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.)
Four 1st-Time Title Winners Headline 2022-23 Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 23, 2023
A total of 101 schools won one or more of the 128 Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships awarded during the 2022-23 school sports year, with four teams earning the first Finals championship in any sport in their schools’ histories.
Johannesburg-Lewiston celebrated its first MHSAA Finals team championship during the fall by winning the Lower Peninsula Division 4 girls cross country title. Taylor Trillium Academy earned its first during the winter, in Division 4 girls bowling. This spring, Buckley won its first Finals title, in Lower Peninsula Division 4 girls track & field, and Standish-Sterling earned the school’s first championship by clinching Division 3 softball.
A total of 20 schools won two or more championships this school year, paced by Marquette’s six won in girls and boys cross country, girls and boys swimming & diving and girls and boys track & field. Ann Arbor Pioneer, East Grand Rapids and Munising all were next with three Finals championships. Winning two titles in 2022-23 were Ann Arbor Greenhills, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Bloomfield Hills Marian, Detroit Catholic Central, Flint Powers Catholic, Grand Rapids Christian, Hart, Hudson, Jackson Lumen Christi, Lansing Catholic, Manistique, Northville, Rochester Adams, Rockford and Traverse City West.
A total of 30 teams won first MHSAA titles in their respective sports. A total of 37 champions were repeat winners from 2021-22. A total of 17 teams won championships for at least the third-straight season, while eight teams extended title streaks to at least four consecutive seasons. The Lowell wrestling program owns the longest title streak at 10 seasons.
Sixteen of the MHSAA's 28 team 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.
For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2022-23, Click Here.
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 1.3 million spectators each year.