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Kraatz Passes Turner on Assist List

April 22, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Arguably the biggest individual headline this boys basketball season was made by Allen Park Inter-City Baptist senior Evan Kraatz.

Also one of the all-time assist leaders in MHSAA boys soccer history, Kraatz broke the boys basketball career assists record that had stood since Eric Turner graduated from Flint Central in 1981.

Kraatz finished his career with 803 assists – including 218 this winter – to move to the top of a career list where his father Mark Kraatz (Inter-City Baptist 1982-85) sits fourth. Evan also finished this season with 115 steals – ninth most for one season – to end second on that career list with 358. His dad ranks right behind again, fourth for career steals.

See below for a number of additional recent entries to the MHSAA boys basketball record listings – including a pair from schools no longer in existence – plus a few more for boys soccer and wrestling. Click on the headers to see all entries for those respective sports.

Boys Basketball

  • Ottawa Lake Whiteford senior Colin Lake also finished his career this season among the leaders in steals, just behind Evan Kraatz with 348 to place third on that career list. Lake also finished with 488 free throws over his four seasons – seventh most on the career list in that category – with a fifth-longest streak ever of 42, and he also made the career 3-pointers list with 191. Total, Lake scored 1,925 points during his career and averaged 31.7 per game as a senior. 


  • Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest’s Andy Lewis had a triple-double in a 1989 win over Plymouth Christian, tallying 27 points, 12 rebounds and 20 assists as his team won 95-77. His 20 assists tie for fourth-most in one game, and his 197 assists that season tied for 14th on that list. 


  • Another high assist mark was submitted by a former coach now living in South Carolina for a player who made his mark more than 30 years ago at a high school that no longer exists. Rodney Savage had 19 assists in a 90-79 win for Muskegon West Shore Christian Academy against Covert on Dec. 11, 1982. In fact, the newspaper report from the game compared Savage’s performance to something reminiscent of Eric Turner, mentioned above.


  • Grand Rapids Covenant Christian tied for 15th all-time with 193 3-pointers this season, on 527 attempts. Covenant Christian made a game high of 14 and connected on 13 on Feb. 21 against Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian – which with NorthPointe’s nine 3-pointers contributed to a total of 22 that made the list for the most by two teams together.


  • Britton-Macon statistics from the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons showed Phil Benedict with 532 and 483 rebounds, respectively, those winters – with the 532 third-most on the MHSAA list. Britton-Macon, now part of Britton-Deerfield, won Class D championships both seasons with the 6-8 Benedict at center. His 1,015 career rebounds grabbed during just those two seasons rank ninth on the career list for that stat. He earned a basketball scholarship from Duke University and later transferred to Bowling Green State University.


  • Temperance Bedford’s Jeremiah Harris also made the single-season rebounding list this winter with 341.



Boys Soccer

  • Three years after his final high school assist, Dansville’s Jay Witchell has been recognized as the MHSAA career leader in that category. His 38 assists in 2009 and 32 in 2008 rank fifth and tied for 11th, respectively, on the single-season list, and his 106 from 2007-10 are the career record, by one.  His 146 career points rank 19th and are just eight fewer than the total by his brother Josh, who graduated from Dansville in 2005. Jay Witchell went on to play at Division III Aurora University in Illinois.



Wrestling

  • Josh Wendling and Taylor Krupp finished their high school careers this winter by helping New Lothrop to an MHSAA team championship. They also finished with a few marks in the record book: Krupp made the single-season wins list after going 59-0 this season, and Wendling set the single-season technical falls record with 29. Both finished with more than 200 wins for their careers – Krupp at 218-21 and Wendling at 202-24.


  • Fife Lake Forest Area 130-pounder Matthew Elliott finished his high school career this winter with a school-record 160 wins. His 113 career pins also are a school record and made the MHSAA listings in that category.

PHOTOS: (Left) Allen Park Inter-City Baptist’s Evan Kraatz drives past a defender during this winter’s game against Southfield Christian. (Right) Flint Central’s Eric Turner (25) led his team to the Class A championship in 1981. (Kraatz photo courtesy of Inter-City Baptist.)

Miss Soccer Scores at Champion's Pace

January 22, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Saline’s run last spring to its first MHSAA girls soccer championship was keyed by a number of talented players – including a pair of all-staters with record book-caliber contributions.

Senior forward Taylor Mulder was named Miss Soccer after scoring 43 goals with 11 assists – her goals and 54 points made single-season records lists – and she finished her four-year varsity career with 80 goals. All-state keeper Sofia Sweier had 22 shutouts last season, tying for second-most in MHSAA history. She finished her four-year career with 42 shutouts, all coming over her final three years in net.

