Performance of the Week: Grosse Pointe South's Caroline Bryan
November 14, 2024
Caroline Bryan ♦ Grosse Pointe South
Freshman ♦ Swimming
The standout freshman won two individual races and swam as part of two first-place relays as Grosse Pointe South won the Macomb Area Conference Red championship meet for the 24th consecutive season. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 2, and Bryan will be in contention later this month to become South’s first individual Finals champion in this sport since 2018.
Bryan won the 100-yard backstroke at the MAC Red meet in 57.29 seconds, the seventh-fastest among swimmers’ top times in the state this season for that race, and second-fastest top time among Division 2 swimmers. Her 55.47 to win the 100 butterfly was the third-fastest top time overall for that race this fall and fastest in Division 2. She also teamed with Mischa Eng, Nicole McEnroe and Lorelei Carr on the winning 200 medley relay, and Eng, Whitney Handwork and Hannah DiDio on the first-place 400 freestyle relay. The 400 relay’s time of 3:35.50 was the second-fastest top time in Division 2 this fall. Bryan's older brother Ben also swam for South, and older sister Heidi is a standout junior on the team.
@mhsaasports 🏊♀️POW: Caroline Bryan #swimming #grossepointesouth #MACRed #champion #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports 🏊♀️POW: Caroline Bryan #tiktalk #questiontime #tangled #laughing #emoji #bbqchicken #invisibility #gretchenwalsh #part2 #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA @carolinebbryan ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
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Previous 2024-25 honorees
Nov. 8: Kaylie Livingston, Whitmore Lake cross country - Report
Oct. 25: Oliver Caldwell, Grand Rapids West Catholic tennis - Report
Oct. 18: Alex Graham, Detroit Cass Tech football - Report
Oct. 11: Victoria Garces, Midland Dow cross country - Report
Oct. 4: Asher Clark, Bay City John Glenn soccer - Report
Sept. 26: Campbell Flynn, Farmington Hills Mercy volleyball - Report
Sept. 19: TJ Hansen, Freeland cross country - Report
Sept. 12: Jordan Peters, Grayling soccer - Report
Sept. 6: Gabe Litzner, Sault Ste. Marie cross country - Report
Aug. 30: Grace Slocum, Traverse City St. Francis golf - Report
(Photos courtesy of the Bryan family.)
3 Receive National Honors from NHSACA, Coaching Pair Named to Hall of Fame
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 11, 2024
One of the longest-serving members of the MHSAA Representative Council and two longtime Michigan high school coaches have received highest honors this summer from the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.
Brighton athletic director John Thompson was named Athletic Director of the Year during the NHSACA’s annual conference June 26 in Bismarck, N.D. He has supervised the Bulldogs’ highly-accomplished athletic program for two decades and served on the Representative Council the last 14 years, including currently as vice president.
Thompson also this year received the Thomas Rashid Athletic Director of the Year Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA). Brighton was selected as an MIAAA exemplary athletic program in 2015 and as an ESPN unified champion school in 2018, the latter recognizing its statewide leadership in cultivating unified sport opportunities.
Additionally, Farmington Hills Mercy girls golf coach Vicky Kowalski and Livonia Stevenson girls swimming & diving coach Greg Phil were named NHSACA National Coach of the Year in their respective sports.
Kowalski completed her 46th season coaching Mercy last fall by leading the program to its second-straight Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship and fourth MHSAA Finals title overall. She also in January was named the 2022-23 National Coach of the Year in her sport by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association. She was inducted into the Michigan High School Coaches Association (MHSCA) Hall of Fame this year for both golf and bowling.
Phil has coached girls swimming & diving since 1976, including at Stevenson since 1985. After winning the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East title, the most recent of several league championships under his leadership, Stevenson finished 16th at last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals and previously had placed Finals runner-up twice. Phil was named to the MHSCA Hall of Fame in 2012.
All three honorees were nominated for the national recognition by the MHSCA. Beal City baseball coach Brad Antcliff, now-retired Leland volleyball coach Laurie Glass, Ann Arbor Greenhills boys tennis coach Eric Gajar and Lowell wrestling coach R.J. Boudro also were National Coach of the Year finalists.
Additionally, longtime softball coaches Kay Johnson of Morenci and Kris Hubbard from Ottawa Lake Whiteford were inducted into the NHSACA Hall of Fame. Johnson went over 1,000 career wins this spring and has led her program since 1993, including to Class C championships in 1985 and 1986. Hubbard retired after the 2019 season with an 865-380-3 record since taking over in 1974, with Class D titles in 1984, 1985 and 1987.