10 to Remember: 2012-13 Finals
June 27, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Championships are culminations of season-long journeys, concluding with the most exciting competitions of the year but steeped in back stories that make those crowning achievements mean so much more.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association awards 127 team championships each school year. Anyone picking 10 favorites could come up with at least 13 different lists.
So the list that follows likely won’t agree with many others. But here’s one person’s take on the 10 most incredible MHSAA Finals performances – focusing mostly on the final competition but with some back story built in – from the 2012-13 school year. (Click on headings for full stories.)
10. Special teams lead to special accomplishment for Brother Rice
Birmingham Brother Rice and Muskegon had combined for 12 MHSAA football championships entering the Finals. But in winning their eighth, the Warriors also accomplished a first in 44 seasons under coach Al Fracassa – their first back-to-back titles. They went ahead in the eventual 35-28 win on a cross-field lateral that turned into a 91-yard kickoff return with 2:13 to play.
9. Lakewood volleyball ends championship wait ...
Lake Odessa Lakewood coach Kellie Rowland has won 787 matches during her 15 seasons over two tenures leading the program, and frequently had brought the Vikings to the cusp of their first MHSAA title. They finally got it by defeating perennial power North Branch in three games in the Class B championship match.
8. ... and so does Bay City Western baseball
The Warriors earned coach Tim McDonald his first MHSAA championship game victory to go with 562 more wins over 21 seasons. Bay City Western won 1-0 in both the Semifinal and then Final over Brother Rice to secure its first baseball title and a 42-2 finish.
7. “Core 4” leave Mona Shores with four more
Seniors Hailey Hrynewich, Morgan Smith, Britni Gielow and Kelsey McKinley finished their high school careers as starters on four MHSAA championship teams, including the one that won the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final this school year by 41 strokes. Hrynewich and Smith both posted top-five individual finishes as Mona Shores shot a two-day 666 at their final championship tournament.
6. Grand Ledge gymnastics sets the bar
Number six on this list makes sense for the Comets, who won their sixth straight MHSAA team championship to set the all-time longest title streak in the sport. They did so with the fifth-highest score in MHSAA Finals history – 149.350 – and despite graduating the Division 1 all-around champion the spring before.
5. Seniors say good-bye at LP Division 1 Final
Grosse Pointe South’s Hannah Meier and West Bloomfield’s Erin Finn brought national acclaim to the Detroit suburbs over the last two years with dominating performances in track and cross country. They finished their careers at the LP Division 1 Track & Field Final, where Meier set all-MHSAA Finals records in the 800 and 1,600 and Finn set an all-Finals record in the 3,200. In the fall, Finn and Meier finished first and second, respectively, at the LP Division 1 Cross Country Final.
4. Fowlerville standout reaches the stars
Gladiators senior Adam Coon, once an aspiring astronaut now turned aspiring aerospace engineer, became the 17th wrestler in MHSAA history to win four individual Finals championships. And he became the first to do so at the two heaviest weights, earning his titles at 215 and 285 pounds. He graduated with a career record of 211-3 and a 194-match winning streak.
3. Swimming with speed in Saline
Saline also won its fourth straight MHSAA title, in Lower Peninsula Division 1, anchored by seniors David Boland, Josh Ehrman, Michael Bundas and Adam Whitener. Combined, they hold four Finals individual and two relay records, and Ehrman graduated with all-Finals records in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Those four also leave with the 200 medley relay all-Finals record – with their time of 1:30.01 good for third-best in the national record book.
2. Michell sits atop MHSAA medal count
Reed City’s Sami Michell is one of two girls in MHSAA history to win four events at a Track & Field Final – a feat she accomplished both this season and last. And she finished her career this month with 12 individual titles overall, two more than the previous Lower Peninsula record. She graduated with LP Division 3 Finals records in both hurdles races and the long jump, and her 300 hurdles time of 42.23 is an all-Finals record.
1. Football Finals end in overtime classic
The most exciting MHSAA Football Final likely was the last of Thanksgiving weekend – a 40-37 overtime win by Grand Rapids Christian over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s that gave the Eagles the Division 3 title. And at least on this list, it counts as the most exciting of all the buzzer-beating, one-point, by one millimeter endings to the MHSAA’s 127 Finals this school year.
The Saturday night crowd at Ford Field was treated to an incredible performance by Eagles receiver Drake Harris, who had eight catches for a record 243 yards and touchdown and was nearly unstoppable as Grand Rapids Christian drove down the stretch. Quarterback Alex VanDeVusse threw for 307 yards, fourth-most in MHSAA Finals history, as the frazzled nerves of fans, players and coaches alike hung on every play. St. Mary’s ran for 459 of the single-team Finals record 579 yards of total offense; the teams combined for another record of 1,033 total yards between them. And at the end, the game was decided on a 27-yard field goal by Joel Schipper, who had connected on a 28-yarder with four seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
PHOTO:Saline swimmers take a celebratory dip after claiming their fourth straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship.
After Blazing Multiple Volleyball Trails, Bastianelli Charting Next Career Path
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
July 9, 2025
Volleyball took Ali Bastianelli around the world. But she found the perfect ending to her career in her home state, fewer than 200 miles from her hometown.
The 2015 Marysville graduate recently completed her ninth and final professional volleyball season, playing on a one-year contract with the Grand Rapids Rise of the Pro Volleyball Federation and setting the league record for blocks in a season while earning her second-straight PVF Middle Blocker of the Year award.
