Scholars & Athletes 2022: Class B
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 15, 2022
The Michigan High School Athletic Association has selected nine student-athletes from Class B member schools to receive scholarships through the MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award program.
Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 33rd year of sponsoring the award, will give $2,000 college scholarships to 32 individuals who represent their member schools in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. The first 30 scholarships are awarded proportionately by school classification and the number of student-athletes involved in those classes; also, there are two at-large honorees who can come from any classification.
Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be carrying at least a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average and have previously won a letter in a varsity sport in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Other requirements for the applicants were to show active participation in other school and community activities and produce an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
The 32 scholarship recipients will be recognized March 26 during the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
The Class B Scholar-Athlete Award honorees are: Maggie Duba, Grand Rapids West Catholic; Whitney Farrell, Freeland; Claire Meacham, Montague; Rylee Tolson, Stockbridge; Derek Distelrath, St. Clair; Joseph Hayes, Shelby; Curtis Knapp, Jonesville; Michael A. Meneguzzo, Kingsford; and Jack Rellinger, Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
Overviews of the scholarship recipients of the Class B Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay also is included:
(NOTE: If an athlete intended to play and was part of a spring sports team in 2020, that sport is counted among the athlete’s total although the season was canceled due to COVID-19.)
Maggie Duba, Grand Rapids West Catholic
Ran four seasons of varsity cross country, and will play her fourth of varsity lacrosse and participate in her fourth of track & field this spring. Qualified three times for MHSAA Finals in cross country and earned all-state as a senior. Also earned academic all-state and served as cross country team captain. Ranked second academically in class of 125 entering this school year carrying 4.375 GPA with 12 dual-enrollment college credits earned. Participating in National Honor Society and has served three years as student government class secretary. Serving as junior and senior class peer advocate and has participated in a variety of volunteer and community service efforts. Will attend University of San Diego and study business accountancy and economics with the intention of continuing to medical school and studying to become a general surgeon.
Essay Quote: “In the split moment that I threw away an opportunity to achieve all-state, a position that I had prioritized for the five months of training before, I remembered that this is all supposed to be fun. … By sacrificing the race, I gained something much more important than posting my best time. I grew in humility and developed a new perspective on sports and competing.”
Whitney Farrell, Freeland
Playing fourth season of varsity basketball, ran four seasons of cross country and will participate in her fourth of track & field in the spring. Qualified for MHSAA Finals in cross country and track and helped 2019 basketball team to Division 2 runner-up finish. Earned all-state in cross country and track and all-conference in basketball, and served as captain of all three teams. Serving third year on student council and second as part of National Honor Society, and also participating in fourth years of Be The Change club and Students Leading Students. Served as youth basketball coach and referee throughout high school. Will attend Ferris State University and study architecture.
Essay Quote: “Prior to my 2019-20 varsity basketball season, I truly believed that good sportsmanship was offering to help an opponent up off the court or shaking every single opponent's hand after a game. I had participated in sports since the age of 3 and that was sportsmanship in action. However, my experience with and understanding of sportsmanship completely changed throughout the 2019-20 basketball season … (as) each of our opponents was metaphorically helping us up off the court by recognizing the loss of our beloved coach.”
Claire Meacham, Montague
Playing third season of varsity basketball, played two seasons of varsity golf and will participate in her third season of track & field this spring; also played varsity volleyball as a freshman and varsity softball as a junior. Helped golf team to two MHSAA Finals championships, the track team to a Regional victory and the basketball team to league and District titles. Earned all-state recognition in golf and academic all-state in track and golf, and served as captain of track and basketball teams. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and has served as chapter president, and is serving second year as part of student senate. Participated in Future Farmers of America and DECA throughout high school, serving as a DECA officer and reaching state finals competition as part of both. Participates in various volunteer efforts as part of church and community organizations. Is undecided where she will attend college but intends to study civil engineering.
Essay Quote: “No matter the outcome, every athlete, coach, and individual has to remember that we are all part of a bigger game. We are all striving to improve the game and ourselves through personal growth and dedication. We are supposed to be preparing our athletes to be model citizens who set standards for what is right and just, on and off the court.”
Rylee Tolson, Stockbridge
Playing third season of varsity basketball, ran four seasons of cross country and participated two seasons in track & field. Qualified for MHSAA Cross Country Finals all four seasons, earned all-state three times and won Lower Peninsula Division 3 title as a sophomore. Served as captain of cross country and track teams. Serving fourth year on student council including second as an executive officer, and has served as class vice president. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and serving as chapter president. Playing fourth years of marching and concert band and third of jazz band, and served as section leader for drumline. Participating in third years of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and peer-to-peer assistance program. Will attend University of Michigan and study kinesiology.
