Eventually, the sun will shine ...
April 25, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We all believe that, right?
Rain – and snow for some – has been the buzzword of this spring sports season. Just about every newspaper is writing about it and every athletic director, coach, player and parent is dreading it on a now-daily basis.
But eventually, we expect the weather to clear up and teams to play catch-up. To that end, there are limitations teams in some sports face when attempting to make up their games – but also opportunities to take advantage of while trying to fill out their regular-season schedules.
- Girls soccer and girls and boys lacrosse teams may play only three games during a week, Monday through Sunday. A weekend tournament – which generally includes 2 to 3 shortened games – counts as only one in this equation.
- Baseball and softball teams can play as many games as they want in a week, but no more than two on a school day – and baseball pitchers must not pitch for two days following their 30th out in a week.
- For tennis, an individual may not play more than three matches in one day – unless she or he is playing in a league championship tournament featuring more than eight schools for which a fourth match would decide the championship. That player also could not have played more than six sets that day heading into that fourth and final match.
- Golf and Track and Field do not have weekly contest limitations. Track and field athletes can compete in only four events per day.
As expected, a number of teams – especially for baseball and softball – are scheduling to smash in as many contests as possible into the next four weeks. Postseason play for tennis and lacrosse begins May 16 – three weeks from today.
But teams do have options.
One rarely used but anticipated to be used more this spring is an opportunity to continue playing regular-season contests through the final day of the MHSAA tournament in that sport. For example, a baseball team can continue making up games through June 15, the day of the MHSAA Finals in Battle Creek. A tennis team can play regular-season matches through June 1, etc.
Also, the MHSAA Executive Committee approved Thursday to allow for this spring two additional multi-team tournament dates for soccer and lacrosse, which will give those teams an opportunity to get in a few more games. That means soccer teams will be allowed to play in four multi-team tournaments instead of two, boys lacrosse four instead of two and girls lacrosse five instead of three.
Teams will have to do some juggling, no doubt, and all other tournament stipulations still apply (games generally are shortened so more can be played, etc.). But with a little creativity, teams could at least get in a few of their make-up games in this way.
Also, the Executive Committee approved a motion to waive the four-contest MHSAA tournament entry requirement for all Upper Peninsula schools in all sports this spring. As of the weekend, snow still covered parts of the U.P.
Gaps shrinking
Much has been discussed about minimums for all four MHSAA classes for 2013-14, and how they are the lowest student totals in at least a decade.
It’s true. The floor in Class A is 893 (down from 911 this school year), Class B starts at 429 (down from 449), Class C at 207 (down from 217) and Class D at 206 (down from 216).
However, there is a better way to crunch the numbers: Consider the shrinking gaps between the largest and smallest schools in each class.
For 2013-14, the gap in Class A is 1,888 students – 261 students fewer than 2007-08 and nearly 900 students fewer than in 2005-06. The gaps between largest and smallest in Classes B, C and D also are trending smaller – which means each class actually includes schools more similar in size, instead of a perceived other way around.
SAC 2013-14 on the way
We’re thankful for a valuable group of students who help us throughout the school year – our 16-member Student Advisory Council, made up of eight seniors and eight juniors from all over the state who are charged with providing feedback on issues impacting educational athletics from a student’s perspective, while also assisting at MHSAA championships and with special projects like the “Battle of the Fans.”
Selecting the next class to join is a highlight of every spring – but hardly an easy process.
A six-member selection committee, myself included, considered 62 sophomore applicants today from all over the Lower and Upper Peninsulas, representing all four of our classes and nearly every sport we sponsor.
Every candidate is impressive for a variety of reasons. That’s what makes this difficult – we could pick any number of combinations to make up our new SAC class, and no doubt leaders galore will emerge from another impressive group.
But there are only eight spots on the council. And we’ll announce who received them later next week.
PHOTO: A golfer attempts to keep warm during a round on a dreary day earlier this season. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Au Gres-Sims' Record-Setting Scorer Ming Pacing Standish-Sterling's Historic Strides
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 15, 2025
It wasn’t that there was an empty space in the Standish-Sterling athletics trophy case awaiting the opportunity to show off the latest hardware won by the girls soccer team.
There wasn’t a space reserved for the program at all.
But this year’s Panthers, led by record-setting goal-scorer Analeis Ming, are changing all of that in a dramatic way.
