Montrose Again SBP Program of the Year

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

April 15, 2015

Capturing first place in three of five individual categories, Montrose High School repeated as the “Program of the Year” in the second annual MHSAA School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2014-15.

The SBP Excellence Awards are underwritten by Herff Jones, which will award certificates and plaques to the schools which took individual honors, with the presentation dates and times to be announced.

Montrose took first place in Best Play-By-Play, Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports graphics, and the top two spots for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics. The program also took a second place for Best Produced Commercial/Feature and a third for Best Multicamera Production. Montrose also demonstrated during the school year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.

Other category winners were: Cedar Springs High School for Best Multicamera Production and Rogers City High School for Best Produced Commercial/Features.

Here is the complete list by categories of the schools and students being honored in this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:
 

Best Multicamera Production

First Place – Cedar Springs – Sam Owen, Sydney Dryer, Bryan Taylor, Alec Lachniet, Kaci Clark – Football game vs. Grand Rapids Northview.

Second Place – Cedar Springs – Rider Swanson, Sam Owens, Darrick Liggett, Kaci Clark, Cody Hoogerheide, Krystyn Messersmith – Football game vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern.

Third Place – Montrose – Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Amanda Ramsey, Nathan Brown, Eric Vandefifer, Brandon Smith – Genesee Area Conference Girls Competitive Cheer Finals.

 

Best Play-By-Play

 

First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz  – Boys Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.

Second Place – Rogers City – Casey Szatkowski – Girls Basketball game vs. Whittemore-Prescott.

Best Produced Commercial/Feature

 

First Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Huron Halloween of Horror Feature.

 

Second Place – Montrose – Alyssa Bernard, Amanda Ramsey, Alicia Town, Allia Town – Sexual Assault PSA.
 

Third Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Rogers City Girls Basketball Season Preview.

 

Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics

 

First Place – Montrose - Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Eric Vandefifer – Girls Soccer match vs. Hemlock.

Second Place – Rogers City – Brendan Koss, Sarah Meredith – Football game vs. Rudyard.

Third Place – Rogers City – Chandler Beland, Josh Foster – Girls Volleyball match vs. Posen.

Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software

First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Griffin Powell, Bradley Payne – Boys Basketball game vs. Goodrich.

Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley – Girls Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.

Third Place – Rogers City - Victoria Bullock, Zachary Myers – Football game vs. Hillman.

The School Broadcast Program, powered by PlayOn! Sports, is a platform which schools can utilize to reach members of their community about activities taking place in their buildings, providing recognition for students while at the same time giving them hands-on opportunities to gain broadcasting experience and providing schools an opportunity to realize additional revenues for their programs.

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.

8 Members Elected, 2 Appointees Named to MHSAA Representative Council

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 1, 2021

Eight Members of the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association have been re-elected to continue their service, and a ninth member has been re-appointed for a second team while a second appointee joined the Council beginning with its annual Fall Meeting on Dec. 4.

All eight re-elected members ran unopposed. Continuing their service as elected members of the Council are Midland High School athletic director Eric Albright, representing Class A and B schools from the northern section of the Lower Peninsula; Portage Northern High School athletic director Chris Riker, Class A and B schools from the southwestern section of the Lower Peninsula; Brighton High School athletic director John Thompson, Class A and B schools from the southeastern section of the Lower Peninsula; Calumet assistant principal and athletic director Sean Jacques, Class C and D schools from the Upper Peninsula; and Maple City Glen Lake assistant principal and athletic director Mark Mattson, Class C and D schools from the northern section of the Lower Peninsula.

Also elected to continue in their service were Grand Haven Area Public Schools assistant superintendent Scott C. Grimes as one of two statewide at-large representatives, Clare Middle School principal Steve Newkirk as one of two junior high/middle school representatives, and the Archdiocese of Detroit’s director of physical education & athletics Vic Michaels to represent private and parochial high schools. All eight were elected to two-year terms.

Additionally, Novi High School principal Nicole Carter was re-appointed for a two-year term. Appointed for a first two-year term was Judy Cox, who serves as principal at Bay City Western High School.

Grimes was re-elected as Council president, Newkirk as vice president and Michaels as secretary-treasurer all to serve through the 2021 Fall Meeting.

The Representative Council is the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee. The Council meets three times annually, in addition to specially-scheduled meetings as have been frequent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five members of the Council convene monthly during the school year to form the MHSAA’s Executive Committee, which reviews appeals of Handbook regulations by member schools.

Additional elections took place to select representatives to the Upper Peninsula Athletic Committee. West Iron County principal, athletic director and football coach Mike Berutti was elected to represent athletic coaches, and Lake Linden-Hubbell athletic director and boys basketball coach Jack Kumpula was elected to represent Class D schools.

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 1.4 million spectators each year.