Wilkinson Capping Record-Blazing Career
May 17, 2018
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
KALKASKA – Rik Ponstein cuts to the chase when he talks about senior pitcher-centerfielder Makenzie Wilkinson.
“She’s probably the best player I’ve ever coached,” he said.
It’s a telling statement considering Ponstein is in his 34th season coaching softball and – prior to Thursday’s doubleheader with Boyne City – is 11 wins shy of 700 in his career.
He’s coached several good teams, several good players.
Wilkinson pauses, searching for the right words, to respond to her coach’s assessment.
“That’s an honor,” the soon-to-be 18-year-old said. “It amazes me, really.”
Wilkinson is on the verge of becoming the school’s Female Athlete of the Year for the fourth time – the first time that’s happened here.
In basketball, the 5-foot-8 Wilkinson is a two-time all-state player and holds the school record in rebounds (696) and blocks (153). She tied the school mark for 3-pointers in a game (eight) and is fourth all-time in scoring (1,417 points).
In softball, she owns most of the school records, or will by the time the season ends.
“She’s a great competitor,” Dave Dalton, the longtime girls basketball coach, said. “She’s extremely skilled in both sports.”
The Blazers are currently 24-1 in softball, earning an honorable mention in this week’s Division 2 coaches poll.
It’s a veteran team; only two starters graduated off last year’s 37-5 squad that lost to Muskegon Oakridge in the Regionals.
Wilkinson, pitcher-shortstop MaKenzie Leach and rightfielder Taylor Kooistra are the leaders – four-year starters who have paced Kalkaska to a 125-23 record during that span. Wilkinson (60-15) and Leach (58-8) have been the winning pitchers in 118 of those triumphs.
“All three are outstanding,” Ponstein said. “They have melded together to help make this a very good team.”
On the mound, Wilkinson (12-1) and Leach (11-0) provide a formidable combination.
“They’re different type of pitchers,” Ponstein said. “Makenzie Wilkinson is a power pitcher (441 career strikeouts) with a curve. MaKenzie Leach is more of a control pitcher with a good changeup. She’s only walked 70 batters in her career, just four this season. What’s made Makenzie Wilkinson tougher this year is that she’s only walked nine. I tell the girls if you don’t walk them, your teammates will make the plays behind you. The one time we didn’t make the plays, we lost. For the most part, though, we make the plays.”
At the plate, Wilkinson is hitting .545, Kooistra .529 and Leach .475. Wilkinson’s belted six home runs, Kooistra five. They rank one-two on the school’s career list for home runs with 29 and 17, respectively.
The trio are joined in the lineup by Angela Iott at first, Kayla Cavanaugh at second, Jaime Potter at third, Kayleigh Bunker in left and Ayla Gustafson behind the plate. Loren Schwab rotates between shortstop and centerfield, depending on who’s pitching. All are juniors, except Bunker, a senior.
“We’re experienced,” Wilkinson said. “We’ve been around each other a long time. We play well together.”
As for Wilkinson, she comes from an athletic family. Her father, Jeremy, was a football standout at Northern Michigan University and later inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. He also served as Kalkaska’s football coach until stepping down last November. Makenzie’s mother, Cheri, was a four-sport standout (volleyball, basketball, softball and track) at Kalkaska, She played softball for Ponstein and JV basketball for Dalton. She ran track only her sophomore year, but set the school record in the 400 meters.
“Growing up they always taught me to go all out, give your best every second,” Makenzie said. “Mom always says that the sky’s the limit, to always put forth the effort and put in the extra time.”
“We had lots of conversations about that when she was in middle school,” Cheri said, laughing. “We knew she had gifts (athletically). We knew if she put in the time that later in life it would help her. Now, looking back, she realizes that and has thanked us for pushing her to work hard because it’s paid off.”
Wilkinson has signed to attend school and play basketball at Davenport University, which just transitioned to NCAA Division II. She’s also hoping to play softball.
Softball might be her best sport – and the one she thought she would play in college – but she did not receive many recruiting looks.
“It was a rough road,” Makenzie said. “Nothing really happened.
“It just didn’t pan out,” Cheri added. “Then, Rick Albro (Davenport’s women’s basketball coach) showed interest, and she connected with him. It fell into place. She’s still going to play travel softball this summer. She’s still trying to get her foot in the door at Davenport for softball. She’s been in contact with the coach. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. She’s ready to play basketball. That’s her No. 1 priority.”
