Huskies Seniors Finish What They Restarted
March 5, 2016
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – Breckenridge’s Dakota Colthorp was part of a group of wide-eyed and enthusiastic fifth graders who wanted to be involved in competitive cheer.
At the time, the high school didn’t have a team due to low numbers.
Seven years later, Colthorp and her elementary school classmates have become instrumental in helping restore the program to the dominant level it had been accustomed to in the 2000s.
Breckenridge captured its second straight MHSAA Division 4 Final on Saturday at The DeltaPlex.
The Huskies notched high scores in each round to tally a 767.68 and best runner-up Michigan Center (754.12).
“It’s incredibly special for us,” Colthorp said. “We didn’t have a team for awhile, and our group of seniors are the ones who brought it back. We started in fifth grade and have not left since. The seven of us went through middle school with this program and we helped rebuild it to where it is today. It’s incredible to say that we are back-to-back state champions.”
The senior class also included Kaitlyn Corson, Paige Guthrie, Alicia Gutierrez, Katie Mortensen, Justine Brabaw and Lindsey Reichard.
"It's very special because we've wanted this for a long time," Guthrie said. "We've had family members who have won before, and we wanted to do the same. My cousins cheered in 2007."
The seniors were motivated to end their high school careers with another top finish.
“For the seven of us, it’s the last time being able to do that,” Colthorp said. “So we made sure to give it our all and leave it all out on the mat. It might not have been perfect in the warm-up room, but we came together and gave it our best on the mat.
“We put in a lot of hard work in and it was very rewarding to be here and be able to bring home the trophy.”
The Huskies repeated for the first time since 2007, the last time they won an MHSAA Division 4 championship.
They won six Class C/D titles during a span of seven seasons from 2000-2006.
Breckenridge coach Deb Gaines recruited the seniors from that fifth-grade class.
“They were very committed and dedicated,” Gaines said. “They were key to our program coming back, and others followed. I think some of them had perfect attendance through the years. There were very few absences.”
Huskies co-coach Jenna Graham said the seniors have always been there to lend support.
“We’ve relied on them for motivation on and off the mat,” she said. “They’ve really tried to step up and be the leaders we needed this year. They’ve been here so long that we just expected that out of them and stepped up to it.”
It was a different environment this season for Breckenridge than the last time they were here. The Huskies were now the team everyone was chasing.
“They were just here to do their thing last year, no pressure,” Graham said. “But this year was different. We had to defend that title. Defend and repeat has been our motto all season.”
Added Gaines: “It’s hard to repeat in anything. We just had to keep stepping up our game and going for it. Rounds 1 and 2 were exceptionally strong, and in Round 3 they just delivered.”
Round 3 did have early drama for the Huskies. They had a nearly seven-point cushion entering the final round; however, an early fall tested their resolve.
“We were hoping to have that lead so there was a little room for error,” Graham said. “We trained them how to deal with that when it happens.”
“Anything can happen out there,” Gaines said. “It’s all about how you recover and how you fight back harder.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Breckenridge dominated the first two rounds Saturday to repeat as Division 4 champion. (Middle) Michigan Center improved one spot from 2015 to finish runner-up.
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- MHSAA News
MHSAA Winter Sports Start with Extended Basketball Schedules, New Wrestling Weights
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 13, 2022
The addition of two games to basketball regular-season schedules and a new series of wrestling weight classes are likely the most noticeable Winter 2022-23 changes as an estimated 65,000 athletes statewide take part in 13 sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
Girls gymnastics and boys ice hockey teams were able to begin practice Oct. 31, with the rest of those sports beginning in November – including also girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls and boys skiing, Upper Peninsula girls and boys and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving, and girls and boys wrestling.
A variety of changes are in effect for winter sports this season, including a several that will be noteworthy and noticeable to teams and spectators alike.
Basketball remains the most-participated winter sport for MHSAA member schools with 33,000 athletes taking part last season, and for the first time, basketball teams may play up to 22 regular-season games. This increase from the previous 20-game schedule allows more games for teams at every high school level – varsity, junior varsity and freshman.
Another significant change has been made in wrestling, as the majority of boys wrestling weight classes have been adjusted for this season in anticipation of a national change coming in 2023-24. The updated boys weight classes are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215 and 285 pounds. Only 215 and 285 remain from the previous lineup. There is also one change to girls weight classes, with the 255 class replaced by 235 to also align with national high school standards.
A series of notable changes will affect how competition takes place at the MHSAA Tournament levels. In hockey, in addition to a new classification process that spread cooperative and single-school programs evenly throughout the three playoff divisions, the MHSAA Tournament will employ two changes. The Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) will be used to seed the entire Regional round, not just the top two teams, and prior to the start of Semifinals, a seeding committee will reseed the remaining four teams in each division with the top seed in each then facing the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed facing No. 3.
Bowling also will see an MHSAA Tournament change, as the Team Regional format will mirror the long-standing Team Final with teams playing eight Baker games and two regular games at both levels. And as also applied during the fall girls season, there is a new qualification process for divers seeking to advance to Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals. In each of the three divisions, each Regional will be guaranteed 10 qualifiers for the Finals, with six more “floating” qualifier entries to be distributed to the Regionals that have one of the previous year’s top six returning Finals divers in their fields. If a team changes division from the previous season, any floating top-six spots are added to the six already allowed in the school’s new division.
A gymnastics rules change provides an opportunity for additional scoring during the floor exercise. A dance passage requirement was added in place of the former dance series requirement to encourage creativity and a more artistic use of dance. The dance passage requires gymnasts to include two Group 1 elements – one a leap with legs in cross or side split position, the other a superior element.
In competitive cheer, the penalty for going over the time limit in each round was adjusted to one penalty point for every second over the time limit, not to exceed 15 points. The new time limit rule is more lenient than the past penalty, which subtracted points based on ranges of time over the limit.
The 2022-23 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 18 and wraps up with the Boys Basketball Finals on March 25. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – March 6, 8, 10
Regionals – March 13, 15
Quarterfinals – March 21
Semifinals – March 23-24
Finals – March 25
Girls Basketball
Districts – Feb. 27, March 1, 3
Regionals – March 7, 9
Quarterfinals – March 14
Semifinals – March 16-17
Finals – March 18
Bowling
Regionals – Feb. 24-25
Finals – March 3-4
Competitive Cheer
District – Feb. 17-18
Regionals – Feb. 25
Finals – March 2-3
Gymnastics
Regionals – March 4
Finals – March 10-11
Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 20-March 1
Quarterfinals – March 4
Semifinals – March 9-10
Finals – March 11
Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 13-17
Finals – Feb. 27
Swimming & Diving
Upper Peninsula Girls/Boys Finals – Feb. 18
Lower Peninsula Boys Diving Regionals – March 2
Lower Peninsula Boys Finals – March 10-11
Wrestling – Team
Districts – Feb. 8-9
Regionals – Feb. 15
Finals – Feb. 24-25
Wrestling – Individual
Districts – Feb. 11
Regionals – Feb. 18
Finals – March 3-4
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 1.3 million spectators each year.