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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:

Pewamo-Westphalia’s Alonna Thelen (40) moves the ball up court Thursday while defended by Roscommon’s Mara Williams.

Bengel Seizes Big-Play Moment, Takes Over Final Quarter to Send P-W to Saturday

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 19, 2026

EAST LANSING – Pewamo-Westphalia senior guard Elly Bengel wasn’t afraid of the big moment.

Bengel took charge when the Pirates were in the midst of a scoring drought while hanging on to a slim lead over Roscommon in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s first Division 3 Semifinal.

She scored seven of her game-high 20 points during the final period as P-W secured a 46-33 win over the resilient Bucks at Breslin Center. 

“She’s not afraid of the moment, and that’s what big-time players do” P-W coach Steve Eklund said. “They can feel it, and they can sense that the team was a little bit shell-shocked and she decided to step up and went and got a bucket.”

It was the team’s 24th win of the season by 10 points or more and sent the Pirates (26-2) to their first Final since 2019, tipping off at 4 p.m. Saturday. They will attempt to finish a P-W Division 3 sweep, as the boys team won last weekend’s championship at Breslin.

After watching a double-digit lead dwindle to six (33-27) with six minutes remaining, Bengel took matters into her own hands and sliced through the defense for a three-point play to push the advantage back to nine.

The Bucks’ Nemiah Carper (24) and Cami Hamina defend the lane as P-W’s Adrianna Eklund (10) looks to the perimeter.Roscommon would get no closer.

“We moved the ball better and got her into a catch-and-rip opportunity, and she did a good job of drawing contact,” Eklund said.

Bengel scored seven consecutive points during the final quarter and made 7-of-9 shots from the field, including a perfect 2-of-2 from behind the 3-point arc.

“This is my fourth year on the team, so I knew I had to step up and do it for my team,” Bengel said.

P-W’s defense held the Bucks to 29 percent (9-31) shooting from the field, while forcing 19 turnovers.

“A of credit goes to Roscommon because that was one of the finer defensive teams we've played all season, and they made us work for everything,” Eklund said. “But we love to play defense, and that’s what we base our program around and it stood up. We got some big stops late.”  

P-W led 26-15 at the half after back-to-back triples by Adrianna Eklund and Bengel, but the Pirates scored only seven points during the third quarter.

Adrianna Eklund, a sophomore, finished with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

Roscommon was making its first trip to the Semifinals since 1996 and finished 21-4.  

“That’s just a really good basketball team,” Bucks coach Greg Kauffman said. “I’m proud of the kids, they played hard, but they were just a little bit better. Sometimes it comes down to that.

“We returned 90 percent of our team so we felt like we could get here this year. We felt we deserved to be here, and we just ran into a team that was a little bit better than us.”  

Senior guard Zoey Kauffman led Roscommon with 14 points and five rebounds, while junior guard Mara Williams added 11 points.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Alonna Thelen (40) moves the ball up court Thursday while defended by Roscommon’s Mara Williams. (Middle) The Bucks’ Nemiah Carper (24) and Cami Hamina defend the lane as P-W’s Adrianna Eklund (10) looks to the perimeter. (Photos by Lilanie Karunanayake/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)