10 to Remember: 2013-14 Finals
July 10, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Every championship leaves a lasting impression with the athletes and coaches who achieved it and the communities that cheered them on.
That makes picking the 10 most notable finishes from this school year's MHSAA Finals a no-win scenario. But here's one person's carefully-considered opinion:
10. Unranked Eaton Rapids finishes No. 1 for the first time
The Greyhounds capped this year’s Girls Basketball Finals with a 51-38 win over Grand Rapids South Christian in the Class B title game that closed the weekend. But that statement alone barely scratches the surface of the story. The championship was the first for Eaton Rapids, which started five seniors and entered the tournament unranked but eliminated No. 6 Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, No. 8 Flint Powers Catholic and then the top-ranked Sailors during the season’s final week.
9. Western sweeps first Finals at Michigan State
The Baseball and Softball Finals moved to Michigan State University this spring, and the Bay City Western baseball and softball teams both took home championship trophies. The Warriors baseball team, after winning its first title in 2013, became the first in Class A or Division 1 to repeat in defeating Grosse Pointe South 6-2. The softball team won its first MHSAA championship by defeating Portage Central 4-2 after also making – and leading late – in the 2013 Final before losing by a run to Mattawan.
8. Sacred Heart overcomes, comes back for first title
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart couldn’t have been favored by many in this season’s Class D Girls Basketball Final with one senior, making only its second championship game appearance and going up against Crystal Falls Forest Park and recently-crowned Miss Basketball Lexi Gussert. But the unranked Irish finished on a 14-3 run over the final three minutes to get past the top-ranked Trojans 56-53 and win their first MHSAA title.
7. Canton gymnastics finishes long championship journey
The Canton gymnastics team claimed its first MHSAA title by edging Grand Ledge by 2.4 points after finishing runner-up to the Comets each of the last three seasons. The Chiefs also had finished Finals runner-up in 1996 under coach John Cunningham, who took over the program in 1979 and has coached the sport since 1968. Grand Ledge had won 106 straight competitions including the last six MHSAA Finals.
6. Big Reds regain top spot in Class A hoops
With Mr. Basketball Deshaun Thrower and 2015 candidate Deyonta Davis setting the pace, Muskegon finished only the second perfect season in Class A in the last 24 seasons with a 91-67 Final win over Bloomfield Hills that earned the Big Reds their first MHSAA championship since 1937. Thrower had 21 points, and Davis had 26 and 13 rebounds.
5. Brother Rice sends Fracassa out as champion once more
The Warriors made coach Al Fracassa a back-to-back MHSAA football champion for the first time with a 38-21 victory over Muskegon in a rematch of the 2013 Division 2 Final. Brother Rice also finished 14-0 as Fracassa finished a career during which he built a 430-117-7 record dating to 1969. His wins rank first in MHSAA football history.
4. New Lothrop wrestlers end Hudson’s reign
The Hornets won their first MHSAA title since 2004 by edging Hudson 32-22 in the Division 4 Final at Kellogg Arena. New Lothrop’s title win also ended an MHSAA-record five-season championship run by the Tigers, who tied the Davison teams of 2002-06 for the longest string of consecutive titles.
3. Stars finish final title runs with 4
A pair of mid-Michigan athletes capped four-year varsity careers by joining the elite champions in their respective sports. Breckenridge runner Kirsten Olling became the fifth girl in MHSAA history to win four Lower Peninsula individual championships, claiming her latest and last in an LP Division 4 Final record 17:44.9. St. Johns senior Zac Hall became the third wrestler in three seasons and 18th in MHSAA history to finish with four individual championships. He defeated Greenville’s Alec Ward 12-2 in the Division 2 140-pound championship match to close this season 52-0 and his career 198-2.
2. St. Philip adds to all-time accolades
The Battle Creek St. Philip volleyball program ranks first in MHSAA Final appearances (27) and championships (19), but further cemented itself among the all-time elite by winning its eighth straight MHSAA title – good to tie Marysville’s 1997-2004 teams for the longest championship streak in MHSAA history. The Tigers did so this season by defeating Waterford Our Lady in three games in Class D, and despite graduating seven from its 2012 championship team.
1. Trenton wins one more for Turner
Trenton’s hockey team defeated Hartland 8-3 in the Division 2 Final to earn the program’s 14th MHSAA championship and first since 2010 – and send out coach Mike Turner with one more crowning achievement on the most notable career in MHSAA hockey history. Earlier this winter, Turner set the record for coaching wins. He finished 628-126-52 over 28 seasons stretching across two tenures.
