Prestons Lead Hackett to Perfect Starts
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
January 19, 2016
KALAMAZOO — Dane Preston has had plenty of fun jamming the basketball through the hoop in practice, but never had the confidence to do it in a game.
That all changed earlier this season when the 6-foot-3 senior streaked down the court and brought the cheering crowd to its feet with a two-handed dunk in Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep’s game against Otsego in December.
“I’ve had a lot of opportunities before where I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it,” he said. “You want to make sure you score.
“I saw pictures from last year where I was so far above (the rim) and I was like, why didn’t I just try to dunk it? You’ve just got to get it in your mind to do it.”
Preston, who averages a team-high 19 points per game, is one reason why the Irish are off to a 6-0 start on the season. But he’s not the only hoops whiz in the family.
His sister, Sydney, 5-foot-9, averages a team-high 16 ppg on the girls team that, at 9-0, is off to its best start in years.
That makes for some rather interesting “can you top this” discussions at home.
“Every single game we played, we get home and she’s like, ‘I scored 18 points,’ and I’m like, ‘I had 20,’” Dane Preston said, laughing. “It’s just like a battle; it’s vicious.”
The pair have a hoop outside at home, and “he usually beats me, but I beat him in H-O-R-S-E a couple times,” his sister said. “Good competition. He doesn’t go easy on me.”
The two may be extremely competitive in basketball, but off the court they have a close relationship forged by a catastrophic event early in their lives.
Their father, Gary, died from a heart attack when Dane was 4 and Sydney 1½.
“I wore number 22 at the Courthouse (Athletic Center, for youth basketball), 14 in 7th and 8th grades, but when I got to high school I decided to wear number 4 because there’s a meaning behind it,” Preston said, referring to his age when he lost his father. “It’s always good to put a meaning behind something that means a lot to you.”
Although his sister was younger when they lost their father, she wears the same number.
“Dane picked 4 a long time ago, and I kinda wanted to be like him,” she said.
Runs in the family
The two come by their basketball prowess naturally.
Their mother, Amy Reisterer Preston, was on the seventh grade team at Kalamazoo St. Mary’s when she was in fifth grade. She played at Comstock High School and one year at Hope College before concentrating on track her four years there.
When her daughter was in third grade, Preston started coaching her team and has moved up the ranks with her.
After coaching the junior varsity girls last year, Amy is currently the assistant varsity coach, working with her uncle, head coach Nib Reisterer.
That’s not a problem for her daughter — usually.
“I like it for the most part,” Sydney said. “You can let go to my mom because she’s a woman, so it’s easier to talk to her (than a male coach). I think it’s fun to have her on the team.
“My family’s always been some sort of my coach in basketball. Sometimes I don’t like it, but most of the time I do.”
Fridays make life a lot easier for the family.
That’s when both teams play at the same venue. Tuesdays they play at opposite sites.
“I get to have my game with Sydney, then relax and watch Dane,” their mother said of Fridays.
“The balancing act has been a little bit of a struggle for me,” Amy Preston added. “Dane’s a senior this year, so I don’t want to miss half his season, but yet I’m torn.
“I feel like my role with the girls is important, for all the girls, not just Sydney. If I’m not at the games, I feel like there’s a missing link there. I told Dane if there are any games he really needs or wants me to be at on a Tuesday night, I will be there. He just needs to let me know.”
Sizable advantages
At 6-3, Dane Preston isn’t close to being the tallest player on his Class C Southwestern Athletic Conference team.
Senior Riley Gallagher and junior Teddy Oosterbaan are both 6-7 and lead the team in dunks.
“Riley’s had three, and Teddy’s had three,” Dane said. “Teddy’s athletic and Riley’s just really tall. It’s easier for them.”
In addition, 6-1 senior starter Jack Dales is second in team scoring with 16 ppg.
“Me, Jack and Riley have been together since first grade,” Dane said. “We have some chemistry together. Our offense is really explosive.”
The offense exploded Friday in the fourth quarter in a matchup of unbeatens with Hackett eking out a hard-fought 54-48 win against crosstown rival Kalamazoo Christian.
Said Gallagher: “We have what every team needs: a person at every position that can help.
“Teddy at the center. He’s one of the biggest kids in the league. Me at forward, (sophomore) Jacob (Niesen) or (sophomore) Casey (Gallagher) at three and Dane and Jack at point guard.”
Dales said everyone contributes and “Dane brings extreme scoring and hard work to the team.”
Mark Haase, who coached at Three Rivers, Otsego and Berrien Springs before taking over at Hackett this season, added: “In 17 years of coaching, this is probably the best chemistry I’ve ever had. They enjoy themselves, they enjoy each other. You can tell they’re having fun.
“They’re very unselfish and have very good chemistry and obviously some good players, too. I’ve coached at two Class B schools, and these four (Preston, Dales, Riley Gallagher, Oosterbaan) could play at any one of them.”
Haase said Preston is the serious one.
