Get Prepped for a Fantastic Finale
May 24, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We love this time of year. And not just because school is nearly out for summer.
There’s little argument that the week ahead is the most exciting of each MHSAA school year. And you’ll want to set your bookmarks for MHSAA.com and Second Half for updated results and coverage not just next week – but through the rest of this spring season.
The MHSAA.com Score Center is our home for scores from all District softball, baseball and soccer games, which begin Tuesday. You also can view real-time brackets for every District by going to the “Sports” page for each, and updated brackets for lacrosse by visiting our girls and boys pages for that sport as well.
In the Lower Peninsula, we’ll have same day or next morning results as golf Districts are played, and first-day results from next weekend’s Girls Tennis Finals on May 31 – followed by final results at the conclusion of play June 1. We’ll post Finals results for Upper Peninsula golf and tennis as we receive them Wednesday and Thursday, and then results for all seven Lower and Upper Peninsula Track and Field Finals as they come in June 1.
But results are only the start. As we have during the fall and winter, Second Half will provide coverage including photos from every MHSAA Final – beginning with Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Girls and Boys Golf and Boys Tennis Finals. Keep an eye on Second Half throughout the week, or follow the Second Half feed on the cover page of MHSAA.com.
Transfer rule clarification
We released Monday the actions our Representative Council took earlier this month at its Spring Meeting, including an addition to the athletics-related portion of our transfer rule. Based on some questions we’ve received and read, here’s some further explanation of what will be installed for 2014-15:
The longer period of ineligibility for athletes who transfer because of athletics is not new. This has previously existed for cases in which a school could prove that it lost a student to another school purely for sports-related reasons.
What’s new is what must be proven and by whom for the longer ineligibility period to take effect. Now, a school that lost a student does not have to file a report with the MHSAA for the case to be considered. As long as one of a set of offending activities can be verified – including practicing, competing or training with a member of the new school’s coaching staff during summer or non-school sports activities or seasons – that student will have to sit 180 days instead of the usual period of roughly a semester. The 15 exemptions that allow a student to be eligible immediately – like making a full move to a new district or a student’s school closing – may still apply.
So, to conclude: The longer athletics-related ineligibility period is not new, just how athletics-related transfers are considered and reported. Click to read the full release.
Kickoff is coming
And that means we’re collecting varsity football schedules.
In fact, we have most of them thanks to our athletic directors, their secretaries, coaches and many others who chip in to help us keep complete and accurate information throughout the season.
But there are still plenty of steps in getting ready for August – and a huge one is locking down correct leagues for our teams this season, especially as schools continue to switch things up.
Check out your school’s schedule page by click on the “Schools” button in the menu bar at the top of MHSAA.com and searching for your school. Once on the school page, click the blue “Boys” button next to football. The schedule will appear in the middle of the page, with standings to the left.
See an error in a schedule or the standings? Email me at [email protected]. I thank you in advance.
Kramer’s words of wisdom
Long before Roy Kramer served as athletic director at Vanderbilt University, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and creator of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) for Division I college football, he coached multiple sports at East Lansing High School.
He recently was named winner of this year’s Duffy Daugherty Award, given in honor of the former Michigan State University coach to a valued coach or contributor to college football. The award, presented in East Lansing, is among those recognized by the College Football Hall of Fame.
Kramer finished his acceptance speech with a stirring endorsement of the sport that brought the crowd of more than 300 to its feet. If you’re a fan, former or current player or coach, see below.
PHOTO: Athletes race toward the finish of a relay during this spring's Alma College Invitational. (Click to see more at HighSchoolsSportsScene.com.)
4-Sport Standout Salenbien Stacking Varsity Letters, Leading Adrian's Hoops Rise
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 8, 2026
ADRIAN – Ella Salenbien is very competitive.
And maybe a little stubborn.
Salenbien didn’t want to have to choose which sports to concentrate on at Adrian High School – so she picked them all. Salenbien is on track to graduate this spring with 16 varsity letters for the Maples – four each in volleyball, swimming, basketball and soccer.
“Sometimes a coach, even college coaches, would ask me if I was going to concentrate on swimming and I would say no,” Salenbien said. “I didn’t want to choose. I wanted to play them all.”
Salenbien hasn’t just played sports at Adrian; she’s set records and excelled. This winter, she’s leading something of a re-birth of basketball for the Maples, who are off to a 6-1 start, the best for the school in more than a decade, maybe two.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “We are definitely playing as a team. This is the third or fourth year that a lot of us have played together. We are all very close.”
Salenbien is closing in on 1,000 career points in basketball and is likely to set the Maples career rebounding record.
In volleyball, she finished with more than 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. She holds five school records in swimming. Last spring she set the Adrian assists record in soccer with 17.
Playing four sports requires a lot of time management, communication and cooperation between coaches, which Salenbien says has been great.
“I send out a weekly schedule to my coaches and parents just so everyone knows what’s going on,” she said. “There are days where I might have swimming practice and volleyball practice, so I split my time. It’s never been a problem. I feel like it was a lot my freshman year, but after that I got the hang of it.”
Swimming evolved into her top sport and something she did year-round for years between varsity swimming with Adrian and club swimming, both outdoor and indoor.
“I’d swim for the (Lenawee County) Gators after my high school season,” she said. “I’d train and compete for the state meet, zone meet and national meet, which is in Greensboro, North Carolina. Then I would come back, take a short break, and go into soccer. There’s not a lot of breaks in between seasons. I don’t have a lot of down time.”
Salenbien isn’t one to ask for down time.
“I’m pretty competitive and like to stay busy,” she said.
She started swimming with the Maple Pride program at the age of 7.
“I picked it up fast and enjoyed it,” she said.
She’s developed into a sprinter in the pool. Salenbien finished third in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyles at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals in November.
“I love the pace and jumping in the water and going as fast as I can,” she said. “I’m not a distance swimmer. There is a rush you get. I love anchoring a relay. I love it when I am one or two lengths behind when I dive in and I catch up and pass someone. I am swimming and I can look over and think, ‘I got this.’”
She committed to Hope College for swimming.
“My (college) coach even asked me if I was interested in talking to the volleyball coach,” she said. “I told him that I didn’t think so. I am kind of excited to have the chance to focus on swimming in college and see how I do.”
The daughter of Eric and Sarah Salenbien of Adrian has two younger siblings, both of whom are already deep into athletics. Ella likes to spend the summer at her grandmother’s lake house in the Irish Hills, especially in the water.
“I love tubing,” she said. “I sometimes will take a swim across the lake and back. It’s about two miles.”
Salenbien also works at a nursing home in Adrian and recently received her Certified Nurse Assistant certification.
The 17-year-old is happy to be focusing on basketball right now, especially with the Maples off to such a great start under second-year coach Caylie Boehmer, an Adrian graduate.
“She’s been great,” Salenbien said. “She played college basketball, so she has us practicing like they do in college. She leads us well.”
Boehmer called Salenbien an outstanding athlete and even better human being.
“She has been a huge asset to all the programs at Adrian that she has been a part of, and we are lucky to have her,” she said. “She is an extremely hard worker, fierce competitor and as tough as they come.”
Friday the Maples take on their biggest rival, Tecumseh, the reigning Division 2 champion and heavy favorite in the Southeastern Conference White.
“It’s going to be tough,” Salenbien said. “They are very good. I know a lot of the girls on the team. They are tough, but we have nothing to lose. We are just going to go out and do our best. We’re not going to back down.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Ella Salenbien swims a race this past season. (Middle) Salenbien (21) elevates for the opening tip at the start of a game against Dundee. (Photos provided by Salenbien family.)