As a team, Saline gave up only four goals – tied for third fewest in MHSAA history – and had runs of 10 and nine consecutive shutouts. The nine straight began with the second-to-last regular-season game and included the entire Division 1 Tournament.

Mulder is currently playing at Siena Heights University, and Sweier played this fall at Grand Valley State University.

Click to see the girls soccer record book in full, and read on for more recent additions for other sports. (Click the sport headings to see those record lists.)

Girls Basketball

Sterling Heights’ Kendal Ring blocked 16 shots in her team’s 48-33 win over Macomb L’Anse Creuse North on Jan. 23, 2015, good to tie for sixth-most blocks in one game. The 5-foot-11 center is a senior this season.

Boys Soccer

Holland Christian’s run to the Division 2 Regional Semifinals in the fall including 15 shutouts in 24 games – and the team gave up only 11 goals all fall. Both milestones made the MHSAA records. Sophomore Nick VanderLaan had 11 shutouts and combined on four more.

Shelby made the team shutouts list with eight straight to start the 2015 season and also for giving up only 10 goals in 22 games. Keeper Jonah Kelley made the individual lists for consecutive shutouts and with 13 total for the season.

Softball

Rogers City’s outstanding run the last four seasons included two trips to the MHSAA Semifinals and a Division 4 title in 2014. A number of standouts played major parts, Logan Fleming among the stars. Fleming set an MHSAA single-season record for runs scored with 86 last spring, when she hit in all 39 games, and finished her four-season varsity career second all-time both with 264 runs and 304 hits; her 95 hits last spring also were second-most for one season. She also hit 25 doubles in 2015, third-most for one season, with her career total of 68 coming in sixth, and her .551 career batting average is 12th. Teammate Sarah Meredith is listed in the record book eight times, most notably for her .664 average in 2015. Kayla Rabeau and Kayla Fleury were among those entered for back-to-back home runs, while Nikkie Jo LaLonde was added for 34 career doubles from 2010-13 and Morgan Hall and Cassie Brege were among those added for RBI in one game. Rogers City as a team also earned a number of listings; its 42 runs in a game in 2014 were third most, and its 479 runs last season were second-most. The team’s 500 hits in 2015 ranked third and its 376 RBI and .449 team batting average also both ranked second. Meredith will be a senior this spring, and Fleming now plays at Ferris State.

Volleyball

A number of Rockford’s all-time leaders were added to the MHSAA listings, including a record-setter from the fall. Setter Hailey Delacher, a sophomore, set a rally-scoring era (2004-05 – present) record with 67 assists in a five-set match against Hudsonville on Nov. 10. Total, she made the single-match records five times for assists and also the single-season list with 1,310. She was joined by a number of her school’s previous setters including Halle Peterson, Abby Carlson (her 1,465 assists in 2013 rank fifth for a season), Kim Weaver, Debbie Nikodemski and Heather Gates. Andrea Kacsits was added for her career kills (1,831), aces (283) and blocks (631 – ranking third) among seven entries overall. Nikodemski also was added for 10 aces in a two-set match in 2007, and Weaver for her school-record 121 aces in 2008. Kacsits went on to play at Ohio State University, while Peterson just finished her career at Michigan State, Carlson plays at Cornerstone University and Weaver also played for the Golden Eagles, and Gates played at Bethel College in Indiana. Nikodemski played basketball at Olivet College. Also, coach Kelly Delacher, who has led teams at Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, Grand Rapids Northview and now Rockford the last decade, was added to the career coaching wins list with a record of 848-385-32.

South Lyon senior Jessie Ignace had 38 of her team’s 53 kills in a 3-2 loss to Salem on Sept. 17. The 38 kills ties for eighth-most for one match during the rally scoring era.

North Adams-Jerome junior Holly Trujillo set a school record and finished eighth in MHSAA history with 206 blocks (including 148 solos) in helping her team to a District championship and state ranking in Class D.   

Sarah DeVries capped her Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian career this fall with her second entry for single-season kills and tied for 11th-most kills for a career in the rally scoring era. DeVries added 717 this season to 743 she had as a junior, and total finished with 1,964 over four seasons. She’ll play next season at Calvin College.

Brooke Beaubien capped her four-season Cheboygan career among the MHSAA career-best with 1,517 kills and 280 aces, and she also made the single-season aces list with 116 as a sophomore. Her teams finished a combined 151-69-18 and won two league championships. 

PHOTO: Saline's Taylor Mulder (7) works to get past a defender during last season's Division 1 Final against Grand Blanc.