Grand Ledge scored two points to place 17th in the Division 1 girls tennis state finals at Midland on May 30-31. Lauren Sharp won a match at No. 1 singles.
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Grand Ledge scored two points to place 17th in the Division 1 girls tennis state finals at Midland on May 30-31. Lauren Sharp won a match at No. 1 singles.
Rockford scored seven points to place 11th in the Division 1 girls tennis state finals at Midland on May 30-31. Adeline Nelson won a match at No. 2 singles.
Midland Dow’s girls tennis team scored 13 points to finish seventh at this season’s Division 1 state finals. Caroline Sabo lost in the No. 2 singles finals. Afua Ofori-Darko fell in the No. 3 singles semifinals. Elaina Parrillo lost in No. 4 singles finals.
The job is never easy.
Watching student-athletes grow from a deer-in-the-headlights freshman to young men and woman in a blink of an eye. It’s awesome to see how they evolve through the years. The hard part, however, is watching those athletes play their final high school games. The look of sorrow on their faces knowing that they’re playing their final games is never fun to witness. You build relationships through the years, and sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye.
From Powers Catholic’s Morgan McKerchie, who burst on the scene scoring five goals in a regional game four years ago against Freeland and helping her team win a state championship that same year. To Swan Valley’s Courtney Reinhold, who blossomed into a first class student-athlete, a scholar athlete, not to mention an all-around great person. To Nouvel Catholic Central’s Lindsay Strobel, who helped lead Nouvel to a state basketball title and to the regional soccer final as well.
McKerchie, Reinhold, and Strobel are just a few of the hundreds of athletes Sports Scene sees on a daily basis, but it is athletes like them that make our jobs worth doing. Never a negative word is spoken, and they are always true to their respective sports.
It’s nice to see athletes move on, but it is never easy to watch them walk away. College is the next step. The next phase in their lives. The journey is endless and filled with many opportunities along the way. Never walk away from a challenge. Walk with your head held high and a smile on your face. New experiences are waiting for you on the other side.
Thanks for the memories.
For the first half, the Freeland girls soccer team showed that it belonged in the state semifinal, as it took a scoreless 0-0 tie into halftime against perennial Division 3 power Detroit Country Day.
The Yellowjackets, though, quickly took control of the game in the second half. Freshman Dagny Hill put Country Day on the board just 3:21 into the half by sending a volley from inside the box past Freeland keeper Hannah Foy.
A little more than a minute later, Country Day struck again, as senior Michelle Manning connected with sophomore Sonja Niederhofer on a long pass from midfield. Niederhofer beat both defenders to the ball and raced in on goal before flicking the ball over Foy and into the net.
Freshman Olivia Heppard extended the Yellowjacket lead to 3-0 with 27:14 left after a Freeland defender cleared the ball away from the net right to her. Heppard’s shot from 30 yards out sailed over Foy’s head and bounced under the crossbar for a goal.
Country Day advanced to the Division 3 final but lost to Unity Chirstian 3-1 in the championship game.
Despite the second half barrage, Freeland first-year coach Lauren DeRoo couldn’t be prouder of what the Falcons accomplished this season. “I was a first-year coach that got the job four days before tryouts,” she said. “We’re going to build on this. We expect to be back. That’s our goal.”
DeRoo opened the game with a strategy that surprised the Yellowjackets. She started her best offensive player, junior Taryn Taugher, on defense, giving Freeland a different look. For one half, the strategy worked.
“She’s a strong player, an aggressive player,” DeRoo said. “We were hoping to stop them and get one in on a counterattack. We knew what we were up against. We were facing a team of recruited athletes. We have pure athletes.”
Taugher said she was up for the challenge. “It’s the first time I’ve played defense,” she said. “Whatever helps the team, I’ll do. They are a physical team. We came out in the first half ready to go.”
The second half was a different story, however. “They found the weakness and exploited it. They found the gap between the sweeper and the stopper. They took advantage of it.”
The Falcons lose three seniors — Marina Palomarez, Kelsey Ropp, and Macey Miller — from a team that made Freeland girls’ soccer history as the first team to reach the state semifinal. To get there, Freeland defeated Cheboygan in a shootout and Frankenmuth 2-0 in the regional final.
DeRoo hopes the extra familiarity will pay off next season with a veteran group returning.
Midland Dow had two flights reach the final match at the Division 1 state final at Midland Tennis Center. Caroline Szabo lost to Bloomfield Hills’ Kerry Hu 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, and Elaina Parrillo lost to Grosse Pointe South’s Maddie Paolucci 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 singles .
Grosse Pointe South won its second state title in three years (2012). Dow improved upon last year’s 10th-place finish with a seventh-place finish (13).
Dow coach Garrett Turner was impressed by the efforts of his team during the tournament.
“The future is definitely bright,” Turner said. “In the finals, Caroline ran out of gas, but she has nothing to hang her head about. We had a great tournament, and the kids will learn from this experience heading into next season. We have some young players who haven’t been in the situation before. It’s always a different experience when you are playing under the pressure of a semifinal or final match.”
Grosse Pointe South (28), Clarkston (22), Bloomfield Hills (19), Northville (19), and Port Huron Northern (16) rounded out the top five.
At No. 1 singles, Utica’s Davina Nguyen defeated Clarkston’s Lexi Baylis 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Turner said he was happy with Szabo’s and Parrillo’s performances, as Parrillo hadn’t played on the second day of the state final before and Szabo is a freshman.
Szabo won her semifinal match 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 against West Bloomfield’s Melissa Strome.
“[In the championship match], she kind ran out of steam,” Turner said of Szabo. “She wasn’t able to put the shots together that she was used to. The other girl was really good. Caroline had to really take it to her. She just couldn’t quite do enough to take the match.”
