Performance: EGR's Audrey Whiteside
June 14, 2019
Audrey Whiteside
East Grand Rapids senior – Lacrosse
The Pioneers’ senior attack had seven goals and three assists as East Grand Rapids regained the Division 2 championship Saturday with 22-7 win over Bloomfield Hills Marian, earning Whiteside the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.” She finished this spring with 149 goals – second-most for one season in MHSAA history – and a record 208 points despite playing in what’s considered the toughest league in the state.
Whiteside was a freshman on EGR’s 2016 championship team and helped the Pioneers finish Division 2 runner-up in 2017 and reach the Semifinals a year ago. She also had 59 assists, 107 draw controls and 31 ground balls this season and finished her career with 409 goals and 114 assists for 523 points – her goals and points rank second all-time, and her assists are seventh most for a career. East Grand Rapids finished this season 24-2 and tied for the Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1 title with Rockford, the eventual MHSAA Division 1 champion for the seventh straight season.
This was a celebration-filled school year for Whiteside, who also helped the EGR cross country team to the Lower Peninsula Division 2 title in the fall with a 21st-place finish at Michigan International Speedway. She was named this winter as one of 32 MHSAA/Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete Award winners and graduated with a 3.9 GPA to go with her athletic and other extracurricular successes. It’s difficult to talk about Whiteside without also discussing four-year varsity teammate and close friend Mary Schumar – Whiteside’s business partner as well as they direct a summer lacrosse training academy for younger players. Schumar is heading next to an established power in Marquette University, while Whiteside will continue her career at Central Michigan University for a program that just completed its fourth season – she picked the Chippewas in part for a chance to play a major role in that program’s ascension. Whiteside is considering studying to become a nutritionist or go into personal training and fitness, and she’s also interested in business and marketing.
Coach Rich Axtell said: “Audrey has since her freshman year been a leader by example on this team. She never takes a day, a drill or a play off. She goes hard all the time. She has won virtually all of the sprints and conditioning exercises that we have done over the past four years. She ran cross country each fall and then attended almost every offseason conditioning session that the team held. After losing to CK in the Finals in 2017 and to Okemos in the Semifinals in 2018, Audrey, Mary Schumar and the rest of the team committed themselves to doing what it takes to win another state title. Audrey switched from midfield to attack be able to work more closely with Mary and to increase their offensive productivity. Both players had a 40-percent increase in their offensive statistics this year. Despite all this success, Audrey and Mary have remained very modest, always being genuinely surprised when I told them their statistics. When our games were in hand, they frequently passed up scoring opportunities to allow their teammates a chance to shine. Their selflessness and humility have helped to produce one of the closest and happiest teams I have ever coached. Obviously, we will miss Audrey's offensive production, but we will miss her dedication and leadership even more.”
Performance Point: “It definitely is the best way to end my senior year,” Whiteside said. “Having been to the Cross Country Finals in the fall, I think I really wanted to end my senior year right with another state championship. Our team not making it to the (Lacrosse) Finals last year, that really inspired us to work harder this season, to finally go to the Finals and hopefully win. … Our mentality going into the playoffs was to have really fast starts, because we’re usually a second-half team. We wanted to set up strong from the first draw, but I think going in with that mentality really helped us. I think we really did have a different mindset going into the state Finals … it just all came together.”
One for all: “It’s hard to describe, but (winning the title is) honestly the best feeling. We had three incoming freshmen make it this year, and I think that helped us a lot with the intensity of the team. And I think I wanted to get it for those freshmen because I know what it is like, because when I was a freshman we won. It was just honestly the best feeling and I wanted them to have that – and also all the other sophomores that made it and juniors, just everyone together.”
Back in business: “My friend Mary Schumar and I started a lacrosse clinic called EGR Lacrosse Academy last year. We’re trying to make it bigger this year. That’s the goal. We start in a couple weeks. I want to go into business in the future, so it’s a great experience to have to work with all the families and the kids. but I love working with kids so it makes it even better. … I’ve learned (business) takes a lot more time and work than I thought it would. And also, communicating with people is very essential to creating a great business and creating relationships. Creating bonds with people and connections is going to get you way farther than anything else – and also working harder.”
