10 to Remember: Spring 2013
June 25, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Nine teams won their first MHSAA championships this spring. Birmingham Brother Rice's boys lacrosse team won its ninth in a row.
And those are only among the toppers of the long list that made memorable moments during this season's Finals, which finished up the school year two weekends ago.
Locking down the 10 most significant performances is impossible. But endeavoring to do so, here are one person's guess at those that will continue to be discussed most in the years to come.
Among those that just missed this list: Brother Rice boys lacrosse, St. Ignace's girls track and field team after winning its fourth straight team title, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett's baseball team after its extra-innings Final win over Beal City, Grandville Calvin Christian's girls soccer team after winning a rematch of last season's Division 4 Final and Port Huron Northern's girls tennis team after it emerged from a loaded field to win the Lower Peninsula Division 1 title.
Sami Michell Shines Once More
In her final high school meet, Reed City senior Sami Michell won four more MHSAA Finals individual titles to finish her career with 12 – two more than the previous Lower Peninsula record. A year after becoming the second female to win four events at one Finals meet, she did so again by finishing first in the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, the 200 dash and the long jump. She scored 40 points to claim the team runner-up trophy for her school. Click to read more.
Best Class of All-Time?
That could be the argument for this season’s girls track and field seniors, as twins Hannah and Haley Meier and Erin Finn joined Sami Michell, Detroit Country Day's Kendall Baisden and a host of others in finishing their careers. The Meiers already are members of a national record-holding relay (which set its milestone in 2012), and Hannah won two more Division 1 individual titles (setting all-Finals records) while Haley placed in the same two races and joined her sister on two winning relays. West Bloomfield’s Finn, considered as well one of the nation’s top high school distance runners, finished third to the Meiers in the Division 1 1,600 before cutting nine seconds off her 2012 time in setting an all-Finals record in the 3,200. Click to read more.
Warriors Earn First Title for Winning Coach
Bay City Western’s baseball team strung together two 1-0 shutouts by pitchers Brett Adcock and then Connor Foley to claim its first MHSAA baseball championship – and the first to go with coach Tim McDonald’s other 563 wins over the last 21 seasons. The 1-0 championship game victory over Brother Rice was Western's 35th straight of the season; Western finished 42-2. Click to read more.
Gull Lake Soccer Makes Mark
Richland Gull Lake hadn’t played in a girls soccer Final since 1999, but survived two overtimes against reigning champion Bloomfield Hills Marian to win the Division 2 championship game 1-0. The title was Gull Lake’s first since 1992 and came against a program that not only won in 2012, but three of the last five Division 2 championships. Click to read more.
Upper Peninsula Ace Shoots Record Round
Snow and rain put a damper on a good portion of the girls golf season in the Upper Peninsula this spring. But no U.P. female golfer has ever finished as strongly as Marquette’s Avery Rochester. She claimed her second straight individual Finals championship with a U.P. Finals-record 69, which was three under par at Portage Lake Golf Course in Houghton. Her score also was just one more stroke than the all-Finals record of 68 shot by Grandville’s Stacy Snider in 1998. Click to read more.
7 ... 2 ... 1 ... Champion Tecumseh
Tecumseh entered the MHSAA Tournament after finishing the regular season an honorable mention in the Division 2 softball coaches poll. But the Indians defeated No. 1 Stevensville Lakeshore in the Quarterfinal, reigning champion and No. 2 Livonia Ladywood in the Semifinal and No. 7 Saginaw Swan Valley in the Final to claim their first championship since 2008. Click to read more.
Bishop Foley Sets Baseball Bar
Madison Heights Bishop Foley claimed its third straight Division 3 baseball championship to become the first in MHSAA baseball history to win that many consecutive titles. Bishop Foley is 112-8-1 over the last three seasons and finished 35-2-1 this spring. The Ventures outscored their Bailey Park competition by a combined 18-5 over Finals weekend – getting junior Garrett Schilling to 15-0 for this season and 31-0 for his career with a 6-0 Semifinal win. Click to read more.
Done Deal for Dundee
The Dundee softball team eliminated two-time reigning champion Clinton on the way to Bailey Park this spring, and then beat three-time champion Unionville-Sebewaing in the Division 3 Final to claim its first MHSAA championship in the sport. In the process, Dundee finished 45-1 – setting an MHSAA record for wins in a softball season. Click to read more.
Troy Moves Up to No. 1
After two-straight Division 1 runner-up finishes, Troy earned its first girls soccer championship since 2003 with a 2-1 Final win over Grandville. The Colts had been outscored a combined 3-0 in the last two MHSAA Division 1 Finals, and began this season 3-6-2 before rattling off 15 wins and a tie on the way to claiming the championship. Click to read more.
