Lots of Fight in Pontiac Notre Dame Irish
June 7, 2012
Last week was the busiest on the MHSAA school schedule. And it was a great one for Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
Over three days, the Fighting Irish won three District and one Regional championship, plus two more track and field individual Finals titles.
Successes were celebrated across six sports.
Thursday: Notre Dame’s boys golf team won its District, led by individual medalist Aaron Knutson; the senior shot a 71.
Friday: The boys lacrosse team won its third straight Regional title with an 11-2 win over Warren DeLaSalle in Division 2. (The Irish since have lost to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in a Semifinal.)
Saturday: Senior Sara Barron finished an outstanding track career by winning the 1,600-meter run with a Division 2 Finals record time of 4:51.67. She also won the 800 in 2:15.83 and teamed with Taylor Timko, Sarah LewAllen and Candice Mark to finish third in the 1,600 relay.
Timko also scored the game-winning goal as Notre Dame’s girls soccer team beat Detroit Country Day 1-0 in a Division 3 District championship game.
The Irish’s softball team beat Bloomfield Hills Lahser and Detroit Country Day by a combined score of 25-1 to win its sixth straight District title. Notre Dame had only one error on the day and didn’t give up a hit in the five-inning win over Lahser.
Finally, the girls tennis team posted its best MHSAA Finals finish to cap its best season ever. Notre Dame placed seventh in Division 4, keyed by runner-up finishes by Erin Moncrief (No. 4 singles) and Maddie Riley and Gabby Bering (No. 4 doubles). Notre Dame ended with a 10-1 dual record, losing only to eventual Division 4 champion Bloomfield Hills Academy of Sacred Heart.
PHOTO: Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s softball team won its sixth-straight District championship Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Wroubel).
Lake Linden-Hubbell Boys End Title Wait with 1st Finals Championship
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 31, 2026
KINGSFORD — They say there’s a first time for everything.
The Lake Linden-Hubbell boys proved that beyond any shadow of a doubt here Saturday, earning their first Upper Peninsula Division 3 track & field championship with 64 points.
Rapid River was runner-up with 55 and St. Ignace placed third at 46.
“We’ve been waiting for this for four months,” LL-H coach Brett Gervais said. “Back in March we started asking a lot of the boys. I couldn’t be happier for the kids. I’m super happy for the boys. Having coach (Gary Guisfredi) here really helps. He has coached the girls team for many years. I’ve watched the way they did things and learned a lot from that.”
The Lakes won just two individual events, but had enough depth to carry them through.
Junior Lukas Axford won the 400-meter dash in a personal-best 53.48 seconds and sophomore Tobin Baril took pole vault at 11 feet on this sunny and warm day at Flivver Field.
“I was almost in disbelief with all the work the boys had done,” Gervais said. “The weather sometimes made it tough to prepare. There’s roughly 30 teams in our division. They’re working just as hard as we are. There’s a high level of competition in our region, which helps us so much. Dollar Bay and Baraga pushed us all year. It’s such a great feeling to be part of this.”
Baraga senior Matt Rinkinen won the 100-meter dash in 11.66 seconds, just 0.2 of a second ahead of LL-H junior Josh Daavettila.
Superior Central junior Will Spranger took the 200 (23.31), followed by Rinkinen (23.71) and Dollar Bay junior Baron Colbert (23.96).
“I thought my start was a little weak, but I was able to accelerate,” Spranger said. “I need to work on my blocks in the offseason. Our 4x2 (800 relay) went well. Our handoffs were good.”
Cedarville/DeTour junior Ethan Snyder set the meet record in the 1,600 (4:25.8), shaving 0.11 of a second off the previous best by Dollar Bay’s Nik Thomas from four years ago, then added firsts in the 800 (2:02.18) and 3,200 (10:24.21).
St. Ignace senior Kollin Bird captured both throws with a personal-best heave of 45-6 in shot and a toss of 138-11 in disc. L’Anse junior Taven Lewis placed second in shot (41-9) and disc (137-9).
In the hurdles, it was Brimley junior Brady Leblanc winning the 110 event (16.43) and 300 (41.66), both with personal-best times. Connor Kemppainen, also a junior from L’Anse, was runner-up in both races at 16.54 and a person-best 42.68, respectively.
Also winning individual events were Rock Mid Peninsula sophomore Lewis Holmes with a personal-best leap of 6-3 in high jump and Bessemer junior Henry Jenkins taking long jump (19-2), also with a personal best.
PHOTOS (Top) Lake Linden-Hubbell's Lukas Axford, center, crosses the finish line first in the 400 meters Saturday. (Middle) Brimley's Brady Leblanc, second from left, and L'Anse's Connor Kemppainen, just to his right, jump over the last hurdle in the 100 hurdles. (Click for more from Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)