Farwell took eighth place on Saturday in the 11-team Reed City Invitational. Farwell got first places from Glenn Beardsley at 112 and Tristen Zienkiewicz, and fifth places from Kurt Meister at 130 and Nate Carlon at 171.
Big Rapids’ wrestling team was fifth on Saturday in the 11-team Reed City Invitational. Big Rapids got first places from Nate Weckesser at 130 pounds Alim Muhammad at 140 pounds, and second places from Nick Worden at 125 pounds and Desean Griffin at 152 pounds.
Clare’s wrestling squad was fourth in the 11-team Reed City Invitational on Saturday.
The Pioneers netted two first places from Brandon Ayris at 189 pounds and Brenden Hensley at 215; one second place from Logan Emery at 160 pounds and three third places from Michael Evers at 119 pounds, Erick Litke at 171 pounds and Bob Green at 285.
Tri County’s wrestling team finished second in the Reed City Invitational on Saturday. The invitational featured the individual format.
Tri County netted a first place at 103 pounds from Nick McGahn who was 2-0. Austin Sprik was 2-0 at heavyweight. Taking third were Triston Briggs at 2-1, Tucker Martin at 125 pounds, Jesse Britton at 130, Justin Veneklasen, at 140 and Bryan Scott at 152. Jarrod Tague was fourth at 160. Parker Martin was fifth at 112.
Clare defeated Chippewa Hills’ B team 40-30. Zach Betzer, Eric Litke, Brandon Ayris, Brenden Hensley and Bob Green all pinned their opponents, while Logan Emery earned a major decision, to put Clare ahead 34-6. Forfeits at 103, and a loss at 112 for Clare, made way for Alyssa Boberg to pick up six points by void to put Clare ahead 40-18. This would be the last points scored for the night by the Pioneers.
Clare’s wrestling team lost 46-30 to Gladwin in dual match action on Thursday.
Down 12-0, Zach Betzer wrestled at 152 pounds against Owen Ritchie, but was pinned in the second period to put Gladwin up, 18-0. Logan Emery put the first points on the board for Clare at 160 after pinning Demetri Trice in the 2nd period. Eric Litke wrestled a tough match at 171 pounds but lost 14-4. Brandon Ayris pinned Tristan Mitchell at 189 pounds, and Brenden Hensley picked up six by void for Clare at 215 to make it 22-18. At heavyweight Bob Green of Clare was pinned by Nick Ritchie to tack on another six for the flying G’s. After a double void at 103, the hosts got two pins to put Gladwin ahead 40-18. Antonio Bastuba put another six on the board for Clare to bring the Pioneers within 10, 40-30. Six more points picked up for Gladwin by void at 140 ended the match.
“This was a really big night for our wrestling team, we had the table set to beat Gladwin and make a run at contending for the Jack Pine Conference title this year,” said Clare coach Kyle McKay. “Unfortunately, we dumped a couple matches that should have been definite wins for our guys, and it was just something that we were unable to recover from. Gladwin came out to wrestle and they got the job done.”
Scott Keyes
Sports Scene
Through his 27 years of coaching at the AAU and high school levels, Midland’s Mark Juengel has coached his fair share of talented players.
However, this year’s senior class might just be his best.
There is the potential of sending seven, and possibly eight, alumnae of Juengel’s Midland Fastbreak AAU girls basketball team on to the next level, with at least four of them signing with Division I schools.
Jess Walters, Midland High (University of Indiana); Karli Herrington, Hemlock (Central Michigan University); Lexi Gussert, Forest Park (Michigan State University); Grace Coughlin, Benilde-St. Margaret’s School (University of Minnesota); and Lindsay Winter, Clare (Michigan Technological University) have all played for Juengel and Fastbreak in recent seasons.
Coughlin played for Juengel until the seventh grade before moving from Midland to Minnesota, but Walter, Herrington, Winter, and Gussert continued the amazing AAU ride until it ended last summer. However, the next phase of their careers is about to begin.
It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that the 2014 Miss Basketball winner will be a former member of Fastbreak. Alma’s Maddy Seeley could also garner consideration for the honor.
“To watch either Jess, Karli, Lindsay, or Lexi win Miss Basketball would be a tremendous honor for either one of them,” Juengel said. “Those girls have worked so hard to become the best players they can be. I couldn’t be prouder of a great bunch of kids.”
Gussert has only played for Juengel the past four seasons, but she believes it is safe to say that she wouldn’t have garnered the attention on the court that she has gotten if it wasn’t for Juengel and Fastbreak.
