during a come-from-behind Finals victory. It was also the school’s first Finals trophy in bowling.

Bell’s mark completed a comeback in the game and the match as Standish-Sterling won the first 197-174, lost the next two 220-198 and 246-213, and won the final two 191-138 and 175-168 in the best-of-five match.

“It’s huge. I knew we could do it all year; it’s just a matter of getting it done,” said coach Shayne Leamon, in his 15th season at Standish-Sterling.

Getting it done has been an issue for Bell in the past, but not Friday. Bell, whose nickname since he was 2 is Zoomer — known to the point it’s stitched on the back of his jersey instead of Zach — had no open frames during the final match.

“It’s great being out here. I was nervous especially coming down to the wire and the 10th frame,” he said. “You can’t get enough of the show. All the spectators loved it, everyone loves a comeback story. We were down 2-1, and we came back and won it all. It’s great. This team’s amazing.”

Bell might have fellow senior Kyler Cook to thank. Cook, an individual Finals qualifier all four years as a Panther, threw nine of 10 strikes during the five-game championship.

Bell, Cook and Quinten Leamon represent the team’s triumvirate of seniors and the heart of the program. They were freshmen in 2022 the last time the Panthers made the Finals when they lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Gladwin. Quinten’s brother, Donovan, was a senior on that team.

“It’s nothing like I’ve ever felt before,” Cook said. “We came close my freshman year, and this year we were able to get the job done.”

The Panthers qualified fifth out the 16 with a total of 3,260 for the eight Baker games and two team games. They went the distance in a five-game quarterfinal victory over last year’s runner-up Milan.

Standish-Sterling lost the first game in the semifinal against top seed Blissfield before storming back to take the next three and set up the championship.

Croswell-Lexington earned the third seed at 3,339 and had a relatively stress-free route to the final. The Pioneers lost only one game in sidelining Gladwin and Midland Bullock Creek to reach the championship.

They gave the Panthers all they wanted in the first three games, especially the third when they had eight strikes including a five-bagger and appeared in firm control of the match. After an open-filled fourth game, the Pioneers responded by taking a 20-pin lead in the sixth frame of the fifth game.

Anchor bowler Joshua Gunderson, a sophomore who was unflappable throughout the day, struck on his first shot of the 10th then left the 4-6-7-10 split.

“I couldn’t be any more proud of these guys,” said Colton Burns, one of three coaches on the Pioneers staff. “Very, very young team, so very proud. We’re not losing anyone this year, so we’ll be back hopefully. Just gotta keep their spirits up.”

Gunderson, who shot 1,489 to win his individual Regional last week, will be joined in the individual Finals on Saturday by teammates Carter Ramage, a junior, and Brady Burns, a sophomore.

Blissfield was the qualifying leader by 141 pins over Muskegon Oakridge and swept Wyoming Kelloggsville before losing to Standish-Sterling. Oakridge fell to Bullock Creek 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

Click for full scores.