“I was talking to Cathy George, the head coach of the Grand Rapids Rise, before the season and she was like, ‘How cool would it be to retire near home, in front of your home crowd?’” Bastianelli said. “It was going to take some things falling into place for me to really want to play another year, and it turned out Grand Rapids had all of those, so it was a pretty easy yes. This year, they could offer people multi-year contracts, and (George) had wondered if I wanted one. I was like, ‘Nope. I’m putting my foot down and taking a stance this is my last year.’ I kind of went into the season with that mentality. As the season progressed, it became more and more clear I was ready to be done, not because I was miserable in volleyball, but because it was a great season, and there was no better way to go out.”
Bastianelli, who played collegiately at Illinois and had professional stops in France, Puerto Rico and San Diego, will now turn her attention to life after volleyball, as she has been accepted into the radiologic technology program at Baker College in Muskegon.
It’s something she had been preparing for over the past few years, taking her prerequisite courses while playing – essentially continuing her time as a student-athlete well into her 20s.
“Honestly, it wasn’t as intense as in college, but I think having played in college made it feels that way, knowing that I can balance 16 credit hours while being in season,” she said. “I will say, being a student-athlete my entire life, even in high school, a lot of that was learning how to manage my time. It will be interesting next year not having volleyball and just school.”
A health administration major at Illinois, Bastianelli shifted her focus to a more patient-focused role in healthcare after graduation.
“I’ve always liked the people interaction side of healthcare,” she said. “I didn’t know if I was ready to sit at a desk and work a 9-to-5. I’m much more of a people person, and as a team-sport athlete, I’m used to working with people in that sort of way.”
Bastianelli’s second career will have a lot to live up to in order to match her first, as her run in volleyball was among the best for a former Michigan high school player.
She earned All-America honors three times at Illinois, being named to the third team as a junior and senior and honorable mention as a sophomore. She was named all-Big Ten three times, and when she graduated, she was not only Illinois’ all-time leader in blocks, but second in Big Ten history, leading the country in blocks as a senior in 2018.
Bastianelli played for the U.S. National Team in the Pan American Cup in 2021 and 2022, and the Pan American Cup Final Six in 2022. As a pro, she played in the inaugural seasons of two leagues, Athletes Unlimited and PVF.
“We’ve never had, in Marysville certainly, and probably the Blue Water Area in general, has never had a girl with that type of upside and potential,” said former Marysville volleyball coach Ryan Welser, who coached Bastianelli her senior year. “... Certainly, if you want to look back, Ali is the best we’ve ever seen with just the longevity that she’s been able to do it and the levels she’s been able to succeed at. We played and coached against a lot of girls in the Southeast Michigan area, and for all their accolades, Ali has surpassed all of them with her longevity and her ability to excel and go to the next level.”
Bastianelli was at Marysville during an interesting time in the storied volleyball program’s history. She transferred from Yale as a freshman in the fall of 2011, along with her older sister Samantha, when legendary coach John Knuth returned for a season. That team advanced to the Class B Semifinals, the deepest run for the Vikings since winning nine titles in 10 years from 1997-2006.
The following two years, Bastianelli and the Vikings were coached by Kristen (Fenton) Michaelis, who was the star of four of those previous title teams and who had played collegiately at Fresno State and as part of the U.S. National Team during the Pan-Am Games in the 2000s.
“I’m thankful for the guidance Kristen had given me in high school,” Bastianelli said. “She saw my potential before everyone else did. She’s the original GOAT of Marysville. She paved the way.”
During Bastianelli’s junior year, however, the Vikings failed to win their District for the first time in more than 20 years. When Welser, a former assistant under Knuth, took over the program the following year, he aimed to not only fix that, but also create an energy around the program that had been present the prior decade. He turned to Bastianelli and fellow senior Nicole Slis to head that up.
“A big thing for us, when Ali was in high school, was that she bought into the promotion of the program,” Welser said. “It was a constant battle of trying to get fans in the stands and trying to make it popular in the middle school and elementary school. Ali completely bought into that, everything we were trying to do. She didn’t have to. She had a lot going on with her club team, but we needed someone to totally buy into promoting Marysville volleyball and leave a lasting legacy, and that’s what she did.”
Through social media and simply talking with students at the school, Bastianelli and Slis worked to create a vibrant student section for their games, incorporating theme nights. That led to a boom in student attendance at matches, and the team responded, advancing to the Regional Final before losing to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
Personally, Bastianelli earned first-team Under Armour All-America honors during the season and was ranked the No. 10 college recruit in the country.
“My senior year was definitely the most memorable,” Bastianelli said. “Even though it wasn’t the most successful (as a team) on paper, it was definitely the most memorable for me. … The Regional games were hosted by Marysville, and we played Armada and there had to have been 150 kids who showed up for that game. During one timeout, Ryan didn’t even say anything about volleyball, he just told us, ‘Just take a moment and look around.’”
While Bastianelli couldn’t have imagined it at the time, her efforts in building excitement around the Marysville program were good training for her future as a professional.
As a member of two brand new professional leagues, she and her peers were asked to be promoters as well as players, to the point where sharing social media posts was written into their contracts.
There were few people better suited for that role than Bastianelli.
“I think it’s very fitting that everywhere she’s gone, there’s been that promotion of program,” Welser said. “To go on to the pro level, to promote volleyball at that level and for women’s sports in general – we’re watching women’s volleyball on TV, and I truly believe Ali had an impact on those levels. Her getting behind it, being there to help and realizing that when you’re doing that, you’re there to help everyone. That’s what Ali was all about.”
PHOTOS (Top) At left, Ali Bastianelli prepares to hit during her senior season at Marysville; at right, Bastianelli readies to serve for the Grand Rapids Rise. (Middle) Bastianelli plays for the Rise during her final professional season. (Photos courtesy of Marysville volleyball and the Grand Rapids Rise.)