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.
Jenison Rolling Through Hot Streak, Rising in Rankings as Playoffs Approach
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
May 21, 2025
JENISON – During the earliest beginnings of this season, Jenison baseball coach Chris Ter Vree noticed certain aspects of his team were lacking.
Although overflowing with talent and buoyed by the return of five key seniors from last year’s 32-win team, improvements would be needed in order for the Wildcats to achieve their desired success.
“We've made some huge strides as a group,” Ter Vree said. “We knew this was going to be a very talented group, but once we got into the early part of the season we saw some areas that we had to get better at and we got a lot better at them.
“That has allowed us to be successful. It’s watching them interact like they do and it's watching them fight back down four runs to a very good Byron Center team (Monday night) and not give up.”
The Wildcats (24-5-1) have emerged as one of the hottest teams in the state, as evident by their winning 14 of their last 15 games and jumping up to No. 6 in the Division 1 rankings.
They clinched at least a share of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green title Monday by defeating No. 16 Byron Center 4-0 in the first game of the doubleheader. The conference crown is Jenison’s first since winning the O-K Black seven years ago.
“It's just an exceptional group of guys who enjoy playing the game of baseball with each other,” Ter Vree said. “And just being a coach of a group of guys like this is so much fun and so enjoyable. Just to watch them enjoy the game.”
A superb pitching staff, led by senior Case Bosch, has helped the Wildcats keep opposing teams in check. The 6-foot-5 lefthander has committed to Coastal Carolina.
“He’s fun to watch on the mound, and I’ve coached him for four years so it’s sad to think this journey with him is almost done,” Ter Vree said. “His composure is fantastic, and you can’t rattle him. He throws so many pitches for strikes, and he is a smart guy. He calls his own pitches and we don’t allow a lot of people to do that. We are very fortunate to have, I think, the best pitcher in the state on our staff.”
Junior hurler Ethan Lenzo has exceeded expectations and has been one of the “biggest surprises” on the team, according to Ter Vree. The pitching staff also includes seniors AJ Park, Ben Slagter and Braydon Hilaski, and juniors Parker Felgner and Kelson Swainston.
Junior Pierce Ginzer also has pitched and batted well since coming back from a hamstring injury.
“We have a lot of guys who have done a really good job of coming in and pounding the strike zone,” Ter Vree said. “We are very fortunate to have a very strong pitching group, and we’re thankful for that.
“We’ve also been really good at the plate. Up and down the lineup, we just have a really solid group of guys.”
Park, a Davenport commit who has delivered timely hitting, believed this year’s team could be special.
“We had our five seniors returning, and we had the expectation of being a winning program,” Park said. “We had a lot of juniors coming up who we knew had talent, and we hoped that they could carry it on and play the roles they had, and it’s been going well.
“Pitching has been strong for us, and I think over the last three weeks we’ve really picked it up and been playing some pretty good ball. We've been hitting the ball a lot more consistently up and down our lineup, and that has helped out a lot.”
The Wildcats have been especially dominant on the road, winning six in a row.
“We love playing at home, but it doesn’t faze our guys at all when we go on the road,” Ter Vree said. “We like to have the other crowd be a little loud, and we also like to show people what we are capable of. We like being challenged by that.”
Ter Vree said he had shied away from setting goals for this season, but would like nothing better than to win the conference outright.
A victory in either a resumed game against Byron Center on Thursday (currently tied 4-4 in the seventh inning after a late Jenison rally) or the following meeting will give the Wildcats the title outright.
“One thing we’ve gone away from is setting up goals, just because sometimes it's good to do and sometimes not good to do,” Ter Vree said. “But Monday night winning that first game did give us the opportunity to check off one of those boxes that we talked about at the beginning of the year. We knew this was going to be a good conference to be a part of, and we knew Byron Center was probably going to be the team that was returning a lot of starters and coached extremely well.
“We knew it would come down to that last series and it was good to get that first one out of the way knowing that no matter what happens these next two games, we have a share of the O-K Green. We’re happy about that, but we don’t like sharing things so we're definitely looking to win one of the next two games so this can be ours because this group of guys definitely deserves it.”
Jenison begins the postseason next week against Holland West Ottawa. And while the team hopes to make a deep run, Ter Vree said the outcome won’t define the season.
“We want to win a District title and make a run, but it’s not going to make or break the season,” Ter Vree said. “We’re just trying to continue to have a great season, but it’s not going to write the story of this team. They’ve already written their story, and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”
The Wildcats suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss to Hudsonville in last year’s District Final, and a potential rematch against the Eagles is expected.
“I think we’re ready (for the playoffs),” Park said. “We know who we’re playing, and we’re looking to play them (Hudsonville) in the Finals. Last year we lost 1-0, but we’re coming back to see what we can do.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Jenison, including pitcher Brayden Hilaski, catcher Vince Fantin, coach Chris Ter Vree and Case Bosch (20), huddles on the pitching mound during a game this season. (Middle) AJ Park watches one of his drives as his teammates also follow the action from the dugout. (Below) Pierce Ginzer waits for the next pitch. (Photos courtesy of the Jenison baseball program.)