Finalists Announced for 2024-25 MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Awards
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 21, 2025
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2024-25 school year, presented by Farm Bureau Insurance, have been announced.
The program, in its 36th year, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.
Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $2,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 960 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification and could have more than one finalist. Birmingham Seaholm has six finalists this year, while Munising and Whitehall have four, and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Midland Dow and West Bloomfield each have three finalists. Eight schools have two finalists: Ann Arbor Greenhills, Ann Arbor Huron, Bloomfield Hills, Detroit Catholic Central, Grosse Pointe South, Kingsford, Olivet, and Saline.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.88. There are 75 three-plus sport participants in the finalists field, and all but one of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 431 schools which submitted applicants, 25 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,513 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete Award information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the Scholar-Athlete page.
The applications were judged by a 65-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 4, Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 11 and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 18. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale) and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions and submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan was founded in 1949 by Michigan farmers who wanted an insurance company that worked as hard as they did. Those values still guide the company today and are a big reason why it is known as Michigan’s Insurance Company, dedicated to protecting the farms, families, and businesses of this great state. Farm Bureau Insurance agents across Michigan provide a full range of insurance services—life, home, auto, farm, business, retirement, Lake Estate®, and more—protecting nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.3 million spectators each year.
2024-25 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
GIRLS CLASS A
Clara Freeth, Ann Arbor Huron
Katherine Ma, Ann Arbor Huron
Avery Allen, Birmingham Seaholm
Ella Gifford, Birmingham Seaholm
Grace Johnson-Sears, Birmingham Seaholm
Selina Lin, Birmingham Seaholm
Madeline Day, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Sophia Y. Tang, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Sydney Law, Byron Center
Nadine Fayad, Dearborn
Alaa Selman, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Eleni Michos, Dexter
Grace Tykocki, Grand Blanc
Kylie Pung, Howell
Bomin Koo, Jenison
Kortney Osborn, Mason
Ayesha Middha, Midland Dow
Chikanma Okoisor, Midland Dow
Tara Creekmore, Plymouth
Katherine McLaughlin, Portage Central
Grace Roth, Saline
Madeline Bildeaux, Traverse City West
Carly Lyons, West Bloomfield
Natalie Weissman, West Bloomfield
BOYS CLASS A
Sean Wesolek, Bay City John Glenn
Milan Patel, Birmingham Seaholm
Carson J. Wright, Birmingham Seaholm
Noah Kaplan, Bloomfield Hills
Asher Langwell, Bloomfield Hills
Calvin Meeker, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Nicholas Leiter, Detroit Catholic Central
Peter Sanin, Detroit Catholic Central
Lucas Groulx, Flint Kearsley
Elijah Lipke, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
Gruhith Yerramalli, Grosse Pointe North
Jack J. Lupo, Grosse Pointe South
James Michelotti, Grosse Pointe South
Joseph Spada, Kalamazoo Central
Andrew Creedon, Livonia Churchill
Nimai Patel, Midland Dow
Cameron McVittie, Northville
Nathan Beemer, Okemos
Drew F. Cady, Oxford
Hunter Easton, Saline
Auben Wesley, South Lyon
Owen Przybylski, Temperance Bedford
Asher Paul, Traverse City Central
Brady Scheidt, West Bloomfield
GIRLS CLASS B
Hannah Lee, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Eleana Zhuang, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Madison Cole, Battle Creek Pennfield
Addison Seemann, Freeland
Lauren Sundquist, Gladstone
Sierra Grooters, Hudsonville Unity Christian
Madelynn Kreider, Kingsford
Nadia Marie Grierson, Ludington
Anna Catherine Boggs, Monroe Jefferson
Marlee Plaxco, Negaunee
Hailey Dodd, Parma Western
Alaina Hanson, Reed City
Alexandrea Komarowski, St. Clair
Scarlet Maison, Standish-Sterling
Camille Kraai, Whitehall
Grace McDowell, Whitehall
BOYS CLASS B
Maxwell Volk, Chesaning
Alan Mrva, Corunna
Isaak E. Rubley, Dundee
Brayden Joslin, Durand
Brayden Bryan Lape, Grass Lake
Corbin Allen, Grayling
Oliver Costello, Haslett
Jayse Peterson, Hastings
Caden James VanHuis, Holland Christian
