Article - High School Sports Scene

SCHOOL: Reese High School

YOUR NAME: Brandon Gnatkowski

POSITION: Head Coach (1^st year)

Cross Country

CONFERENCE: Greater Thumb West

Please answer extensively

Your 2020 record and highlights— and thoughts.

Boys- 3^rd in Conference, 3^rd in Regional, 26^th at State Meet.

Girls- 1^st in Conference, 1^st in Regional, 7^th at State Meet.

2020 was an interesting year with all the Covid protocols, but the team did what was asked of them and we achieved our team goals of getting both teams to compete at the State Finals. The girls finished seventh at the State Meet which tied for the best team finish in the school’s history.

Name some key athletes that have graduated and your remembrances on their contributions to the program.

Macey Hawken, Jack Sirianni, Jake Nierode and Sam Spencer were our four seniors from last year’s team. All four of those athletes put in the time, effort and lead by example. They will be missed, but they passed along their leadership roles to this year’s team.

Please mention several athletes who will be key performers…name, year in school, position. Your expectations from each of these athletes this season. (Feel free to attach a roster if one is available).

Boys:

Seniors- Wilbert Haines, Roderick Rigby, Isaak Wurdock-Swift

Juniors- Brandan Hopp, Cooper Shores, Wyatt Wojdula

Freshmen- Phineas Houghtaling, Dominic Putman, Nathaniel Seney, Owen Wurdock-Swift

Girls:

Seniors- Grace Brown, Allison Galsterer, Aubrey Putman, Brooke Sweeney

Juniors- Ellymae McCoy, Nicole Raymond

Sophomore- Jenna Sweeney

What expectations do you have of your team this season?

Both teams have a great amount of experience. Every one of these kids are hard workers and they hold each other accountable and that makes them work harder each day. Both teams are aiming to contend for a Conference Title.

What will be your team’s strength?

These kids show up daily to work hard and get better. Their determination to be their best makes coaching them so much fun.

Your conference: How strong is it and who would you consider the league favorites? Where do you see your team fitting into the league race?

The Greater Thumb Conference has talented runners on both sides for boys and girls. Our teams are looking to be in contention for the Conference Title.

How has it been to have a preseason like this with the lessening of COVID restrictions?

It was nice to be able to meet up with kids throughout the preseason. The kids enjoyed being able to run together.

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SCHOOL: Williamston

YOUR NAME: Brian Kent

POSITION: Girl’s Golf Coach

CELL AND HOME PHONE NUMBER: (517)282-7324

EMAIL ADDRESS: Bkent610@gmail.com

SPORT: Girl’s Golf

CONFERENCE:

Please answer extensively

1.) Your 2020 record and highlights— and thoughts.

N/A – First season as the golf coach. It is my understanding that we finished last in the league and are working to improve our standing this season.

2.) Name some key athletes that have graduated and your remembrances on their contributions to the program.
N/A – Not sure of any seniors last season on the team.

3.) Please mention several athletes who will be key performers…name, year in school, position. Your expectations from each of these athletes this season. (Feel free to attach a roster if one is available).
Our top performers this year are as follows;
Ellie Thorburn (So)
Allison Kane (So)
Addison Feig (So)
Nicole Schaefer (Fr)

I look to the three sophomore players for leadership and experience as we look to improve from last season.

4.) What expectations do you have of your team this season?
Williamston is a very young team, but they are a hard-working group that will push each other to improve themselves and the team.

5.) What will be your team’s strength?
Work ethic and positive attitudes.

6.) What are some things this team needs to work on?
Experience.

7.) Your conference: How strong is it and who would you consider the league favorites? Where do you see your team fitting into the league race?
Haslett is the defending league champions and returns a solid team this year. We hope to improve throughout this season.

2. 8.) How has it been to have a preseason like this with the lessening of COVID restrictions?
At times, it feels like things are getting back to “normal” but we can’t lower our guard and risk losing this season.

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Thursday, September 2nd, the Eagle Cross Country teams competed at the Ithaca Yellowjacket Invitational.

The girls finished in 5th place, with 127 points. Pewamo Westphalia won the meet.

Leading the way and medaling (top 15) was Mary Beth Hyatt, followed by Paige Ewalt, Emily Delong, Madison Woodward and Lyvia Halfman.

The boys finished 4th with 70 points in a tough field (Ithaca-D3, Pewamo Westphalia-D3, and Sault St. Marie-D1). Ithaca won the meet with 38 points.

Leading the way and medaling was Ashton Keiffer (5th), followed by Deegan Bodell (12th), Gavin Gage (15th), Brayden Clark (17th) and Jacob Stevens (21st).

