Article - High School Sports Scene

Ben Murphy

Sports Scene

The Meridian wrestling team has lost more matches so far this year than it did all of last year, but third-year head coach Jeremy Sampson is hoping that the losses add to growth in his team.

“It has been an up-and-down season; we have wrestled very well at times and rather flat at times,” he said. “We have wrestled a brutal schedule thus far. Our tough scheduling should pay off when the postseason tournament starts. We are in a very tough district and regional and should do very well.”

A year ago, the Mustangs went 20-3, won the Gladwin team tournament, took second in the Jack Pine Conference, and won their second straight district title. Meridian advanced six grapplers to regionals and three to the state finals, which were highlighted by Joe Shuler taking fifth at 112 pounds.

Despite its difficult schedule, Meridian has had plenty of solid showings this year. It was runner-up at the Ogemaw Heights Invitational, placed fourth out of 19 schools at the Freeland Invitational, and took seventh at the prestigious New Lothrup Invitational. Chase Robinson (130 pounds) and Kaine Sturgeon (285) have both already picked up their 100^th career wins, and Eric Fader (215, ranked third in Division 3) has a chance to reach the 150-career win mark.

Other standouts so far this season have been Tyler Brinley (103), Shuler (ranked eighth in Division 3), Matt Hoffman (135), Jesse Fellow (140), Paul Streeter (152), and Jess Levier (160).

“I just want us to stay healthy and continue to improve,” Sampson said. “We have improved so much already this year, it’s only fitting that we continue to work hard and leave our mark. I think we have a heck of a chance to win our conference and then to win our team districts. Once you get to regionals, strange things can happen, so a trip to team states is one of our goals, as well.”

Those are rather lofty goals, considering conference foe Roscommon has won 10 straight league titles. Both squads were 2-0 in league action as of Jan. 22. Their district doesn’t get any easier, as they’ll be pitted against Freeland, Bullock Creek, and Garber.

“Our wrestlers need to continue to work hard and to stay disciplined,” Sampson said. “We have made a good name for ourselves for not giving up in matches, and that is huge to postseason success.”

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Geoff Mott

Sports Scene

Boys basketball players from Ithaca suffered their first athletic competition loss since the baseball district finals last spring when they lost a 66-51 decision to Carrollton after starting the season 4-0.

While losing is entirely new to this group – four starting seniors in the lineup and nine team members overall played for the four-time state champion football team that hasn’t lost in 56 games – they fell into a small rut in January and lost three of four Tri-Valley – West games.

Coach Jim Thompson isn’t worried about this being a new trend. “I’ve got four seniors who are always ready and always prepared,” he said. “They know there is a sense of urgency, and they want to compete.

“[These losses] just fuel their fire. They have great leadership they’ve learned in football, and they are ready to step forward.”

Ithaca won its first four games by an average of 30 points. After the Carrollton loss, the Yellowjackets dropped a 65-64 decision to unbeaten Valley Lutheran before blasting Montabella 74-36. Michigan Lutheran Seminary then beat Ithaca 62-55 on the Yellowjackets’ home court before Ithaca responded with a 76-47 win over Breckenridge.

“We were well-conditioned from football, so there is no excuse there,” senior forward Logan Hessbrook said. “We’ve transitioned pretty well from football to basketball, and we have some great coaching to do it.”

Part of the success from football manifests itself in how the players approach basketball, Hessbrook said. “It’s a long season, so you have to keep your focus,” he said. “You take it a game at a time and keep working to get better.”

Hessbrook is relying on fellow seniors Travis Smith, Eli Villalobos, and Josh Hafner – along with talented sophomores Jake Smith and Spence DeMull – to make the necessary improvements to win that elusive district title this year.

“The regular season is here to get us ready, and with four seniors, we put that development on all of us,” Hessbrook said. “We don’t like to lose. This is fuel to our fire.”

The tough losses – especially to league opponents – are helping to season Thompson’s team for tough games that will come in March.

