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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:

Hanover-Horton raises its championship trophy Saturday at McGuirk Arena.

Hanover-Horton Caps Rapid Rise with Season-Best Score to Clinch 1st Title

By Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com

February 28, 2025

MOUNT PLEASANT – Alexyn DuBois started preparing to be a competitive cheer state champion before she was born.

“My mom has been a coach for 25 years, so in the womb I was literally cheering,” said DuBois, a senior all-stater for Hanover-Horton.

“It’s been a part of my whole life, so to go out as a state champion, with my mom as my coach, is a dream come true.”

The DuBois mother-daughter combination was a key part of a truly amazing turnaround story, as Hanover-Horton – which never made it to the Competitive Cheer Finals before last season (when it finished sixth) – broke through with a decisive victory in the Division 4 Final on Friday at Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena.

Hanover-Horton, which finished second behind Pewamo-Westphalia at their Regional, flipped the script, taking the lead after Round 1 and continuing to build the lead over the next two rounds.

The Comets posted a season-best score of 772.68 – 4.28 points better than their previous-best score – to hold off P-W (765.62).

Sanford Meridian (757.96) took third, and Hudson (752.66) placed fourth – ending the Tigers’ streak of five consecutive D4 titles.

“We needed to set the tone early, and we did that,” said Hanover-Horton coach Sarah DuBois, who is in her fourth year as the Comets’ coach after a successful 21-year run at nearby Vandercook Lake. “Starting strong gave our girls the feeling that this could be our day.”

Hanover-Horton, which had eight seniors on its 21-athlete roster, held a one-tenth of a point lead over P-W after Round 1, but Coach DuBois said it was the team’s emphasis all last week on Round 2 which proved to be the difference.

Pewamo-Westphalia competes during the Division 4 Final.  The Comets extended the lead to more than five full points with a powerhouse Round 2 performance.

“Round 2 was what cost us last week at Regionals, so we had to pull that up,” said DuBois, who brought in some of her former athletes from her days at Vandercook Lake last week to work with the team. “We really fine-tuned Round 2, and that was huge.”

Alexyn DuBois, also a standout pitcher on the Comets’ softball team who has committed to pitch at Spring Arbor next year, is the team’s leader and only returning first-team all-stater. Senior Maddy Sauber was second-team all-state, and senior Reyna Collins was honorable mention in 2024.

DuBois was a team captain, along with fellow seniors Delainey Cottrell and Sophie Schuette.

The seniors really helped the Comets elevate their game to a championship level this winter. After posting a top score of 739.86 last year, they finished this season topping 760 points in all of their final four competitions, including going over the 770 plateau on Friday.

“We knew we had to come out today and breathe fire,” explained Cottrell. “That’s what our team motto was. That’s what we needed to do to beat all of these other good teams.”

Other seniors for Hanover-Horton were Lexi VanGelder, Trinity Jones and Madison Gillett.

Pewamo-Westphalia, which came in as the favorite after a dominating victory at Regionals, couldn’t produce the same magic at CMU.

The Pirates placed second for the fourth time over the past six years, since their last title won in 2019.

“The girls are disappointed, but they put in three amazing rounds, so I’m not disappointed at all,” said P-W coach Staci Myers.

The other storyline coming into Friday was Hudson’s attempt to tie a state record with six consecutive Finals titles. The Tigers couldn’t overcome a slow start, ensuring Gibraltar Carlson’s place atop the MHSAA record book with six consecutive titles won from 2011 to 2016.

On this day, in a sport which is traditionally dominated by powerhouse programs, it was time for Cascades Conference champion Hanover-Horton to rule the state as well and join that elite group.

“Taking second at Regionals was a driving force for us to get better,” explained Alexyn DuBois. “During our cheer, we say ‘etched in stone.’ Today it was our turn to etch our school’s name in stone.”

Click for full scoring.

PHOTOS (Top) Hanover-Horton raises its championship trophy Saturday at McGuirk Arena. (Middle) Pewamo-Westphalia competes during the Division 4 Final.