Battle of the Fans IV: Vote Now
February 16, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We watched and enjoyed what hopefuls sent us from all over the state, then criss-crossed Michigan to see this season's best for ourselves.
And now it's your turn to vote for your favorite student cheering section of this season's Battle of the Fans IV.
Vote today through 4 p.m. Thursday on your favorite of these five (enrollments in parentheses) – Beaverton (422), Buchanan (462), Dowagiac (606), St. Johns (1,088) and Yale (716) – by liking, sharing and re-tweeting on the MHSAA’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites
But before you do, take a few minutes to watch all five videos and read the stories behind the sections by clicking the links below.
The contest is sponsored by the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, which will have the final vote on the champion. SAC members will use all resources available to make their decision – including giving significant weight to the public social media vote. Votes will be valued proportionate to the size of the school receiving them (for example, one vote for Class C Beaverton will mean more than one vote for much larger Class A St. Johns).
The champion will be announced Friday on Second Half. Video of all five finalists will be compiled and shown on the main scoreboard during the Girls and Boys Basketball Finals in March at Michigan State's Breslin Student Events Center. The winner will be invited to Breslin on March 27 for the Class B Boys Basketball Semifinals and presented a championship banner at center court.
And now, the finalists, in alphabetical order:
Beaverton
Read all about it: Creatures Build Beaverton Legacy
Buchanan
Read all about it: Buchanan’s ‘Herd’ Grows into More
Dowagiac
Read all about it: Dowagiac Unites to Launch ‘Attack’
St. Johns
Read all about it: St. Johns Cheers Section Success
Yale
Read all about it: Yale Kohler Krazies Rise to Roar
SI Honors Belding SAC Member Wilker
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 11, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A nationally-known media giant like Sports Illustrated can seem worlds away from a town of fewer than six thousand just left of middle in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
Belding senior Greta Wilker figured the New York-based magazine would never find someone like her. But it did, and this week readers all over the world have the opportunity to find out why.
Wilker was chosen as SI’s High School Athlete of the Month for May, with the video below appearing at SI.com and an article to follow, she believes, later this week or soon after. Wilker was nominated for the award – she’s not sure by whom – and was first contacted by Sports Illustrated near the end of her basketball season in March.
A camera crew came to Belding in mid-April and spent two days shooting video of Wilker at school, training dogs at her Paws with a Cause class and then during her softball game and track & field meet. Another reporter came out the next week to spend a few more days reporting for the written story that will appear on the website and in part in the magazine this month.
“When you watch the other kids who got picked … some of the things other kids are doing are ridiculous,” Wilker said. “To think I was up at the same level as those other kids, it’s pretty cool.”
Wilker, a member of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, has some pretty “ridiculous” achievements herself. She’s her class’ top student with 4.2 grade-point average weighted to include Advanced Placement classes, and she’ll graduate with 16 varsity letters – four each in volleyball, basketball, softball and track & field. In her spare time, she trains service dogs that are placed to assist people with hearing and other disabilities.
She will study and play softball next at Emory University in Georgia with another big goal in mind – she hopes to eventually become a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.