Performance: Coldwater's Shuaib Aljabaly
October 7, 2016
Shuaib Aljabaly
Coldwater junior - Cross Country
In a relatively short time, Aljabaly has made an incredible impression on the cross country course. He started running with Coldwater's high school team only midway through his sophomore season but finished last fall placing eighth at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final. Now a junior, Aljabaly is undefeated this season and earned the Michigan National Guard "Performance of the Week" by winning Saturday's Otsego Invitational Division 2 race in a school-record 15:34, finishing just ahead of two more 2015 all-staters in Grand Rapids Christian's Justin Varineau and Otsego's Alex Comerford.
Also a starting midfielder on Coldwater's No. 7-ranked soccer team, Aljabaly has led the Cardinals' cross country team to a No. 4 ranking in LP Division 2 – they finished second as a team at Otsego only to top-ranked Grand Rapids Christian. Varineau had finished one spot ahead of Aljabaly at last season's MHSAA Final – but Aljabaly was most familiar with Comerford (13th in LPD2 in 2015) as the two already had faced off this fall in a race of undefeated runners Sept. 24 at the Jackson Invitational. Aljabaly's time at Otsego also would've won that event's Division 1 race by 40 seconds.
Aljabaly played junior varsity soccer and ran track as a freshman, qualifying for the MHSAA Finals in the 3,200-meter run. At the convincing of his cross country coaches, Aljabaly gave that sport a try last fall and should contend for the LPD2 title this season and next; his 15:34 would've finished third at last season's MHSAA Final and he also broke 16 minutes with a 15:46 at Jackson. He'll likely face his fastest challenge so far this fall at Saturday's Portage Invitational, where he finished seventh in the Division 2 race last season.
Cross Country coach Jim Bilsborrow said: “He is a real competitor who hates to lose. He also studies his opponents and knows what are their strong and weak points, which he tries to exploit. Now that he has made cross country his primary sport, he has been able and willing to do some more intense training, which of course has made him even better. He is also a real ‘team player’ who cares about his teammates and how well the team does. Of course, I must add that he is blessed with talent, as all great runners are endowed, but fortunately he is using his talent and not wasting it.”
Performance Point: “We raced the week before at Jackson and the course was pretty fast, and they said Otsego’s is even faster,” Aljabaly said. “I was 1.5 seconds away from the record at that (Jackson) race, so I had a good feeling about Otsego. … Usually I start kicking at the 2-mile mark; Coach is usually standing there telling me when to kick. But I waited until the 3-mile mark, the 2.9. I didn’t know if one of (Varineau and Comerford) would go or not. We just stayed together until I went, and I felt like they just dropped back. But (Varineau) was kicking strong; he was only four tenths of a second behind me. I was told he was six seconds behind me at the 3-mile mark. Everyone was just yelling so loud, it made me run faster.”
Doubling up: “(Playing two sports) is going better than last year. It’s pretty hard, but we’re 14-1-1 (now 15-1-1) in soccer and we just locked up the conference, so we’re doing pretty good there too. It’s really flexible, the schedule. The coaches talk it out before the season starts. Cross country is my primary so I go to cross country practice and I go to soccer practice unless there’s a meet the same day, and then I usually go to the cross country meet. I haven’t missed a soccer game, but this weekend (running) at Portage, I’m going to miss a soccer game.”
Back for more: “Last year I wasn’t going to do cross country, but Coach Bilsborrow got me to do it. I started halfway through the season and at Portage last year I broke the school record but on a short court (just less than 5K), and that’s what motivated me to keep running.”
Born to run: “I like the competition. I like being nervous before the race, the feeling of knowing who you’re up against, the competition mainly. … We didn’t really have strong competition at the first few races. At Jackson I went against (Comerford) and I kinda realized how he races and starts off at the beginning. At Otsego I thought I’d get (Comerford) but I wasn’t sure about (Varineau). ... (Competition) pushes me. It motivates me. At Jackson, Coach told me (Comerford) was undefeated too. One of us was going to lose that day.”
