AD Inducted to National Hall of Fame
May 7, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Winter gets hectic so quickly that we’re forced to save some intriguing items that come our way for a sunnier day – and that day is today.
Following are news, notes and a few key links collected over the last few months, including the national Hall of Fame induction of a longtime Michigan athletic director, local recognition for another and statewide acclaim for a group of students putting their video production equipment to good use benefiting all.
Ann Arbor AD Honored Nationally
Former Ann Arbor Huron athletic director Jane Bennett was among five inducted into the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame in December.
Bennett served 26 years as a teacher, coach, athletic director and assistant principal in Michigan before spending the last decade as a principal at two schools in Montana. She served as athletic director at Huron for 15 years through 2002-03. The NIAAA reported that during her final decade in that position, participation in athletics doubled.
Bennett, who received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, began her career at Huron in 1977 as varsity softball coach and became a math teacher and the co-director of athletics a year later. She coached the softball team 14 seasons before moving into the full-time athletic director position. Bennett was co-founder of the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association and served as MHSSCA president from 1982-87.
Among other achievements at Huron, Bennett was a leader in a successful campaign to gain voter approval of a $60 million bond package, which included $20 million to improve and expand athletic facilities. She also developed curriculum for an annual varsity captains/head coaches leadership training program and composed handbooks/guidebooks for coaches, athletes and parents.
Bennett also was a valuable contributor to the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the NIAAA. She was president of the MIAAA in 1993-94 and a state conference speaker on several occasions. Bennett also served in various NIAAA leadership positions including on the committee that developed the Leadership Training Institute in 1996.
Bennett was named MIAAA Athletic Director of the Year in 1998 and received its State Award of Merit in 1997. She received the MHSAA’s Women in Sports Leadership Award in 1995 and was inducted into the MHSSCA Hall of Fame in 1995. Prior to her selection to the NIAAA Hall of Fame, Bennett was honored with the NIAAA Distinguished Service Award in 1998 and the NIAAA Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence in 2000. In 2005, she was inducted into the National Council of Secondary School Athletic Directors Hall of Fame, having served as its president in 2003 and been selected as its Athletic Director of the Year in 1998.
PSL's Ward: 'Pillar' of Detroit Athletics
Alvin Ward, the executive director of athletics for the Detroit Public School League and a member of the MHSAA Representative Council, received a 2014 Pillar in the Community Award in April from the Coast II Coast All-Stars, a Detroit-based pro basketball team that plays in the American Basketball Association.
Ward has served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal as well for Detroit Public Schools, and directs programs with a combined 500 coaches and 4,500 athletes.
Linked up
- This winter, the MHSAA Representative Council adopted a number of football practice rules changes aimed at improving player acclimatization at the start of fall and reducing head trauma and injuries. The Adrian Daily Telegram’s Doug Donnelly got responses from a number of coaches from that area of the state; click to find out why they feel these changes are important.
- Port Huron Times Herald writer Paul Costanzo let people know about our Student Advisory Council through the experience of Marlette’s Connor Thomas, one of our juniors and a great contributor this school year.
Power of Awareness
The Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation works to educate Michigan schools on sudden cardiac arrest and train personnel in CPR and the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator). The video below teaches us again about the importance of awareness.
Saginaw Heritage was awarded $5,000 in April as the winner of the Gillary Foundation’s High School AED Contest. Students were asked to create a 3-minute video emphasizing the importance of Michigan high schools being adequately prepared to respond to a sudden cardiac arrest or related event on school property.
Randy and Sue Gillary created the foundation after their 15-year-old daughter Kimberly – an athlete at Troy Athens – died after suffering sudden cardiac arrest in 2000. The contest judges were Kimberly’s sisters Emily Kucinich, Jennifer Gregroy and Katie Gillary.
As of April 1, the Gillary Foundation had raised $1.2 million and donated 650 AEDs to schools – with three lives having been saved with donated AEDs. For more, click www.kimberlysgift.org.
Preview: Girls Lacrosse Finals' Debut at U-M Just Start of Stories to be Told
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 6, 2024
Both of Friday’s MHSAA Girls Lacrosse Finals are filled with storylines, starting with their moves to a new day and a new home.
Contested Saturday in the past, the girls championship games will be played at 4 and 7 p.m. Friday and for the first time at University of Michigan Lacrosse Stadium.
Division 1 will lead off and feature two-time reigning champion Brighton against Rockford, the state record-holder with nine MHSAA Finals titles. Division 2 will match up one of the top single-season scorers in MHSAA history in Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Claire Marosi against one of the leaders on the career goals list, Detroit Country Day’s Hadley Keating. She and the reigning champion Yellowjackets will take on an undefeated GRCC team led by a first-year coach who is making his third-straight Finals appearance.
Below is a glance at all four teams playing at U-M. Rankings as part of “best wins” are based on the Michigan Power Rating formula. Tickets cost $11 and are good for both games, and may be purchased online only at GoFan.
Both games will be broadcast and available with subscription from MHSAA.tv.
Division 1
BRIGHTON
Record/MPR: 18-5, No. 3
League finish: Second in Kensington Lakes Activities Association West
Coach: Ashton Peters, sixth season (74-28-1)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2023), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 14-10 over No. 9 Bloomfield Hills in Semifinal, 18-6 over No. 6 Novi in Regional Semifinal, 17-6 and 19-11 (Regional Final) over No. 4 Northville, 8-7 over No. 2 Hartland, 9-8 over Division 2 No. 7 East Grand Rapids, 15-8 over Division 2 No. 4 DeWitt.
