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.
Gladstone's Karl Siblings Talented In Taking to Air in High Jump, Pole Vault
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2025
ESCANABA — Three members of the Karl family have shown over the last few years a major interest in taking flight – at least from a track & field sense.
Gladstone sophomore Andrew Karl and his sister, freshman Maggie Karl, have found success in high jump, following older sister Kristy Karl – the girls school record holder in the event.
The younger two siblings also have shined in pole vault, Maggie tying the school record and Andrew just an inch away from doing the same on the boys side.
Kristy Karl, who has cleared 5 feet in high jump several times this season, owns the school record in that event at 5-foot-1 set a year ago. She will try to surpass that at Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Kingsford.
“I need to put everything together,” she said. “Every time before I jump, I go over what I need to do. I started jumping in middle school. I figured out three-stepping this year and got the whole thing down.”
Kristy, who will attend classes at Bay College this fall, won high jump at 4-10 in the Regional on May 16 in Escanaba, and Maggie shared third place with Sault Ste. Marie freshman Isabelle McCord, both also at 4-10. Kristy also helped Gladstone win the 400-meter relay (52.56) and was runner-up in the 100 hurdles (16.97) on a lean by Escanaba junior Ava Stahlboerger.
Maggie Karl matched the school pole vault record with a winning leap of 9 feet as did senior teammate Chelsey Demeuse, who was edged on a tie-breaker as the Regional concluded Wednesday.
Boys’ pole vault started 12 days earlier, but was suspended after an Escanaba vaulter received injuries in a mishap during the Regional.
“It feels good to get this in,” Maggie said. “It’s so close to the Finals, although I think this is pretty helpful. I just wanted to qualify. How high you go depends on how you run (during the approach). I don’t remember exactly how I got started, but started jumping in seventh grade and I think it sparked an interest.”
Andrew Karl has soared as high as 14-3 in the pole vault this season, just an inch shy of the school record set by Josh Syverson in 2009.
He cleared 13 feet, good enough for third place as the Regional concluded.
“Changing the routine was the most challenging part,” he said. “You schedule your practices in advance. Consistency is key in any event. It’s a matter of deciding when to go hard and when to back off. I had plenty of height, but didn’t have the consistency with my pole.”
Maggie said she and Josh practice each Thursday during the summer at the Gladstone track.
“I think it helps,” she added. “Josh gives me pointers. Kristy doesn’t come down to the track quite as often, but she comes as much as she can and helps me with high jump.”
Josh, who started vaulting in middle school, is about to finish his third year of jumping.
“I like a good challenge, mentally and physically,” he said. “The biggest thing is to not think of it at all while you’re jumping because it becomes second nature. It’s a real balancing act. You’ve got to stick with it. It’s about consistency and never giving up. You just keep going.”
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.
PHOTO Gladstone’s Andrew Karl clears the bar during the pole vault competition at this season’s Negaunee Lions Invitational. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)