Ramping Up for Prepapalooza 2014
May 27, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Over the next five days, thousands of teams representing more than 700 MHSAA high schools will compete for championships at the District, Regional and Finals levels in 11 sports in what annually is the busiest week in Michigan high school sports.
MHSAA.com and Second Half are the places to be for results, coverage and live video from championship events all over both Peninsulas.
Total, 26 Finals champions will be crowned in girls and boys tennis, girls and boys track and field and Upper Peninsula girls and boys golf, with 36 Regional champions rewarded in girls and boys lacrosse and Lower Peninsula boys golf and 320 winners earning trophies in softball, baseball and girls soccer. All tournament rounds combined, more than 8,000 medals will be presented to individual winners or contributors on those team champions.
Game scores as they are reported for baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse will be available on the MHSAA Score Center throughout the week. Full results from golf Regionals also will be posted over the next five days, as will Finals tennis and golf results as we receive them from Lower and Upper Peninsula hosts (Lower Peninsula tennis opening rounds late Friday evening). Track and Field Finals results will be posted Saturday evening.
All MHSAA Finals from both peninsulas will be covered with stories and photos on Second Half by a crew of valuable correspondents from around the state. Second Half will continue its coverage at the Lacrosse and LP Boys Golf Finals on June 14 and the Baseball, Softball and Girls Soccer Finals from June 19-21.
Live championship races from all seven sites of MHSAA Track and Field Finals will be available on a subscription basis on MHSAA.TV, beginning with the 3,200-meter relays at 10 a.m. at each site. The rest of the Upper Peninsula races then will continue, with Lower Peninsula championship races beginning again at 1 p.m. Highlights from this week's golf and tennis championship events will debut on MHSAA.TV in July.
PHOTOS: (Top) Runners push toward the finish during the 2013 LP Division 3 Final. (Middle) Members of the Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart tennis team hold up number ones to signify their place at last season's LP Division 4 Final.
Bowers Leaves Record-Caliber Mark on Kent City Hoops
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 4, 2021
Senior Kenzie Bowers added a pair of record book entries this past winter as she continued to help Kent City join the girls basketball elite.
Bowers scored 46 points in a win over Lakeview on Feb. 10 this winter, and also was added for 14 assists against Ravenna during a 2019-20 victory. The assists are tied for 12th-most in one game. Bowers also had earned a record book entry as a junior for drilling nine 3-pointers in a game.
Kent City reached the Division 3 championship game in April, falling just two points shy against Grass Lake in the finale. Bowers will continue her career at Illinois State.
See below for more recent record book entries for girls basketball, baseball, boys lacrosse and girls soccer.
Baseball
Nearly 50 years later, Jim Kniivila has reached the record book. The four-year Holt pitcher finished with a 0.21 ERA over 66 innings in 1973, ranking today as the eighth-lowest ERA for a single season. He went on to play at Michigan State.
Jacob Freeman capped his Gaylord career in 2016 by making the Division 2 all-state first team – and by earning a spot in the MHSAA record book with 47 stolen bases. He also hit .403 that spring.
Girls Basketball
Houghton’s Stella Wickstrom posted major rebounding performances as only a sophomore last winter. The 6-foot forward grabbed at least 25 rebounds in three games – with that many against Calumet on Feb. 15 and Iron Mountain on March 1, and a season-high 27 against Baraga on Feb. 8.
Ella Stemmer put up big numbers over her four-season, 88-game Saline varsity career – including some of the most impressive ever from the free throw line. She made the career list with 419 free throws in 506 attempts, with her 90.9-percent success this winter tying for second-highest for one season and her 82.8 career percentage ranking fifth. She’ll continue her career at Lehigh.
Comstock Park then-senior McKenna Bent connected on 10 3-pointers in two games during the 2019-20 season, against Holland that Dec. 13 and Sparta on Feb. 7. She finished with 40 and 41 points, respectively, in those games. She’s continuing her career at Saginaw Valley State.
Boys Lacrosse
Xander Roisen saved 32 shots for Pinckney in a 16-2 loss to Canton on April 23, setting an MHSAA record for most saves in one game (but to be broken three later; see below). Roisen was a senior this spring.
Warren Cousino senior Donovan Cece took over the record for saves in a game with 35 in his team’s 12-0 loss to Clinton Township Chippewa Valley on May 14.
JJ Hawkins had another of the busiest days for a goalie March 27. He made 21 saves in Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s 13-4 loss to Dearborn Divine Child. Hawkins was a freshman this spring.
Girls Soccer
Lily Usher tied for the seventh-most saves in a game when she made 35 in Owosso’s 6-0 loss to Goodrich on May 5. The Martians took a total of 56 shots, including those not on goal. Usher was a sophomore this spring.
PHOTO: Kent City's Kenzie Bowers gets to the basket during the Division 3 championship game against Grass Lake in April.