10 to Remember: Spring 2015
June 25, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The close of June officially ends of another school year. And this season’s MHSAA Finals provided another strong finish with a number of memorable moments sure to be recalled for years to come.
Below is one person’s list of the 10 most significant, drawn from the title-earning performances of 129 teams and hundreds of individuals this spring.
10. Rockford Holds On for Third Straight Girls Lacrosse Title
The Rams saw an 8-1 lead dissolve to a one-goal advantage after Bloomfield Hills Marian scored in the 22nd minute of the second half of their Division 1 Final. Rockford goalie Katie Elwell turned away a shot to tie the game with 55 seconds left, and her team won a jumpball deep on its side of the field with 36 seconds to play to hold on to a 10-9 victory – and claim a third straight MHSAA championship. Rockford is one of three programs to win four MHSAA titles during the 11 seasons of tournament sponsorship. Marian is a two-time runner-up.
9. Hartland Baseball Goes 10 Innings to Win First MHSAA Title
Hartland scored in the first inning of the Division 1 Final in pursuit of its first MHSAA championship in the sport – but then didn’t score again until the bottom of the 10th inning. Junior pitcher John Baker threw all 10 innings for the Eagles, allowing only five hits and striking out 11 batters, and he also had two hits and drove in the game’s first run. Portage Northern also was making its first MHSAA Final appearance in baseball.
8. Northville Girls Tennis Joins First-time Champs; Nguyen Joins Elite
The Northville girls tennis team was one of 32 teams over all sports that won their first MHSAA championships during the 2014-15 school year. The Wildcats finished an impressive five points ahead of Midland Dow, winning three doubles and two singles flights. Utica’s Davina Nguyen, meanwhile, finished as one of the most accomplished champions in MHSAA history, becoming only the sixth player to win at least three titles at No. 1 singles. Nguyen also won in Division 1 as a freshman and junior.
7. Cranbrook Kingswood Regains Boys Lacrosse Title on Last-Second Winner
Johnny Wagner scored 177 goals over his three-season varsity career for Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, but his last had to be the most spectacular. Three days after sending the Cranes to the Final with an overtime game-winning goal, Wagner scored in the Division 2 championship decider with 10.5 seconds to play to give his team the final edge in a 10-9 victory over Okemos. The winner was his fifth goal of the game.
6. Gull Lake Girls Soccer Wins Again on Shootout Success
The only shots to find the net in the Division 2 Final came during an overtime shootout won by Gull Lake to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 victory and their third straight MHSAA championship. That’s not to say the game lacked for excitement, with the teams combining for 37 shots. Gull Lake had also won its Regional Semifinal in a shootout and finished the spring 25-1-1. Fenton was making its first MHSAA Finals appearance in the sport, seeking its first title in any sport since 1993.
5. Warren Regina Softball Stuns After Slow Start
Teams that open 3-11 usually don’t finish as championship contenders – but those teams don’t have the MHSAA’s winningest coach, Diane Laffey, running the show to go with a strong group of upperclassmen who emerged from a competative Detroit Catholic League Central. Regina won its sixth MHSAA title and first since 2007 by downing favored Caledonia 5-0 in the Division 1 Final. Senior Marissa Tiano struck out nine batters in giving up only two hits after giving up only four hits in a 7-1 Semifinal win over Mattawan.
4. DeWitt Boys Golf Sticks Winning Shots; Carlson Goes All-Time Low
DeWitt senior Geoffry Croley birdied off the flagstick on the No. 18 hole at Forest Akers East to help the Panthers edge Cranbrook Kingswood 594-595 and claim the Lower Peninsula Division 2 title, its first since 2011. His younger brother, freshman Joey, made par on his final hole (No. 16) to also help secure the win. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s Nick Carlson finished his high school career with a second individual title and the all-time low 36-hole score in MHSAA Finals history, a 134, to edge Matt Harmon’s 135 for East Kentwood in 2001.