“We didn’t have many fans come the first couple years, but we’ve started winning and have a lot more people coming to games,” Ming said. “We finally got our first trophy, then we got two more, so we had to make space for our trophies. There wasn’t anywhere to put them.”
Standish, which has a soccer co-op with Au Gres-Sims, is 19-2 this season heading into its final game of the regular season. The Panthers have already clinched a Jack Pine Conference championship, their first-ever conference title in their first year in the league.
Coach Kacey Bentley, who has been in charge since 2017, said the most wins he’d previously had in a season was six, which came a year ago. The Panthers’ win total during his time as coach was 26 heading into this season.
“There’s no banner in the gym for soccer for boys or girls,” Bentley said. “There wasn’t much of anything else there, so this is a whole new feeling for us. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop for a long time, but no, we’re just really good, which is nice.”
At the heart of that turnaround is Ming, a junior from Au Gres, who has re-written the Standish record book as a scorer.
Ming has 57 goals through 21 games, breaking her own previous record for goals in a season, which was 30. She’s also surpassed the boys mark for goals in a season – that team also is a co-op between the two schools – which was 52.
As a team, the Panthers girls had 49 goals a year ago, making this the second-straight year Ming’s goal-scoring total has eclipsed the team’s from the previous year.
Her 102 career goals is tops among girls in the program, and she’s nine shy of the boys record.
If she doesn’t score again this spring, which is unlikely, she’d sit 17th on the all-time MHSAA list for goals in a season. But if she hits 60, she’d become just the ninth player in state history to accomplish the feat.
“It means a lot, but it’s really all about your team,” Ming said. “Most of my goals are assisted. But it’s nice to be recognized coming from a smaller school.’
Leading that assist parade is her sister, Charlotte, who is completing her freshman season. Charlotte Ming has a team-leading 23 assists, which broke Analeis’ previous school record of nine set a year ago.
“It’s a lot of non-verbal communication,” Analeis Ming said of the on-field connection with her sister. “We kind of just know. So it’s not like, ‘Hey, pass it now!’ She’s already passing it, and I’m going for it.”
Charlotte, who also has matched her sister’s freshman year goal tally of 15, is one of three Panthers to eclipse that previous assist record this season, as Analeis has 12 and senior midfielder Lily Thurlow has 11. Senior midfielder Ariel Johnson is just one away at eight.
“For this year, it’s our midfield,” Bentley said. “It’s there, and it’s consistent. It started a bit last year, the girls were experienced, and the majority of them are seniors this year, outside of Charlotte. It’s a sense of accomplishment: ‘We’re doing this (making a pass) and we know the probability of a goal is very high.’ The celebrations after the goals, it doesn’t matter if it’s her fifth or her first, they all get excited for it.”
When you have a (near) 60-goal scorer, of course, there are more assists to go around. But in order to score that often, it takes more than just skill and athleticism.
“It’s probably her tenacity,” Bentley said of Analeis Ming. “She’ll take on three players if she has to – I tell her not to, but she’ll do it, and she’ll get through the girls. It works. She makes the right touches to get around and she has it, then you have to deal with the velocity of that shot.”
Ming has spent much of her life around the sport, as her dad, Chris Ming, has coached at the club and high school level. She played for him in the Thundercats organization in New Baltimore, even moving up a year to play on a boys team that Chris was coaching.
“I think I see the field well,” she said. “I have good vision, and I’m able to see that the ball is going to go there, so I need to be here. I’ve been playing my whole life, and I watch soccer all the time. So watching it, and observing it, you start to see that.”
Teams have attempted, and mostly failed, to corral Ming this season, throwing more attention and bodies her way. It’s something she’s likely to see more of in the postseason as the competition continues to get more difficult. But with the best varsity team she’s ever been part of around her, the Panthers are ready for the challenge.
“It definitely helps, because we have more options,” she said. “Say I’m getting man-marked the entire night, I know it’s not the end of the world, because we have other outlets for scoring. We had one game where I didn’t score, but I had two assists and Charlotte had two goals. We’re seeing a lot more scoring this year from our team as a whole.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Standish-Sterling’s Analeis Ming (11) considers her options while controlling possession. (Middle) Standish-Sterling’s soccer players from Au Gres-Sims, from left: Analeis Ming, Ariel Johnson, Selah Anthony, Charlotte Ming and Kendall Bartlett. (Photos by Bill Morgan.)