“The last four years with Valley Lutheran, Carrollton, Michigan Lutheran Seminary, and us … it’s a very difficult league,” Thompson said. “Anybody can win it, and your players learn how to fight for the wins.”

Thompson knows that every team will give Ithaca its best effort because of the success of Ithaca’s athletic program. “We always have a bullseye on our backs,” Thompson said. “But we’ve got a veteran group of guys who know what to do. They’ve been here. It’s easier as a coach when you have this much leadership.”

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By BUTCH HARMON

After falling to St. Johns is the last two Division 2 state championship matches, the Lowell wrestling team is on a mission to send its talented senior class out as winners.

To prepare for what will be a rigorous state tournament, the Red Arrows have wrestled a challenging schedule this season. The schedule included Davison, currently the top-ranked team in Division 1, and Detroit Catholic Central, the Division 1 state champion the last two seasons.

Lowell defeated Davison 35-34 in early January, and on Jan. 22 the Red Arrows took down Detroit Catholic Central 36-27 before the entire Lowell student body in an afternoon match at Lowell High School.

“It was a great win,” senior Bailey Jack said. “We came back to beat them after being down early. We are definitely on our way to our peak right now. We’re working hard and looking to get ready for the tournament.”

The afternoon assembly match was a special milestone for the Red Arrows, who are one of only three teams in the state to have participated in such an event. “It was a totally new experience for us,” senior Kanon Dean said. “We had an assembly dual, and Detroit Catholic Central had an assembly dual with Davison, so there are only three teams in the state that have had this experience. I love the fact that our school was able to experience this, and I’m thankful that our coaches and athletic director were able to secure this for us.”

The win added momentum to a Lowell team that has been ranked No. 1 in Division 2 this season.

Coach Dave Dean also believes that his team is gaining momentum as the tournament draws closer. “I don’t want to jinx anything, but we are definitely improving,” he said. “This team has been great, and they are buying into everything. We have a lot of harmony on this team and great leadership.”

That leadership is not limited to the senior class. “We have a lot of leaders,” said senior Derek Krajewski, “especially with our younger kids. Our juniors and sophomores and our freshmen have stepped up.”

Those leaders have helped the Red Arrows continue to pile up impressive wins as the season has developed.

“We’ve been building every week of the year,” Kanon Dean said. “This was a big win, and we continue to make measurable improvement. Our goal is to win the state, but we are not hanging our season on it. If we end up winning state that will be great, but if not, the guys on our team have put forth a great effort and have accomplished a lot this season.”

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Birch Run has lost six all-state wrestlers to graduation the past two years. Nine seniors that graduated last year qualified for the state finals, and four of them placed at the state meet.

“We’re young, so we’re having some growing pains right now,” coach Bart Bennett said. “And I’ve never quite had a season where we’ve had so much sicknesses. So we’ve been trying to get healthy, and we just deal with.”

The Panthers have dealt with the issue by winning. By mid-January they had posted a 17-2 record in dual meets and had already clinched a fourth-straight share of the Tri-Valley Conference – East title.

“Luckily, we’re deep enough squad where we’ve been able to substitute in and move guys around,” Bennett said. “TVC – East was our first goal. Now we want the Conference meet, districts, and regionals.”

He has a couple talented seniors leading the way. Mitch Franklin finished seventh at 145 pounds at state last year and has wrestled at 152 this season. Jared Elliott dropped a 9-6 decision in the Division 3 152-pound state title match to Comstock Park’s Luke Pahl. He couldn’t crack the starting lineup as a freshman and lost in the blood round at regionals as a sophomore.

“Jared probably shouldn’t have lost [to Pahl]. He got caught on his back and it cost him,” Bennett said. “We’re working on eliminating those. Jared is a talented kid, and he’s worked hard. Some of his toughest matches have been in practice against guys like three-time all-staters Lake [Bennett] and Damian [Johnson].”

