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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:

Troy Athens celebrates its overtime win in Saturday's Division 1 Final at Grand Ledge.

Troy Athens Comes Back Again, This Time to Claim Program's 6th Finals Win

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

November 4, 2023

GRAND LEDGE — Usually if a soccer teams falls behind late in a state championship game, there’s a big “uh-oh” and sense of dejection. 

But falling behind late against Brighton in the 2023 MHSAA Division 1 Final put Troy Athens in a comfort zone.

“We were behind in the District Final, we were behind in the Regional Semifinal, we were behind in the Regional Final, we took the lead in the Semifinal but then fell behind, and we were behind again tonight,” Athens head coach Todd Heugh said. “Certainly, there’s a lot of resolve and resiliency in our group.”

As it turned out, it was championship resolve and resiliency for Athens. 

Thanks to a goal late in regulation that tied the game and one more 2:59 into overtime, Athens is once again a Finals champion in boys soccer following a 2-1 win over Brighton.

The title was the sixth in program history for Athens (20-3-2).

The winning goal with 7:01 left in the first portion of overtime came from senior Manny Aigbedo, who put home a loose ball in the Brighton box after a mad scramble following an Athens corner kick.

“I just kneed it,” Aigbedo said. “I got anything I could on it. Just a little bit and went in. I didn’t even know I scored at that moment because there was so many people trying to get it.”

The game was scoreless until 9:02 remained in regulation, when Brighton took a 1-0 lead on a goal from senior Colin Robertson. 

The Red Hawks' Daniel Kadiu (23) races upfield with a Brighton defender chasing.The goal came after a flurry of shots on Athens goalkeeper Adam Ethridge, who initially stopped Brighton leading scorer Devlin McGinnis on a point-blank shot in the box. A rebound caromed to Brighton junior Owen Buckley, but he was stopped by Ethridge. 

But with Ethridge out of the net, another rebound came to the left side of the box to Robertson, who fired a shot into essentially an empty net just past multiple Athens defenders who tried to scramble back to the goal line. 

From there, Athens pressured to get the equalizer, and finally did.

With 1:56 remaining in the second half, senior Brody Fahnestock stepped into a fast-paced shot from roughly 30 yards out that went past Brighton’s keeper and into the goal to tie the game at 1-1.

The tying goal seemed to deflate Brighton (19-4-2), which was less than two minutes from winning a first Finals championship in school history. 

Athens dominated the overtime period, outshooting Brighton 10-1 overall and 8-0 on goal.

“When they got that tying goal, it kind of took the wind out of our sails there at the end,” Brighton head coach Mark Howell said. “We knew overtime was going to be an uphill battle trying to climb back in it momentum-wise. We knew they had a lot of experience returning on the big stage. It just didn’t fall the way we wanted it to.”

Athens got off to a slow start this season, but got rolling in September and never looked back, showing once again there’s no substitute for experience as the team had 16 seniors.

“We don’t always play the prettiest brand,” Heugh said. “But we’re usually organized, and we usually are going to fight to the end.”

Click for the box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Troy Athens celebrates its overtime win in Saturday's Division 1 Final at Grand Ledge. (Middle) The Red Hawks' Daniel Kadiu (23) races upfield with a Brighton defender chasing.