Essay Quote: “I try my best to be a support system for everyone around me all of the time. Supporting others includes time outside of sports. Tutoring after school before practice, waking up early to prepare for a National Honors Society meeting, or helping a teammate during lunch with a class that I have already taken allows me to help my peers strive to be their best academically.”
Derek Distelrath, St. Clair
Played four seasons of varsity tennis and is playing his first of varsity basketball this winter. Finished No. 1 singles runner-up in Lower Peninsula Division 3 as a sophomore and made semifinals as a junior and senior. Won United States Tennis Association Midwest singles and national doubles championships. Earned academic all-state in tennis all four high school seasons and twice served as team captain. Participating in third year of National Honor Society and serving as vice president, and participating in second year of student council and serving as spirit corps leader. Participating in fourth year on St. Clair County Community Foundation Youth Advisory Council, including second on executive board. Served as youth tennis coach throughout high school and as youth basketball coach as a senior. Will attend Western Michigan University and study business analytics and statistics.
Essay Quote: “Compete intensely but honor and respect opponents. If athletes transfer this lesson into life, the world would be a much better place because we would take the time to get to know people who differ from us and treat each other with honor and respect. We would seek to unite people instead of divide them.”
Joseph Hayes, Shelby
Playing fourth season of varsity basketball, played three of boys soccer and will play third of baseball in the spring. Helped soccer team to Regional championship and baseball team to District title. Earned all-league and all-District in soccer and all-conference recognition in basketball. Served as soccer team captain multiple seasons. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and has served as president, and also participating in fourth year of local Youth Advisory Council. Played two years in school band earning “1” ratings, and has participated in 4-H throughout high school earning “A” awards for showing of livestock. Is undecided where he will attend college but intends to study business and entrepreneurship.
Essay Quote: “One of the things that I dislike the most as an athlete is not just losing, but losing to a team full of players that are disrespectful to me and my team. Being a good sport during high school educational athletics is very important. Learning how to control your emotions and demonstrate great sportsmanship at a young age will lead you to demonstrate those qualities as an adult.”
Curtis Knapp, Jonesville
Playing third season of varsity basketball and played four seasons of varsity football. Earned all-state in football and set three school records in the fall. Earned Big 8 Conference Leadership Award multiple years and served as captain of both varsity teams. Carries 4.022 GPA. Serving fourth year as student council class president and participating in second year of National Honor Society. Participating in fourth year of Students Against Destructive Decisions and is a leader of that group as well. Has participated in various volunteer efforts with Rotary Club, Habitat for Humanity and 4-H. Started and owns lawn and landscaping business. Will attend Hillsdale College and study economics.
Essay Quote: “My definition of sportsmanship is the general respect you have for another team or player. … I have grown so much as a person through my four years in high school sports. I am thankful for the opportunity to build relationships with not only people from my own school, but also people that I have played in sports. I learned that sportsmanship is the most important part of sports, and that the overall goal is to have fun.”
Michael A. Meneguzzo, Kingsford
Playing third season of varsity basketball, played two of varsity football and will compete in third of track & field in the spring; also played varsity tennis as a freshman. Holds multiple school football records and earned all-Upper Peninsula recognition in that sport. Earned runner-up finish at Track & Field Finals. Served as captain of football and basketball teams. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and fourth of key club. Served as school’s representative on Youth Coalition and as French club vice president. Served more than 100 hours of volunteer service including for American Red Cross, Salvation Army and at youth football and basketball camps. Is undecided where he will attend college, but intends to study business.
Essay Quote: “I have always been very competitive. … (But) whenever I exhibited poor body language or questionable sportsmanship, my dad would talk to me after the game about how my actions affect the team and also, how they make me look as an athlete. My dad … has always held me to a different level than other players when it came to sportsmanship and body language during a competition.”
Jack Rellinger, Grand Rapids Catholic Central
Played three seasons of varsity football and will play second of varsity lacrosse in the spring; also played two seasons of subvarsity basketball. Helped football team to three MHSAA Finals championships and lacrosse team to District title. Earned all-league in football and academic all-state in lacrosse, and served as captain of lacrosse team and subvarsity basketball teams. Carries 4.5 GPA and posted “5” score on six Advanced Placement exams as a junior. Received National Merit Scholarship “commended” recognition and earned Harvard Book Award. Serving as head boy for his house as part of student government. Serving second year as student ambassador for Van Andel Institute biomedical research organization and participating in second year of National Honor Society. Is leaning toward attending Notre Dame University and intends to study computer engineering.
Essay Quote: “I think this is what sportsmanship is really all about. An appreciation for the game and the players objectively, regardless of the outcome. When you really step back to look at it, wins and losses make up such a small part of what makes high school sports great. These sports are made special through the bonds formed and shared between coaches, players, and even opponents, as well as a true, unbridled appreciation for the game.”