There’s a twist to the story. Jeremy Wilkinson is originally from Marlette, and that was one of the first stops on Albro’s coaching journey. Albro coached boys basketball at Marlette from 1974-78.
It promises to be a busy summer for Makenzie. In addition to playing travel softball with the Alpena Mystics, Wilkinson will be taking online classes through Davenport and working on her basketball skills, and lifting, almost daily. She’s currently working with coaches Chuck and Travis Schuba, who both played collegiately.
“I’m trying to get ready for the college level,” she said, “coming off screens quicker, shooting quicker, getting up to the speed of the game.”
Oh, by the way, she’s also working on a construction crew.
If she needs advice about playing at the next level, she can turn to her father.
“(Jeremy) knows what it takes to be a college athlete, and he’s already told her that you have to be ready or it’s going to be a tough road,” Cheri said. “He trained all the time when he was in school and during the summers. He was a kid who didn’t get a lot of attention, but he put the time in and succeeded.”
This past winter, Wilkinson led a small, inexperienced Blazers basketball team to a 17-6 record. She averaged 20.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.4 steals a game.
“I was surprised,” she admitted. “We did pretty well. I was proud of our team.”
The Blazers were ousted in the District by Kingsley, which reached the Class B Semifinals.
Wilkinson was Kalkaska’s go-to player.
“She has an incredible motor and knowledge (of the game),” Dalton said. “She’s strong, she’s fast, she’s super coordinated.”
The Blazers went 78-15 in her four years on varsity, winning three Districts and two Lake Michigan Conference crowns.
As a junior, she was selected to the Detroit Free Press Dream Team.
But those accolades do not define her.
“It’s not all about the recognition,” she said. “I’m not really a person who’s out there about my accomplishments. To me, it’s about giving it your all and having the heart to play.”
Cheri agrees.
“She’s a humble kid, very even-keeled,” she said. “She doesn’t let (awards) go to her head. She’s just a calm kid, who doesn’t talk much.”
Makenzie lets her determined play on the court and field do the talking.
Away from the action, she’s a member of the National Honor Society and in the fall was selected Homecoming queen.
“The students like her and respect her,” Dalton said.
“She’s not a cocky kid,” Cheri said. “She mingles with all the different cliques. She’s a very open kid. I really admire her for that. We’ve always told our kids to stand up for others.”
Right now, she’s having a little problem standing and moving around. She dropped a 25-pound weight on her foot during lifting class Tuesday. X-rays revealed that no bones were broken or fractured, but the foot is swollen and bruised.
“I was putting weight on the squat bar,” she said. “I put a 45 on – I was lucky I didn’t drop that one on my foot – and I went to grab the 25-pound weight off the rack to put on the barbell when I dropped it. I’m just glad it’s not broken or fractured. I’ll be ready to play later this week.”
Ponstein, meanwhile, has always set similar goals for his teams every season – win at least 20 games, and capture conference and District titles. This season, with a veteran cast returning, he added a Regional crown to the mix. The Blazers have never won a Regional under Ponstein.
If the rankings hold, that Regional in Gaylord could include No. 2 Escanaba and No. 8 Oakridge.
What would it mean to break the drought and win a Regional?
“It would be beyond exciting,” Wilkinson said. “It’s a new level when you get into Regionals. To be able to win at that level would be amazing.”
Time will soon tell.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. 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) Kalkaska’s Makenzie Wilkinson stands in during an at bat this season. (Middle) Wilkinson pulls up for a jumpshot this past winter. (Softball photo by Capture Me Photography; head shot by Patricia Golden; basketball photo by RD Sports Photo.)
Lyons Delivers Forever Shot to Clinch Unforgettable Rockford Finish
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 18, 2023
EAST LANSING – Brad Wilson had preached to his Rockford girls basketball team the importance of focusing on the next play. Not worrying about what had just happened, but moving forward and making the next play to help your team.
Apparently, he did a good job of drilling it home.
After hitting the biggest shot in program history and giving the Rams a final-minute lead in the MHSAA Division 1 Final against West Bloomfield, junior guard Grace Lyons’ mind immediately went to heeding her coaches instructions.
“It was amazing, but I knew we had to get back on defense and finish it out,” Lyons said.