At No. 4 singles, Parrillo, a junior, also needed three sets to get into the final, beating West Bloomfield’s Meryl Reams 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Parrillo had one loss going into the final matchup, and it was against Paolucci, who beat her in the championship match.
“She played very well in the final match,” Turner said of Parrillo, “but the other girl was stroking the ball well, and it was tough for her to battle against.”
Dow will lose five seniors to gradation, but Turner is positive about the future.
“We’ve got a lot of really strong, young talent,” he said. “I think it looks positive.”
Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
CEDAR SPRINGS, MI – There is no doubt that the Mount Pleasant girls soccer team has been one of the better programs in mid Michigan for quite some time now.
The problem for the Oilers occurs when they travel to other parts of the state during the MHSAA state tournament.
That was the case this year, as coach John Bunting had a solid team that was led by a superstar senior forward Emma Kahn, and that also had solid players around her.
Mount Pleasant won 13 games and advanced to the Division 2 regional final at Cedar Springs High School, and that is where its season ended, as it lost a heartbreaking 1-0 game to Grand Rapids Christian.
Mount Pleasant was in the game the whole way, but a closer look at the stats showed that Christian controlled the game, outshooting the Oilers 10-2 and controlling tempo most of the way.
After Bunting had a little time to reflect after the game on what might have been done differently to get a different result and see his Oilers finally advance past this stage of the state tournament, he concluded that it might take a more rugged schedule to perform better when the stakes are higher.
“Four or five of our victories this year have been mercies, and it’s just the [league] that we play in,” said Bunting, whose team ended the year with a 13-5-5 record. “We have five or six real competitive games, and [a team like Christian] will have 15. So the experience to play defense, manage the time well, be in the right position, they are always in games like this.”
Grand Rapids Christian coach Bryan Prins agrees with that assessment. “We have a very tough schedule,” he said. “We are in the OK White, so we play Forest Hills Central, Caledonia, and other tough schools like an East Kentwood and Rockford. You don’t beat up on those schools, but you learn to play against tough competition, and that helps you now. We’ve lost to those teams, but you learn a lot in defeat.”
So at the expense of a less stellar record during the year, but maybe with the payoff of the knowledge of playing in close games and being battle tested, Bunting may have to amp up the competition.
Bunting has the talent coming back next year, like Kahn’s younger sister, sophomore midfielder Hannah Kahn. Six freshmen that with varsity experience this year, Jordyn Mullikin, Kaelyn Maurer, Sammi Boles, Lindsey Moore, Julia Pung, and Ally Wentworth, will be back also.
But the Oilers need more games like the 1-0 loss it suffered in the regional final if they are to finally take that next step in the state tournament.
The Ben Roeder File
Midland Dow High School
Grade: Junior
Sport: Golf
Season Accolades: Roeder made the most of his appearance at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 final at Forest Akers East Golf Course by winning the the individual title in a three-hole, five-man playoff over Seth Terpstra of Grandville, Jordan Bohannon of Birmingham Groves, Joel Pietila of Rockford, and Ben Zyber of Swartz Creek.
Roeder, who reached the MHSAA Finals by capturing one of two qualifying spots in a five-man regional playoff, was solid the entire weekend and was able to hold up under pressure during the playoff. His win was the first-ever boys’ golf title at Midland Dow.
The Sydney Bronner File
Frankemuth High School
Grade: Junior
Sport: Track and Field
Season Accolades: Bronner captured the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump titles during the Division 3 Track & Field finals and was also a member of the 800-meter relay championship team. Bronner placed in high jump last year and was determined this year to take the title and also to set a new personal best of 5’6″, something she accomplished in the final. That personal best also tied the LP Division 3 meet record.
The Alison Rich File
Haslett High School
Grade: Senior
Sports: volleyball, basketball, and track
Accomplishments: A three-sport standout, Rich recently won the 100-meter dash at the Division 2 Track & Field finals. She also finished second in the 300-meter hurdles. A year ago, she earned all-state at the Division 2 finals with a seventh place finish in the long jump with her leap of 16’9″.
The Ethan Aspey File
Hemlock High School
Grade: Senior
Sports: football, basketball, and track
Accomplishments: Earlier in the year, Aspey broke the school record in the 300-meter hurdles. At the Division 3 Track & Field finals, he finished second in the 300-meter hurdles and eighth in the 110-meter hurdles to earn all-state honors.
College: Aspey will play basketball at Alma College.
It’s a great day here at High School Sports Scene Magazine! School is out, and summer is in full swing. Another great year of high school sports took place, and the state softball and baseball tournaments put the cap on a thrilling spring sports season. This year’s state finals took place on the campus of Michigan State University, and the first year at the new venue was a smashing success. All the action was within a minute’s walk, and softball and baseball fans had the opportunity to see all the semifinal and final games in each sport if they wanted. The change in venue was also good for area teams, as three local baseball teams captured state titles, with Bay City Western winning the D1 title, Mt. Pleasant winning the D2 title, and New Lothrop stopping Beal City in a battle of local baseball powerhouses for the D4 state title. The softball action was just as thrilling, as Bay City Western made it a clean sweep and won the D1 state softball title. Unionville-Sebewaing finished runner-up in Division 3, while both Fowler and Vestaburg treated their fans to thrilling postseasons by reaching the state semifinals in Division 4. Congratulations go out to all the other area athletes in boys’ and girls’ track, soccer, tennis, golf, and lacrosse who captured titles and made memories this season. So sit back and enjoy another beautiful Michigan summer and see you in a couple months when another exciting season of high school sports begins.
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