Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 22, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2015-16 school year have been announced.
The program, celebrating its 27th anniversary, 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 $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 672 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 will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, the final 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. East Grand Rapids has five finalists this year, Grosse Ile has four finalists and Birmingham Seaholm and Marquette each have three. Fourteen schools each have two finalists: Ann Arbor Pioneer, Bellaire, Bronson, Dearborn Edsel Ford, Farmington Hills Harrison, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, Grandville, Hudsonville, Laingsburg, Scottville Mason County Central, Onsted, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Portland and White Cloud.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.51, while the average of the application pool was 2.14. There are 62 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 374 schools which submitted applicants, 45 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,425 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The applications were judged by a 58-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. 2; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 9, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 16. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 26, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
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, 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 1,400 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.
2015-16 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Jack Eisentrout, Ann Arbor Pioneer
Nathan Lazor, Birmingham Groves
Zaven Dadian, Birmingham Seaholm
Jason Ren, Canton
Brendan Oosse, East Grand Rapids
Easton Schultz, East Grand Rapids
Jared Char, Farmington Hills Harrison
Charles R. Perkins Jr., Farmington Hills Harrison
Santino J. Guerra, Flint Kearsley
Garrett Farney, Grandville
Noah Andrew Weigle, Grandville
Jeremy Tervo, Hartland
Eric Mettetal, Howell
Riley Costen, Hudsonville
Daniel Karel, Hudsonville
Traver Parlato, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix
Kevin Hansen, Lake Orion
Alexander Oquist, Livonia Stevenson
Benjamin G. Cole, Marquette
Joseph Weber, Marquette
Kobe Burse, Muskegon Mona Shores
Drew Blakely, Richland Gull Lake
Kyle Jones, Swartz Creek
Lars Hornburg, Traverse City Central
GIRLS CLASS A
Clare Brush, Ann Arbor Pioneer
Catherine Markley, Birmingham Seaholm
Lauren McLeod, Birmingham Seaholm
Cameron Peek, Caledonia
Jaime Freas, Dearborn Edsel Ford
Sarah Hartshorn, Dearborn Edsel Ford
Mallak Taleb, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Mackenzie Cole, East Grand Rapids
Marie Lachance, East Grand Rapids
Anna Laffrey, East Grand Rapids
Allia Marie McDowell, Farmington Hills Mercy
Brianna Costigan, Fenton
Ally Stapleton, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
Catherine Stapleton, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
Meredith Howe, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern
Erin Armbruster, Grosse Pointe North
Kelsey Emmanuel, Lowell
Kayla Dobies, Macomb Dakota
Lindsey Rudden, Marquette
Genevieve Soltesz, Mattawan
Olivia Arends, Mt. Pleasant
Mary Catherine McLaughlin, Northville
Ellen Wegener, Rochester
Jennifer Eaton, St. Johns
BOYS CLASS B
Geoffrey Richard Pisani, Big Rapids
Spencer Keoleian, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Nicolas Arons, Chelsea
Brendan Spangler, Coldwater
Evan Ciancio, Comstock Park
Ryan Mangulabnan, Dearborn Divine Child
Kyle Gavulic, Goodrich
Caleb E. Doane, Grant
Adam Kopp, Grosse Ile
Blake Willison, Grosse Ile
Justin Carlson, Hastings
Josef Philipp, Hillsdale
Austin Davis, Onsted
Austin Robert Thompson, Onsted
David Arnst, Ovid-Elsie
Trevor Trierweiler, Portland
GIRLS CLASS B
Erin Isola, Allegan
Greta Wilker, Belding
Lindsey Carlson, Charlotte
Keri Frahm, Frankenmuth
Kate Tobin, Grosse Ile
Katherine Williams, Grosse Ile
Alexis LaChappa, Harrison
Camryn A. Klein, Ionia
Fallon Gates, Manistee
Abigail Ufkes, Marshall
Paiton Plutchak, Menominee
Erica Lynn Schwegman, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Elizabeth Swartz, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Amanda Pohl, Portland
Claudia Raines, Saginaw Swan Valley
Brenna James, Sault Ste. Marie
BOYS CLASS C
Joseph Comstock, Addison
Quentin E. Millette, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Daniel R. McMichael, Bronson
Sawyer Cuthrell, Cass City
Anthony Hoholik, Manistique
Spencer Graham Knizacky, Mason County Central
Cameron Brayman, Montague
Broc Roberts, Petersburg-Summerfield
Trenden Peacock, Sand Creek
Dylan Marshall, St Ignace
Michael Klettner, Traverse City St. Francis
Bowman Seabrook, White Cloud
GIRLS CLASS C
Hannah Steffke, Beal City
Molly Lynch, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart
Alexa Ratkowski, Bronson
Kelsey Engstrom, Charlevoix
Ellen Doyle, Gobles
Hanna Angst, Laingsburg
Julia Angst, Laingsburg
Bailee Kimbel, Manton
Jordyn Sanders, Mason County Central
Mallory Raven, Morley-Stanwood
Shelby Vincke, New Lothrop
Christiana M. Jones, White Cloud
BOYS CLASS D
Garrett Kraatz, Allen Park Inter-City Baptist
Joshua Robert Riggs, Brethren
Matthew Gratowski, DeTour
Gregory Scott Seppanen, Eben Junction Superior Central
Jayvin Wolfe, Fulton-Middleton
Nathaniel Jones, Muskegon Catholic Central
Daniel Good, Owendale-Gagetown
Benjamin Turner, Sterling Heights Parkway Christian
GIRLS CLASS D
Lindsay Lampman, Bellaire
Chloe Niepoth, Bellaire
Maria Stankewicz, Crystal Falls Forest Park
Abby Sutherland, Lake Linden-Hubbell
Elizabeth Munoz, Leland
Averi Rachelle Munro, Morrice
Natalie Frances Beaulieu, Newberry
Paige Blake, Ontonagon
From the Director: Back to School
August 7, 2020
By Mark Uyl
MHSAA Executive Director
Since March 12, our world has been anything but normal. These times have tested most everything in life, and as summer turns toward fall, we find ourselves still with far more questions than answers. It has been said that an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.
