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.
Preview: Team Contenders Seek to Make Stars Align at LP Boys Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 29, 2026
Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Boys Track & Field Finals again will bring together a serious collection of star power at four sites across the Grand Rapids area.
But adding to an intriguing day is the relative unpredictability of the team title races. A large variety of schools have won championships over the last several years in all four divisions, and forecasting which might climb the podium this weekend remains a difficult task.
All four LP Finals will begin with pole vault and long jump beginning at 9 a.m., followed by race semifinals and the 3,200 relay at 10 a.m. and the rest of the running finals starting at noon. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream all four meets beginning at 10 a.m., viewable with subscription. Check out the Boys Track & Field page for meet information for all four sites and lists of all qualifiers. Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances or meeting early qualification standards. (Although not noted for most, several individuals below also will run on contending relays.)
Below is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all four divisions:
Division 1 at Rockford
Team forecast: We’re up to six teams that have won LPD1 championships over the last five seasons (with Fenton and Rockford tying for first in 2021). Belleville is the reigning champ and has some points potential again this weekend. But Detroit Catholic Central’s star power across several events could be a difference maker, with Oak Park, East Kentwood and potentially Grand Haven and Northville among others that could have the right mix of standouts, depth and variety to make a run at the team title.
Zacchaeus Brocks, Detroit Catholic Central senior: He’s one of the nation’s top high school hurdlers and seeded first in the 110 (13.26) and 300 (36.23) by notable margins, but is seeking his first title after his 2025 ended early because of an injury.
Wendell Childs Jr., Clarkston junior: He’s seeded second in the 800 (1:51.49) after winning that race a year ago.
Beckett Crooks, Ann Arbor Pioneer senior: The reigning 3,200 champion is seeded fourth (9:03.74) and won’t run another individual race as he’s scratched from the 1,600, where he also would have been seeded fourth.
Reece Emeott, East Kentwood senior: He’s looking to cap his high school career with a third-straight Finals championship in the pole vault and has the top-seeded vault (16-0) by three inches.
Samson Gash, Detroit Catholic Central senior: He won the 100 in an all-Finals record 10.41 seconds last season and also finished third in the 200, and he enters this weekend seeded second in both in 10.51 and 21.53 seconds, respectively.
Luka Hammond, Grand Haven senior: The reigning 1,600 champ is seeded first in that race (4:08.29) and the 3,200 (8:58.33) and fifth in the 800.
De-Mani Roberts, East Kentwood sophomore: He could make a splash entering as the top seed in the 400 (47.55), third seed in the 200 (21.55) and sixth seed in the 100.
Division 2 at Hamilton
Team forecast: Parma Western became a first-time champion in this division a year ago, and Harper Woods may be the next with two top-seeded relays and more possibilities in sprints and hurdles. Flint Powers Catholic is seeking a first title as well and has three top-three seeded relays and potential points in sprints, hurdles and distance. Frankenmuth has won three team titles, its most recent in 2021, and might have the right mix with strong relays and a variety of events covered individually.
Declin Doroh, Stevensville Lakeshore junior: He finished second in the high jump last season but may be on the cusp of history with his statewide-best 7-0 at his Regional just an inch shy of the all-Finals record that has stood since 1989.
Ryan Good, Parma Western junior: Last season’s runner-up in the 800 has finished lower than first in an individual race just once across three events this spring and enters top-seeded in the 800 (1:50.11) and second-seeded in the 1,600 (4:16.30) after scratching from the 400, where he would have been seeded fifth.
Kaden Griffiths, Stevensville Lakeshore junior: He’ll return to the long jump pit seeking a third-straight championship and after winning last season’s by nearly 20 inches.
Zachary Overmyer, Edwardsburg senior: He won the high jump just ahead of Doroh last season and has continued to impress, seeding fourth for this weekend.
D.J. Wood, Battle Creek Harper Creek senior: He swept the hurdles championships last season and is seeded first in both the 110 (14.18) and 300 (tied at 38.44).
Division 3 at Kent City
Team forecast: Hanover-Horton tied for 33rd at last season’s Finals, but looks to have the power at relays and elsewhere to make a massive jump this weekend. Lansing Catholic could do the same after finishing ninth a year ago, and Ann Arbor Greenhills may make some noise with two top-seeded relays among a strong group on the running side.
Jack Deitsch, Reed City senior: The reigning champion in the long jump enters with the top Regional jump (22-10¼) plus is seeded second in the 100 (10.77) and will run the 200.
Hunter Eaton, Charlevoix junior: The fall’s Division 3 cross country champion also will look to repeat in the 3,200 and carries the second seed in that race (9:33.24) plus the second seed in the 1,600 (4:18.52) and sixth in the 800.
Dennis Jackson, Detroit Edison senior: He won the 400 last season and returns seeded first in that race (48.26) and fourth in the 200 (21.95).
Chaze Lorenz, Hart senior: He ran on three high-placing relays last season, including the champion 800, and could add a few individual titles seeded first this weekend in the 100 (10.67) and 200 (21.72) and second in the 400 (49.10).
Nolan Schaap, Kalamazoo Christian junior: He could make a big jump in his hurdles races, seeded first in the 300 (39.40) after finishing 14th a year ago and seeded fourth in the 110 after placing 15th during the 2025 prelims.
Division 4 at Hudsonville Baldwin
Team forecast: Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep finished just a point behind champion Southfield Christian last season and most recently won back-to-back Division 4 titles in 2022 and 2023. Distance dominance could bring the Irish to the top of the podium again this weekend. Eau Claire, Manchester, Reading and Royal Oak Shrine also are intriguing possibilities on the board.
Marek Butkiewicz, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep senior: The two-time Finals champion in cross country also has won the 3,200 the last two seasons and the 1,600 last spring. He’s seeded first in the 1,600 (4:14.83) and 3,200 (9:05.33) and third in the 800 (1:57.79).
Abenezer Cerone, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic senior: The reigning champion in the 800 is seeded first in that race (1:52.24) and the 400 (49.33), fourth in the 1,600 and also has qualified in the 200.
Grant Johnson, Manchester senior: He finished third in the 110 hurdles and fifth in the 300 last season but enters this weekend seeded first in the 110 (14.84) and sixth in the 300, and he’s also expected to long jump.
Oliver Long, Morrice senior: The two-time reigning champion in the shot put is seeded first (56-9) by nearly five feet, and also fourth in the discus.
Dawson Scharer, Hillsdale Academy senior: He won the 300 hurdles and finished second in the 110 a year ago. He is seeded second in both in 39.06 and 14.92 seconds, respectively, and he’s also scheduled to run the 200.
PHOTOS (Top) Royal Oak Shrine’s Abenezer Cerone leads during the 800 meters at Friday’s Oakland County Championships. (Middle) Grand Haven’s Luca Hammond, followed by Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Beckett Crooks, pushes toward the finish during the Diamond 1,600 at Romeo’s Barnyard Invitational this season. (Photos by Dave McCauley, at Oakland County, and John Brabbs at Romeo/RunMichigan.com.)