Junior Jerry Fenner is back to defend the 119-pound state title that he won last year by a 3-2 fourth overtime decision over Swan Valley freshman Matt Santos. Fenner has lost four times this year – three times to defending state champions and once to Santos at the Saginaw County Wrestling Meet.

“He can learn from that,” Bennett said. “We’ll move him up a weight class and try to get him the best matches we can as we prepare for districts.”

Elliott, Fenner, and Franklin are all near 150 career wins, while junior 215-pounder George Lahar is near 100 career victories.

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Freeland wrestling coach Mike Ritt likes what he’s seen so far from his team this year. The Falcons are 17-6 overall and 3-1 in the TVC Central. They have been successful at tounaments, winning at Hemlock; taking second at Meridian; and taking third at invitationals at Ovid-Elsie and North Branch and at the Saginaw County Wrestling Meet.

“The season has gone well to this point,” said Ritt, who is in his 15th year as the head coach. “I think that the rest of the season should go pretty well; like anyone else it will depend on health. So far so good.”

Ritt pointed out that his top three wrestlers this year are Kolten Radaz (sophomore, 125 pounds), Josh Schlak (senior, 135) , and Charlie Ferens (senior, 140).

“Each qualified for the state finals last season,” Ritt said. “We are optimistic that each will again qualify. Each of the boys has the tools to place in the top eight, and we have confidence that each will.”

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After finishing in second place at an early-season meet in Oscoda, Garber wrestling went home with first-place hardware from the Carrollton Invitational Jan. 18 after going 4-0 on the day.

The Dukes, who boast a lineup of nine freshmen, won three pool matches, 45-30 over host Carrollton, 42-36 over Fulton, and 72-6 over Birch Run’s ‘B’ team. Garber capped off the day with a 40-36 win over Millington in the championship.

The Dukes’ Andrew Yaworski (119 pounds), Noah Borgouthy (152), Mike Vanseumeran (160), Chris Vandriessche (189), and Joe Foret (285) all went undefeated on the day, while Ryan Christensen (103) and Carson Kayner (215) lost one match apiece.

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By BUTCH HARMON

Thanks to a strong core of seniors, the Mt. Pleasant boys basketball team is off to a good start this season and has its sights set on some big goals.

Anchored by senior post player Jaleel Hogan, the Oilers have won seven of their first nine games this season. Among the wins was a 69-60 win against Saginaw Arthur Hill. Mt. Pleasant’s only losses have come against top-ten ranked team Saginaw (44-38) and against Holland (66-41).

“We’ve had our ups and downs this year,” coach Dan Schell said. “We’ve had some good wins, and we lost a tough one to Saginaw that we should’ve won, but overall I think we are doing all right.”

Leading the way for Mt. Pleasant has been Hogan, a University of Detroit Mercy recruit, who is putting up impressive numbers in points and rebounds.

“Jaleel has done a nice job, and he’s just getting better and better,” Schell said. “He’s a lot stronger this year. He struggled with a knee injury early in the season, but he’s starting to get in a lot better shape now. He is averaging 18 or 19 points per game and 16 or 17 rebounds per game. Once he gets one hundred percent, he is a 20/20 kid.”

With his size and strength, Hogan can dominate games. “Jaleel is obviously a great player,” Schell continued. “He is very gifted at 6’6″ and 250 pounds, and you don’t see that very often in high school, especially when you put that together with his tremendous leaping ability. He also has really soft hands and good instincts. You can’t teach that ability. He’s great on the boards, and he has a good, soft touch to 16-17-18 feet. He has a lot of room for growth in his game, and in college is when you will really see him begin to reach his full potential.”

While Hogan can dominate games, the Oilers are far from a one-man team. “We are seven, eight players deep, and we can run pretty well,” Schell said. “We are also pretty athletic. Obviously, we have some outstanding players like Jaleel, but we have some other kids, as well, who are good players.”