Gavin J. Trevillian, Kingsford
Nicholas Caldwell, North Branch
Benjamin Kelenske, Olivet
Blair Scott, Olivet
Owen T. Feldpausch, Owosso
Ryan Goodrich, Whitehall
Brady Tate, Whitehall
GIRLS CLASS C
Baylee Goddard, Alcona
Kaylee A. Kranz, Clinton
Kelcie Jo Pung, Fowler
Alexyn DuBois, Hanover-Horton
Grace Hayhurst, Harbor Springs
Allie Nowak, Johannesburg-Lewiston
Dayne Behning, Munising
Kate Mattson, Munising
Ashlyn Orr, New Lothrop
Tess Tillman, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic
Makayla Zelinko, St. Charles
BOYS CLASS C
Lucas Hall, Bark River-Harris
Owen Heath, Bridgman
Jason Zarate, Brighton Charyl Stockwell Prep
Matthew Mellendorf, Cass City
Korbyn Russell, East Jordan
Isaiah Kabban, Harbor Beach
Carson Kienitz, Munising
Trevor Nolan, Munising
Ian Weldon, Reese
Ben Denlinger, Roscommon
Wheatley Rodammer, Saginaw Valley Lutheran
Landon Pestrue, St. Louis
GIRLS CLASS D
Keira Jean Graham, Bessemer
Molly Coppens, Chesterfield Austin Catholic
Sarah Bradley, Clarkston Everest Collegiate
Ella Grace Gasperich, Crystal Falls Forest Park
Leah Durfee, Fife Lake Forest Area
Ella Knudsen, Leland
Mallory Rich, Muskegon Catholic Central
Kaitlyn Miros, Saginaw Nouvel
BOYS CLASS D
Seth Davis, Adrian Lenawee Christian
Owen Plum, Britton Deerfield
Joshua Gaunt, Dollar Bay
Dakota Malek, Fulton
Andrew Spiegel, Hillsdale Academy
Carter Kosinski, Kinde North Huron
Alex Tyndall, Mason County Eastern
Grady Pieratt, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
Legacies Live on in Matson's Work
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 26, 2015
Hugh Matson was a sophomore on the 1951 Newaygo team that made the school's first trip to the MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals.
His team faced Dimondale in an auxiliary gym at Michigan State University’s Jenison Field House, but fell 56-54 in overtime when Dimondale scored the first basket of what was then a sudden-death extra period.
He watched the Class D championship game with some disappointment, knowing his team had come so close to playing on Jenison's main floor. But another highlight of that weekend has stuck with Matson, who has given back to high school sports as a teacher, coach, athletic director and official for more than 50 years.
After Matson and his team arrived in Lansing and checked into downtown’s Olds Hotel, they were directed to another room where they were welcomed by MHSAA executive director Charles E. Forsythe. It’s a memory Matson has enjoyed recalling recently – on Saturday, he will receive the honor bearing Forysthe’s name.
Matson will receive the 38th Charles E. Forsythe Award, for his long and various contributions to education athletics, during the first-quarter break of Saturday’s Class A Boys Basketball Final at the Breslin Center.
"That's very important to me. He was the big name in athletic administration when I got into it as an athletic director," Matson said. "He was known all over the United States as one of the great athletic directors, and I really feel honored. I'm humbled by it, naturally."
Forsythe was the MHSAA’s first full-time and longest-serving chief executive. Forsythe Award recipients are selected each year by the MHSAA Representative Council, based on an individual's outstanding contribution to the interscholastic athletics community.
Matson, 79, has deep roots in education. His mother Velma – who died in January at 104 years of age – was a longtime educator in Newaygo and with his father Francis established a scholarship for graduating seniors still awarded today. Hugh Matson took his first teaching job in 1957, at Mattawan, then followed older brothers Bill and Max to Saginaw Township Community Schools, teaching and coaching at Saginaw MacArthur High school from 1962-71 and then Saginaw Eisenhower from 1971-88.
Matson served as head varsity football and track and field coach at Mattawan and as head track and field coach at both MacArthur and Eisenhower, in addition to serving as an assistant football coach at both schools. He also became the first and only athletic director in Eisenhower’s history – holding that position from the school’s first day until the end of the 1987-88 school year, when he became co-athletic director of the new Saginaw Heritage High School, which was created from a merger of MacArthur and Eisenhower. Matson served as the sole full-time athletic director of Heritage for 1996-97 before retiring.
“Hugh has been dedicated to improving athletics in Michigan for more than 50 years, and his contributions stretch over every aspect of our games and beyond the Saginaw area,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “He showed leadership not only in his community for many years but at the statewide level among his colleagues, and continues his involvement as a valued official. We’re glad to honor Hugh Matson with the Forsythe Award.”
