Divine Child's Nemes Makes 'Miracle' Run
November 6, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Hundreds of runners including those on the Dearborn Divine Child’s girls cross country team competed at Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals at Michigan International Speedway.
But one of the team’s most special moments this fall came a few days before during the Warren Mott “Last Chance” meet – which ended up being Laura Nemes’ first chance to run this season after summer surgery to remove a brain tumor.
Nemes, a junior who had been on the team the previous two seasons, told teammates during June conditioning sessions that her goal for the fall was to run, or at least walk, in one meet this season. She’s been referred to lately as “Miracle” Nemes and no doubt gave her teammates an inspirational boost as they chased her and cheered her Oct. 29 – four days before the team finished 16th in Division 2, a five-spot improvement from 2012.
The Detroit Free Press spoke last week with Nemes, who told of the support she received from her team in what can often be considered an individual sport. Click to check it out.
Prep Rally winners to be honored
The Fenton girls swimming and diving team – winner of this summer's inaugural “Prep Rally” contest, has chosen to be recognized during the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final on Nov. 23 at Oakland University.
The team had the option of receiving tickets to attend an MHSAA Final in any sport, and chose Oakland so those not competing will be able to cheer on their teammates.
The contest was part of the MHSAA’s Preparation Lasts All Year campaign aimed at promoting preseason preparation so athletes are physically ready and in the fall acclimated to hot weather when practices begin. The Tigers’ swimmers and divers trained all summer for a “survival trip” at Pigeon River Country State Forest near Vanderbilt that included miles of hiking, some lake swimming and plenty of bonding during challenges set up to get the future teammates working together.
Click to read more about Fenton’s efforts.
Newly-added Finals records
We're always looking to bolster our record books, and we've finished some major construction to our Finals records for cross country.
Both cross country record books have been significantly bulked up. Find now the fastest 5K Finals times for every division and class and an all-time top 10 since that became the length of MHSAA races. Also added were records of most team championships won and longest championship winning streaks. Click to see the additions to the girls and boys records.
We'll be doing similar things with more sports soon. Stay tuned.
Lending a hand
We don’t have a specific occasion or reason to show this photo except that we like it.
The shot, taken by Lansing-area photographer Alan Holben, shows a Mason player helping up an Okemos player during one of the biggest regular-season soccer games in mid-Michigan this fall.
Mason and Okemos have a rivalry similar to the most heated from any part of the state – the communities are adjacent, the schools are similar in size and both generally are competitive in a number of sports. Their soccer teams generally are considered among the state’s elite on an annual basis, and there is plenty of history between them. Plus, the two don't really care for each other much.
We hear more frequently about cases of bad sportsmanship. So it’s always a good time to point out there’s plenty of good out there as well.
PHOTOS: (Top) Dearborn Divine Child’s Laura Nemes finishes her first race at the Waterford “Last Chance” meet last week while teammates cheer her on. (Middle) A Mason soccer player lends a hand to an Okemos player during a regular-season meeting this fall. (Photos courtesy of Divine Child cross country and Alan Holben, respectively).
Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 22, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2015-16 school year have been announced.
The program, celebrating its 27th anniversary, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.
Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 672 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, the final two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. East Grand Rapids has five finalists this year, Grosse Ile has four finalists and Birmingham Seaholm and Marquette each have three. Fourteen schools each have two finalists: Ann Arbor Pioneer, Bellaire, Bronson, Dearborn Edsel Ford, Farmington Hills Harrison, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, Grandville, Hudsonville, Laingsburg, Scottville Mason County Central, Onsted, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Portland and White Cloud.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.51, while the average of the application pool was 2.14. There are 62 three-plus sport participants in the finalists field, and all but one of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 374 schools which submitted applicants, 45 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,425 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The applications were judged by a 58-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 2; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 9, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 16. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 26, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan was founded in 1949 by Michigan farmers who wanted an insurance company that worked as hard as they did. Those values still guide the company today and are a big reason why it is known as Michigan’s Insurance Company, dedicated to protecting the farms, families, and businesses of this great state. Farm Bureau Insurance agents across Michigan provide a full range of insurance services—life, home, auto, farm, business, retirement, Lake Estate®, and more—protecting nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
2015-16 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Jack Eisentrout, Ann Arbor Pioneer
Nathan Lazor, Birmingham Groves
Zaven Dadian, Birmingham Seaholm
Jason Ren, Canton
Brendan Oosse, East Grand Rapids
Easton Schultz, East Grand Rapids
Jared Char, Farmington Hills Harrison
Charles R. Perkins Jr., Farmington Hills Harrison
Santino J. Guerra, Flint Kearsley
Garrett Farney, Grandville
Noah Andrew Weigle, Grandville
Jeremy Tervo, Hartland
Eric Mettetal, Howell
Riley Costen, Hudsonville
Daniel Karel, Hudsonville
Traver Parlato, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix
Kevin Hansen, Lake Orion
Alexander Oquist, Livonia Stevenson
Benjamin G. Cole, Marquette
Joseph Weber, Marquette
Kobe Burse, Muskegon Mona Shores
Drew Blakely, Richland Gull Lake
Kyle Jones, Swartz Creek
Lars Hornburg, Traverse City Central
GIRLS CLASS A
Clare Brush, Ann Arbor Pioneer
Catherine Markley, Birmingham Seaholm
Lauren McLeod, Birmingham Seaholm
Cameron Peek, Caledonia
Jaime Freas, Dearborn Edsel Ford
Sarah Hartshorn, Dearborn Edsel Ford
Mallak Taleb, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Mackenzie Cole, East Grand Rapids
Marie Lachance, East Grand Rapids
Anna Laffrey, East Grand Rapids
Allia Marie McDowell, Farmington Hills Mercy
Brianna Costigan, Fenton
Ally Stapleton, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
Catherine Stapleton, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
Meredith Howe, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern
Erin Armbruster, Grosse Pointe North
Kelsey Emmanuel, Lowell
Kayla Dobies, Macomb Dakota
Lindsey Rudden, Marquette
Genevieve Soltesz, Mattawan
Olivia Arends, Mt. Pleasant
Mary Catherine McLaughlin, Northville
Ellen Wegener, Rochester
Jennifer Eaton, St. Johns
BOYS CLASS B
Geoffrey Richard Pisani, Big Rapids
Spencer Keoleian, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Nicolas Arons, Chelsea
Brendan Spangler, Coldwater
Evan Ciancio, Comstock Park
Ryan Mangulabnan, Dearborn Divine Child
Kyle Gavulic, Goodrich
Caleb E. Doane, Grant
Adam Kopp, Grosse Ile
Blake Willison, Grosse Ile
Justin Carlson, Hastings
Josef Philipp, Hillsdale
Austin Davis, Onsted
Austin Robert Thompson, Onsted
David Arnst, Ovid-Elsie
Trevor Trierweiler, Portland
GIRLS CLASS B
Erin Isola, Allegan
Greta Wilker, Belding
Lindsey Carlson, Charlotte
Keri Frahm, Frankenmuth
Kate Tobin, Grosse Ile
Katherine Williams, Grosse Ile
Alexis LaChappa, Harrison
Camryn A. Klein, Ionia
Fallon Gates, Manistee
Abigail Ufkes, Marshall
Paiton Plutchak, Menominee
Erica Lynn Schwegman, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Elizabeth Swartz, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Amanda Pohl, Portland
Claudia Raines, Saginaw Swan Valley
Brenna James, Sault Ste. Marie
BOYS CLASS C
Joseph Comstock, Addison
Quentin E. Millette, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Daniel R. McMichael, Bronson
Sawyer Cuthrell, Cass City
Anthony Hoholik, Manistique
Spencer Graham Knizacky, Mason County Central
Cameron Brayman, Montague
Broc Roberts, Petersburg-Summerfield
Trenden Peacock, Sand Creek
Dylan Marshall, St Ignace
Michael Klettner, Traverse City St. Francis
Bowman Seabrook, White Cloud
GIRLS CLASS C
Hannah Steffke, Beal City
Molly Lynch, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart
Alexa Ratkowski, Bronson
Kelsey Engstrom, Charlevoix
Ellen Doyle, Gobles
Hanna Angst, Laingsburg
Julia Angst, Laingsburg
Bailee Kimbel, Manton
Jordyn Sanders, Mason County Central
Mallory Raven, Morley-Stanwood
Shelby Vincke, New Lothrop
Christiana M. Jones, White Cloud
BOYS CLASS D
Garrett Kraatz, Allen Park Inter-City Baptist
Joshua Robert Riggs, Brethren
Matthew Gratowski, DeTour
Gregory Scott Seppanen, Eben Junction Superior Central
Jayvin Wolfe, Fulton-Middleton
Nathaniel Jones, Muskegon Catholic Central
Daniel Good, Owendale-Gagetown
Benjamin Turner, Sterling Heights Parkway Christian
GIRLS CLASS D
Lindsay Lampman, Bellaire
Chloe Niepoth, Bellaire
Maria Stankewicz, Crystal Falls Forest Park
Abby Sutherland, Lake Linden-Hubbell
Elizabeth Munoz, Leland
Averi Rachelle Munro, Morrice
Natalie Frances Beaulieu, Newberry
Paige Blake, Ontonagon