Let me start with these abnormal times. I’ve had many conversations with administrators over the past month about the start of school and school sports. The one constant theme is these are anything but normal times. Many of these conversations have moved to the issue of schools starting the academic year virtually while considering whether or not to offer school sports opportunities this fall. Let me share the things that have been part of almost all conversations on this topic.
The loudest message I hear is kids are going to be playing sports this fall someplace. Period. If we believe that kids are going to take the fall off if school sports aren’t offered, we haven’t been paying much attention since May. Since that time, athletic activity has taken place in the club, travel, AAU and non-school space nearly every day. From first-hand experience, many of these events have implemented ZERO of the safety standards and protocols that businesses and schools have adopted for their plans of return. The non-school world generally has plowed ahead this summer with few-to-no rules, regulations, enforcement, oversight and accountability to anyone. If kids are going to be playing sports, our member schools are telling us that activity needs to be in the safest environment possible – which is with professional educators and trained coaches in our school sports world.
Schools are quick to point out that kids have been conditioning and training with school coaches in school-sponsored workouts most of the summer. We believe that the absence of virus outbreaks among our 749 high schools’ summer activities, involving thousands of kids, has been because schools have been following the return-to-activity plans. Districts have told us they can continue doing what they’ve been doing safely since June by following all COVID guidance and regulations we have put in place with government’s leadership and partnership.
Schools starting the year virtually are telling us they will use the lessons learned from the start of sports for when students return to campus later in the fall. School administrators have shared this view privately as this has become a highly-charged topic among various groups within our school communities. Sports allow schools to bring students back to campus in small, consistent and defined groups with the same adults working with those students each day. In school sports, there is little mixing of students from one sport with those students in another – making it much easier to monitor, track and trace kids when needed than if all students were in the buildings, hallways and classrooms all day. We hear from administrators that valuable lessons can be learned with athletics in August and September for a successful school start-up with students back on campus in October.
All of us share the fundamental belief that we must protect the health and safety of individuals first. This doesn’t include only COVID prevention measures, but also the mental health of teenage students and adults as well. In districts that are starting the school year online, they see athletics being the one shred of normalcy students, and staff members who choose to coach, will have during the fall. It’s a chance to safely interact with peers and get needed physical activity that hasn’t been happening for some kids since March. Health and safety has to include all facets of the individual, and more research is being shared each day about how mental health is becoming a critical issue. For many at-risk kids, sports is the one motivating factor to keep them in school and progressing toward graduation. Given the challenges of all online education for these at-risk kids, sports and the daily routine they bring perhaps would be more important for this group of students than ever before.
With no school sports, the affluent communities and families can navigate online learning during the day and then afford the non-school athletic opportunities that kids and families in less-affluent areas simply cannot. In many communities, school sports can provide opportunities and open doors that would not appear if kids become priced-out from participating and competing.
The past five months have been the most abnormal in a century. School sports being the one pathway back to school for students in our state – the one norm for this fall – run by professional educators who put kids first, would be an incredible boost to the physical and mental health of all of us. We believe that school sports can be done safely and smartly, and the MHSAA has developed plans that do just that. While the optics of sports taking place while waiting for in-person education is not what any of us prefer, we believe we must react to these abnormal times by thinking differently and looking at these unique times through a unique lens.
Trying to find one normal for our kids in these abnormal school days might just be the best thing we can do.