Inman's 'Spirit' Recognized by NFHS
March 12, 2019
By John Gillis
Special from NFHS
Searra Inman, a student-athlete at Niles Brandywine High School, has been selected as the Section 4 recipient of the “National High School Spirit of Sport Award” by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
The National High School Spirit of Sport Award was created by the NFHS to recognize those individuals who exemplify the ideals of the spirit of sport that represent the core mission of education-based athletics.
A soccer and wrestling participant during her athletic career at Brandywine High School, Inman’s life changed forever during the summer between her junior and senior years.
At that time, she was diligently preparing for her senior wrestling season. With 75 career victories to her credit, she had two goals – to achieve 100 victories and to earn a four-year varsity wrestling plaque.
On July 9, 2018, Inman was involved in a motorcycle crash that left her with a displaced vertebral fracture that severed her spinal cord and resulted in her being paralyzed from the waist down.
Inman underwent surgical procedures at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital. Surgeons in Indianapolis used her as a case study due to the fact that almost no one with such severe spinal cord injuries had reached the operating table alive. Her initial prognosis was that she would remain hospitalized into January 2019.
However, on Sept. 14, 2018, Inman led her school’s football team onto the field for its Week 4 game. Then, during Brandywine High School’s December 5th wrestling season opener with Bronson High School, Inman locked her wheelchair, crawled in uniform to the circle of the wrestling mat, and was awarded a forfeit win in the 103-pound weight class.
However, the best might have been saved for last when during a Feb. 12 Division 4 Regional match against Schoolcraft, Inman once again moved to the center of the mat, had her hand raised for another forfeit, and in the process, got victory No. 100 and accomplished her mission.
Click to read the Second Half report "In Her Fight, Inman Seeks to Provide Hope" published earlier this winter.
About the Award
The NFHS divides the nation into eight geographical sections. The states in Section 4 are Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.
Nominations for this award were generated through NFHS member state associations and reviewed by the NFHS Spirit of Sport Award Selection Committee composed of state association staff members.
While the national winner will be recognized June 29 at the NFHS Summer Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, the section winners will be recognized within their respective states and will receive awards before the end of the current school year.
PHOTO: Searra Inman has her arm raised in victory during a match this season. (Photo courtesy of the Niles Brandywine wrestling program.)
2018-19 Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 20, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A total of 105 schools won one or more of the 128 Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships awarded during 2018-19, with two teams earning the first Finals championship in any sport in their schools’ histories.
Ypsilanti Lincoln celebrated its first MHSAA Finals championship by winning the Division 1 boys basketball title in the winter, and Millington claimed its first by earning the Division 3 softball championship this spring.
A total of 19 schools won two or more championships this school year, paced by two schools winning four: Pewamo-Westphalia won in boys basketball, girls basketball, competitive cheer and girls track & field; and Marquette won in boys skiing, girls skiing, girls swimming & diving and girls track & field. Five schools won three MHSAA Finals championships: Bronson, Detroit Country Day, East Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern and Hudsonville Unity Christian.
Winning two titles in 2018-19 were Chassell, Detroit Catholic Central, Houghton, Ishpeming, Ishpeming Westwood, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, Lake Orion, Negaunee, Ontonagon, Sault Ste. Marie and West Iron County. Farmington Hills Harrison – in its final school year before closing this summer – also was part of two championships, winning the Division 1 boys bowling title and then as a secondary school in a cooperative program with Farmington and North Farmington that finished first in girls gymnastics.
A total of 28 teams won first MHSAA titles in their respective sports. A total of 53 champions were repeat winners from 2017-18 – and 22 of those won for at least the third straight season, while 12 extended title streaks to at least four consecutive years.
The Rockford girls lacrosse and Marquette boys skiing programs own the longest title streaks at seven seasons, while Lowell wrestling and Flint Kearsley girls bowling both have won six straight championships.
Sixteen of the MHSAA's 28 championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine titlists in both Peninsulas is conducted in remaining sports.
Click Here for a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2018-19.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 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.