PHOTO: Trenton hockey players celebrate during this season's Division 2 championship trophy.
Roell's Dominating Run Keys Sentinels' Surge to 5th-Straight UP Finals Championship
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
February 21, 2026
MARQUETTE — Marquette junior Kaytlin Roell said she was a little nervous going into Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Swimming & Diving Finals. She didn’t mention it being the biggest meet of the year – rather the two snow days leading up to such a massive event meant two days of no training.
She was determined to keep her mind where it needed to be, something she did from start to finish. She edged last year’s champion, Allison Deuter, by six hundredths of a second in the 50-yard freestyle and later won the 100 butterfly while also helping Marquette to first-place finishes in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
“Last year wasn’t my greatest year,” Roell said. “I think I could have done better. This year, I put my mind to it.”
Roell had some big wins, and so did her team. The Sentinels won their fifth-straight U.P. title, 311-226.5 over runner-up Houghton.
“When I first stepped out for my first race, the 50 free, I focused, and I felt ready and I felt I spent this whole year training for this moment,” Roell said. She finished in 25.74 seconds. “When I came in and I won, I was ecstatic. I was so happy since I haven’t really had the chance to be on the podium, on the top individually, since my freshman year.”
The day got better.
“When I swam my 100 fly, I went crazy. I shaved almost three seconds off my personal best,” Roell said. Her time of 1:00.93 put her just three hundredths of a second from the school record, something she can shoot for as a senior.
“That 100 butterfly was electric,” Marquette coach Nathan McFarren said.
She swam the 50-yard opening leg of the 200 relay faster than she finished in the individual event at 25.66 seconds.
“Having everybody put in the work together and winning the 200 free was amazing. It brought so much joy to me,” she said. The relay’s winning time was 1:46.96.
The Sentinels beat Houghton in the 400 in 4:00.70 despite being seeded behind the Gremlins.
“The thing about Kaytlin is she’s matured so much,” McFarren said. “She’s become a great team player, and she works her butt off.”
Deuter, a sophomore, repeated as a U.P. champion, but not in the 50 like last year. After finishing second in that race by such a close margin, she went out and won the 100 freestyle in 57.33 seconds.
“It just felt good winning finally,” she said, “because all my early mornings and late nights I put in swimming and lifting and whatnot finally paid off.”
Her coach, Jim Lindstrom, said she doesn’t miss a practice. Even if school is canceled and they can’t have practice, she goes to the Y anyway.
“She’s been swimming since she was 6 years old,” he said. “She’s really determined.”
And she’s an overall good swimmer, he said. She could have won an individual medley race if the team didn’t need her to be in the 50 freestyle, he said.
She also helped the 200 medley relay to a win (1:59.31).
Marquette’s Hailee LaCombe referenced the time she put in as well after she won the 100 backstroke in 1:09.58.
“I’m a senior, so it’s my last meet. I’ve been swimming for 13 years,” she said. “I was just thinking of making sure all my hard work throughout the year got put into those races.”
She beat teammate Lola Sved by just over a second.
“I had a good start and everything,” LaCombe said. “My turns were good, my underwater, I tried to do good breakouts and everything.”
Sault Ste. Marie sophomore Isabeau Woodard won the 100 breaststroke in 1:16.32.
“When I got in the water, my goggles instantly filled with water,” she said.
She remembered thinking she should have gone without the cap and goggles. “It would have been so much better,” Woodard added. “I don’t even remember the last 25 (yards). I remember I couldn’t breathe and I was scared.”
She couldn’t believe her time. She didn’t even know she won.
“I found out when my sister texted. She was like, ‘Oh, by the way, you got first place,’” Woodard said.
Being a U.P. champion is a “new feeling,” she said. “Last year, I did not do so hot. I was fifth last year, I think. It’s really surreal.”
Gladstone’s Irene Neumeier won the 200 freestyle in 2:06.73, Westwood’s Kamryn LaVigne took first in the 200 IM (2:30.96), and Houghton’s Ava Keteri won the 500 freestyle (6:08.42).
McFarren’s daughter, Logan, took second in the 100 and 200 freestyle events.
“This one was extra special to me,” he said. “She put in so much work this year, and it paid off.”
PHOTOS (Top) Marquette celebrates its victory Saturday in the 200 freestyle relay. (Middle) The Sentinels’ Kaytlin Roell powers to a win in the 100 butterfly. (Click for more by Jarvinen Photos.)