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High 5s: 11/14/12

November 19, 2012

All three of this week's honorees have achieved some sort of first-time stardom this fall, either individually or as a team. And both Carli Snyder and Alex Grace will be back next fall to continue building on these accomplishments. 

Carli Snyder
Macomb Dakota junior
Volleyball

(UPDATED 11/19) Snyder, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter, was an all-stater her first two seasons of high school. But she will be remembered even more for leading Macomb Dakota this fall to its first MHSAA championship in any girls sport. The Cougars defeated Temperance Bedford in three games in Saturday's Class A Final at Kellogg Arena. Snyder unofficially finished this season with 913 kills, good for seventh in the MHSAA record book since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. Her 31 kills against Bedford were third-most for a Final during that time. Snyder already has committed to sign with the University of Florida next year. She likely will be among frontrunners for next fall's Miss Volleyball award. 

Title talk: "We wanted this thing so bad. Every girl on this team wanted it so badly. Megan (Manierski) was setting the ball perfectly. She made it very easy to get kills. ... Just talking about this moment, this gym, it makes you just want to play harder than you ever have."

Winning recipe: "We've been a competitive team in practice and in games all year, so I think that helped us at that moment (in three close Finals games) when we just didn't want to lose. We refused to lose. ... We support each other no matter what. And we hustled so hard."

Shake it up: "We have some secret handshakes with other people, but mine are very complex. I don't know how we went about that. Megan and mine is from "Parent Trap," and then Megan Downey and mine, we just made it up at team dinner. We make it a bit more complex than it needs to be, but it's fun. And it's a great thing to calm us down for a game when we've played a bad one before."

Had to be a Gator: "I like warm weather. I love the coaches. I actually called Florida for my recruiting phone call because I was kinda bored one day at home and I was like, 'I got a letter from them.' I fell in love with the coaching staff, and I told my mom that I needed to go on a visit down there. It's incredible, and when I went down there I was even more in love. Even on the phone, I knew this is where I would end up. It's just that feeling. You know when you get that feeling, and it's incredible."

Click to read more.

Alex Grace
Saginaw Swan Valley sophomore
Football

The Vikings' leading rusher is also one of the leading rushers in the state this season heading into Saturday's Division 4 Semifinal against Detroit Country Day. Grace has gained 2,091 yards plus run for 27 touchdowns, and needs only 109 yards and three more scores to make the MHSAA record book in both categories. He ran for 182 yards and three scores in the Vikings' Regional Final win over Croswell-Lexington. Grace took over as Swan Valley's running back this season after the graduation of his brother Johnathan, who rushed for 1,790 yards last season and now plays at Michigan Tech. Both brothers ran on Swan Valley's 400-meter relay that finished runner-up at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track and Field Final in the spring. Alex is 6-0 and 185 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds.

I'd like to run like: "Even my brother. I like to look at myself as close to him. Professionally, (Minnesota Vikings back) Adrian Peterson. He's a tough runner, fast. He's strong."

Underdogs again: "The last game against Croswell, they were the No. 2 team and we were predicted to lose. But we came back and beat them. I use that underdog feeling to work harder each day."

Best brotherly advice: "Work hard, and if there are doubters, don't let them get you down."

Science and math: (My favorite classes are) biology and economics. They just come easy to me. I enjoy it."

Click to read more. 

Flint Beecher football

The Buccaneers, coached by former Michigan State and NFL standout Courtney Hawkins, were one of the final teams selected for the playoffs, at 5-4 after a 3-4 start. But Beecher advanced to this week's Division 7 Semifinal against Detroit Loyola by eliminating reigning champion Saginaw Nouvel, 19-15, in last week's Regional championship game. Beecher, now 8-4, has made the playoffs six straight years. The first of that run came in Hawkins' second as coach and after 12 straight losing seasons. 

Click to read more. 

Previous 2012-13 honorees:

Forest Hills Central’s Lily Ohlman returns a volley during her No. 1 singles championship match Saturday.

Forest Hills Rules D2: FHC's Ohlman Repeats, FHN Takes Back Team Title

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

June 1, 2024

BYRON CENTER — The last day of actual school this year for Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior Lily Ohlman might have been May 6. But from a tennis perspective, it can be argued that her last day of school was May 4 — when she learned a few things that paid off during her final high school tournament. 

It was then that Ohlman suffered a three-set loss to Megan Sullivan of Farmington Hills Mercy (10-8 in the third-set tiebreak). Earning a rematch with Sullivan in the No. 1 singles championship match at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Saturday, Ohlman tried to figuratively go to school and do her homework from that last match with Sullivan. 

“Megan has an extremely good forehand,” Ohlman said. “She really hurt me with that in the last match. Going into this, I just tried as hard as I could not to hit it to her forehand. When I did, I tried to hit it deep and stuff.”

Ohlman certainly played like someone who did her homework from that match as well, as she earned her second straight singles title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the junior from Mercy. 

Ohlman reached Sullivan by surviving Ana Cheng of Mattawan in the semifinals, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

“I have thought about this every day for the past year since I won states for the first time,” Ohlman said of trying to repeat. “It’s been like a true dream come true for my tennis career.”

While Ohlman brought home an individual title for Forest Hills Central, rival Forest Hills Northern claimed the team championship for the third time over the last four years. The Huskies netted 29 points to edge 2023 champion Birmingham Seaholm, which finished with 23. 

Forest Hills Northern’s Paige McKenzie, right, with partner Ryan Morey, sends back a powerful volley at No. 1 doubles.Northern had players in five flights advance to finals, with four of those flights producing championships.

FHN’s title was punctuated when the No. 1 doubles team of Ryan Morey and Paige McKenzie defeated Seaholm’s team of Jenna Ting and Katie Slazinski in a thrilling final, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Northern actually had the team title clinched by that point, but head coach Steven Olson didn’t want his players to know that. 

“I don’t want them to back off because they think the team has already won it,” he said. “I want them to think they are still hunting for a title the entire time.”

Huskies junior Andrea Wang defeated Keira Kirkland of Farmington Hills Mercy, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 to win at No. 2 singles, sophomore Harriet Ogilvie captured the title at No. 3, and the team of Lauren Jaklitsch and Morgan McKenzie won at No. 2 doubles. 

Olson guided his team to a Finals title in his second year as head coach after taking over for Dave Sukup, who led the program for 49 years before retiring. Northern had fallen to No. 2 behind Seaholm in the final regular-season coaches rankings. And then the Huskies lost their No. 1 singles player Nathalie Lanne to a torn ACL last week.
Her replacement, Natalia Acevedo, managed to win a first-round match to earn a crucial point despite not being seeded.

Also stepping up was sophomore Aanya Dogra, who entered the tournament unseeded at No. 4 singles. Dogra recorded upsets of No. 3 seed Elisa Costeux of Mattawan and No. 2 seed Maddy Youngblood of Grosse Pointe South before falling in the championship match to No. 1 seed Gabby Owens of Farmington Hills Mercy, 6-0, 6-2.

Still, Dogra’s run earned some major points for the Huskies.

“The rest of the team just stepped up and performed,” Olson said. “It’s been a wild weekend, but I’m very proud of these girls.”

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Forest Hills Central’s Lily Ohlman returns a volley during her No. 1 singles championship match Saturday. (Middle) Forest Hills Northern’s Paige McKenzie, right, with partner Ryan Morey, sends back a powerful volley at No. 1 doubles. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)