Tie-Breaker After Heart-Breaker
The Battle Creek Lakeview boys golf team had finished one stroke behind Birmingham Brother Rice at the 2012 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final, and found itself tied with Plymouth this month after the final round was complete. But thanks to a fifth-player tie-breaker, Lakeview claimed its first MHSAA championship since 2008. Click to read more.
Norway, Mid Peninsula Welcome Back 1st Home Track Meets in Nearly Decade
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 15, 2026
NORWAY — It had been quite a while since Norway and Rock Mid Peninsula had been able to host a track & field meet.
That changed last week as Mid Pen hosted a triangular meet Thursday, and Norway held its invitational Friday. Those marked Norway’s first varsity home meet in nine years and the first complete meet at Mid Pen since 2019.
Norway debuted its rebuilt track during its junior high invitational April 28.
“Everything is all set, thanks to our referendum,” Norway boys coach Al Trudeau said. “It’s great to be able to host a meet. Our students, physical education instructors and community members will be able to use it. We’ll be set for a long time. We have lots of help, which is awesome.
“Our guys did all right. Our sprint relays went real well.”
Rapid River’s boys, who ran at Norway for the first time, won with 142 points. The Rockets were followed by Bark River-Harris with 130, Florence-Niagara, Wis., at 70 and Norway at 69.
Rapid River’s lone first came on freshman Coen Smith’s personal-best jump of 5 feet, 10 inches in high jump, and junior Lane Olson was runner-up on a tie-breaker to BR-H freshman Samuel Varoni in pole vault (10-6) on a sunny and mild day.
“I was happy with all the guys,” Rockets’ coach Steve Ostrenga said. “Our depth came through. Taking three places in the 3,200 decided the issue. We had some adversity tonight. We had to scramble to put a 1,600 relay team together. Our guys said it was a good track, and it was a very quick meet.”
BR-H junior Gionni McDonough was a four-event winner, taking the 100-meter dash in 12.2 seconds, 110 hurdles at 16.9 and 300s at 45.63, and long jump at 19 feet, 11½ inches.
“I’m very happy with that,” he said. “The track is nice and bouncy, and the long jump area is really nice.
“Doing well as a team is really a nice boost for us.”
BR-H coach William Soper was also impressed with the newly-resurfaced Norway facility, and delighted by his team’s progress.
“It’s an awesome track,” he said. “I’d be happy to come back here.
“I think we’re developing more of a team mentality. The kids are willing to do anything to help the team. We got Ben Olson back from surgery, and Gionni just started practicing long jump Thursday. We’re trying to find people for events that will match our strengths.”
Felch North Dickinson captured the girls title at Norway with 106 points, followed by BR-H with 92 and Stephenson at 70.
Junior Aunika Lindholm provided the Nordics with victories in the 1,600 (5:58.04) and 3,200 (13:20.55), both personal bests.
“A lot of things went our way today,” Nordics coach Mike Roell said. “A lot of kids stepped up. They really competed. Aunika did a nice job winning the 1,600 and 3,200 and helping our longer relays take first. Aspen (Anderson) winning pole vault and going 1-2 in the 800 were also huge.”
Rapid River sophomore Victoria Coppock recorded her first varsity victory in the 100 hurdles (18.75).
“This is very exciting,” she said. “I haven’t been able to practice because of softball. The track was quite nice, and this is probably the best weather we’ve had.”
At St. Nicholas, the Mid Peninsula Wolverines got part of a meet in last year, but it was cut short by poor weather conditions.
“It went great today,” Mid Pen coach Carl Brunngraeber said. “We appreciate Superior Central and Big Bay de Noc coming over here. We tried to do a meet here last year, then it started raining and weren’t able to get it all in. What we’re trying to do is bring some of this back. I like the idea of having a smaller meet and giving the kids a chance to do something different. We’re hoping to make this a small-school invitational.”
Mid Pen sophomore Lewis Holmes took the 100 (11.98) and 200 (25.08), and eighth-grader Siwal Holmes won the 300 hurdles (48.49) on a revamped asphalt surface.
“I think I could have run a faster time, although it was exciting,” Siwal Holmes said. “It’s still a hard surface, but I like it. I know I have to raise my foot a little more and work on technique.”
Mid Pen senior Hope Brunngraeber captured girls shot put (30-9) and discus (107-7) in a meet for which team scores weren’t kept.
“It’s really nice to have a meet at our school,” she said. “It feels good to finally throw here in my senior year. It was also good to have people come here and watch us throw.”
Superior Central’s Kendra Peterson took the girls 400 (1:11) and 800 (3:07.81), slightly more than a second ahead of senior Addie Frusti in the longer race.
“I ran behind Kendra because she’s my pacesetter,” she said. “It felt good to have a meet over here. It was fun. The weather is good, ideal for distance running.”
John 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) Norway welcomes back a home track meet with its junior high invitational April 28. (Middle) The long jump pit is prepared during the school’s first meet in nearly a decade. (Photos courtesy of Norway-Vulcan Area Schools.)