Other Class B girls finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Elise Rose Johnson, Benzie Central; Sydni Mudge, Birch Run; Claire Thomson, Clawson; Faith Breinager, Frankenmuth; Emma Kerkau, Frankenmuth; Sophia Argyle, Freeland; Haley Zerlaut, Fremont; Magdalaina Menghini, Kingsford; Mallory Moore, Ortonville Brandon; Paige Thwing, Ortonville Brandon; Alina Stanczak, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; and Ashley Bower, Portland.
Other Class B boys finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Zachary Elmouchi, Ada Forest Hills Eastern; Thomas Hamann, Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard; Jeff Ren, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; Jace DeRosia, Chelsea; Jared Hanson, Escanaba; Liam Anderson, Essexville Garber; Alex Duley, Freeland; Seth Thompson, Manistee; Jerome Korten, Marshall; Cale Coppess, Montague; and Bennett Blase Hitzelberger, Richmond.
The Class C and D scholarship award recipients were announced Feb. 8, and the Class A honorees will be announced Feb. 22.
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 1,500 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.
Heritage's Hawks Nest Wants You 'Hype'
February 5, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
SAGINAW – Three years ago, Saginaw Heritage teacher Melissa Fila showed up at Bay City Central, tub of pompons in hand, ready to rev up her students who had made the trip to support the Hawks boys basketball team.
She found three huddled together and two more sitting with their parents. That was it.
How things have changed.
When Central visited Heritage this Jan. 18, the Hawks were filming a congratulations to the eight semifinalists joining them in the second round of this year’s MHSAA “Battle of the Fans VIII.” The stands behind Heritage’s home basket hold roughly 400, and they were packed.
From the humblest of beginnings, Heritage’s student section has grown into a Saginaw Valley League force and the first from that conference to make the BOTF finals. Thanks to a significant boost in “leadership” – much more on that below – the Hawks Nest has become the place to be for many of the school’s 1,500 students.
“This year I’ve seen a total change with people in the student section,” senior Khayli Bracey said. “Everyone is more confident than in past years. You don’t have to be like, ‘Everyone cheer.’ Everyone’s just doing it. Nobody’s necessarily telling people what to say, how to say it.
“Everyone’s just hype.”
We heard that buzzword more than a few times as we met with section leaders Bracey, fellow seniors Shelby Vondette and Josh Frank, juniors Abbey Coenis and Dom Simpson and sophomore Brendan Trier before Friday’s girls basketball game against Midland Dow to find out what’s made the Hawks Nest take flight this school year.
We’ll report on all three of our BOTF finalists visits this month following the format of a typical game night. We kick things off below with some of the Hawks Nest’s suggestions for other student sections hoping to grow, followed by the video from our visit and then more of a story behind Heritage’s rise.
Heritage’s Gameplan
Take some of these tips from the Hawk’s Nest:
Just get started. A gathering of just a few students to watch games can snowball into something more. Don’t be intimidated or afraid. Grab some friends, maybe pick out a theme to dress alike for a game, and see where it goes.
Team up with a teacher. Or an administrator, advisor, coach, etc. Working together with someone who can serve as a champion for your section to the rest of the faculty and administration is invaluable – as is having someone with whom to bounce around ideas.
Care, then don’t care. Care enough to be there, to cheer on your classmates, to make the effort to get more people involved. And then don’t care – what you look like when you’re dancing, how silly the chants might sound. Just join in and enjoy the ride.
Get everyone involved. Heritage’s leaders were adamant that the main difference in this year’s section is the enthusiastic contributions from underclassmen. We’ve learned this from many finalists over the years – the best student sections have plenty of seniors and juniors, but also welcome plenty of sophomores and freshmen.
Be unique. Be creative. It’s getting harder to come up with original cheers. Heritage has taken its share from others, including Iceland’s soccer national team supporters and the NFL’s latest ad campaign. But the Hawks Nest also benefitted from an early-fall leadership “day camp” where students were assigned to come up with new chants – and produced the section’s current favorite: “Ooh! Ah! We’re the Hawks of Saginaw!”
Pregame Prep
Heritage has offered a “Leadership Development” class for decades, and Fila has taught it for most of this one. Her students take part in some awesome projects – like for Veterans Day putting out 10,000 American flags on the school’s lawn to represent Saginaw soldiers, or directing coat and prom dress drives and an “Amazing Race” that most recently netted $15,000 in local donations.
Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, Fila’s Leadership classes also began working on ways to lead more students into the stands.
Heritage had good student sections in the past. The Hawks football team made the playoffs four out of five seasons during the mid-2000s, and students turned out to cheer. Vondette said hockey games have always been crazy – especially as the team has joined the state’s elite over the last few years. The girls basketball team has a long history of success, but she remembers students especially starting to show up during the Hawks’ run to the Class A Semifinals in 2015 when she was in eighth grade. “I feel like everybody got the idea that’s what a student section should be like when they went to a game like that,” Vondette said of that run.