Matson has been a member of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) since 1970 and served as its president during the 1989-90 school year. He also was a member of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) for three decades and has been a member of the Association of Track Officials of Michigan (ATOM) since 1993. Matson received distinguished service awards from both the MIAAA and ATOM and served as a representative and speaker for the MIAAA at regional conferences in Iowa and Wisconsin and to the NIAAA Leadership Forum in 1987.
During his time as athletic director, Matson hosted MHSAA Districts or Regionals for seven sports. He’s been an MHSAA registered official since 1970 and has officiated 25 MHSAA Regionals in either cross country or track and field and 12 MHSAA Finals. He also has officiated cross country and track and field at the Division I, II and III and NAIA collegiate levels.
“Hugh was excellent with students, parents and staff during his 42 years as a teacher and coach at Eisenhower and Heritage High School. He is extremely positive with the kids as an official,” said current Saginaw Heritage athletic director Peter Ryan, also a member of the MHSAA Representative Council. “Hugh has been dedicated to improving athletics in the state of Michigan, and his passion for athletic officiating is contagious.”
“I still think I have the energy for it, and I enjoy it a lot,” Matson said. “Every day before I go to a track meet, my (wife Jackie) says, ‘Have fun.’ And she says when I come home, ‘Did you have fun?’ And yeah, I have fun. Working with younger people also, it keeps me youthful.”
Matson received his bachelor’s degree in physical education with minors in English and history in 1957 from Western Michigan University. He taught English and history at Mattawan, and then English and physical education during his three tenures as part of Saginaw Township Community Schools. In addition to his mother and brothers, Matson’s sister Joelyn also worked in education, recently retiring from the University of Toledo.
Past recipients of the Charles E. Forsythe Award
1978 - Brick Fowler, Port Huron; Paul Smarks, Warren
1979 - Earl Messner, Reed City; Howard Beatty, Saginaw
1980 - Max Carey, Freesoil
1981 - Steven Sluka, Grand Haven; Samuel Madden, Detroit
1982 - Ernest Buckholz, Mt. Clemens; T. Arthur Treloar, Petoskey
1983 - Leroy Dues, Detroit; Richard Maher, Sturgis
1984 - William Hart, Marquette; Donald Stamats, Caro
1985 - John Cotton, Farmington; Robert James, Warren
1986 - William Robinson, Detroit; Irving Soderland, Norway
1987 - Jack Streidl, Plainwell; Wayne Hellenga, Decatur
1988 - Jack Johnson, Dearborn; Alan Williams, North Adams
1989 - Walter Bazylewicz, Berkley; Dennis Kiley, Jackson
1990 - Webster Morrison, Pickford; Herbert Quade, Benton Harbor
1991 - Clifford Buckmaster, Petoskey; Donald Domke, Northville
1992 - William Maskill, Kalamazoo; Thomas G. McShannock, Muskegon
1993 - Roy A. Allen Jr., Detroit; John Duncan, Cedarville
1994 - Kermit Ambrose, Royal Oak
1995 - Bob Perry, Lowell
1996 - Charles H. Jones, Royal Oak
1997 - Michael A. Foster, Richland; Robert G. Grimes, Battle Creek
1998 - Lofton C. Greene, River Rouge; Joseph J. Todey, Essexville
1999 - Bernie Larson, Battle Creek
2000 - Blake Hagman, Kalamazoo; Jerry Cvengros, Escanaba
2001 - Norm Johnson, Bangor; George Lovich, Canton
2002 - John Fundukian, Novi
2003 - Ken Semelsberger, Port Huron
2004 - Marco Marcet, Frankenmuth
2005 - Jim Feldkamp, Troy
2006 - Dan McShannock, Midland; Dail Prucka, Monroe
2007 - Keith Eldred, Williamston; Tom Hickman, Spring Lake
2008 - Jamie Gent, Haslett; William Newkirk, Sanford-Meridian
2009 - Paul Ellinger, Cheboygan
2010 - Rudy Godefroidt, Hemlock; Mike Boyd, Waterford
2011 - Eric C. Federico, Trenton
2012 - Bill Mick, Midland
2013 - Jim Gilmore, Tecumseh; Dave Hutton, Grandville
2014 - Dan Flynn, Escanaba
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
PHOTOS: (Top) Hugh Matson continues as an MHSAA official and has worked at all levels of college as well. (Middle) Matson accepts his induction into the Saginaw Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. (Photos courtesy of Saginaw Heritage High School.)