Michel Finishes with Story to Tell
June 11, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Andrew Michel received the heart-breaking news only moments before leaving his golf team’s Regional on Friday to get ready for that night’s Brownstown-Woodhaven prom.
But missing making the MHSAA Finals by a stroke was not the first thing he shared with those who asked about his day at West Shore Golf and Country Club in Grosse Ile.
Instead, the graduating senior told of the 132-yard shot he dropped for a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th hole, his second ace but first in competition.
Michel finished with a season-best 76, missing the cut for this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final by a stroke despite firing another eagle during the final holes of his round.
“At the start of the day, I told myself don’t leave anything on the table. Go for it on every hole, make every shot and just have fun at your last tournament,” Michel said Tuesday afternoon as he readied for that night’s graduation ceremony. “Being a senior, I went for everything.”
The best part might’ve been how he came back from a disappointing previous hole.
Michel had just finished off a triple bogey on No. 11, and admitted he was down on himself. He stepped to the next tee with his pitching wedge, and “I didn’t really care what happened. I chose the club I like to hit on that hole, and in the air I was thinking it was really good,” he said.
The ball touched down on the green and spun back into the hole.
Michel also played golf and soccer at Brownstown-Woodhaven. He’ll attend Grand Valley State University in the fall, study engineering, and will try to walk-on the Lakers’ golf team.
“Deep down inside,” he said he’s disappointed he won’t be playing at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West on Friday. But he’s got a quite a highlight to take with him from his final high school round.
“It was very bittersweet. I really wanted to go to state,” Michel said. “But the hole-in-one balanced it out a bit.”
Eye on the official
Hopefully you caught our MHSAA benchmarks piece (also published on Second Half) on longtime official Lamont Simpson, who has worked not only MHSAA Finals but NCAA tournaments and is one of 32 officials in the WNBA. (Here’s the link in case you missed it.)
He also became that league’s first to wear the referee cam, debuting the new gear during a recent game between the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever.
The camera provides plenty of ref’s-eye views. Click the video below to check it out.
Wheels of Steele
We’ve been watching the inspiring progress of Frankenmuth runner Bobby Steele especially over the last few years as his story became known across the Lower Peninsula.
Steele, who is visually impaired, has run cross country and track for the Eagles, thanks to the help of guides who ran with him to help him stay on course.
If you haven’t heard Steele’s awesome story, check out this 8-minute video. Not only did Steele run, but he cut roughly 12 minutes off his first cross country times over the course of his career.
Cochran, Jenison Rising Among Elite of Inaugural MHSAA Boys Volleyball Season
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
May 27, 2026
JENISON – Quinn Cochran never envisioned that one day he would have the opportunity to compete for a state championship while playing volleyball.
But with boys volleyball an MHSAA-sponsored sport for the first time this spring, Cochran and his second-ranked Jenison squad will have the chance to do just that as they begin postseason play tonight as one of nearly 120 teams participating in the inaugural postseason.
“I love it,” the 6-foot-2 high-flying Cochran said. “It’s great for us, and the sport is finally getting the recognition it deserves, especially because it’s such a fun sport. It’s also a chance for kids who want to play a spring sport.
“There are some teams that just want to play for fun, and some that want to be competitive and try to win a state championship. That’s what we’ve been focusing on this year. The first few years as a club sport it was just about ‘let’s have fun and get better,’ but now that it’s an actual sanctioned sport we want to go and play and win.”
The Wildcats will play Muskegon Mona Shores tonight in a Division 1 first-round Regional matchup.
A victory would more than likely set up a highly-anticipated match against top-ranked Grand Haven, which Jenison beat recently – handing the Bucs their only loss of the season.
“We have a lot of confidence knowing that we can go in and compete against the top teams in the state,” Cochran said. “We know we can play them and beat them, so if we play like we know we can play then we can definitely win a state title.
“Our toughest battle will be Grand Haven on Friday. They were down one of their top players last time when we played them, but we still can beat them. We didn’t play as well as we could’ve against them earlier in the season, and I think if we can beat Grand Haven then we have a good chance to win it.”
Cochran, an athletic outside hitter/setter, is one of several talented players for head coach Teran Peerboom-Vanderbroek.
Jenison entered today with a sparkling 29-4-1 record.
“They’ve done a really good job all year of kind of dialing in, working hard and improving,” Peerboom-Vanderbroek said. “They’ve really concentrated on where our weaknesses are and then focused on fixing them. We had that big win against Grand Haven and played well against Hudsonville, so this is a hard-working group of guys who have a good chance of making a run if we play well this week.”
Cochran believes that the team’s versatility has been a major factor in their success.
“I think what makes us good is that we don’t have a weak spot,” he said. “Our setting and hitting have been great, as well as our passing, serving and middle blocking. We don’t have a hole in our team, and we are all super solid.”
Cochran, a two-year captain, has been the catalyst of this year’s team after a breakout junior season that garnered all-state second-team honors.
He’s been one of the top players in the state again this season and was recently named a finalist for the Mr. Volleyball Award by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association.
Grand Haven’s Caleb Cryst, Saline’s Quinn Burns, White Lake Lakeland’s Zachary Dorbin and Farmington’s Charlie Engelhardt are the other finalists.
“I think it’s very cool to be recognized like that,” Cochran said. “And being recognized as one of the best players in the state is something I’ve worked toward my whole life. Seeing that hard work pay off is definitely a good pat on the back, and helping my team be competitive has been fun.”
Cochran played basketball all four years of high school and baseball until his sophomore year.
His true passion is volleyball, and he’s gradually improved each year while playing on indoor club teams for the past seven.
“We had a beach volleyball court in our backyard, and I loved playing with my dad and his buddies,” Cochran said. “At a young age I knew I could play well against people older than me, and then I took it seriously. I started playing at a high level in club and realized I could play at that level.”
Cochran has been playing beach volleyball since he was 6, and even had the opportunity to play with AVP players Logan Webber and David Ryan in tournaments. “That was definitely fun, and I was grateful for the experiences,” Cochran said.
He will play next season at Cornerstone University.
“I didn’t think about playing in college until my junior year,” Cochran said. “I was playing pretty well, and I didn’t want to be done playing indoor volleyball. I was a little late in the recruiting process, but I narrowed it down and I wanted to be close to home.”
Peerboom-VanderBroek has high praise for Cochran’s character and leadership, but has also been impressed by his ability to adapt to a different role when called upon.
“He’s very selfless as well, and he’s been playing some middle for us, which is definitely not his preferred position,” she said. “It seals up some of our blocking issues, and he can run and pass out of the middle and take control a little bit.
“It has been really great, and I think he’s seeing the team’s success as a result of the move – so I’m really proud of him in that way. It’s not easy to go from a spot that you really shine in to something more uncomfortable, but it makes our team better.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Jenison’s Quinn Cochran (1) winds up for a kill attempt against Hudsonville this season. (Middle) Cochran, far left, elevates for another kill attempt. (Below) Cochran and his teammates pose for a photo with a trophy in hand. (Photos courtesy of Quinn Cochran.)