“Not in a bad way,” he quickly added. “Jack and Riley and Teddy are a little more loose. Dane has always wanted to be a good player, and he’s become a good player. Basketball means a lot to him.
“If there’s a big shot, he’s probably the guy who’s going to take it. He’s a good team player. He understands when to shoot and when not to shoot. A great scorer, a pretty good passer and he’s developed into a better defender.”
Andrew Marshall, A.J. Estes, Bryant Neal and Kieran O’Brien are the other seniors on the team.
Juniors are T.J. Krawczyk, Adam Wheaton, Donovan Kelly and Luke DeClercq.
One of Preston’s goals is to reach 1,000 career points. He has 716 so far.
Another is to end the season playing for an MHSAA title, something the Irish haven’t accomplished in 80 years.
Strength despite low numbers
Although there are just nine players on the girls varsity, “All the players we have are really good,” said captain Maura Gillig, the only senior on the team. “Our bench can come in and be really good.”
Two players top Sydney Preston’s 5-9 height. Junior Hope Baldwin is 5-11 and Gillig 5-10. Sophomore Savannah Madden measures 5-8.
“We have a really strong defensive team,” Preston said. “We have some key shooters. We have a good mix of girls.
“Savannah went to St. A’s (St. Augustine) and I went to St. Monica, so we played against each other (before high school). Last year we finally got to play with each other (on junior varsity). We really clicked, then she got moved up to varsity.”
Said Gillig: “Sydney brings a lot of intensity. She loves to play and brings a lot of energy onto the court.
“She’s always one of the players that if we ever need a steal or a play to bring us back in the game, she’s the one who will get it. She’s competitive, but she’s really encouraging to everyone.”
Juniors on the team are Emily Matthews, Cierra Barker, Naomi Keyte and Molly Panico. The other sophomore is Jessie Wenzel.
With just one senior this year, “I think we’ve got a really bright future here,” Reisterer said.
Amy Preston, who took a break from coaching to earn her master’s degree in exercise science, rejoined the coaching ranks when her daughter was in third grade.
“Being the mom part, I know my daughter’s potential,” she said. “I tend to be a little tougher on her and have higher expectations because I know what her potential is.
“That’s probably hard for her because she probably feels I’m picking on her more than the other girls. It’s kind of a fine line. It’s important for me not to show favoritism, too.”
Reisterer played basketball at Hackett, graduating in 1972, and coached Amy in seventh and eighth grades at St. Mary’s school.
Talking about his great niece, Reisterer said: “Sydney gives us a player who can finish at the backboard, and she can hit an outside shot. She can drive, she makes her free throws, so she’s got a well-rounded game.
“Her rebounding has improved dramatically and her defense is getting better. She’s discovering what she can do on the court. She’s like a sponge. She’s soaking it all in.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She continues to freelance for MLive.com covering mainly Kalamazoo Wings hockey and can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Sydney Preston, left, fires a shot against Kalamazoo Christian, while brother Dane Preston gets a look against Otsego. (Head shots) Sydney Preston, Dane Preston, Amy Preston. (Middle) Dane Preston looks for an opening. (Below) Sydney Preston brings the ball upcourt. (Girls photos and head shots by Pam Shebest; boys photos by Scott Dales.)
Fearful Start Behind Her, Abnet Continuing to Amaze for Undefeated Vicksburg
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
February 7, 2023
VICKSBURG – It is not often that a mother calls her child’s concussion a blessing, but it certainly was for Vicksburg senior Tristin Abnet.
The concussion, sustained her freshman year during a volleyball game, led to tests which led to the discovery of a brain tumor.
Luckily, the tumor was benign and, after the surgery and a long recovery, Abnet is one of two seniors on the undefeated girls basketball team that has set a program record this winter for most wins in a season at 16 and counting, eclipsing the previous mark of 15.
And when it comes to Abnet’s journey over the last three years, Bulldogs coach Tim Kirby said it’s been nothing short of amazing.
After taking a hit during a volleyball game, “I actually got a concussion and I ended up with a headache for about a month or so,” Abnet said.
“I didn’t think too much of it because I always got injuries and always got over them. But this one scared me a little bit.”
It was not until she was playing in a college exposure softball tournament that November that she realized something more was going on.
“Tristin was an up-and-coming softball athlete throughout the country,” her dad, Cheyenne, said. “She won many national championships up to her freshman year (in travel softball).
“We were playing at a college exposure tournament, and she was the youngest on the team. The third day (of the tournament) she started crying because her headache was so bad. She asked me if I would take her out.”
Her mother, Kristina, added, “That was so unlike T. She would battle through anything.”
At that moment, they knew something was terribly wrong.
“She was only making it through maybe two days of school every week because of headaches,” Kristina said. “We took her to her family doctor (in November), and they weren’t comfortable with everything.
“Her doctor (Rosa Maira) said she felt it necessary to do further imaging. Had she not, we’d still never know.”
