Special Year Thanks to No Specialization
August 7, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As we embark on another sports-filled school year Monday, we can look to a recent Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central grad for the value of a school year filled with sports.
As specialization at the highs school level continues to be debated, Bryce Windham will start his college baseball career this fall at Division I Old Dominion University – after playing baseball but also football and basketball for the Falcons.
The MHSAA has long advocated athletes taking on as many sports as they have interest instead of focusing on just one in pursuit of a college scholarship – a position that’s received plenty of public backing of late, be it from stars of the U.S. women’s soccer team after their World Cup championship run or former Lansing Waverly multi-sport athlete John Smoltz during his enshrinement in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Enter Windham – who easily could’ve been excused for focusing on baseball, or even basketball as his dad is the St. Mary’s varsity boys coach. Instead, Bryce quarterbacked the football team to last season’s Division 6 championship – breaking Ithaca’s national-best 69-game winning streak in the Final – before being named Class C Player of the Year by The Associated Press in basketball and earning a Most Valuable Player honor at the baseball state coaches association all-star game at Comerica Park this spring.
All three of Windham's teams reached at least the MHSAA Quarterfinals.
“His participation in football and basketball helped land a Division 1 baseball scholarship to Old Dominion. They were able to see his athleticism in basketball and toughness in football, and ODU’s coach loved it,” dad and hoops coach Randy Windham said.
“He probably would’ve given up football, and that ended up his greatest memory by winning a state championship.”
Click to read about Windham’s multitude of accomplishments as reported last month by the Monroe Evening News.
Honors Abound
National coaching honors were bestowed on a trio of Michigan coaches over the summer:
- Retired Trenton ice hockey coach Mike Turner – the winningest hockey coach in MHSAA history with a record of 629-126-52 from 1974-81 and then 1995-2014 – was named National Coach of the Year in Special Sports by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. His teams won 11 MHSAA titles and finished runner-up four times. “I was there when the MHSAA added hockey as one of their sanctioned sports and crowned their first MHSAA state championships in 1975. At that time there were 60-70 high school teams participating, and now there are 170,” Turner said. “It has been great to be a part of the advancements made in the sport of high school hockey, with more teams participating, more player development, and more opportunities that exist for players after high school.”
- Traverse City Central boys track and field and cross country coach John Lober won his second national coaching honor of the 2014-15 school year, named the NHSACA Coach of the Year for track and field to go with a previous honor earned in January from the National Federation of State High School Associations. He has coached the Traverse City Central boys track and field team since 1977 and also the boys cross country team since 1989. His 1992 track team won the Class A championship, and he has coached 17 individual MHSAA Finals champions. He was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
- Ann Arbor Pioneer assistant girls swimming and diving coach Liz Hill was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for all girls sports by the NHSACA. Hill, a former All-American at the University of Michigan and standout sprinter at Pioneer, began assisting her husband Denny Hill in 1983 before becoming his fulltime assistant a few seasons later. Together they’ve led the Pioneers girls to 15 MHSAA team titles, the last two as co-head coaches.
Michigan Mourns
Fremont and the high school athletic community statewide mourned the death July 21 of longtime coach Rich Tompkins, who led Fremont’s boys cross country teams to six MHSAA cross country championships including three and a runner-up finish during his last decade of coaching before retiring in 1997.
The Muskegon Chronicle reported that his boys and girls cross country teams and boys track and field team combined for 45 league championships, with his boys cross country team winning 116 straight duals from 1977-88. Tompkins was executive director of the Michigan High School Coaches Association for more than a decade and served on its board for more than two decades.
Click to read more from the Chronicle on Tompkins’ legacy.
Officials in the News
The Monroe County Officials Association took to the county fair to encourage passers-by to “Be the Referee” – and received 47 sign-ups from people interested in the avocation. Visitors to an MCOA booth at the fair were told in some detail what is involved with being an MHSAA official, and those who then signed up to find out more about officiating football, basketball, baseball or softball (sports the MCOA trains for and schedules) will be invited to an orientation session where they will become eligible for one of 20 complimentary registration fees for this school year.
The West Michigan Officials Association marked a decade of support at the start of this summer for the Visually Impaired Sports and Activity Day, sponsored by the Helen DeVos Children’s Foundation. The WMOA has contributed nearly $18,000 to the event over the last 10 years as well as taking part in the event, which includes a number of sports and other activities.
