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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:

Crystal Falls Forest Park's Vic Giuliani makes a move to get around Marquette's Halen McCollum and take a shot during a loss to the Sentinels on Feb. 17 at Northern Michigan University.

Forest Park Working to Make Most of Every Second in Drive to Return Downstate

By John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com

March 3, 2026

CRYSTAL FALLS — The Crystal Falls Forest Park boys basketball team appears to be on a mission as it progresses through the postseason.

Upper PeninsulaForest Park is fresh from earning its third-consecutive Division 4 District basketball title with a 73-38 defeat of Norway on Friday in Crystal Falls.

The Trojans (19-4) resume at 5 p.m. (CST) tonight when they face Felch North Dickinson in a Regional Semifinal at Kingsford.

“(North Dickinson has) a real good team,” Forest Park coach Jason Price said. “Nothing’s easy in the tournaments.”

The teams split during the regular season with North Dickinson taking a 57-55 decision at Crystal Falls on Jan. 20 and the Trojans rolling past the Nordics 77-39 on at North Dickinson on Feb. 2.

Junior Vic Guiliani, an all-state selection last winter who missed his junior football season due to a torn meniscus, returned to the Trojans’ basketball lineup shortly after the holidays.

Trojans coach Jason Price talks to his team between the third and fourth quarters against Marquette. “It feels real good to be back,” he said. “It took a lot of work to get back. It took a couple games to get back into the flow.

It also feels good to get three (District titles) in a row. We feel very lucky. Not every team can do that.”

The Trojans opened their postseason journey with an 80-38 triumph at Powers North Central last Wednesday, scoring four players in double digits in each District game.

A year ago, they reached the Division 4 Semifinals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, where they fell to eventual champion Wyoming Tri-unity Christian 67-46.

In 2024, Forest Park bowed to St. Ignace 68-51 in a Quarterfinal contest at Gladstone.

This year’s Trojans, with no seniors in the lineup, was led by junior Dax Huuki’s 23 points in Friday’s District Final.

They are wearing T-shirts which have “1920” printed below their team logo.

“That’s on there because that’s the number of seconds there are in a basketball game,” Huuki said. “That’s the type of effort we need all the time.

“This feels good. We worked hard for this all season. Coach told us to settle down and play our game.”

Forest Park turned the ball over just five times in Wednesday’s District opener and committed 10 turnovers in Friday’s championship contest. The Trojans know they’ll need to continue taking care of the ball tonight.

Forest Park's Dax Huuki goes up for two against Marquette's Carter Fierstine at the Vandament Arena. “They have three big guys,” Guiliani said. “They played in the state football finals last fall. They have some real good athletes. We’re playing unselfish basketball. I think we’re the most dangerous when we’re in a fast-paced game and hitting shots. We can also slow it down.”

Norway attempted to slow the pace early in Friday’s contest. The Trojans, however, led 36-20 at halftime and picked it up even more in the second half.

Huuki also has plenty of respect for the Nordics.

“They work as hard in the summer as we do,” he said. “The first game with them was hard. We just tried to learn from that. We have to play the way we know we can. We grew up together and know each other and how we play. Communication is so important.”

Tonight’s winner advances to Thursday’s Regional Final at Negaunee to face the winner of today’s Wakefield-Marenisco/Dollar Bay contest.

“These juniors have played together their whole lives,” Price said. “These are hard-working kids. They put the time in during the offseason. We settled in and played very unselfish again (Friday). We’re defending very well.”

John VrancicJohn Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

PHOTOS (Top) Crystal Falls Forest Park's Vic Giuliani makes a move to get around Marquette's Halen McCollum and take a shot during a loss to the Sentinels on Feb. 17 at Northern Michigan University. (Middle) Trojans coach Jason Price talks to his team between the third and fourth quarters against Marquette. (Below) Forest Park's Dax Huuki goes up for two against Marquette's Carter Fierstine at the Vandament Arena. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)