MHSAA Historian Picks 10 to Remember
August 9, 2016
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
It sounded simple and fun, the theme for the MHSAA's spring issue of benchmarks: a history of MHSAA tournaments.
It certainly was the latter, but simple? Not so much.
There’s no way to do justice to nearly a century’s worth of history in some sports. Complicating matters was the abundance of information and photographs for some, and the scant amount of detailed data and images for others.
MHSAA historian Ron Pesch was given an equally challenging task: recount a “Top 10” list from his days covering various MHSAA Finals. He shares them here and, he adds, they are in no order of favorites.
The Shot: 1986 Class B Boys Basketball Final at Crisler Arena – Saginaw Buena Vista’s Chris Coles’ desperation shot, launched at the buzzer from well beyond half court, dropped through the hoop to give the Knights a 33-32 win over defending champion Flint Beecher in a rematch of the 1985 Class B title game. The shot was Coles’ first of the second half and his only points in the contest.
The Smurfs: 1986 Class A Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome – The "Smurfs" – Muskegon Coach Dave Taylor's nickname for his small, quick swarming defensive linemen – limited heavily favored Sterling Heights Stevenson to four yards rushing and 73 yards of total offense in a 10-0 win. As a 1979 graduate of Muskegon High School, I was elated.
The Drive: 1989 Class B Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome – I slid down from the press box into the stands at the Silverdome for the end of this one. With 2:20 remaining, the atmosphere was simply electric, as Farmington Hills Harrison’s lauded quarterback Mill Coleman took the reins with his team down 27-21 to DeWitt. The senior executed a flawless two-minute drill, guiding his team to the DeWitt 9 before scampering into the end zone for the tying points. Steve Hill added his fourth PAT for the lead, then secured the victory with an interception on the next series.
King Kool: 2005 Class B Boys Basketball Final, Breslin Center, East Lansing – David Kool was a flawless 20 for 20 from the free-throw line and scored 43 points as Grand Rapids South Christian downed Muskegon Heights 67-60.
The Parade: 2004 Individual Wrestling Finals, The Palace of Auburn Hills – In 2004, I traveled to Auburn Hills to watch the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals for the first time. The pageantry of the Grand March, the skills on display, the roar of the massive crowd, and the ensuing beauty and chaos of a wrestling extravaganza of this scale is truly a sight to see.
A Marathon: 2007 Division 3 Football Final, Ford Field, Detroit – East Grand Rapids and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s ended regulation tied 14-14, and this would turn into a five overtime battle that required an extra hour of play. No previous football playoff game, from Districts up, had ever gone beyond four overtimes. After exchanging field goals, touchdowns, extra points and two-point conversions, East Grand Rapids emerged with a 46-39 victory.
Tawana Towers: 1994 Class A Girls Basketball Final at Kellogg Arena, Battle Creek – Flint Northern, coached by Leteia Hughley and led by 6-4 freshman Tawana McDonald, defeated 1993 runner-up Detroit Martin Luther King, 46-32, for the Class A championship. McDonald batted down an MHSAA-record 10 shots, pulled down 13 rebounds and added five points and seven assists in a stellar performance.
Never Quit: 2008 Division 2 Football Semifinal, Spartan Stadium, East Lansing – Unbeaten, No. 1-ranked and heavily favored Muskegon trailed Davison by 22 late in the third quarter and 16 with less than five minutes to play. In perhaps the greatest comeback in playoff history, Muskegon recovered two onside kicks and scored 19 points in the final 4:31 to escape with a 38-35 victory and its third trip in five years to an MHSAA Final.
MHSAA Legends: 1998-2008 – For 10 years, the MHSAA showcased great teams from the past with their Legends of the Game series. From a historian’s perspective it was a chance to meet and learn more about folks I had often known only from the pages of microfilm. It was quite the treat to see years fall away as coaches, team managers and players reunited, in many cases for the first time after decades apart.
The MHSAA Record Books: Online, 1994 – One of my first efforts as state historian was to expand the record books beyond their primary focus on football, basketball, track & field and swimming & diving. With the arrival of the internet, an enhanced version of the record books was brought online. Coaches and fans were quick to respond with letters and e-mails, happily listing entries that had been “missed.” Soon, five category headings in a sport grew to 20, then to 50 and beyond.
Kids: 2004 Football Finals, Pontiac Silverdome – (OK, this is No. 11 ... consider it an extra point). For the first time, my sons joined me for my annual excursion to Metro Detroit for a Thanksgiving Day football weekend. They got to see the Silverdome before the move of the MHSAA Football Finals to beautiful Ford Field. Future Big Reds, they also got to see their future alma mater win another title.
PHOTOS: (Top) An MHSAA boys basketball tournament game is played at Olympia Stadium in Detroit. (Middle) Flint Northern's Tawana McDonald blocks a shot during the 1994 Class A Final.
Frankfort Relay Recipe Proven Winner as Panthers Seek to Extend Title Streaks
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
April 7, 2026
FRANKFORT – Frankfort may not have written the recipe for winning MHSAA Finals relay championships.