3. Saline Unbeatable in Claiming First Girls Soccer Title
The Hornets compiled one of the most impressive seasons in MHSAA girls soccer history in making their first Final and then winning it. Saline gave up a mere four goals – tied for third-fewest in MHSAA history – in 25 games and finished with a 22-0-3 record capped by a 4-0 win over Grand Blanc in the Division 1 championship game. The team’s 22 shutouts also rank tied for third in MHSAA girls soccer history. Senior Taylor Mulder set a school record with 43 goals this season with her second of this game.
2. Legend of Beaubien Grows with Monroe St. Mary Softball Title
Meghan Beaubien already was known by those who follow softball statewide – not many sophomores get a chance to commit to the University of Michigan so early. But what she and the Kestrels did in winning the program’s first MHSAA championship was pretty legendary. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central outscored its postseason opponents by a combined 29-0 over seven games, beating Bronson 2-0 in the Division 3 Final with Beaubien taking a perfect game into the seventh inning and hitting a two-run homer.
1. Fisher, Saline Finish Strong in Boys Track and Field Final
The Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final was filled with notable finishes – including a pair that will be listed in the national record book next month. Saline won its second MHSAA title in the sport and first since 2006, finishing ahead of East Kentwood – champion five of the last six seasons. The Hornets were keyed by a 3,200 relay of Logan Wetzel, Josiah Humphrey, Austin Welch and Kevin Hall that finished in 7:38.97 to rank among the best all-time in U.S. high school history Grand Blanc senior Grant Fisher posted the second-fastest 1,600 time in U.S. high school history, going 4:00.28.; he graduated with five individual MHSAA Finals titles. Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills’ Donavan Brazier also re-set the all-Finals record in the 800, running 1:48.98.
PHOTO: Grant Fisher, far right, set an MHSAA all-Finals record in the 1,600 that also ranks as the second-fastest in U.S. high school history. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com. Photos by John Brabbs.)
After Successful 'Sequel,' Suttons Bay's Hursey Embarking on Next Chapter
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
July 30, 2024
Thomas Hursey’s story is a Hollywood writer’s dream. He really is the stuff of sequels.
He could star in a remake of “Hoosiers” – titled in the singular as just “The Hoosier” – or maybe “Against All Odds II” is more fitting.
Hursey is a 2018 graduate of Suttons Bay High School. He was in a class of just 30 students. He grew up where there is snow on the ground, many argue, for six months of the year. He never played an Amateur Junior Golf Association tournament. And, he had zero scholarship offers from Division I colleges.
To top it off, basketball was his favorite sport in high school. It still is today.
Hursey, who admits he pretty much hated golf, switched his focus from the basketball court to the links midway through high school. He gave up on playing college basketball despite scoring 1,200 points during his career and achieving all-state status.
As a high school freshman, he helped a team comprised of only senior teammates win the Lower Peninsula Division 4 golf championship. He earned all-state in golf too and did receive a scholarship offer from Division II Ferris State University. He took it and excelled there.
So maybe his movie would be titled “The Bulldog.” Again, as a freshman at FSU, he had only senior teammates – and he was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
Hursey went on to pick up individual titles and conference player of the year awards as he led the Bulldogs to GLIAC championships and trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Today, many say Hursey could make a run at the PGA Tour – and they may wonder why he doesn’t. Instead, he is about to join a Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical company and put his science and business background to work.
He has a biology degree from Ferris and a master’s in business from Indiana University. He has no interest in playing an individual sport after his stellar high school team sports career at Suttons Bay. His preference is to work hard with teammates and relish a leadership role similar to the one he had playing for the Norsemen in golf, basketball and tennis and while running cross country.
“I am much more of a team-sport guy,” Hursey explained. “I can’t really get the same motivation when it’s just an individual tournament – I need to be surrounded by team.”
Unlike most Big Ten golfers, professional golf was never really on Hursey‘s mind. Veteran IU golf coach Mike Mayer believes Hursey is capable of continuing his golf career, but respects his decision to take another path.
