Let's Play 2 (or 3, or 4)
February 16, 2012
A few conversations I had at last week's Women In Sports Leadership conference further affirmed a point I've been making for years -- high school athletes, if they'd like, shouldn't hesitate to play multiple sports.
Doing so does not hurt, but might just help their chances at landing that prized college scholarship -- on top of adding another layer to the high school sports experience.
Reaffirming this for me last week was Michigan State softball coach Jacquie Joseph, who spoke on that subject at the WISL conference. She's heading into her 24th season as a head coach at the Division I college level -- so she's been around for some of the evolution of both high school sports specialization and college recruiting. Plus, she coaches a sport that sees its share of athletes playing just that one.
Later, I spoke with a high school coach who leads teams in three sports and also played one at the Division I college level. She's a believer in this as well.
Some of the things I've been told over the years about playing more than one sport:
- It allows an athlete to learn more skills and hone more parts of his or her athleticism.
- Using another range of movement further helps condition an athlete's body and make it more resistant to injury.
- It's hardly rare to see a college football coach watching a prospect's basketball game -- coaches like to see how athleticism transfers across sports, and sometimes will see something from an athlete playing basketball that he didn't show on the football field. (Football and basketball are used in this example, but the same applies to a number of similar situations.)
- Athletes get an opportunity to play whatever they'd like only this once (unless they turn out to be that rare college athlete who takes on more than one sport at that level).
These are hardly new arguments. But they are always worth repeating -- especially when the people frequently making them (college coaches) are the ones single-sport athletes often are trying to impress.
Negaunee Finishes Championship Climb, Clinches 1st Girls Golf Title
By
Adam Hinch
Special for MHSAA.com
May 28, 2026
HARRIS — The Negaunee girls golf team enjoyed a historic Wednesday at Sage Run.
The Miners carded a 383 to win the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final by 24 strokes – with the championship the program’s first after previous runner-up finishes in 2000 and 2022, and a distant fourth place only a year ago.
Returning four golfers from last year’s Finals lineup, Negaunee placed three golfers among the top nine in the individual standings this time. Junior Adyson Crookham finished third with an 89, with senior Kennidy Glasheen tied for fourth at 90 and senior Sonya Erva tied for eighth at 98.
Escanaba finished second as a team with 407 strokes, followed by Kingsford with 426, Calumet at 430 and Marquette at 440.
Escanaba senior Kamrie Scott finished on top of the individual leaderboard for the third-straight season with a score of 83. She became the 16th golfer to win at least three Finals girls individual championships, and second from her school joining four-time winner Paxton Johnson (2016-19).
Scott got in some trouble on the front nine, but turned it around on the back as she parred five straight holes and had a birdie at 16 before ending the day with a pair of bogeys.
“I started off rough,” Scott said. “My putting came together on the back nine and really improved the day.”
Sault Ste Marie freshman Renee Guam finished in second place with a score of 87, with a birdie on the 16th hole. Menominee senior Lexi Marineau tied for fourth with Glasheen. Marineau had a birdie on the 16th hole and parred the last two. Glasheen scored a birdie on the 18th hole.
Kingsford sophomore Charlotte Todd and Calumet freshman Cali Hodges tied for sixth with 95 strokes. Todd struggled on the back nine but was able to birdie the 16th and parred the last two holes of the day. Hodges did not have any birdies but parred on the last two holes on the front nine and also the first hole of the back.
Erva and Ishpeming Westwood junior Alison Erdman tied for eighth, and Escanaba’s Lily VanDamme came in 10th place with a score of 99 that included a birdie on the 16th hole.
“We played well today as a team,” Escanaba coach Brian Robinette said. “Kamrie makes being a coach look pretty easy, but she puts in all the hard work to keep her game strong.”
Manistique senior Kyra Carlson carded a 104 and parred two of the last three holes of the day.
“I was working on being efficient with my hits,” Carlson said. “Just tried to keep them in sight and on the fairways.”
(Photo by Adam Hinch.)