“Joining that team was the best decision of my life,” Gussert said. “He [Juengel] helped me through everything from my game to contacting all the coaches. Being put on a team with such amazing athletes help me work on other aspects of my game besides scoring, such as rebounding and passing.”
Juengel noted that Guessert was a quick study. “Lexi has a very strong basketball IQ,” Juengel said. “When she was looking at an AAU team to play for, I was thrilled about having the opportunity to work with her. Her family dedicated themselves, driving 10 hours to come down from the U.P. for days at a time so Lexi could play. She was such a joy to coach.”
On the other hand, Herrington, Winter, and Walter practically grew up on the courts with one another since the fourth grade. Each of those girls, along with Gussert, has enjoyed strong seasons thus far, and there is a possibility that Miss Basketball wouldn’t be traveling too far from Freeland, the home of last year’s winner Tori Jankoska. That’s unless Gussert stakes claim to the honor, then a 10-hour drive north is in its sites.
Needless to say, all four girls are worthy of the an honor. Here is a look at their impressive resumes.
The Lexi Gussert File
Forest Park
Early in the season, Gussert eclipsed the 2,000-point mark in her career and became the upper peninsula’s all-time leading scorer. As of press time, Gussert had led Forest Park to an 11-0 record and a No. 1-ranking in Class D. She has 2,209 points and is averaging 29 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists.
Gussert said it would be such an honor if any of her Fastbreak teammates wins Miss Basketball. “I would love to see Miss Basketball in any one of our hands.”
“I believe we all have worked just as hard for it. Karli and Jess are amazing girls. Bringing it back to the U.P would be such an honor, and if that would be the case, good for me, I guess. I know whoever wins it will deserve it, though, and that’s all I can say about that.”
The Karli Herrington File
Hemlock
Herrington is putting up incredible numbers in the post this season for the Huskies. She is averaging close to 23 points and 16 rebounds a game for Class C No. 2-ranked Hemlock. A year ago, Herrington averaged 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks a game and was named First Team All-State in Class C. She will be attending Central Michigan University in the fall.
She was a huge contributor in knocking off previously unbeaten Bullock Creek 46-43 earlier this season.
“Coach Juengel instilled in us the attitude of winning and losing, and sometimes your shot might not be falling, but you win and lose as a team,” Herrington said. “Winning Miss Basketball would be a tremendous honor, but you wouldn’t be in that position if you didn’t have a strong team behind you.”
The Lindsay Winter File
Clare
Lindsay Winter became Clare’s all-time leading scorer earlier this year, surpassing the old mark of 1,374 points. Currently Winter is averaging close to 24 points a game while leading the Pioneers to an 11-1 record. Playing through double and triple teams most of the time, Winter uses her speed and quickness to find open shots and secure wins for her team.
Here is what she said Miss Basketball would mean to her: “Seeing Tori win Miss Basketball last year, it’s so nice to see smaller schools like Freeland or Clare getting recognition now for what we are doing on the court. I would be so happy if any of us four girls would win the honor. It would be a true testament of the body of work we have all put in over time.”
The Jess Walter File
Midland
In a recent victory over Bay City Central, Walter scored 22 points and went over the 1,000-point mark for her career. She became the first girl in Midland High School history to reach that mark.
Walter, who burst on the scene as a freshman, has been a driving force for the Midland program ever since. At the halfway point of the year, the Chemics were 10-1, with their only blemish coming against Powers Catholic. Walter, an Indiana University commit, is averaging 22 points a game.
“You know coach Juengel taught us so much about the ins and outs of what it takes to win as a team,” Walter said. “Obviously, there is so much more than shooting the basketball. The instinct to win as a team and lose as a team is so true. It’s the choices you make on the court – passes, rebounding, hustling, everything that can determine winning and losing.”
Scott Keyes
Sports Scene
Persistence makes you stronger.
If that’s the case, Bullock Creek’s Mary Juengel is much wiser than a majority of 14-year-old girls.
Juengel had to grow up a lot quicker than most because of a diagnosis in 2011 that left her family searching for answers and asking the always familiar question, “Why?”
Mary was stricken with Acute T-cell leukemia in October, 2011, and although treatable, it is extremely an aggressive cancer that left her facing almost two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy. Even while going through this ordeal, she has kept a positive outlook on life while becoming an inspiration to people and her surroundings.
Always smiling, Juengel doesn’t look like a young girl who has endured nearly 900 days of chemo, but the family’s strong faith and love of basketball has been a guiding force to help them through this painful ordeal.