“Thomas was a gift to us,” Mayer said. “Very truthfully, Thomas Hursey might very well be at the top of the list as a great athlete, and great golfer, but more importantly a great person.
“I have had a lot of great student-athletes and you don’t rank them, but at the same time you know which ones stand out,” Mayer continued. “And Thomas Hursey simply stands out.”
Hursey’s parents are former college athletes, retired teachers and longtime high school sports coaches. His father Todd was his high school coach and is now the golf coach at Traverse City West. His mother Nicki was the Suttons Bay softball coach and coached siblings Laura and Jane on the softball field, where they became all-staters as well. Jane, a 2015 Suttons Bay graduate, was also an all-state basketball player. Laura, a 2020 grad, also starred in volleyball.
Thomas Hursey had a reputation as a nice competitor, and his parents treasure that even more than the success he found in high school and college sports.
“I always, and so did Todd, looked out more and hounded him be humble more than anything,” Nicki said. “He had talent and God-given gifts, but what made me so proud was just the way he acted on the course and the number of parents that come up to me and say what a wonderful son you have.”
Mayer, too, proudly recalls Thomas’ politeness and humility.
“As a coach, that’s at least as equally, if not more than rewarding than winning,” he said.
Mayer admits he secretly wishes Hursey would try pursuing professional golf, but respects his decision to end his golf career while it was still a team sport.
“Thomas Hursey has the athletic ability to play professional golf,” Mayer confirmed. “I fully understand his decision – he is going to be successful in whatever he chooses to do.”
Hursey had four top-20 and two top-10 outings for IU during his last season, including an 18th place finish at the Big Ten Championship. During his career at IU, Hursey was named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, a Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree and to the academic all-Big Ten team.
Hursey’s first love was basketball. He’s a fan of the Indiana Hoosiers program and became quite familiar over the years with Michigan State University coach Tom Izzo and his son, Steven.
The Izzo connection started when Michigan State was recruiting Dwaun Anderson, a Suttons Bay graduate and the Mr. Basketball Award winner in 2011.
Hursey recalls all the hardest practices in basketball as he hoped to someday play at the college level. He had a tremendous work ethic on the court, and it helped his transition to golf.
Even though golf is the most difficult sport he’s taken on, Hursey mastered it more easily because of his desire to get better and not let anything get in the way of success.
“The chip on my shoulder – the grit I had – I think that helped me get to the next level in golf,” Hursey noted. “I really never felt I was as good as I was – I still don’t think I am.
“People tell me I’m good at golf, and I just don’t believe that because I just have this hunger to get better,” Hursey continued. “I am my biggest critic.”
Hursey quickly added he benefitted from two other critics – his sisters. He’s admitted he believes they possess more athleticism than he does.
“They always pushed me to get better, and they always pushed me to work harder,” he said. “They are kind of no-nonsense people.
“Growing up I never got more encouragement from them as much as I did critiquing,” he continued. “That was huge in terms of molding me.”
Hursey’s accomplishments are not at the top of the minds of his parents and former athletic director.
“I always say I am excited about the things he accomplished, but I am proud of the way he is as a person,” Todd Hursey said. “I am proud of how he is and how he handled himself.”
Retired Suttons Bay athletics director, Doug Periard agrees. He watched Hursey’s work ethic develop early and found him regularly at open gyms. Periard also singled out Hursey’s sportsmanship.
“I cannot think of a discouraging word the young man ever said to a teammate or opponent,” Periard said. “He was able to demonstrate both sportsmanship and leadership in defeat, and also in victory.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Suttons Bay's Thomas Hursey prepares to shoot a free throw during his senior season, and at right Hursey remains at home on the golf course. (Middle) Hursey grabs a quick snack during a round while golfing for Indiana. (Below) Hursey, recently, with his parents Nicki and Todd. (Recent photos by Tom Spencer; Indiana and Suttons Bay photos courtesy of the Hursey family.)