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High 5s: 11/7/12

November 7, 2012

This past Saturday saw eight teams and eight individuals crowned MHSAA champions, and this week we feature a few who will be listed among the best for all time. 

Erin Finn
West Bloomfield senior
Cross country

Finn won her second straight MHSAA individual Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship, this time in 17:07.9. Her finish was the fastest from any of the four divisions that raced Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, and gave her the victory in hers by 27 seconds. Finn’s time was the fourth-best ever at an MHSAA Final. She has three of the top 15 times ever run at MIS, more than any other runner.

On track for more: Finn also won an MHSAA Track and Field championship last season, setting an all-division/class record in the 1,600 with a time of 10:17.86. That time was nearly five seconds better than the previous best.

Maize and Blue: Finn will run next season at the University of Michigan. The Wolverines cross country team is ranked No. 7 nationally heading into Friday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional. 

Scientifically speaking: Finn intends to study biomechanical engineering at U-M. "My junior year, I found out I love physics, and I already knew I loved bio and chemistry. So, what's better than to combine those?"

Runners to chase: “I looked up to Megan Goethals (of Rochester), number one, and Shannon Osika (of Waterford Mott). They’re people I competed with. I know that one day I can be like that. It’s more real to me.”

Click to read more.

Nick Raymond
Erie Mason senior
Cross country

After dashing to the lead last season and finishing fourth, Nick Raymond dominated the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final at MIS with a time of 15:05.1 – the second-fastest time for a Division 3/Class C MHSAA Final to only Maverick Darling's 14:52.8 for Ovid-Elsie in 2007. Raymond is the first individual cross country champion from Erie Mason (not counting another who finished first among individuals before team and individual placers were combined for one race beginning in 1997) and also placed in both the 1,600 and 3,200 at the spring's Lower Peninsula Division 3 Track and Field Final. 

A long drive: "I've been working hard, since the first time (I ran) in sixth grade. Working hard and training hard over the summer and during mandatory practices too." 

Brotherly influence: Raymond began running cross country in the footsteps of his older brother Andrew Raymond, a 2010 graduate. "He told me, 'If you just keep working hard, just look forward at your dream, your goal, you will achieve it.'"

Now the pool, then the track: Raymond swims during the winter, specializing in butterfly and breaststroke. Then it's on to track. Raymond finished fourth in the 1,600 (4:21.84) and seventh in the 3,200 (9:44.91) at last season's Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final. 

Looking up to Pre: Like many in the running community, Raymond considers former Oregon and international star Steve Prefontaine a major influence. "I liked how he had a lot of faith in himself."

Click to read more. 

East Kentwood soccer

The top-ranked Falcons edged Grand Blanc 1-0 at Troy Athens to claim their fourth Division 1 championship in six seasons. They finished 22-1-4, their seventh with at least 20 wins in the last eight years. 

Click to read more. 

Previous 2012-13 honorees:

Houghton players celebrate at the end of the Division 3 Final at USA Hockey Arena.

Houghton Never Stops Believing, Rallies Late to Claim 1st Finals Title Since 1982

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

March 7, 2026

PLYMOUTH — When entering the town of Houghton in recent years, there is one sign that seems to stick out more than others – at least to the Houghton High School hockey program. 

“When you came into town, it said for years and years ‘State champs 1982,’” Houghton head coach Micah Stipech said, referring to the year Houghton last won an MHSAA Finals championship in ice hockey. “Now we can put a new one up.”

Indeed, as the Gremlins can finally once again call themselves Finals champions following a 5-2 triumph over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Saturday’s Division 3 championship game at USA Hockey Arena.

It’s difficult to fathom that one of the state’s premier programs had gone 44 years without a title, with its last championship the Class B-C-D crown in 1982. 

Getting to the Final in recent years certainly wasn’t a problem for Houghton (25-6-1), as it was a runner-up in 2012, 2015 and 2019. 

There just always was a downstate powerhouse it couldn’t overcome. But that wasn’t the case this time, thanks in large part to senior forward Jack Sayen.

Entering the game with 15 goals on the season, Sayen accounted for more than 25 percent of that total in the championship game, scoring four times for the Gremlins. 

“I guess I was kind of in the right spot at the right time for some of them,” Sayen said. “I don’t care that I scored. I’m just happy our team won.”

Stipech said it was a slow start to the season, with his team breaking in a huge influx of underclassmen and losing six out of its first 10 games.

The Gremlins’ Noah Maillette (13) moves toward a loose puck in front of the St. Mary’s net and goalie Thomas Reeber. “We were supposed to be down,” Stipech said. “We had 10 underclassmen. It wasn’t going to be our year. We only won four out of our first 10. We’re on a three-game skid and this group right here are like ‘We got this. We just need some time, and we’re going to be all right. They still believed.”

That self-belief really came to the forefront after St. Mary’s took a 2-1 lead with 14:27 remaining on a goal by senior Dominic Pizzo, who fired a shot from between the face-off circles into the net.

Houghton got only stronger at that point, blitzing St. Mary’s with a four-goal surge over the next 10:54. 

Sayen started the rally, tying the game at 2-2 when he stationed himself in front of the St. Mary’s goal, took a pass sent behind the net from senior Noah Maillette and buried the chance under the crossbar. 

Sayen then gave Houghton a 3-2 lead with 11:16 remaining, charging the net and jamming the puck past the pads of the St. Mary’s goalie. 

Just 1:23 later, Houghton took a 4-2 lead when senior Connor Arko took a neat pass from Maillette, skated in on the St. Mary’s goal and lifted a backhand below the cross bar. 

Houghton kept the pressure on and added to its lead, going up 5-2 with 3:33 remaining when Sayen pounced on a rebound and fired the puck in.

From there, the final minutes were a happy skate for Houghton.

St. Mary’s was attempting to repeat as champion, but had to settle for a runner-up finish and a 25-5 record to close the season.

“We just got a little lax down low in front of our net,” St. Mary’s head coach Brian Klanow said. “They took advantage of some not-so-good positioning and they were able to get some shots off the line.” 

Houghton opened the scoring on a power play with 12:53 remaining in the first period when Sayen charged toward a loose puck in front of the St. Mary’s goal and buried the chance underneath the crossbar to make it 1-0 Gremlins. 

St. Mary’s tied the game with 1:59 remaining in the second period on a goal by junior Thaddeus Raynish, who found a loose puck to the left of the Houghton goal and placed a shot into a half-open net to make it 1-1. 

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Houghton players celebrate at the end of the Division 3 Final at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) The Gremlins’ Noah Maillette (13) moves toward a loose puck in front of the St. Mary’s net and goalie Thomas Reeber. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)