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.)
Saline Tops Podium for 1st Time Since 2013 as Multiple Past Runners-Up Take Next Step
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 15, 2025
HOLLAND – Saline boys swimming & diving coach Todd Brunty said the quest for his team’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals championship Saturday began exactly 365 days ago after losing out to rival Ann Arbor Pioneer by 30 points.
"First, everyone has to believe in the opportunity or the possibility of it," he explained. "You have to be a team that expects to compete. It's the old cliché: You've got to believe you can do it.
“Three hundred and sixty five days ago, we believed we had the talent to do it. We didn't quite perform like we wanted a year ago, but coming into today we thought we had a chance."
Saline cast aside the disappointment of finishing runner-up last year by winning the team meet at Holland Aquatics Center with 291.5 points, outdistancing the 263 scored by the four-time reigning champ Pioneers. Northville was third with 224 points, Zeeland fourth at 176 and Detroit Catholic Central fifth with 175 points.
Sophomore Issac Adanin captured the 200-yard individual medley (1:48.24) and 100 breaststroke (56.23) titles to lead Saline’s scoring. Diego Valdes won the 100 butterfly (49.15) for the Hornets.
The championship was their first since winning four straight Division 1 titles from 2010-13. Saline also finished runner-up in 2016.
Last year, Adanin was runner-up in the IM and fourth in the breaststroke.
"I had a slow start (this season). It was smooth, then I gradually got faster," he said. "I really hoped I (could win both races). I was kind of young last year, so I didn't have large expectations. But I've been to a lot of big meets in club, so I learned how to get better. It was harder this year, different, because (the meet) was so stacked."
Joining Adanin as a double individual winner was Detroit Catholic Central sophomore Camren Turowski, who finished off an unbeaten season in the 50-yard freestyle by winning that event in 20.41 seconds and won the 100 free with a Division 1 meet record time of 45 seconds.
Turowski had elected to give up lacrosse and football at the middle school level a few years ago because it seemed he was always fighting injuries. "I kept getting injured, and I wanted to save my body for swimming," he said.
Now he’s putting the hurt on swim opponents. Both performances Saturday were All-America qualifying times and came on the heels of earlier this season breaking the Oakland County and Detroit Catholic Central record of 45.25 in the 100 free while setting a conference and school record of 20.69 in the 50.
A year ago Turowski, an avid wake surfer, finished runner-up at the Finals in the 50 while helping three relays place among the top two. It was that second-place finish, in fact, that Turowski credits for driving his transformation from a good swimmer into an outstanding one.
"Last year I didn't win (the 50 free), and I didn't like that," he said. "In swimming you need to improve in small increments, which means a lot. That means progress, which is what you need.
"I think it was a stronger field this year, very competitive in the 100. But I planned to win. I don't like to lose."
Detroit Catholic Central coach Jessica Stoddard said Turowski is the kind of swimmer who pays attention to coaching details, strives for perfection and is always seeking the next challenge.
"He comes in and asks what he needs to work on. He's very coachable," she said. "He's always first in and last out."
Zeeland's Owen Stevens achieved his goal Saturday by breaking the 11-year-old Division 1 Finals record in winning the 500 free (4:23.65).
Stevens, a Zeeland West senior and Finals qualifier since his freshman year who will swim at Louisville next season, last lost in the 500 free during his freshman season.
"It was my last high school race in the 500, and I wanted to go out by breaking the record and I did," he said. "It felt good. The record was in the back of my mind, and I thought if I swam my race, I could break it."
Grandville's Jack Merkel won the 100 backstroke (48.69), ending a career of rollercoaster showings at the Finals. He qualified in the backstroke as a freshman, but was slowed by the flu. He then took third in the 100 butterfly and second in the backstroke as both a sophomore and junior.
Merkel said finishing so close to a Finals championship can provide motivation, but the pressure also can raise the expectation meter.
"It can go both ways," he said. "But then I realized that if you finish second, there's only one person in the state better than you. If you're good enough to finish second, you can also win. You have to change your mindset a little bit."
Other champions were East Kentwood's Fidele Byiringiro, who became the first from his school to win diving since Kyle Gahan in 1997. He scored a 448.80.
Northville had a pair of winners with Brady Stenson in the 200 free (1:38.06) and the 400 free relay team (3:06.60). Ann Arbor Pioneer won the 200 free relay (1:24.65).
PHOTOS (Top) Saline poses with its championship trophy Saturday at Holland Aquatics Center. (Middle) Camren Turowski stands atop the podium after receiving one of his two championship medals. (Below) Saline’s Issac Adanin swims to the breaststroke championship. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)