But they follow one that’s shown growing dominance in Division 4 over the last half-decade.
It starts with four student-athletes able to make strong friendship bonds. Then, lots of practice is added to develop muscle memory and mix in ways to maximize speed potential in the designated 30-meter exchange zone. And, perhaps finally, it is highly recommended to blend in near-perfect handoffs.
Frankfort has been crowned the LPD4 400-meter relay champion the last five years. The Panthers also have run the LPD4 Finals record time in the event, in 2024. And to top it off, the Panthers broke the 800 relay meet record in winning that race last spring.
The championships have come with different tight-knit combinations of runners over the years. Current junior Alice Luther, current seniors Addison Jarosz and Sofia Alaimo Schindler and 2025 graduate Gwyneth Dunaway won both championships together last season and the 400 title in 2024 as well, and first-place combinations also have included Addison Chownyk, Reagan Thor, Tara Townsend, Keyan Clapp, Grace Wolfe and Eliza Frary.
To finalize the recipe, the Panthers add optional ingredients – a golden baton and pineapple socks
Be sure though, it is the golden baton but not the same pineapple socks.
“I get different pairs, because I wear them for all my sports,” said Jarosz, now a senior, who’s been on the last three 400 relay champions along with fellow senior Alaimo Schindler. “They get worn down, but I've worn them since like seventh grade.”
Jarosz is not sure how her special socks-wearing got started. She only knows the first time produced satisfying results. She also runs middle distances with her socks on display for multiple laps.
“I think I might have gotten them as a gift because I was in middle school and going through a phase of crazy socks and stuff,” Jarosz recalls. “I had good luck so now I always wear them.”
As for the golden baton, it’s currently stored in the home of Alaimo Schindler. It got there after last year’s team competed at the Nike Outdoor National Championships in Eugene, Ore. It’s there for safe keeping and only used for relays Jarosz and Alaimo Schindler race.
“We don't let anyone else use it but us – Addie and I have been running together since middle school, and that's the baton we use,” Alaimo Schindler said. “It's just special to us, and it has one tiny dent.”
The bonds – and skills – formed over the last three years by those two and Luther are expected to bode well for the Panthers again this year.
“I think that there's always kind of pressure going into state finals, but I think that we have great coaching and we all work really hard,” admitted Luther, who also runs hurdles. “Gwen's shoe is a hard one to fill, but I think that we have good candidates who are willing to work hard to do it.”
Sophomore Riley LeVack is expected to join Luther, Jarosz and Alaimo Schindler on the shorter relays at the Regional, which the Panthers will host in late May. LeVack filled in a handful of times last spring, helping the Panthers pick up key competition points as they collected team trophies as well.
“Getting on the relay team is a big deal for the girls because this won't go on forever, and it's going to be something they'll look back on and really appreciate how good they were in high school,” said sixth-year Frankfort head track & field coach Ed Schindler. “Sophia, Alice and Addie all had it where they joined a team that had already won the state, so now it's Riley’s turn to see if she can win the state championship with them.”
The composition of the 400 and 800 teams this year will be finalized in time for the Regional. Frankfort has won every relay over the last two Regionals on the way to claiming the team titles at those meets as well. The Panthers also won the Northwest Conference last season. Those team championships in both the league and Regional were the first won by the program over more than 50 years of competition.
“All of our girls are really fast in relays because once we get to max speed, we're pretty good and manage 30 meters of exchange well,” Schindler pointed out. “We have a person on our 4x4 team that pole vaults and another one on our 4x8 that does too. They're all great athletes. When you have a good core group of maybe eight of your total 13 athletes that really score in big meets, that's gives you a shot at the state championship.”
Frankfort placed second to Fowler at last year’s LPD4 Final, its highest MHSAA Finals team finish. In addition to repeating as Regional champion, and keeping the Finals relay title strings alive, Frankfort has its eyes on a Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association team championship.
The Panthers will start the season with lots of confidence they’ll repeat their relay dominance – even if new fourth runners don’t lead to faster times than last year.
“Last year when we were competing against other teams, we were winning by a few seconds, so we have that room and space for another runner who is just a few seconds behind Gwyn,” Alaimo Schindler said. “We're really close to each other, and we hand it down each year. So I'm still I'm very confident, and I think with a lot of practice, we will get to where we were last year.”
“Our handoffs are so good it gives us just that little bit of advantage and helps us get a little bit ahead,” added Jarosz. “It just amazes me sometimes that just that little bit can do a lot.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Frankfort's Sofia Alaimo Schindler crosses the finish line first in anchoring her 800 relay to last season's Division 4 championship. (Middle) Alice Luther rounds a curve during a winning relay. (Below) From left: now-graduated Gwyneth Dunaway, Luther, Alaimo Schindler and Addison Jarosz take a photo at last year's Finals holding their golden baton. (Photos by Ken Swart/RunMichigan.com.)