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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:

Traverse City St. Francis' Tyler Thompson (2) runs back to his dugout after crossing the plate during the Division 3 Final on Saturday.

St. Francis Makes Good on Great Expectations by Completing Repeat Run

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

June 13, 2026

EAST LANSING — Repeating as an MHSAA Finals champion in baseball might be more difficult than any other sport given its fickle nature.

But from the start this spring, Traverse City St. Francis appeared capable. 

After claiming the Division 3 title last year, St. Francis returned both its best pitchers and a core of eight seniors from the 2025 squad. 

It’s no wonder why a repeat was expected by many – and the Gladiators fulfilled those expectations Saturday.

St. Francis (34-5) finished its mission with a 9-0 victory over Kalamazoo Christian in the Division 3 Final at Michigan State’s McLane Stadium. 

“Yeah, we had confidence the entire season,” said Gladiators senior Lanse Vos. “We knew there was a good group. Having this group again, we’ve grown up together. We only expected this. Our goals were only this.”

Vos was a big reason why St. Francis repeated, allowing just three hits and no runs in six innings of work in what was an unexpected start until Thursday’s Semifinal against Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest – which he also began on the mound.

With St. Francis holding an 11-1 lead over Lutheran Northwest, Gladiators head coach Tom Passinault pulled Vos before he exceeded the 49-pitch limit that would have prevented him from throwing Saturday. 

The plan worked out brilliantly for St. Francis, which got to start Vos and bring on senior Tyler Endres in the seventh inning to close the game. 

The Gladiators' Lanse Vos delivers a pitch during his winning performance on the mound.“We watched Kalamazoo Christian on Thursday, and they are a tremendous fastball-hitting team,” Passinault said. “Since we had Lanse available, he is our best combination of fastball and off-speed. He had them on their front foot all day. It was a huge bonus to be able to throw him today.”

Vos also was instrumental to the team’s offense, contributing two hits and four RBI.

A week earlier, it didn’t look like the Gladiators would even make it to East Lansing when it trailed Sanford Meridian 10-7 going into the last inning of their Regional Final. 

St. Francis rallied to score four runs in the seventh to win, and never looked back.

“Once we got here to East Lansing, I just thought we were rolling,” Passinault said. “We were playing great baseball.”

Making its first trip to a Final, Kalamazoo Christian finished 26-9.

“There’s a lot to be able to reflect on and enjoy,” Kalamazoo Christian head coach Russ Meyer said. “But it stings now. They believed in it. They believed they had a chance to be in this game. It just didn’t happen to go our way.”

The Gladiators jumped all over Kalamazoo Christian early, scoring two runs in both the first and second innings to take a 4-0 lead. 

St. Francis scored the first pair on a walk with the bases loaded and an RBI sacrifice fly by freshman John St. Peter, and added the next two in the second inning on a two-run double by Vos. 

The Gladiators added a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Vos, and then put the game away by scoring four in the bottom of the sixth inning – the big blow of that rally a two-run single by senior Evan Belanger.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City St. Francis' Tyler Thompson (2) runs back to his dugout after crossing the plate during the Division 3 Final on Saturday. (Middle) The Gladiators' Lanse Vos delivers a pitch during his winning performance on the mound.