By John Raffel
Greenville quarterback Logan MacMillen is back for his senior season, hoping to lead the Yellow Jackets to playoff contention.
It’s his first year as a starter.
“The biggest strength is his leadership,” Greenville coach David Moore said. “He goes out and he takes command. He has excellent knowledge of the offense now. That’s shown through for him. He’s able to have command during the game. That’s an important thing.”
MacMillen has been passing the ball “really well,” Moore said, noting that his quarterback passed for more than 400 yards his first three games. “He’s completing 60 percent of his passes and has three touchdowns. I think he’s really matured into a nice quarterback. It’s his accuracy. In high school, if you’re completing 60 percent of your passes, that’s really great.”
Lakeview volleyball
After an impressive playing career, Ashley (Huntey) Martz is now taking on the challenge of being a high school volleyball coach at Lakeview. She led Morley Stanwood to a Class C state title and went on to an all-American career at Ferris State University. Her younger sister, Alexis, was also on a state championship volleyball team at Morley Stanwood and is a senior on this season’s Ferris squad.
Martz has coached AAU in the past and she coached freshman volleyball at Traverse City West.
“When I took over [at Lakeview], I’m the third head coach in three years,” Martz said. “It’s been challenging for the players, especially the older girls who are juniors and seniors. They haven’t had any continuity with coaching styles and what they’re being taught.
“It was tougher in the beginning, because I was teaching them quite a few newer things they hadn’t been taught before. It was challenging for the girls to be open to my coaching style. Now that we’re [into the season] things are going more effectively.”
Martz took the job in July and had limited time to work with her players. “I got nine varsity girls together and we went to the Ferris team camp at the end of July,” she said. “We were together three full days. We have three returning players from the varsity program. They’re my three seniors. The other 11 girls are juniors coming in. A couple of them have never played before. In the beginning, it was really quiet. We didn’t talk to each other much. It’s definitely a whole new team.”
For players coming up to the varsity, “it’s a faster-paced game for them,” Martz said. “For my three returning players, the biggest thing is the passing is a little different. It’s the pace of the game and our higher expectations of that.
“In the beginning, I would say my first goal would be to get the girls to learn the game of volleyball and understand a faster-paced game and then be able to compete. Now that we understand the game more, we’re at a competitive level.”
Lakeview started out 0-3 in the CSAA Silver Division, and Martz hopes the Wildcats can defeat those teams when they see them again this season.
She hopes to create some continuity with the program and get youth camps going in the summer.
Saranac cross country
Sidney Klynstra is having an impressive freshman season for the Redskins. It didn’t take her long to adjust to the distances presented by high school cross country courses.
“It came pretty naturally,” she said. “I’ve been running for awhile, since third grade.”
Her best time so far this season was 22:11. She’s been happy with what she’s accomplished.
“I could set some other goals probably,” she said. “I try to pair up with some of the girls I’ve known throughout cross country, whom I know I can keep up with, who are around the same time as me. I’ll try to stay as strong as I can. I would say my start is pretty strong. I’d say the most difficult part is probably toward the middle.”
Also on the team with Klynstra are Maddy Miller and Kaitlyn Haskins.
Belding golf
The Belding girls’ golf team has gotten off to a strong start, including a 209-211 win over Ionia. Belding has a balanced attack and was led in that match by Zoe Anderson and Kylee Chickering.