Rivaling for a Cause
January 25, 2013
It’s impossible to include all the perspective we gain from every “Battle of the Fans” visit.
But this anecdote, although it didn't make Tuesday’s story about our Frankenmuth trip, tells of another great example for what student cheering sections can accomplish.
Frankenmuth and Millington are heated rivals, to say the least, separated by 13 miles and made more competitive by plenty of championship-deciding matchups over the years.
But for their boys basketball game Jan. 10 at Frankenmuth, student section leaders from both schools almost completely on their own set up the game as a cancer awareness night, complete with Frankenmuth students in black shirts and Millington’s wearing pink.
The idea was the brainchild of a of Frankenmuth section leader, who then received help from a local bank and contacted Millington to get the ball rolling.
Battle of the Fans has shown us the obvious – these student sections need strong leaders – but also the special things they can accomplish with additional initiative.
“Never Forgotten”
Two more rivals, Fennville and Saugatuck, met late last month for their second “Never Forgotten” boys and girls basketball games with proceeds going to the Wes Leonard Heart Team for the purchase of AEDs.
Players wore jerseys with names on the backs of friends and family members who had died, and those jerseys were then given to family members after the games. Officials Ace Cover, Chris Dennie and Kyle Bowen also donated their game checks to the Heart Team, as did the winner of that night’s 50-50 raffle.
Leonard died from sudden cardiac arrest after making the game-winning shot in a basketball game March 3, 2011. The two schools played their first “Never Forgotten” games last season.
More support for less specialization
I’m asked once a year at least about sport specialization – that is, athletes focusing on just one sport, often from an early age, and if it pays off some way down the road.
Most of my evidence to support my belief in the well-rounded athlete has been anecdotal, based on conversations with people at the high school and college levels over the years. But a British study published this fall in the Journal of Sport Sciences by University of Birmingham researchers provides some interesting empirical findings.
The study of 1,006 people from the United Kingdom showed that those who participated in three sports at ages 11, 13 and 15 were “significantly more likely to compete at a national rather than club standard” between ages 16-18 than those who had practiced only one sport.
In other words, the study found that those who played more sports at earlier ages played at a higher level during their high school-age years, which seems to contradict the one-sport focus philosophy.
Click for more perspective on the study from Chris Kennedy, the Superintendent of Schools in West Vancouver, British Columbia.
PHOTO: The boys and girls teams for Fennville and Saugatuck pose together after their "Never Forgotten" games Dec. 21 at Fennville High. (Photo courtesy of Al LaShell.)
Powell Sets, Reitsma Hits Lowell Into Back-to-Back Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 18, 2021
Lowell’s runs to back-to-back Division 1 runner-up finishes the last two seasons were anchored in part by a hitter and a setter who both finished among the all-time stat leaders at their respective positions on the court.
Jenna Reitsma earned 18 record book entries for kills, with a high of 41 in a Division 1 Semifinal against Novi on Jan. 15. Her 897 kills total this season rank 11th on the single-season list, her 873 as a junior are 15th, and her career kills total of 2,316 over 446 games and four seasons ranks 13th all-time.
Setter Sophie Powell earned nine record book entries, including for 52 assists in a 2019 match against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 1,571 over 146 games as a junior in 2019 (ranking 10th) and 2,902 assists over 287 games and four seasons (but most over the last two). Additionally, senior Emma Hall made the single-match aces list with 15 against Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills in 2019, and Emily Stump made that list with 11 against Ottawa Hills in 2018.
Reitsma will continue her career at Marquette University.
See below for more recent record book additions in volleyball, 11-player football and boys tennis.
11-player Football
Braden Mussat capped a three-year career quarterbacking Madison Heights Bishop Foley with a sensational 2019 season that helped him secure entries all over the record book. He finished with senior-season entries for 171 past completions, 293 attempts, 2,792 yards and 30 touchdowns through the air, helping him also make lists with 312 completions, 550 attempts, 4,992 yards and 53 touchdowns over his 25-game career. He also was added for 28 completions, 56 attempts and 430 passing yards in an Oct. 4, 2019 game against Detroit Edison, and for throwing five touchdown passes in a half the following week against Marine City Cardinal Mooney. Mussat is playing baseball at Kalamazoo College.
Three quarters of a century later, the 1945 Greenville football team can celebrate an eternal place in the MHSAA record book as one of 21 teams to not give up a point. Greenville went 7-0-1 that season, outscoring its opponents by a combined 155-0.
Boys Tennis
Griffin Beers finished his four-season varsity tennis career in 2018 on the record book list for most double wins. He finished 71-27 for Rochester Hills Stoney Creek playing with four partners over those four seasons, just missing the single-season list with 26 wins as a junior with teammate Jack Beglin.
Volleyball
Unionville-Sebewaing reached at least the Quarterfinals five times last decade, with a trio of stars contributing heavily to that effort. Rylee Zimmer was added five times to the records including for 808 kills as a junior, 828 as a senior, and 2,332 over her four-year, 532-game career. Those career kills rank 11th all-time. She was the top hitter on the 2018 team that finished Division 3 runner-up and was set by also-senior Nichole Schember, who tied for second for single-match assists with 70 during a four-game win over Cass City, ranks sixth with 1,702 assists for that season and also made the career list with 2,543 assists despite playing only two varsity seasons. Erica Treiber also made the record book five times, with 754 kills as a senior in 2014, 1,759 kills over her 533-game, four-season career; 258 blocks as a senior and 238 as a junior, and 684 blocks for her career. Her senior-year and career blocks both rank second on those respective lists. Treiber went on to earn All-America honors at Tennessee, and Zimmer plays at Saginaw Valley State.
Portage Central senior Jordan MacDonald earned a record book entry with a big hitting performance in a 3-2 win over DeWitt this fall. She had 31 kills in the victory Nov. 12, and her entry is the first for her school in this sport. She will continue next season at Long Island University in New York.
Birch Run’s Emma McIlhargie capped a three-season varsity career this fall among the most accomplished hitters in MHSAA history, making the record book for single-match kills with 32, single-season kills with 593 as a junior and 654 in the fall and career kills with 1,752. Teammate Kalliann Cook, a sophomore this school year, was added for 121 aces during the 2019 season, and senior setter Sydney Pagel was added for 53 assists in a match this season against Essexville Garber – the same match during which McIlhargie earned her kills record entry.
White Cloud four-year varsity senior Alexis Strait finished this fall on the career aces list. She totaled 311 over 393 games, and also finished with more than 2,000 assists during her high school career.
Hopkins’ Brianna Miller closed her high school career by moving up the career lists in kills and aces, finishing her four-season varsity run with 1,916 and 352, respectively, over 502 games. Miller is listed six times total including for a match-high 35 kills this past Oct. 6 and 675 kills over 142 games as a junior, and also 11 aces in a match that season. Then-senior teammate Ashley Bultema also was added for 11 aces in a match in 2019, and additionally, coach Terrie Wisser was added to the winningest coaches list with a 682-471-101 record since taking over at the start of the 1992-93 season.
Keilyn Carpenter finished her career this fall with 10 entries in the volleyball record book from her four varsity seasons and 439 games for Vermontville Maple Valley. She made the career kills list with 2,200, and her 344 career aces rank sixth on that list. Carpenter has signed with Wayne State.
PHOTO: Lowell’s Jenna Reitsma readies to serve during the 2019 Division 1 Final against Farmington Hills Mercy at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.