COacjh Grant Woodman: “For the 2nd meet of the season, we did very well against some tough teams from bigger divisions. The goal today was to improve on the times from last week and all but two did that. 5 had lifetime PR’s today and the rest had season bests by at least a minute. We are getting into our school routines now and the work in practice is showing on the field. Everyone ran very well today. We will still continue to work and get better with October 29 and November 6 as the big goals.”

The next meet for the Eagles is the John Bruder Classic hosted by Shepherd HS on Wednesday September 8th.

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Portland St. Patrick improved to 2-0 with Friday’s 49-14 win over Tekonsha.

Derec Fedewa had a 10-yard touchdown run in the first quarter but Tekonsha came back for an 8-7 lead.

St. Patrick then had score from Lucas Simon on a 58-yard run, Fedewa had runs of 8 and 36 yards, Shane Cook on a 38-yard pass reception from Lucas Simon who also had a 23-yard run.

Payton Russman had a six-yard run.

Fedewa had 106 yards rushing and Russman 75.

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By John Raffel

Frankenmuth coach Mike Snyder has reason to be excited over the prospects of sophomore Mary Richmond, who is on the varsity for her second year.

“This is Mary’s second year on the high school cross country team,” Snyder said. “In her first year as a freshman, Mary has accomplished a great deal as she earned the top spot on our FHS all-time record board that has been around for over 30 years. Mary’s top time last season was 18:05.25. She also placed fourth in the Division 2 MHSAA state finals.

“Mary is a very polite, humble, hard working, great teammate type of student/athlete. Her best time last year was 18:05.25. Her time this year after only the second meet was 18:33.9. She is the No. 1 runner on our Frankenmuth girls team. Her initial goal this season is 17:50 and I believe she will do better than this.”

The keys to Richmond’s success, Snyder said, is she is a “dedicated student/athlete, has great work ethic, is coachable, is a great teammate, very supportive, is humble and very competitive. Her best time is 18:05 set last year (2020). I can see her around 17:30 this season which will be asking a lot, but I believe she can get there.
“She is working on cadence and foot strike and is much stronger than last season with weight room and running. It’s a culmination of many things as she continues to work hard and support her teammates on the way to being a top runner. The everyday supporting nature of Mary is something that sticks with me.”

Richmond’s fourth-place appearance at the state meet last season was very memorable.

“I expect her to “simply to continue to do what she has been doing,” Snyder said. “Mary was our top mileage athlete over the summer and has always been very dedicated to her training plan. Mary is dual sporting in varsity volleyball this season. Cross country is her primary sport, but volleyball is very important to her as well. She is balancing both and will add academics to this mix as soon as school begins.”

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By John Raffel

The Midland H.H Dow High Chargers varsity volleyball expects to have a strong season under coach Ali Taylor.

The Chargers compete in the Saginaw Valley League.

Midland was 13-7 last year.

“It was a tough year for us because of COVID,” Taylor said. “We only got one day to practice inside prior to our season starting. Once we had a few games under our belt and practices inside we started to come together and play very well. I believe if we had a regular summer, we would have had a better record.”

Some key players graduated from the program.

Cheka Queary “was an outside hitter and someone that played all around,” Taylor said. “She dominated in all aspects of the game and we will miss her being our go-to person. Gabby Wilson, was another outside hitter and played all around at times. She was another key factor to our team’s success.”

Alli Miller is a senior libero.

“Alli is one of the hardest workers you will ever meet,” Taylor said. “She will out hustle anyone on the court to get to a ball. Alli has been a great leader and floor general on our court. I have very high expectations for Alli as a libero this season.”

Summer Luick is a senior middle hitter.

“Summer will also out hustle anyone at the net,” Taylor said. “She will be a lot of middles’ worst nightmares. She has the ability to predict where the ball will go before the other team does. She always gets her hands up and touches almost every ball that comes near her. I have very high expectations of Summer this season.”

She also has high expectations for the team.

“My expectations for this season is to come out and shock a lot of teams,” Taylor said. “We have unbelievable chemistry and have put many hours in the gym this summer. Now, we are working to decrease silly errors and have both our offense and defense perform well for each game. My girls have great chemistry with one another and we plan to use this to our advantage this season.

“Some things that this team needs to work on are: silly errors and not let momentum changes impact how they play on the court. Our conference is a very strong and competitive league. I believe that the league favorites would be Davison, Grand Blanc, and Mount Pleasant. If we show up every day and play our best I believe that we will also be towards the top of the league.”

It’s fun been for Taylor and her team to have a normal summer.

“It has been wonderful to have less COVID restrictions,” she said. “Like I said, last year we had one practice and then we started to play. It has been great to actually have a preseason. It has done wonders for our team.”

