High 5s - 2/14/12
February 13, 2012
Every Tuesday, Second Half honors 2-4 athletes and a team for its accomplishments during the current season.
Have a suggestion for a future High 5? Please offer your suggestions by e-mail to [email protected]. Candidates often will have accomplished great things on the field of play -- but also will be recognized for other less obvious contributions to their teams, schools or the mission of high school athletics as a whole.
Daisy Ference
Northville freshman
Gymnastics
Ference, only a 14-year-old freshman, came into the Feb. 4 Canton Invitational at least somewhat under the radar – and left as a favorite to win the MHSAA Division 1 individual championship next month. Ference won the Division 1 competition at Canton with an all-around score for 37.925. Earlier this season, according to a Birmingham Observer & Eccentric report, Ference set Northville’s school bars record with a 9.8.
The Mustangs finish the regular season with a meet tonight at Livonia Churchill and their league championship meet Saturday.
“I love my team, and I want to do well for them. I am motivated by positive encouragement and winning.”
Up next: Ference obviously has a few years to decide what she’ll pursue after high school. But she does hope to continue competing. “I am very determined and ambitious, but my final destination has yet to be determined,” she said. “Gymnastics will always be a part of my life, and hopefully a part of my career.”
I learned the most about gymnastics from: “My high school coach is Erin McWatt, and my main club coach, from Michigan Elite Gymnastics Academy, is Kim Tanskanen. I have been taught by the most talented and dedicated coaches, and I appreciate their love and dedication. They taught me to work hard, and success will follow. They taught me dedication and hard work pays off.”
Chris Hass
Pellston senior
Basketball
Hass, a 6-foot-5 point guard, is averaging 30.9 points per game this season and has scored 2,241 total during his four-year high school varsity career. His points total is 10th-best in MHSAA history and just 600 shy of the record set by Mio's Jay Smith from 1976-79. He's also averaging 8.5 rebounds and six assists per game. Pellston is 14-1 and ranked No. 3 in Class D, with a chance to avenge its only loss Wednesday in a rematch with No. 1 Bellaire. Hass has signed with Bucknell.
"I try to get as many assists as I can now. But for my team to be successful, I need to score. We have very talented ball players on this team. But that's one of my roles."
Up next: "One thing I was looking at college for wasn't just the next four years of life, but the rest of my life. If I don't go to the next (basketball) level after college, I'll have an education that will allow me to get an outstanding job anywhere. I'm going into either mechanical engineering or business management."
I learned the most about basketball from: "Definitely my father (Cliff, also his high school coach). He's always pushing me to be better than who I am. I think a lot of kids who are good when they're young, they're just told how good they are. My dad always kept pushing me to work on this, work on other things. ... He always keeps pushing me to be better than I am right now."
I look up to: "I've always wanted to be like Jesus Christ. He'd be my main one, then my dad and my sister (Stephanie, who formerly held the MHSAA girls basketball record for career points).
Shelby wrestling
Just because Shelby moved down into Division 4 for wrestling this season doesn’t meant its road to the MHSAA Finals got easier. Case in point: last week’s District matchup against Hesperia, which had reached the Quarterfinals 11 straight seasons.
But thanks to the Tigers 36-26 win, it won’t be 12. Shelby, ranked No. 4 entering the postseason, got past a major obstacle in downing the No. 3 Panthers, who also had reached the Division 4 championship match three of the last five seasons.
Shelby is seeking its first MHSAA team championship since 1972, but long has been considered a power in the southwestern corner of the state. The Tigers advanced to the Division 3 Quarterfinals in 2009 and lost in Regional Finals the last two seasons and in 2007 – twice by just two points during that time.
Shelby is the only ranked team at its Regional on Wednesday at Blanchard Montabella. The Tigers will face Traverse City St. Francis, and with a win either Sanford-Meridian or Leroy Pine River in the Regional Final.
The Tigers also advanced nine wrestlers from Saturday’ individual District at Hesperia: Junior Nick Bantien (119, fourth place), sophomore David Guerra (125, third), senior Jordan White (135, second), senior Trevor Dezwaan (140, second), senior Houston Jones (145, fourth), senior Dillon Sibley (152, fourth), senior Mason Courtright (171, first), junior Dillion Ankney (215, first) and junior Austin Felt (103, first).
Rivals Benefit by Combining Mat Forces
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
February 12, 2020
HARRIS – Most Bark River-Harris and Powers North Central athletic teams have been fierce rivals for decades.
The situation is much different in wrestling, however, as the two schools combined forces for the first time this winter through a co-op venture.
"A year ago, our numbers were really down," said BR-H coach Joe Racicot. "We were approached by the North Central AD (athletic director Randall McLeod) and he asked if we'd be interested in starting a co-op program. Both school boards and the MHSAA approved it. We're now 16 kids strong, but our numbers are still low enough to remain a Division 4 program. We have 10 kids who never stepped on a wrestling mat before this year."
Currently, four North Central athletes are part of the program: junior Daniel Dani at 125 pounds, freshman Drew Allgeyer (145) and Fabian and Owen Chartier.
"I think it's a great opportunity for other kids to see the sport at North Central," said Allgeyer. "This has been a great learning experience, although I've wrestled lot of the same kids I had seen in middle school. It's really fun to wrestle them again and see how much they've improved. I think going right from middle school into high school wrestling has eased the transition. Although, it's still a tough transition. Wrestling against juniors and seniors is the most challenging part."
Allgeyer captured the 145-pound title at Saturday's Mid-Peninsula Conference meet at Gladstone by pinning Iron Mountain sophomore Preston Roberts in five minutes, 33 seconds.
"Today was awesome, and wrestling in the U.P. Championships (Jan. 25 in Marquette) was a unique experience," Allgeyer said moments after receiving his award Saturday. "I'm thankful to have this opportunity."
Dani, runner-up by pin to Gladstone sophomore Hunter Solis in his M-PC debut, is also grateful for his opportunity to participate in high school wrestling.
"This is a great experience," he said. "Four of us came over here, and we've developed close friendships with the Bark River-Harris kids. This is something I've always wanted to try, and it's a huge learning experience. In other sports you can kind of walk on and figure it out right away. Wrestling is not like that. I came in pretty well-conditioned, but this is different in terms of conditioning other parts of the body. Staying on your diet and making weight is one of the most challenging parts."
BR-H sophomore Katie Viau (119) took third at Gladstone, six days after finishing 2-2 at the Michigan Wrestling Association girls state tournament at Adrian.
"It was amazing to see all the girls down there," she said. "That got me more excited about wrestling. I was real happy with it. I did better than I expected. I was pretty pumped. That was the highlight of my season.
"Competing with the boys helps me get better. They're generally stronger and more experienced, which helped prepare me for the state tournament."
Viau, who also plays basketball on the BR-H jayvee team, says she's happy with the new arrangement with North Central.
"This makes us better as a team," she added. "We're all real close, and this gives us more numbers. We have a lot more people than last year, and we've come together as a team.”
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTO: Bark River-Harris’ Katie Viau attempts to escape a hold by Westwood’s Alana Nuorala (front) in a 119-pound match Saturday at Gladstone. (Photo by Justin St. Ours/Escanaba Daily Press.)