Senior point guard Anton Cotton gives the Oilers a potent scoring option in the backcourt. “Anton is a pretty exciting guard,” Schell said. “He is averaging 13-14 points per game. He shoots the ball very well.”

The Oilers have also received strong contributions from senior guard/forward T.J. Johnson, senior guard Tim Wilson, senior Aaron Leasher, and sophomore Kalebb Perry.

“Aaron is one of our best players,” Schell said. “He has really been coming on the last two or three games. T.J. is another kid that I can’t say enough about. He has improved so much since the off-season. Tim is a senior guard who is our best on-ball defender. Kalebb is only a sophomore, and he is really more of a defensive player right now, but he has really stepped up for us.”

Mt. Pleasant’s improvement this year can be traced to hard work put in by the players over the summer.

“The guys never stopped working from the end of last season,” Schell said. “They were either in the weight room or putting up shots or playing in the off-season.”

Off-season AAU basketball provided other benefits, as well. Last year Hogan, Cotton, and Johnson all transferred into the district from Buena Vista. The transfers came about as a result of the trio playing with Mt. Pleasant players during the spring and summer AAU season.

“Last year, it was a little more difficult because Jaleel, Anton, and T.J. became eligible at midseason,” Schell said. “This year, they’ve been with us all through the off-season, so things have went very, very smooth. The kids knew each other from AAU ball, and they spent a lot of time with Aaron Leasher at his place. The kids actually knew each other way before I did, so it was a smooth transition.”

With one month of the regular season and the tournament remaining, the Oilers are looking for a successful ending.

“I don’t think we’ve played as well as we can play by any stretch,” Schell said. “We won’t know how good they can be until they show it, and maybe that will not happen. We have a very, very tough district with Midland and Dow. If we make it out of that, we will host regionals with Saginaw or Arthur Hill. That is going to be a real tough regional.”

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EAST LANSING – The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2013-14 school year have been announced. The program, celebrating its 25^th anniversary, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.

Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 608 scholarships have been awarded.

In Class C girls, the finalists include Kirsten Olling of Breckenridge and Allie Kendall of Saginaw Nouvel.

Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, the final two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.

Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Dearborn Heights Crestwood, Hastings and Marlette each have five finalists this year. Fourteen schools each had two finalists: Bay City Central, Bloomfield Hills Marian, Dearborn, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids West Catholic, Manistee Catholic Central, Marquette, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, Midland Dow, Saginaw Swan Valley, Sturgis, Traverse City Central, Walled Lake Western and Yale.

Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.70, while the average of the application pool was 2.16. There are 75 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field, and all but two of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.

Of 407 schools which submitted applicants, 55 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,701 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website at the following address: http://www.mhsaa.com/Schools/Students/MHSAAScholarAthleteAwardApplicants.aspx.

The applications were judged by a 63-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 4; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 11, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 18. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.

To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 22, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.

To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.

Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan’s major insurers, has a statewide force of more than 400 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.

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Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 608 scholarships have been awarded.

In Class C boys, the finalists Ty Rollin of Beal City, James Barber of St. Charles and Nicholas DeSimpelare of Unionville-Sebewaing.

To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 22, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.

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Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 608 scholarships have been awarded.

In Class B girls, the finalists include Abigail Brown of Caro, Bailey Baker of Eaton Rapids, Alexandra J. Grys of Portland, Kiersten Mead and Courtney T. Reinhold of Saginaw Swan Valley and Angela Maurer of Williamston.

To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 22, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.

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Meridian wrestling hopes to make most of tough schedule

Ithaca seniors experience first loss of any kind since spring

Lowell wrestling feature

Birch Run wrestlers endure growing pains

Freeland enjoying another solid season

Garber wrestling team wins Carrollton tournaments

Mount Pleasant basketball feature

Area girls are Class C scholar-athlete finalists

Area boys are Class C scholar-athlete finalists

Area Class B girls are scholar-athlete finalists