Spring Can Wait as Standfest, Elk Rapids Eager to Add to This Winter's Success
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 16, 2024
Winter weather has been rather mild in Northern Michigan this basketball season.
Many are thinking spring, and those who play soccer are already thinking about the upcoming season.
Make no mistake. Elk Rapids’ Kendall Standfest is not one of them.
Standfest has all kinds of unfinished business ahead of her before she starts thinking about what used to be her favorite sport. The high-scoring senior point guard is focused on capturing at least a share of the Lake Michigan Conference championship and a long postseason run in March.
Onlookers in Northern Michigan wouldn’t be surprised if she has March 23 circled on her calendar – the date of the Division 3 Final at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Among the most prolific scorers in Elk Rapids history, Standfest has become quite familiar with postseason success in both basketball and soccer – and as a team leader for both.
She shares the basketball leadership role with senior and long-time teammate Morgan Bergquist. Standfest is averaging better than 19 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks a game. And Bergquist contributes nearly 15 points per contest.
“I have referred to them as ‘Batman and Robin,’” coach Mike Brown said. “We need both of them at all times because come playoff time, people are going to try to take away their game and make other people step up.”
Elk Rapids is 16-2 overall and 9-1 in league play. Two wins came in overtime. The lone league loss was to Harbor Springs, the team sharing the conference lead. The Elks will host league foes Boyne City tonight and Kalkaska next week. Road games at East Jordan and Kingsley will finish regular season. Then the fun starts again.
Postseason will begin with the District at Johannesburg-Lewiston. Other possible opponents are Charlevoix, East Jordan, Mancelona and Traverse City St. Francis. By playoff time, Elk Rapids will have seen all but the host Cardinals.
The Elks reached the Quarterfinals last year before losing to eventual Division 3 champion Hemlock 52-37.
“Hemlock was a really good team – they could do it all,” Brown said. “Our goal ever since that game has been to get back to the Breslin Center.”
Standfest, too, is excited about the Elks’ potential and looks forward to seeing how far they go this year.
“Our team is coming together and playing really well,” she said. “The ultimate goal is definitely to get to the Breslin, but first Districts obviously and Regionals.”
Standfest also has enjoyed tremendous success on the soccer pitch and as a top-notch cross-country runner. She’s headed to Michigan Tech to play basketball next season, and took this past fall off from high school sports to focus on hoops, now her “definite” favorite sport. “It used to be soccer, but that stopped a while ago and it has been basketball ever since,” Standfest said.
Standfest has been a key player and big scorer for the Elks soccer team, which also has enjoyed great postseason runs reaching Division 3 Semifinals the last two years. They lost to eventual champion Hudsonville Unity Christian in both.
Standfest, who has a chance to reach second on the school’s all-time scoring list, always draws the opposing team’s best defender — if not best overall player. She relishes the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with such challengers.
She already has battled Manton’s Lauren Wilder, Lake City’s MacKenzie Bisballe and Harbor Springs’ Olivia Flynn.
“I enjoy playing against better competition because I think honestly I play better most of the time,” said Standfest, known as Kenny to her team. “It gives me a sense of pride to beat ’em or do something good against them.”
Brown, who took over the Elks program in 2018 after heading up the freshman and JV teams for six years, enjoys watching those battles.
“Kendall played AAU and a lot of those girls did too, so it is fun to watch them go at each other,” he said. “Kendall is always guarding their best player.”
But Brown knows it takes more than his two senior leaders to win consistently.
“It is a team sport,” Brown pointed out. “Everybody has to fill their role.
“We’ve got some up-and-coming sophomores,” he continued. “We are kind of peaking and playing well as a team.”
Should opponents key in on the Elks’ dynamic duo, those likely to step up are sophomores Brooke Fluty, Rylnn Skrocki and Anna Pray, along with junior Hunter Schellenberger.
Brown also notes he’s enjoyed watching the Elks grow into strong contenders and really loves the individual improvement.
“It is really nice when you see these kids get it, and they improve and they’re having fun,” Brown said. “These kids made basketball coaching rewarding.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) The Elk Rapids girls basketball team celebrates Kendall Standfest’s 1,000th career point; she’s holding the basketball. (Middle) Standfest directs the offense during another game. (Top photo by Abby Porter; middle photo courtesy of the Traverse City Record-Eagle.)