My friend Mary: “We have been friends since second grade – we went to different elementary schools but ended up being in the same friend group from middle school on to now. Playing with her freshman through senior year has been so amazing. She had a stellar freshman year – I think she got pulled up halfway and made (six) goals in the state championship game as a freshman, which is unbelievable. I got pulled up to being an attack this year with her to score more points and handle the offense with her, and that’s also been just amazing, working so well together. It just clicked this year. … We play each other (next season). Central’s first game is Marquette, and that’s going to be super surreal to play Mary next year. But we’re really excited.”
Scholar & Athlete: “I think about (being both) a lot. It’s really a motivator to work hard, and it inspires other students to work harder themselves. But also the team aspect – we have a team GPA, and I think all of us want to work harder to get that 4.0 average GPA, which I think we got a 3.7 which is amazing. Being a scholar-athlete, I know raised the bar, raised expectations on me, which I love because I love having pressure. I do better with pressure – especially in games and in the classroom.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past 2018-19 honorees
June 6: Kari Miller, Ann Arbor Pioneer tennis - Read
May 23: Keshaun Harris, Lansing Waverly track & field - Read
May 16: Gabbie Sherman, Millington softball - Read
May 9: Nathan Taylor, Muskegon Mona Shores golf - Read
May 2: Ally Gaunt, New Baltimore Anchor Bay soccer - Read
April 25: Kali Heivilin, Three Rivers softball - Read
March 28: Rickea Jackson, Detroit Edison basketball - Read
March 21: Noah Wiswary, Hudsonville Unity Christian basketball - Read
March 14: Cam Peel, Spring Lake swimming - Read
March 7: Jordan Hamdan, Hudson wrestling - Read
February 28: Kevon Davenport, Detroit Catholic Central wrestling - Read
February 21: Reagan Olli, Gaylord skiing - Read
February 14: Jake Stevenson, Traverse City Bay Reps hockey - Read
February 7: Molly Davis, Midland Dow basketball - Read
January 31: Chris DeRocher, Alpena basketball - Read
January 24: Imari Blond, Flint Kearsley bowling - Read
January 17: William Dunn, Quincy basketball - Read
November 29: Dequan Finn, Detroit Martin Luther King football - Read
November 22: Paige Briggs, Lake Orion volleyball - Read
November 15: Hunter Nowak, Morrice football - Read
November 8: Jon Dougherty, Detroit Country Day soccer - Read
November 1: Jordan Stump, Camden-Frontier volleyball - Read
October 25: Danielle Staskowski, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep golf - Read
October 18: Adam Bruce, Gladstone cross country - Read
October 11: Ericka VanderLende, Rockford cross country - Read
October 4: Kobe Clark, Schoolcraft football - Read
September 27: Jonathan Kliewer, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern soccer - Read
September 20: Kiera Lasky, Bronson volleyball - Read
September 13: Judy Rector, Hanover-Horton cross country - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) East Grand Rapids' Audrey Whiteside considers her options during Saturday's Division 2 Final against Bloomfield Hills Marian. (Middle) Whiteside taps sticks with her teammates, including Mary Schumar (12).
Portage Unites 'Frenemies' Into Lacrosse Force
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
May 11, 2021
PORTAGE — On the basketball court, Brooke Hoag and Grace Cheatham were “frenemies.”
But now that spring sports are here, that has changed.
The two seniors from rival schools are teammates.
Hoag, from Northern, and Cheatham, from Central, are both members of the Portage girls lacrosse team, a co-op composed of players from both schools.
When playing against each other, “you have to be focused on your team,” Hoag said. “When you come to lacrosse, it’s almost like you flip a switch because they’re your team now.
“Playing against them is just fun. You look at them and you know how they play in different sports, so it’s fun because you can kind of pick on them. It’s also a competition, and you definitely learn how to separate the two sports.”
After being shut down last year because of COVID-19 restrictions, the lacrosse team is having one of its best seasons ever.
Portage is 12-2 so far and currently ranked No. 8 in Division I, according to LaxNumbers.com
“For our returners, I think (the year off) has given them more motivation to want to play,” said Kate Twichell, in her seventh year as head coach. “There’s a fire lit, especially under my seniors.
“They’re playing so hard. They understand every opportunity is another opportunity they weren’t going to get.”
This season is different from any other, with mandated masks and rapid testing. Adapting to cool weather and then hot makes masking up a little more challenging, Hoag said, but worth it to have a chance to play. Twichell said Portage schools provide a mask that is easier to wear. “None of them will claim they love it,” she added. “The second we say they can take them off, they will 100 percent take them off.”