Players to watch: Gabi Buckenberger, sr. G (7.1 goals-against average, 111 saves). Cecilia Mainhardt, sr. M (41 goals, 15 assists); Ella Toth, jr. A (46 goals, 17 assists); Georgia Gill, sr. A (73 goals, 35 assists).
Outlook: Brighton has won the last two Division 1 championships and will be playing in the title game for the sixth-straight season. There is a load of crunch-time experience, starting with repeat all-state first-team selections Buckenberger and Mainhardt and repeat second-team honoree Toth. Gill also made the second team this season, along with junior defenders Keelin Ehman and Nya Nemecek, with junior attack Sophia Heady (38 goals, 15 assists) making the third team and sophomore defender Abbey Kissel earning honorable mention. The Bulldogs did take a 10-5 loss to Rockford on April 20, with its other defeats to Division 2 finalists Detroit Country Day and Grand Rapids Catholic Central, East Grand Rapids and Illinois power Hinsdale Central.
ROCKFORD
Record/MPR: 13-7, No. 1
League finish: Second in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Mark Neumen, third season (40-19)
Championship history: Nine MHSAA titles (most recent 2021).
Best wins: 10-8 over No. 2 Hartland in Semifinal, 10-5 over No. 3 Brighton, 12-8 and 12-10 over Division 2 No. 7 East Grand Rapids, 16-6 over Division 2 No. 10 Grand Rapids Northview.
Players to watch: Naomi Green, jr. D; Aubree Frazier, sr. A (47 goals, 11 assists); Ella Larva, soph. M (40 goals, 6 assists); Madison Pyle, sr. A (47 goals, 16 assists).
Outlook: Rockford is returning to the Final for the first time since its most recent championship season, and actually started this spring 0-2 before winning 13 of its next 14 in-state games. (Four other defeats came to Illinois teams, including one as well to Hinsdale Central.) The Rams avenged their season-opening loss to Spring Lake in the regular-season finale, with the other two in-state defeats to Grand Rapids Catholic Central. Green, Larva and Frazier have been named to the all-state first team, with Pyle making the second team and senior attack Hope Deuel (27 goals, 28 assists) earning honorable mention. Sophomore midfielder Brooke Gordon (21 goals, 12 assists) also has topped 20 goals, and junior goalie Gracelyn Hosford gives up only 9.73 per game.
Division 2
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/MPR: 17-3-1, No. 2
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Liz Nussbaum, first season (17-3-1)
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2023, runner-up 2022 and 2005.
Best wins: 13-6 over No. 5 Farmington Hills Mercy in Semifinal, 21-9 and 22-4 (Regional Final) over No. 6 Bloomfield Hills Marian, 21-7 over No. 7 East Grand Rapids, 10-9 over Division 1 No. 2 Hartland, 19-13 over Division 1 No. 4 Northville, 20-13 over Division 1 No. 3 Brighton.
Players to watch: Olivia Winowich, jr. M (41 goals, 17 assists); Mary Pavlou, jr. A (66 goals, 11 assists); Emma Arico, sr. M (32 goals, 18 assists); Hadley Keating, sr. A (76 goals, 18 assists).
Outlook: Country Day has been nearly as unstoppable as last season, when it lost only once. This time the Yellowjackets suffered two losses to Grand Rapids Catholic Central, another to Indian Hill (Ohio) and tied EGR all during the first month before winning their last 13 matchups. Keating and Arico are repeat all-state first-team selections, and Keating will finish as one of the state’s all-time leading scorers. Junior defender Brooke Winowich, Olivia Winowich, Mary Pavlou and junior attack Georgia Pavlou (32 goals, 35 assists) all made the all-state second team, with senior defender Alessia Sessa selected to the third and senior midfielder Sadie Rifkin (36/6) earning an honorable mention.
GRAND RAPIDS CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/MPR: 22-0, No. 1
League finish: First in O-K Tier 1.
Coach: Joe Curcuru, first season (22-0)
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2011.
Best wins: 24-2 over No. 3 Haslett/Williamston in Semifinal, 14-10, 20-10 and 22-11 (Regional Quarterfinal) over No. 7 East Grand Rapids; 18-6 over No. 10 Grand Rapids Northview, 17-7 and 20-8 over No. 2 Detroit Country Day, 17-8 and 20-7 over Division 1 No. 1 Rockford, 14-13 over Division 1 No. 3 Brighton, 15-7 over Division 1 No. 9 Bloomfield Hills.
Players to watch: Cate Marshall, jr. M (66 goals, 37 assists); Brigid Byrne, sr. D; Sarah Rott, sr. A (68 goals, 40 assists); Claire Marosi, sr. M (152 goals, 32 assists).
Outlook: Curcuru came to Grand Rapids Catholic Central after three seasons and two straight Division 1 runner-up finishes with Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern. He’s elevated a Cougars varsity that finished just 7-9 a year ago but has beaten several of the contenders this spring in bringing a perfect record into this weekend. Marosi’s 152 goals are the third-most all-time for one season, and she, Byrne and Rott have made the all-state first team. Marshall and senior defender Emma Picarazzi have been selected to the second, with junior goalie Samaya Dean (6.76 GAA, 188 saves) making the third and sophomore midfielder Lily Engstrom (46 goals, 21 assists) and senior attack Payton Davis (15/32) earning honorable mentions. Junior attack Marin Ziegler (28/26) also adds scoring punch.
PHOTO Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Sarah Rott (11) and Cate Marshall (1) celebrate Marshall’s goal during the first quarter of Wednesday’s Semifinal against Haslett/Williamston. (Photo courtesy of the Lansing State Journal.)