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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:

Cadillac Girls Skiing

Team of the Month: Cadillac Girls Skiing

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 21, 2022

The Big North Conference, top to bottom, is the strongest skiing conference in Michigan.

On the girls side alone, Traverse City Central won its second-straight Division 1 championship this season, with Traverse City West the runner-up, and those two along with Division 2 power Petoskey have four Finals championships and seven runner-up finishes over the last decade.

It’s time to make way for Cadillac as well.

The Vikings – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for February, capped it off Feb. 28 by winning the Division 2 team championship at Schuss Mountain in Bellaire. The title was the school’s first in any sport since 1990 and first top-two Finals finish in girls skiing since 2001.

Cadillac had finished third in the Big North Conference behind the Traverse City schools and ahead of Petoskey this season, and then runner-up at its Regional to East Grand Rapids minus a top contributor out with an injury. But she returned at nearly full strength for the Final as the Vikings outpaced runner-up EGR by six points and third-place Harbor Springs by eight.

“Every week we’re facing the best teams in the state, and it’s hard to know how we’d do against teams outside of our league,” Cadillac coach James Netzley said. “Until Regionals, it’s hard to know how good we are, and even talking to the Traverse City coaches they were caught by surprise by how well we did at the state finals.

“We got third last year, and that opened up some eyes. We had several freshmen, and we skied well. Our goal was to improve one place – we were eying the big trophies, runner-up, or first place would be fantastic. Within reason, runner-up was right there, but again, we had to ski well.”

Here’s where it gets even more intriguing: Only one of the team’s top six was a senior.

Sophomores Onalee Wallis and Avery Meyer set the pace at Schuss. Wallis finished fourth in the slalom and 11th in the giant slalom, and Meyer was fifth in the slalom and 10th in GS.

The next placer’s performance will be recalled just as quickly. Junior Georgette Sake was the skier who had missed the Regional, and Netzley said she was about 80 percent for the Final. But that 80 percent was good enough to place 15th in the slalom and 24th in the GS.

Another sophomore, Mairyn Kinnie, rounded out the team’s scoring, placing 33rd in both events.

Netzley said his girls teams have always had the standouts to match up with the rest of the Big North Conference, but would end up in the middle of the standings with less depth – which makes sense as Central has twice as many students, West nearly the same and Petoskey an enrollment of roughly 130 more than Cadillac High.

But five of this season’s Vikings varsity should be back next year – junior Kinsey Cornwell and senior Emily Mason rounded out lineup.

Of course, Central, West and Petoskey will bring talented skiers back next season too, as will the other usual Division 2 Finals contenders. But the Vikings should enter next winter with an expectation of competing for the BNC title – which would be another first in a long time – and making another Finals championship run.

Past Teams of the Month, 2021-22 

January: Hartland hockey - Read
December: Midland Dow girls basketball - Read
November: Reese girls volleyball - Read
October: Birmingham Groves boys tennis - Read