Lyons and her Rockford teammates did finish it out, making her go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining the deciding bucket in a 40-36 win over West Bloomfield at the Breslin Center to capture the first Finals title in program history.
“Greatness is about the journey – it’s about the effort that gets put in each and every day,” Wilson said. “In my opinion, these girls were great before we even played this game. They were great before there was a single play in this game. But we had an opportunity to be the greatest in our school history today. Our mantra was, ‘Next play.’ (West Bloomfield) had a couple of runs where some teams would have folded, but our girls didn’t flinch. They steadied the storm, and when girls had opportunities to make plays, they did.”
The win avenged a Semifinal loss from a year ago, when the Lakers ended Rockford’s first trip to the Final Four.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” Rockford senior guard Alyssa Wypych said. “I went light-headed. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is happening.’ It’s something I’ve worked my whole life for. It’s been a dream forever. To finally get it done is just amazing.”
Getting it done took surviving a tight, physical game with the reigning Division 1 champion. Both offenses struggled to get anything going against the other’s stellar defense, and the teams headed into the fourth quarter with West Bloomfield leading 23-22.
Neither team led by more than three points during the fourth quarter until Lyons hit a pair of free throws to ice the game with one-tenth of a second left on the clock.
“They are a really tough team,” Wypych said. “Especially since we had experience playing a majority of their players last year, we knew we were going to have another good game.”
West Bloomfield led 36-35 with under 2 minutes to play, but Lyons came up with a steal with 1:12 remaining to start her game-ending heroics.
Not long after, she found herself open near the top of the 3-point line and didn’t hesitate to let a shot fly, giving Rockford a 38-36 lead with 40 seconds to play. It was her first basket of the day.
“I wasn’t going to stop shooting just because I missed a few,” Lyons said. “I knew I was a good shooter, and at least one of them had to go in. When Anna drove in and just kicked me the ball, there wasn’t anyone around me so I just let it fly and it went in.”
Wilson said it’s a shot that will probably be talked about forever in Rockford.
“It’s a sports town,” he said. “High education, high standards. Our community loves our teams. Anywhere you go, you can’t get away from it. I’d expect the rest of my lifetime – I’m a Rockford Ram forever, raising my family here and I’m a teacher at the school – so I’m assuming we’re going to have conversations about this for the rest of my life. There’s nothing more I’d rather talk about. So, pretty awesome.”
West Bloomfield (26-3) had two chances to tie the game, but turned the ball over on its first, and missed a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining on its second.
The Rams (28-1) still had to avoid a turnover against West Bloomfield’s incredibly effective press, but they managed, with Lyons inbounding the ball and getting a return pass before being fouled.
While Lyons was the hero down the stretch, Rockford was in the game thanks in large part to the efforts of sophomore Anna Wypych. She finished the game with 20 points and eight rebounds.
“She puts in more time than most people on the planet,” Wilson said. “She’s a gym rat. We do so much as a program, and (when) we’re not doing stuff, she’s doing stuff on her own. When she came here, there were some things she had to learn. Over the course of these last two years, just her evolution in her game, whether it be offense, whether it be defense, whether it’s attacking the basket, knocking down 3s and really just being a big player in big moments, it’s astonishing. I couldn’t be more proud of this one here.”
While West Bloomfield’s pressure defense was giving Rockford trouble, the Rams’ defense was doing the same to the Lakers. West Bloomfield was just 14 of 42 from the field, and star twins Summer and Indya Davis were held to 12 points, with Indya scoring eight.
Junior Kendall Hendrix led West Bloomfield with 12 points and seven rebounds, while senior Sydney Hendrix had 10 points.
“They came here for a reason, and they came here to beat us, because they had nothing to lose and we had everything to lose,” Kendall Hendrix said. “So, next year, we have nothing to lose. I think next year gives us more motivation.”
Another rematch isn’t far-fetched, as both teams bring back the majority of their rosters.
When asked if they expected it, Rockford’s players didn’t hesitate to answer in the affirmative.
“That’s the plan,” Wilson said.
PHOTOS (Top) Rockford’s Grace Lyons (11) shoots the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds to play Saturday in the Division 1 Final. (Middle) The Rams’ Anna Wypych (2) drives to the basket with West Bloomfield’s Sydney Hendrix (5) defending. (Below) Kayla MacLaren (14) is presented the championship trophy while her teammates celebrate.