Enter the Leadership class. In addition to all of the good stuff students continued to do in the community, Fila helped them begin to organize a student section – sparking ideas on persuading their classmates to give it a try, guiding code of conduct discussions to make sure students were cheering in a positive manner, and most of all empowering them to create something that would have an impact.
At first, the reborn section was made up of a group of sophomore and junior boys who liked sports. But it quickly grew. So did the Leadership class – last year Fila began teaching an “Intro to Leadership” for underclassmen, and that class allows them to get involved in the student section planning earlier.
There are 200 students taking a Leadership course each semester, and roughly 50 percent of the student body has taken one of them at least once. That means 50 percent at one time have had some hand in helping plan student section activities, putting together presentations on how to do cheers for the rest of the student body, or helping the Hawks Nest apply for Battle of the Fans the last three years (and make "Challenge" videos like the one below).
This fall’s MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit energized section leaders further. But what brought us to Heritage for this BOTF finals may have started during last season’s girls basketball run – the Hawks defeated East Lansing to win the Class A title in front of a sizable group of students at Calvin College’s Van Noord Arena.
“The girls winning the state championship. We took busses. There were so many kids there, and it was just such a good environment,” Simpson recalled.
“There was not one person quiet. Everyone was standing. Everyone was screaming,” Bracey added. “It’s the best I’d ever seen Heritage.”
“The energy was different,” Vondette agreed. “And now it’s just kept going strong.”
Game Time
The Hawks Nest filled with 250 students for our visit Friday for one of the most highly-anticipated girls basketball matchups of this regular season. Home games, as at any school, are the top draw, and Simpson said he’s seen fans going not just to basketball, hockey and football, but also soccer, volleyball and even once to a bowling match.
For this night, it’s important to keep in mind that those 250 attended while the boys basketball team was playing at Midland Dow and hockey team was taking on Birmingham Brother Rice in a high-powered matchup at the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League Showcase in Trenton. And what’s more, Heritage didn’t have school Friday – giving fans a great reason to stay in for the night.
That wasn’t going to happen with Frank at the video controls.
He spends game nights with a camera in hand, and his skills have taken the Nest’s marketing up a level. Many games are previewed with a short Twitter video announcing the theme or other important information. Then he shoots at every game, building a library of hype videos to keep classmates engaged – and help him put together a strong BOTF application.
“We always said, the intention last year, since we didn’t go on (in BOTF), this year’s we wanted to make it a really jaw-dropping moment,” Frank said. “So right from the beginning of the school year, we were going to start filming and get everything.”
The theme Friday was “EXTREME” and that meant lots of lime green as students received a free T-shirt with student ID. The Nest also included a pep band, two pom teams and the school’s mascot – and plenty of noise, all positive, and despite a fast start by Dow as it went on to hand Heritage its first loss of this season.
“It was a blast. There was just so much energy,” Trier said. “We do it every night. If we’re winning, losing, we still cheer on our team no matter what.
“We’re just getting started. It’s about to take off. We’re going to go even higher. We’re going to shoot for crazy stuff.”
Postgame Analysis
We’re in this together: “I feel like our student section is a more comfortable environment for younger people now. I know a lot more of the underclassmen now through Leadership, and I feel like we’re all one now,” Simpson said. “Our school revolves around Leadership and the student section now. Everyone goes to the games. It’s a culture for us.”
Multi-media marketing works: “When Josh will post videos, and you see everyone in the student section just screaming their heads off, you want to be a part of that,” Vondette said. “That’s what you want to do.”
One memory can make it happen: “At the girls state finals, I was in the front with Shelby, and we were the ones who started stuff, and I just remember (thinking), ‘I want to keep doing this,’” Bracey said. “I would never be the one to want to start cheers – of course I’d cheer along with everyone else, but I was never one that would want to lead a whole group of people. But after that game and seeing everyone getting involved, I was like, ‘I want to keep doing that.’ That was the turning point for me.”
The Nest is the place to be: “Because we make it look so fun,” Coenis said, echoing Trier that the section will just keep getting bigger and better. “The more hype you are, the more hype everyone around you is going to get too. It’s just going to spread.”
Next stop on BOTF: We will visit Buchanan for its boys basketball game Friday against Parchment, and finish the 2019 BOTF tour at North Muskegon for its Feb. 12 boys basketball game against Montague.
The Battle of the Fans is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.
PHOTOS: (Top) Saginaw Heritage’s Hawks Nest anticipates a big moment during Friday’s game against Midland Dow. (Middle) Shirts and pompoms made for a green and blue “EXTREME” theme night.