Juengel’s long road to recovery is almost at an end, with her last major chemo treatment scheduled for February. When the Juengel family sat down with Sports Scene in early January, Mary had a scheduled chemo treatment the following Monday in Ann Arbor, a day before the Bullock Creek girls basketball team tangled with Hemlock. Both teams entered the game unbeaten on the season, while Hemlock was ranked No. 1 in Class B. The game was one of the biggest of the season thus far.
Mary’s older sister Elle is a junior point guard on the team, and Mary is her sister’s biggest fan.
“I don’t care if I was sick or what, I was making the Hemlock game,” Mary said. “If I had to run to the bathroom a few times to throw up, I was going to that game. I love to watch my sister play the game along with the rest of the girls. It’s like a big extended family.”
When the Bullock Creek girls basketball team made it to the Class B semifinals in last year’s MHSAA tounament, Mary was at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University cheering on the team on with the rest of the community.
“I wasn’t missing that game,” she said. ‘We were in the stands rooting them on. It was such a great game.” Bullock Creek would lose the game to Powers Catholic in overtime.
Of all her siblings, Elle was hit hardest by Mary’s diagnosis. Oldest sister Clara and brother Steven were both in college at the time, and Elle was home seeing the sickness and crying at the pain that her younger sibling was facing.
It was definitely hard on Elle, but the support from her Bullock Creek team and coach Justin Freeland has been tremendous.
“To see what Mary has gone through on a daily basis, but to watch her bounce back the way she has, only brings you closer together. It makes me so happy to hear Mary say that it is a highlight of her day when she says she won’t miss our game. I am so thankful for her being my No. 1. I’m just so grateful I still have her,” said Elle.
The Diagnosis
Mary started feeling sick in mid-October of 2011.
She had a fever and difficulty breathing — the family first thought it was a sinus infection, but antibiotics did nothing to relieve her symptoms. The family went to the emergency room Oct. 23, and within an hour doctors believed that she had lymphoma. Mary had a mass in her chest covering her heart and lungs. Physicians sent her to Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, where, within 24 hours, Mary was on three chemotherapy treatments and a steroid to work with the chemo.
After spending six days in the hospital, Mary returned home and continued weekly visits to Ann Arbor. In Nov. 2011, she had surgery to place a port in her chest, a bone marrow aspiration, a spinal tap, and intrathecal chemo at Mott.
Mary knew that she was going to lose her hair during treatments, but she didn’t want to wear a wig. “Why fake it,” Mary said. “This is me. I have cancer.”
It’s that attitude that has brought more people together because of her illness.
The one constant through it all has been the family’s love of basketball.
“Our family is really close,” said Mary’s mom Marni Juengel. “I think basketball is a constant. Mary knows what is going on during Elle’s games. She sometimes Facetimes her brother during the game. She knows how many points Elle has or her averages during the season. And if the refs make a bad call during the game, she will let them know about it.”
Mary’s father Mark agrees. “When you go through something like this, it really puts life into perspective,” said the longtime Midland Fastbreak AAU girls basketball coach. “When Mary got diagnosed, it changed our life instantly. From a basketball standpoint it kind of, in a way, brought us closer together for our family’s sake and for Elle. We couldn’t stop our lives totally. It kept some normalcy in our lives. To be able to coach basketball and the Fastbreak and really gain a tremendous amount of support from the basketball community because of it.”
Team Mary
Since Mary was diagnosed, her Team Mary Facebook page has grown to over 8,000 followers. Fastbreak also brought awareness to Mary’s fight with Team Mary shooting shirts that had coaches from all over the country inquring about the cause.
“People just connect with her,” Marni Juengel said of her daughter.
The support was tremendous after Mary’s diagnosis.
Mary’s team wears orange and pink bracelets and T-shirts— pink because it’s Mary’s favorite color and orange because it’s the color for leukemia. Mary’s basketball team named itself “Team Mary” and wore pink jerseys. Community members and schoolmates of Mary and Elle snapped up more than 2,000 bracelets, and the family cannot order T-shirts fast enough.
“When cancer hits, it certainly makes you look at life differently,” Marni said. “You don’t go to bed without realizing what a blessing today was. I think for all of us, this has really put a lot of things into perspective from this. Wins and losses are put into perspective now. Faith is what we ultimately come back to. To watch your child fight through this shows how precious life can be.”
Area Class D boys basketball teams have gained recognition this week by the Associated Press. Fulton-Middleton is ranked 13th and Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart is 15th.
Area Class C boys basketball teams have gained recognition this week by the Associated Press. Pewamo-Westphalia is ranked ninth at 7-1, Sanford Meridian 13th, Laingsburg 15th, Beal City 19th and Saginaw Valley Lutheran 24th.
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