But in spite of the drawbacks, “This year, our varsity team is playing together the best I think it’s ever played together,” Twichell said. “The team chemistry is just phenomenal.
“That’s really all them. They’ve really taken extra time to make sure that they are putting in the work to come together.”
For the first time, Portage is hosting an MHSAA Division 1 Regional, facing Zeeland East on May 20. Finals are June 12 at Novi High School.
Other Northern varsity players are seniors Mairin Boshoven and Karly Turchan, junior Annie Galin and freshman Avery Kelly.
Central players include seniors Kyla Meyle, Jenna Camp, Calista Richmond and Lauren DeHaan; juniors Ryan Knauer, Olivia Jensenius and Lauren King; and sophomores Sam Swafford and Lexie Springman. Casey Hendrixson coaches the junior varsity team.
Learning Fast
Neither Hoag nor Cheatham grew up playing lacrosse, but that is not a problem, Twichell said.
“My varsity players are all returning, so I have six returning starters on varsity right now,” she said. “My JV team, of the 15 of them, 10 are new to the sport this year.
“They’ve never touched a stick before. MHSAA gave us some small practices so we had a few in earlier, but most of them are brand new within the last 12 months.”
Learning that the stick is actually an extension of their hand is one of the hardest adjustments for new players, she said.
“I always tell the kids the first week is going to be the hardest – the frustration of dropping the ball and not being able to figure out the mechanics of it is always going to be the most difficult,” she said.
Hoag first played the sport when she was in eighth grade and took to it immediately.
“The only downside is the bruises you can get from it, but I like to say they’re like trophies showing you’re an aggressive player and it’s just something that you almost want to show that you play,” the midfielder said.
She kept in shape during the shutdown by working out at home.
“I have a net and a rebounder in my backyard, so I would practice shooting and my stick skills by myself,” she said.
Losing last season was especially difficult for the midfielder.
Not only is the junior season a big year for college recruitment but “my sister (Ashleigh) was a senior and I got my last chance to play with her taken away.”
Cheatham also has played lacrosse for five years, with her interest piqued by her father and brother.
Family helped her hone her skills during the shutdown.
“I live super close to Portage Central High School, so me and my brother (Andrew, a freshman who plays lacrosse at Central) used to go and play a lot of wall ball against The Stable. We did a lot of shooting drills on our own, just to keep busy.”
Both Hoag and Cheatham also played on summer and fall travel teams, which helped keep them in shape.
One unexpected moment for the two happened May 1 at the Matt Thrasher Memorial Games when each received a $500 scholarship, awarded each year to two players from the girls team and a player from each school’s boys team.
Thrasher played lacrosse and, while a freshman at Northern, died in a boating accident in 2004.
Cheatham echoed Hoag in saying it was an honor to receive the award.
“The fact that his family still does this is really amazing,” she said.
Hoag is headed to Trine University and will play lacrosse there, while Cheatham will attend Kent State in the nursing program and hopes to continue to play the sport, possibly at the club level.
Ultimate goal
While the ultimate goal is to one day have enough players to field a girls team at each school, the co-op team is under the umbrella of Portage Northern.
That poses one of the few problems for Twichell, who teaches Spanish at Hackett Catholic Prep.
“For me, honestly, the biggest thing is recruiting, getting into both schools equally to get enough kids to field a team,” she said. “Trying to get in the schools as one person from outside the school is pretty difficult.
“Likewise, especially during the offseason, getting enough practice time at both facilities so that each player gets their home facility or their home games or home practices, that can be a challenge.”
Next year that could be a bit easier. Twichell’s husband, Kurt, was recently named Northern’s head football coach after longtime coach Pete Schermerhorn retired. The past seven years, he was on the Portage Central football staff.
One future recruit for the girls team should be a shoo-in. The couple’s 2½-year-old twins – daughter Aubrey and son Griffin – already have lacrosse sticks.
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) Portage’s Brooke Hoag fires a shot against Grand Rapids Northview this spring. (2) From left: Portage coach Kate Twichell, Grace Cheatham and Brooke Hoag. (3) Grace Cheatham (45) advances the ball against Ann Arbor Skyline. (4) Twichell and daughter Aubrey enjoy a moment with lacrosse stick in hand. (Action photos by Chris Boot. Head shots by Pam Shebest. Twichell photo courtesy of the Twichell family.)