10 to Remember: Winter 2012-13
April 4, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This winter in Michigan will be remembered by some as lasting seemingly forever. But at least we had plenty to enjoy over the five weeks from the end of February through March.
Below are 10 stories from this winter's Finals that we're likely to recall for years to come. They aren't necessarily the 10 most exciting moments, but rather 10 stories of particular significance covering every sport the MHSAA sponsors during this mostly-indoor season.
A few that just missed the list: Livonia Stevenson winning that hockey town's first hockey title, St. Ignace's first perfect girls basketball finish, Flint Beecher's last-second success in the Class C Boys Basketball Final, East Grand Rapids' four-point win in Division 3 swimming and diving and the emergence of Troy's Christina Shabet as the MHSAA's top gymnast.
There are plenty of others we could mention as well. Feel free to post about them after checking out our 10.
Saline Seniors Leave Mark
One of the most impressive swimming and diving classes in MHSAA history finished its high school career March 9 in Holland the same way it began four seasons ago. Saline won its fourth-straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship anchored by seniors David Boland, Josh Ehrman, Michael Bundas and Adam Whitener, who combined hold four Division 1 Finals individual and two relay records. Ehrman finished his prep career with the all-class/division records in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke, and those four hold the all-class/division record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:30.01 – good also for third in the national record book. Click to read more.
Fowlerville’s Coon Finishes with 4
Only 16 others had accomplished what Fowlerville’s Adam Coon achieved to finish his MHSAA wrestling career. And none had done so wrestling at the heaviest weights. On March 2 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Coon became the 17th athlete to win four MHSAA wrestling individual titles by picking up his second at 285 pounds after also winning two at 215. He finished his career with a record of 211-3 and won 194 straight matches dating to his freshman season. Click to read more.
Comets Shine for 6th Consecutive Gymnastics Win
Despite graduating the Division 1 all-around champion (again) and facing a talented Canton team (again), Grand Ledge won the team title again – for the sixth-straight time, the longest streak in MHSAA gymnastics history. On March 8 at Canton High School, the Comets scored 149.350 points – fifth-most in MHSAA Finals history. What are the chances for seven in a row? They’ll have a strong start: junior Presley Allison won the Division 2 all-around title the next day, and freshman Rachel Hogan won the Division 1 floor competition. Click to read more.
Hudson Completes Drive for 5
The Tigers won three of the final four matches to edge Hesperia 32-24 in the Division 4 Team Wrestling Final on Feb. 23 at Kellogg Arena and earn their fifth-straight MHSAA title – tying the 2002-06 Davison teams for the longest such streak since the Team Finals began in 1988. Hudson was loaded with 11 Individual Finals qualifiers, including three who went on to win their weights the following weekend. Click to read more.
This Time, It’s Romulus’ Turn
Romulus advanced to Boys Basketball Finals weekend at Breslin Center for the fourth time in six seasons, and on March 23 left with its first MHSAA championship since 1986. The Eagles had just fallen short a number of times during the recent run, but controlled from the tip in downing Detroit Southeastern 61-49 to claim the Class A title. Romulus finished this season 27-1. Click to read more.
Grand Haven Wins Repeat Class A Final
Only a few things about Grand Haven were the same this season as in 2011-12, including one significant advantage – 6-foot-5 center Abby Cole. After putting up 23 points, 19 rebounds and 12 blocks in a Semifinal win over Westland John Glenn, she tallied 11 points, seven rebounds and eight blocks in a 60-54 overtime win over Grosse Pointe South on March 16 at the Breslin Center to give the Buccaneers two straight Class A title wins – both over the Blue Devils. Click to read more.
Puck Stops Here as Brighton Marches On
The Bulldogs claimed their second-straight Division 1 hockey championship March 9 at Compuware Arena with what has become a characteristic defensive stand, this time in a 2-1 win over 10-time champ Detroit Catholic Central. Brighton goalie James Milletics stopped 37 of 38 shots against him, and his team finished a 12-game winning streak during which it gave up only 12 goals total. Click to read more.
No Stopping Carlson’s Cheer Dynasty
All four MHSAA cheer champions March 2-3 at the Grand Rapids DeltaPlex were repeat winners from 2012, but Carlson faced an intriguing set of circumstances. Although coach Danielle Jokela basically had served as a co-coach with Christine Wilson through four titles over the previous five seasons, this was her first time leading the team solo with Wilson now coaching Brighton. And the Marauders pulled out a third-straight title despite losing all-stater Annie Hajec to an injury during the Regional the weekend before. Click to read more.