The wait during the imaging dragged on, causing a bit of concern for her parents.
“They kept her for so long, and I said there’s something wrong – Mother’s intuition,” Kristina said.
“Then they came out and took us back and showed us what they found and asked to do further testing. Everything snowballed after that.”
Finding out about the tumor, “My world crashed,” Kristina said, with tears in her eyes. “(In 2011) I had a lot of tumors, desmoid tumors, and to think of the battle I went through and the fact that it was on her brain, it was tough.”
In March, doctors performed a biopsy, finding Tristin’s tumor was a low-grade glioma, which is benign.
“We all lost it that day,” Kristina said. “We had our entire family there for her first surgery in March. We left (the hospital) three days later, and then COVID hit.”
With classes online, “She ended up not having to go back to school that year, so that was a blessing too.”
The surgery to remove the tumor was scheduled for August 2020, and during the months between the biopsy and surgery, Tristin said, “I didn’t want to freak myself out because I knew it was coming, I knew what was going to happen and there was nothing I could do about it.”
Her dad said Tristin “never cried in front of me from the day at the tournament all the way to the day of her surgery.
“She was so, so strong, and she was just a little girl. I never saw a tear until they were ready to wheel her away for the surgery.”
One worry for Tristin was the chance of losing her hair to facilitate the craniotomy.
“First they told me they were going to shave my head halfway back and then, as I was getting wheeled back, there were two girl nurses talking about what they were going to do with my hair, so I knew they weren’t going to completely shave my head,” Abnet said.
The surgery lasted 13 hours at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, and three days later she was headed home to her bedroom decorated by friends and family.
At first, Tristin was allowed no competition for six months after the surgery. But after a CT scan, doctors added another two months before giving her the OK to play.
“There are (three) metal plates there, that’s why she could not go back to sports for such a long time because that plate had to heal,” her dad said.
Although she could not play basketball her sophomore year, she found a way to stay involved: She became the varsity team manager.
“As a sophomore she literally was here for every practice and every game, even though she wasn’t allowed to participate,” Kirby said.
“At the end of the season, her team unanimously voted her “best teammate” on the entire team, and she couldn’t play. I think that’s a testament to the kind of person she is and the impact she had on the team.”
After taking a year off and after major surgery, Abnet had a lot of catching up to do, both physically and mentally, during her junior year, her coach said.
“Last year, you just wanted to make sure you kept her safe,” Kirby noted. “This year, I haven’t worried about it as much because she’s been through it and we’re all more comfortable with it.
“She knows what her limitations are. Last year, I was a little more leery about it.”
Tristin worked her way back into shape.
“She goes to the gym four days a week,” her mom said. “She’s literally built up about 10 pounds of muscle.
“She lost 35 pounds after her brain surgery. She went from being a fit athlete to being very tiny, very fragile.”
Those first few games back last year were also nail-biters.
“I was absolutely terrified,” her mom said. “One hit to her head and her forehead could concave.”
They were a bit daunting for Tristin as well.
“I was super, super nervous because I didn’t want to get hit in the head and have to go through that surgery again,” she said.
Her dad added that the surgery changed her.
“She’s not the athlete she was four years ago; she’s not, and that’s fine,” Cheyenne said. “It took me a while as Dad, as (softball) coach, to understand that. I’m proud of her.”
Through it all, she never let her grades suffer and carries a 4.13 GPA.
She is also called the team “mom,” taking snacks to road games and putting out reminders every day in the team’s group chat.
“She inspires me every single day,” Kirby said. “When you’re a young team, you have to have that leadership. She’s a great leader for us. She bonds everybody together.”
That bonding is one thing that is so special about the Bulldogs, Kirby said.
“They work hard every day and they share the basketball like nobody I’ve ever seen before,” he explained. “Every night, someone else leads us in scoring.
“I’ve had seven different girls lead us in scoring this year, and I don’t have anyone averaging 10 points a game right now.”
Amanda Laugher joins Abnet as the team’s seniors. The young roster also includes juniors Brooklynn Ringler, Emma Steele and Maddison Diekman and sophomores Scarlett Hosner, Kendra Cooley, Emily Zemitans, Makayla Allen and Hannah Devries.
As for the school record, that was not the team’s goal at the beginning of the season.
“Our goal this year is to win the (Wolverine) Conference championship,” Kirby said. “Vicksburg has never won a conference championship in girls basketball. That was our No. 1 goal this year.
“We host our District this year, so we’re hoping maybe to follow up a conference championship with a District championship. You get to that point, and it’s all gravy.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Vicksburg’s Tristin Abnet is glad to be back on the court, and intense going to the basket. (2) Stitches stretched across Abnet’s scalp as three metal plates and a hinge were applied to her skull. (3) Abnet is surrounded by support including parents Cheyenne, left, and Kristina, and coach Tim Kirby. (4) Abnet launches a jumper during a game with Stevensville Lakeshore. (Photos courtesy of the Abnet family.)