Now I know: “Last year at the Portage meet, I went out too fast. I didn’t know who I was going against, and it was the top 10 kids in the state. I led for a mile, but I didn’t know how to race last year; I didn’t know how to start and how to finish and how to race. I raced this summer at 5Ks and (learned) strategies and talked to Coach about it. Grand Rapids Christian, Otsego and most of the rest of the good kids are going to be there (Saturday), and it’s going to show me what I can do at state.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Coldwater's Shuaib Aljabaly cruises through a course this season. (Middle) Aljabaly is undefeated in 2016 and will next race Saturday at the Portage Invitational. (Photos courtesy of the Coldwater boys cross country program.)
Athens' Success Fueled by Players' Drive to be Part of School's Soccer Tradition
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 9, 2023
GRAND LEDGE — Troy Athens boys soccer coach Todd Heugh stood on the field Saturday at Grand Ledge High School and reflected while his team was celebrating with fans on the other side of the stadium.
Athens had just won its sixth state championship in school history with a 2-1 overtime triumph over Brighton in the Division 1 Final, and while talking about how his team won this particular title game, he also put a historical perspective on the key to the program’s success.
Heugh – also the school’s first-year athletic director – said that while any player who comes through the program obviously has ambitions to one day play college or professional soccer, there is something else that drives them more than anything.
“An advantage I think we have at Athens is that a lot of times, a lot of our kids, their goal in our city is to make the varsity soccer team at Athens,” Heugh said. “When they make it, they give it everything they have.”
This has pretty much been the pattern since legendary head coach Tim Storch built the program into one of the state’s gold standards during the 1980s and ’90s.
Heugh saw it firsthand growing up in the community and as a member of Storch’s squad that won the 1989 Class A title.
That motivation to be part of the fabled varsity has filtered all the way down to current players, who echo Heugh’s sentiments that desire No. 1 is to put on the Athens uniform once they get to high school.
“I went to Troy vs. Troy Athens games since I was in sixth grade,” said Athens senior Adriano Shauya, the team’s leading goal-scorer this season. “We used to sit together, I looked at those players and I was like, ‘One day, I want to be on that field as a Troy Athens player.’”
Shauya said he had roster spots available to him on academy teams over the last two years and he could’ve skipped high school soccer, but he wanted to fulfill his dream of playing for Athens.
“I just took a look and said, ‘I love every single one of my teammates, and I love my city,’” Shauya said. “I grew up in the city.”
Because of the ambition of so many players in Troy to play high school soccer, it not only creates unmatched drive and determination for Athens, but also provides unmatched depth each season.
Heugh said his team was able to go 17 or 18 deep during games this season, which allowed the Red Hawks to be the fresher team throughout three overtime victories during the MHSAA Tournament.
Athens was clearly the better team in overtime against Brighton, building a 10-1 advantage in shots, eight of which were on goal.
“When we are able to throw waves of players like that at people, it’s been nice,” Heugh said. “We took a large roster at the beginning of the year, and it was tricky. There were some unhappy kids. Kids that don’t get the minutes that they want to get, and they are pretty good players who probably could get those minutes. But they are willing to do what’s best for the team, and they’re willing to take their minutes when they get them.”
Athens will have the unenviable task of replacing 16 seniors from this year’s squad. But if there’s a high school program that never has issues reloading instead of rebuilding, it’s Athens soccer.
As the team was celebrating with fellow students, parents and fans after the game, it’s a good assumption there were youth players in the community sitting in the stands who are now dreaming of one day being on the same field wearing an Athens jersey.
“I was in eighth grade, and I saw those guys win the championship (in 2019),” said senior Manny Aigbedo, who scored the winning goal in overtime. “I’m like, ‘Man, I want to do something like that one day. I want to be on the field and step up and score for the team and celebrate, and win a championship.’ I was inspired by the guys before me, and I hope that this win today will inspire players to come next through Troy Athens soccer.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) Troy Athens players celebrate their overtime victory Saturday night at Grand Ledge. (Middle) Troy Athens JD Hupman (16) and Brighton’s Devlin McGinnis work to gain possession during Saturday’s Final.