Trojans Skiers Second No Longer
Traverse City Central’s girls skiing team had finished MHSAA runner-up five straight seasons before hoisting its first championship trophy since 2005 on Feb. 25 at Boyne Mountain. The Trojans finished with 81 points, 11 better than runner-up Walled Lake Central. Shannon Weaver was the individual runner-up in both the slalom and giant slalom to lead the effort. Click to read more.
Vandercook Lake Wins Battle of Bowling Powers
After facing each other and splitting the last two Division 4 titles, it seemed fate that Vandercook Lake and Sandusky should meet again in the 10th year of the MHSAA tournament on March 1 at Sunnybrook Golf and Bowl. The teams were separated by only six pins with three frames to roll before Vandercook Lake pulled away for a 1,322-1,166 win. The Jayhawks' Malloree Ambs won the individual title the next day. Click to read more.
Benzie's Jones Caps Legendary Career with 4th Title, Hart Makes History with 1st
November 5, 2022
BROOKLYN – Runners at Hunter Jones’ level don’t get racing advice from just anybody.
In the days leading up to his bid for history at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final, the Benzie Central senior chatted with the most legendary distance runner to compete at the Michigan high school level.
Jones’ coach thought it would be a good idea for him to talk with former Rockford star Dathan Ritzenhein, a three-time Olympian whose time of 14:10.4 at Michigan International Speedway in 2000 has never been approached.
“I had a phone call with him a couple days ago,” Jones said. “He just kind of coached me through what to do. It’s pretty cool we have that connection and we are 1 and 2 in the state.
“He just told me don’t worry about time. His advice was just go out and red-line the whole time, just go hard the whole time. I did that. My legs were pretty tired in the middle. I couldn’t push as much as I wanted to.”
Jones hoped to make a run at Ritzenhein’s course record, but strong winds at MIS threw that pursuit out the window. He had to be satisfied with putting his name in the record books as the first boy to win the LP championship four times under the MHSAA Divisional format and breaking the Division 3 record of 14:52.8 set by Ovid-Elsie’s Maverick Darling in 2007. He is the third runner to win four MHSAA Finals boys titles and second in Lower Peninsula history, following only Central Lake’s Ryan Shay and his four Class D championships from 1993-96.
Jones’ time of 14:46.50 surpasses the time of 14:49.62 by Hartland’s Riley Hough in 2020 as the No. 2 performance all-time at MIS.
Jones was aware of Ritzenhein’s legend well before he began targeting some of his times.
“I’ve known about him since I was probably in seventh or eighth grade,” Jones said. “Just looking at his times, that’s crazy. To get this close, I’m extremely happy.”
Jones comes from the same part of the state as Shay.
“To have that up-north connection with Ryan Shay, it’s great because there’s not a lot of people up there compared to a metro area like Detroit and Grand Rapids,” Jones said. “It’s great that someone where maybe they don’t have as many advantages as other people is doing well.”
Jones cleared the field by more than a minute. The race for second place was considerably more dramatic, as Clayton Ackey of Hart outleaned Parks Allen of Ithaca by three hundredths of a second with a time of 15:52.14. Jones was already in the middle of an interview when they battled to the line.
Jones never lost to a Division 3 or 4 runner during his four seasons racing in a Benzie Central uniform. He won all 11 of his races this year and 51 of 54 races during his career. His only career losses were to top Division 1 and 2 runners.
“I only had two races this year that I really had any competition,” he said. “The rest of the time, it was me winning by 40 seconds-plus. It is what it is. Hopefully my time holds up as the fastest today so I can get the Mr. Cross Country award.”
Hart won the team championship with 116 points, beating runner-up Traverse City St. Francis by 31. St. Louis was third with 161. The team title was Hart’s first and came after the Pirates finished runners-up in 2020 and 2021.
Hart had three runners crack the top 12 overall and the top seven in the team race. Following Clayton Ackley were senior Wyatt Dean in eighth in 16:20.05, senior Seth Ackley in 12th in 16:27.51, senior Caleb Bitely in 44th in 17:17.71 and senior Easton Vander Zwaag in 116th in 17:58.80.
St. Francis had its five scoring runners crack the top 74 overall, with its first runner 23rd-place Josh Slocum.
PHOTOS (Top) Benzie Central’s Hunter Jones throws up the customary four fingers to symbolize his four championships as he crosses the line at MIS on Saturday. (Middle) Hart’s Clayton Ackley, right, and Ithaca’s Parks Allen run stride for stride together toward the finish. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)