Heartache in Past, Wait Ends as West Catholic Breaks Through to Breslin
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 17, 2022
GRAND RAPIDS – Good things come to those who wait.
That has been the case for the Grand Rapids West Catholic girls basketball team.
The Falcons have had to endure two years of disappointment and heartache, but all of that has been washed away with this year’s tournament run.
“It’s really exciting for our team, just because of all the hard work we’ve put in and it's finally showing with this run,” said Falcons senior guard and Michigan State recruit Abbey Kimball, whose team rolled into the Division 2 Semifinals on Tuesday with a convincing 82-27 win over previously-unbeaten Edwardsburg in the Quarterfinals.
“Obviously the past two years haven’t been the best, but we’re just happy we are here and we're just trying to enjoy the moment.”
This moment has eluded West Catholic most recently.
In 2020, the Falcons won their first District title in 25 years and earned a berth in the Regional Finals before the remainder of tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus.
Last season, West Catholic won another District title, but lost to Newaygo, 55-48, in the Regional Final without the services of Kimball and junior standout and Toledo commit Cadence Dykstra.
“You can't predict things like COVID or injuries or whatever circumstance that might come up,” Falcons coach Jill VanderEnde said. “You have to take it day by day, and you have to be resilient and you have to adapt.
“This year has been about being adaptable and yet continuing to persevere. That's what separates the team from years past, even though we’ve had some great teams the past few years.”
The Falcons will play Friday in their first Semifinal since 1995, against Detroit Country Day at the Breslin Center.
West Catholic lost to the Yellowjackets, 44-32, in the 1995 Class B Final.
“They’re a great team that is well-coached and very athletic and skilled,” VanderEnde said. “We will have to come up with a savvy gameplan to disrupt the things they do well.”
The Falcons improved to 24-1 as a suffocating defense helped them to their Quarterfinal win.
West Catholic led 26-5 after the first quarter en route to the lopsided victory.
“Our defense has set the tone all season long, and going into the tournament that’s what we were hoping to hang our hat on,” VanderEnde said.
The Falcons’ only loss occurred earlier in the season against Rockford, which advanced to the Division 1 Semifinals.
West Catholic went undefeated in conference play, led by Kimball and a supporting cast of young talent.
All five of its starters, including Kimball, Dykstra, freshman Elisha Dykstra, sophomore Emma Tuttle and junior Ellie Bies, made the all-conference team, while freshman Anna Ignatoski and sophomore Reese Polega earned all-conference honorable mention.
“It’s always satisfying when you can look at your players and know that they put in the hard work and that they've done everything you have asked and more to try and accomplish a goal that the entire team was seeking,” VanderEnde said. “Just to see those kids’ faces and smiles in the locker room (after Tuesday’s win) and the pure excitement and enjoyment of being able to accomplish something that we set out for so many months ago to do was really rewarding.
“That's what coaching is all about. Getting everyone on the same page and going in the same direction and not leaving anyone behind.”
Kimball, a four-year starter, finished runner-up to Detroit Edison’s Ruby Whitehorn in the Michigan Miss Basketball Award voting.
She is the lone senior, and has embraced her role as a veteran leader.
“In other years, there have been other seniors on the team who I’ve looked up to and they’ve really paved a path for me,” Kimball said. “Just to see how to lead a team, and so I’ve taken that role by getting girls in the gym with me and leading by example. They’ve helped me in that way, and it’s been really cool.”
VanderEnde has seen that growth throughout the season.
“Her skill level is off the charts, but there is a lot of responsibility with being the lone senior,” she said. “She has learned how to embrace her teammates and work with the younger kids. In the past she didn’t have to share that load. She could just be herself and be the leading scorer, but with all the seniors gone she has helped hold the other kids accountable in helping achieve the goals for the program. She’s really matured in that area.”
Kimball will now get the rare opportunity to play on her future collegiate court.
“I’m excited, and it will be the first time playing on that court so that will be fun,” Kimball said. “Every game we’ve been super focused because we want to get to the end goal, which is a state championship.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for four years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) West Catholic’s Abbey Kimball (1), Emma Tuttle (15) and Ellie Bies (11) help up a teammate this season. (Middle) Kimball makes her move to the basket. (Photos courtesy of the West Catholic athletic department.)