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.
Slanger Stars in Net as Rockford Caps 1st Finals Run with 1st Championship
By
Brian Freiberger
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2026
EAST LANSING – Rockford – playing in its first MHSAA Final in girls soccer Friday – finally broke through a vaunted Troy defense during the second half to earn its first championship with a 2-0 win over the Colts at DeMartin Stadium.
“Our word this year is relentless. We're so proud of them. Troy was well coached and organized. They played a formation that we didn't see very much,” Rockford coach Stu Quackenbush said. “Troy won the first half and the girls were frustrated, but at halftime, the seniors stepped up. They said the right things. We were having a hard time winning first and second balls, and the seniors did a great job of helping players understand that. Then they bought into different roles. … They were confident in each other, confident in their abilities to make adjustments.”
Both senior-led teams left it all out on the field with everything on the line. Rockford had 16 seniors, while Troy competed with nine.
Both teams had plenty of chances to find the back of the net in the first half, but quality defensive lines and solid goalkeeper play kept the score 0-0 going into the break.
Rockford (21-2) and Troy (16-4-2) wouldn’t separate until midway through the second half when senior forward Isla Brown found the back of the net thanks to a centering pass from Sawyer Lenon to take a 1-0 lead with 17 minutes remaining.
“This means so much to me. We’ve been working hard for the past four years to bring a state championship home,” Brown said.
Troy would not back down, nearly scoring multiple times, but the Rams defense and goalkeeper Kaia Slanger wouldn’t let it happen.
“I was just thinking that we got the ball, but we need to stay locked in. Anything can happen,” Slanger said. “It feels really awesome to win a state championship. This shows that all of our hard work led up to this, and we deserved it. I love every single one of those girls. We’ve been playing together for so long, and we are a family. It's gonna be hard to leave this.”
Quackenbush credited Slanger with having the best game of her career.
“(Slanger) played the best game of her life. It's a great time to choose to do that at the state championship. I couldn't be more proud of the kid. We had some question marks going into the year at goalkeeper. … (Slanger) is the player we needed today, and she was confident, she was brave, and the girls are so proud of her,” Quackenbush said.
After a Colts scoring chance, Rockford got on the run with time running out and sent a ball deep in the Colts' zone where senior captain Sydney DeKuiper found Amelia Chapin for the second goal with fewer than two minutes remaining.
The Colts (16-4-2) held the Rams' potent offense in check for most of the night, besides a few lapses during the evenly-matched game.
“Sometimes that's the cruel reality of the game. The ball doesn't always bounce your way. Rockford had a good game plan. They knew what they were getting themselves into. We knew what we were getting ourselves into, and we knew it was just going to be a heavyweight battle,” Troy coach Tony Casali said. “It's not the trophy we wanted, but there are 110 D1 teams, and there are two teams left standing today. It's definitely an honor to be out here. It's an honor to coach those girls.”
Casali, along with his senior-heavy roster, catapulted the Colts to their first championship game since 2013.
“This is my first year coaching (at Troy), so I didn't have a chance to get to know these seniors as freshmen coming in,” Casali said. “But what I did get the chance to get to know is the commitment they have, the resiliency they have. These girls have laid a big foundation.”
PHOTOS (Top) Rockford goalkeeper Kaia Slanger, far left, makes a stop as Troy and Rockford players pursue the ball Friday at DeMartin Stadium. (Middle) Troy’s Kaylee Worrell (6) controls the ball while Rockford’s Rylan Potter attempts to take possession. (Below) The Rams celebrate their championship win. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)