The Saginaw Athletic Officials Association sent along this photo of five members who worked 2013-14 MHSAA Finals, from left: Mark Jarlock (baseball), Tom Behmlander (softball), Scott Helmka (football), Dale Brown (softball and football) and Mark Schoenow (football). The Baseball Final was Jarlock’s first; the other officials had worked Finals in the past.
PHOTO: (Top) Monroe St. Mary quarterback Bryce Windham unloads a pass during last season's Division 6 Final win over Ithaca at Ford Field.
NorthPointe Making Good on Potential with Chance to Keep Promise Up Next
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
February 20, 2025
GRAND RAPIDS – Ashlyn Bey felt uneasiness as she entered Montabella High School for last Saturday’s Division 4 Competitive Cheer District.
It was a return to the spot that abruptly ended her season a year ago.
“I definitely thought about it as we were driving there,” the Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian junior said. “I was thinking that this is when my season stopped last year, and just being at the same school didn’t help.
“I psyched myself out a lot when I went back there, but honestly it was a lot better than I thought it would be.”
Bey suffered a broken left hand in last year’s District while performing a tumble during the team’s Round 3 routine.
“It was interesting that it was at the same place,” NorthPointe Christian coach Sue Smith said. “She had to walk past the athletic trainers’ door when we were going on the mat, where she was in so much pain. She said that it was hard to go in and remember all of that, but she did great. It didn’t faze her on the mat, and she did fantastic.”
Bey’s injury required two surgeries and kept her off the mat for nine months.
“It was definitely pretty tough because I spend a lot of time on (competitive cheer), and I was upset that I couldn’t work on it and get better,” Bey said. “But I also think it was good for me to step away a little bit.”
Bey, the team’s top flyer, has helped the Mustangs emerge as one of the top contenders in Division 4 this season. NorthPointe is seeking a Finals berth this weekend.
“It was really exciting to come back because I could start new, but it was also a little irritating because I was back to square one,” Bey said. “It’s been going pretty good, and I feel like I’m where I was before and doing even better.”
Smith also has been thrilled to have one of her team leaders back in the fold.
“She didn’t get cleared until right before the season, and she's really gone through a lot with the two operations,” Smith said. “She’s phenomenal, and one of the best athletes I've ever worked with.”
Both Bey and her team have motivation for a triumphant comeback story.
The Mustangs have fallen short at Regionals the past three years. They made three consecutive appearances in the Final from 2019-21, placing sixth during their most recent trip.
They missed out on advancing last season by eight hundredths of a point, placing fifth at the Regional, while also finishing two points shy of the top four in 2023.
Smith said the team made a commitment to fulfilling a promise after last year’s disappointing outcome.
“They were on the mat afterwards and they were all crying, but they all said that they were going to work really hard and they were going to get it next year,” Smith said. “Instead of being upset, they were motivated, and I thought that was awesome. And this team has done amazing things.”
The near-misses from the past two seasons have fueled the Mustangs’ desire, and success has followed with the return of several key returners.
They finished second to Division 2 Fruitport in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Silver and finished runner-up at their District. They’ve also broken several school records.
“I feel like this team is doing so well and I feel like we are going to do great at Regionals,” Bey said. “We had a lot of motivation from last year, and we’ve been so close so many times that I feel like this is the year. I think we are going to make it to state.”
NorthPointe Christian’s small roster of 10 athletes will need to finish among the top four Saturday at West Catholic High School in order to advance to the Division 4 Final.
“We’re really hoping to make it this year with basically the same girls from last year and I think this team can do it, but there is really good competition out there,” Smith said. “We are working hard this week and our goal is the top four and making it to state. We would love to win, but that would be a bonus. I think they can do it.”
The last few years has been a rebuilding process for Smith, whose numbers dwindled in 2021 due to COVID-19 even though the Mustangs still qualified for the Final that season.
It’s been a steady climb back as improvements have been made across all three rounds in an attempt to raise scores.
“We’re pretty solid in every round, but my favorite is Round 3,” Smith said. “We’ve developed their tumbling over the years, and it's one of our biggest strengths. It’s an exciting, fast-paced round with something always going on, and I love it.
“The girls told me that Round 2 was their favorite, and we’ve made it more of an actual routine with every single skill having a new formation. We’ve had our best scores in Round 2, consistently over 200, and it’s been exciting for them.”
The Mustangs’ roster also includes Lindsay Ulstad, Riley Paulk, Addie Bey, Bella Barnett, Marlo Harrall, Emily Vander Woude, Evie Bast, Genesis Bradenburg and Issabell Barr.
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian competes this season at Grand Rapids Northview. (Photos courtesy of the NorthPointe competitive cheer program.)