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Akron Fairgrove defeated Ashley 36-14 this week

For Ashley:

Offense:

Passing

Logan Drummond 2 for 10 for 55 yards with 1 interception

Dillan Beebe had 1 catch for 49 yards

Bailey Long had 1 catch for 6 yards

Rushing

Logan Drummond had 101 yards on 15 carries with 2 TDs and 1 – 2 point conversion

Bailey Long had 27 yards on 12 carries

Defense:

Logan Drummond had 10 solos 11 assists

Dillan Beebe had 10 solos 7 assists and a sack

Bailey Long had 9 solos and 9 assists

Gavin Malek had 2 solos 6 assists and a fumble recovery

Special Teams:

Logan Drummond had 4 Kick returns for 70 yards. He had 5 punts for 66 yards

Gavin Malek had 3 kickoffs for 75 yards with a failed onside

Coach Kevin Saylor: “We didn’t tackle well, we didn’t open any holes, we couldn’t pass or catch, we ran to the wrong holes at times and we flat out ran a different play than was called more times than i’d like to admit. I’m not sure if we forgot how to play football or we just forgot to get off the bus or we were thinking we could win without even playing but that was one of the most brutal games that i’ve been a part of. We’ll get back to work next week and go back to the drawing board to try to decipher a great Morrice team coming in.”

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Alma’s girls golf team finished third at the TVC jamboree hosted by Essexville Garber today. Freeland was first with 357, Frankenmuth 2nd with 442, Alma 3rd with 449.

Individually Alma was led by freshman Kaleigh Johnston 107, junior Abigail Trecy with 109, and freshman Ava Vogt with 110.

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The Eagles went on the road on Tuesday, August 24th, and won against Bullock Creek 6-2. The results are as follows:

Midland BULLOCK CREEK – 2, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – 6,

Singles:
No. 1 – Simon Haubenstricker, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Noah Northrup, Midland BULLOCK CREEK, 6-1 , 6-0 , -;
No. 2 – Samuel Haubenstricker, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Josh Whittington, Midland BULLOCK CREEK, 6-1 , 6-2 , -;
No. 3 – Robert Brown, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Baily Nothelfer, Midland BULLOCK CREEK, 6-2 , 6-2 , — ;
No. 4 – Anthony Davis II, Midland BULLOCK CREEK def. Joey Furbush, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL, 6-1 , 3-6 , 10-8 ;

Doubles:
No. 1 – Aidan Koslowski, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Cameron Larrison, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Blake Finney, Midland BULLOCK CREEK – Kyle Kutzke, Midland BULLOCK CREEK, 6-1 , 6-2 , -;
No. 2 – Andrew Braun, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Sam Soyza, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Logan Joseph, Midland BULLOCK CREEK – Lane Wedge, Midland BULLOCK CREEK, 6-4 , 1-6 , 10-2 ;
No. 3 – Zach Picklemann, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Caden Piesko, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Griffen Anderson, Midland BULLOCK CREEK – Brady Puehl, Midland BULLOCK CREEK, 6-3 , 6-3 , -;
No. 4 – Andrew Whittington, Midland BULLOCK CREEK – Bryce Herron, Midland BULLOCK CREEK def. Alex Loest, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Keira Larrison, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL, 6-0 , 6-3 , -;

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The Eagles won at home against Alma today, 7-1. The results are as follows:

FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – 7, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL – 1,

Singles:
No. 1 – Simon Haubenstricker, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Michael Howey, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, 2-6 , 6-2 , 6-3 ;
No. 2 – Samuel Haubenstricker, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Samual Leppien, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, 6-2 , 6-1 , -;
No. 3 – Robert Brown, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Eliot Roe, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, 6-7 , 6-2 , 6-1 ;
No. 4 – Aidan Koslowski, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Clark Lux, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, 6-0 , 7-5 , -;

Doubles:
No. 1 – Hayden Green, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL – MIcheal Hunter, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL def. Joey Furbush, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Cameron Larrison, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL, 4-6 , 6-4 , 6-4 ;
No. 2 – Zach Picklemann, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Andrew Braun, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Ian Roe, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL – Owen Seeley, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, 6-2 , 6-1 , -;
No. 3 – Sam Soyza, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Keira Larrison, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Trey Craige, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL – Brennen Palmer, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, 6-1 , 2-6 , 6-1 ;
No. 4 – Alex Loest, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL – Caden Piesko, FRANKENMUTH HIGH SCHOOL def. Andrew Brasher, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL – Jaymie Gladding, ALMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, 6-1 , 6-1 , -;

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Meet Reese cross country coach Brandon Gnatkowski

Meet Williamston’s golf team

CC-C runners fifth at Ithaca

St; Patrick improves to 2-0

Frankenmuth sophomore expects to have another huge season

Dow volleyball coach has high expectations

Akron Fairgrove defeats Ashley 36-14

Alma girls take third

Bullock Creek tennis team falls to Frankenmuth

Frankenmuth tennis team defeats tennis