2-Sporter Makes Multiple Record Books

August 8, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Schoolcraft’s Lydia Goble powered through a final season this spring to finish her four-year varsity career among the most accomplished softball players in MHSAA history – and a multi-sport record book honoree.

Goble’s 26 home runs broke the previous record for one season, and she ended her career with 49. Her 270 runs scored rank second all-time, her 264 hits are seventh, her 32 triples are tied for eighth, her 231 RBI tied for fourth and her .566 career batting average sits 11th on that list.

Goble also starred on the basketball court during the winter and was added for 78 3-pointers last season over 25 games.

Her offense on the diamond helped Schoolcraft to team record list performances of 47 home runs and 297 RBI – the homers tied for fifth most in a season.

Goble will continue her softball career at Grand Valley State University.

Read on for more recent record book additions in softball, baseball, football, boys lacrosse and girls soccer and click on the headings to see the record books in full for those sports.

Baseball

Marine City’s Josh Headlee drilled home runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings of a game against Madison Heights Lamphere on May 14, making the record lists both for homers in one game and in consecutive at bats with three straight. Headlee was a sophomore this spring.

Football

Holland Christian’s Will Van Wieren was added for catching 15 passes in two games last season, against Byron Center on Sept. 8 and Hudsonville Unity Christian on Sept. 29. He will be a senior this fall.

Boys Lacrosse

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Jace Conley capped his four-year varsity career this spring with 14 record book entries – and atop the list for single-season goals. Conley netted 109 this past season, breaking the previous record by seven, and his 150 total points rank third on that list. He finished his career with 227 goals to rank third all-time, and with 333 points to rank fourth in that category. He will continue his career at Albion College.

Vicksburg senior Tim Gearig netted 76 goals to make the MHSAA records this spring, and his 219 for his four-year career place him fifth on that list. He also graduated with 293 points to tie for eighth on that career list. His second-highest goal total came in 2015, when he had 60; for that season, Justin Gearig was added for 69 goals and 95 points and Blake Rankin for 42 assists and 101 points. Tim Gearig will continue playing at Alma College, while Justin Gearig (class of 2016) plays at Trine and Rankin (2017) plays on the GVSU club team.

Girls Soccer

Muskegon Mona Shores senior Sarah Mikesell earned her second single-season entry for goals this spring, knocking in 32. She finished her four-year varsity career with 104, which also made the records.

Softball

Muskegon Mona Shores’ Taylor Dew graduated with 10 record book entries including for 52 home runs (second all-time), 64 doubles (tied for ninth) and 219 RBI (seventh) for her career. Teammate Veronica Kastelic also finished with 10 entries, with her 82 hits and 17 home runs this spring both tied for 13th most in a single season in those categories. Together, Dew and Kastelic helped Muskegon Mona Shores hit 42 home runs as a team, eighth most all-time.

Lansing Catholic’s Mikayla Sanford finished her junior season in the spring making the single-season stolen base list with 61, the career list with 172 over three seasons – and with the record for consecutive steals at 112 straight. Sanford started her record run May 21, 2016, against Lansing Waverly and wasn’t caught until this past May 10 against Portland.

Byron made the team record book in five categories in 2018, for 413 hits, a .405 average, 75 doubles, 32 home runs and 296 RBI over 38 games. Senior Alexis Andrews played a significant part; she concluded a 40-game hitting streak, third longest in MHSAA history, to go with 13 home runs and 72 RBI. She also made the record book with 38 career doubles, 29 career home runs and 166 career RBI over three seasons. Senior teammate Payton Beard was added for 46 career doubles and 187 runs over four varsity seasons, and Ryleigh Arndt was added for 35 career doubles over her three-year varsity career. Junior Greta L’Esperance was added for 67 runs for the spring and will carry a 24-game hitting streak into next season.

Caledonia captured the Division 1 championship this season making the record book with 396 hits, 65 doubles, 34 home runs and 248 RBI over 35 games. Four-year senior Samantha Gehrls led the way and finished with eight record book entries including for 39 career doubles, 46 career home runs (to rank 10th all-time) and 193 career RBI. Sophomore Abby Mitchell was added for 11 home runs and 2016 graduate Hannah Horvath was added for 210 career hits. Horvath plays at Lansing Community College, while Gehrls is set to begin her collegiate career at GVSU.

PHOTO: Schoolcraft shortstop Lydia Goble prepares to unload a throw during a game this spring. (Photo by Lingering Memories Photography.)

West Michigan Stars Set High Bars

July 18, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The Grand Rapids area was loaded with star senior girls lacrosse players this spring, with Ada Forest Hills Eastern’s Erin Kloostra and Grand Rapids Christian’s Kate DeYoung among those closing impressive careers.

Playing for Forest Hills United, Kloostra capped her four seasons with 58 goals and 76 assists and career totals of 212 goals, 276 assists and 488 points over 92 games. She had set the single-season assists record of 99 in 2018 and now owns the career assists record. She had 14 points in an April 29 game against Grand Rapids Catholic Central, which tied for second-most points in one game, and her career points currently also rank second. Kloostra will continue at University of Vermont.

DeYoung finished a four-year varsity career among the all-time leading scorers. She made the records with 81 goals this season – her third entry for single-season goals – and finished with 252 for her career, which are tied for ninth most. Her 337 career points also rank ninth. She will continue at University of Detroit Mercy.

See below for more recent record book additions in girls and boys lacrosse, girls soccer, softball, boys tennis and volleyball, and click on the headings to see those record books in full.

Girls Lacrosse

A pair of Caledonia standouts were added, one for offense and the other for goal play. Another west Michigan senior Kendall Schneider made the single-season goals list with 63 and also had seven in a game against Grand Haven. Junior goalie Grace DeRidder was added for 153 saves on the season and 16 against Holland West Ottawa. Schneider will continue at Niagara University in New York.

Additionally for Forest Hills United, senior Molly Mullett – a student at Forest Hills Northern – was added for 67 goals this spring.

Boys Lacrosse

West Bloomfield senior Nick Long earned a pair of entries May 13 against Bay City Central. He had nine goals, plus an assist for 10 total points, to lead his team to a 15-1 win. The nine goals tied for seventh most in one game.

Jenison sophomore Michael Care put himself in the record book five times this spring, most notably with 71 goals and 107 points over 19 games. Care also was added for single-game totals of seven goals, five assists and 10 points.

Ada Forest Hills Eastern’s march to a Division 2 runner-up finish was led in part by a handful of underclassmen, including sophomore attack John Morgan. Morgan was added to the record book 13 times for accomplishments over his first two seasons, including for 83 goals and 124 points this spring, eight goals in a game three times and 41 assists both years. He’s also already made the career points list with 205 after two seasons. Sophomore Sam Bowen earned three record book entries including for six assists and 11 points during a single game against Chelsea and 93 points total for the season. Sophomore Kevin Sprague made the records for games of seven goals against East Grand Rapids and five assists against Ovid-Elsie. Senior Brandon Pham closed his career with a pair of saves entries – he had 22 against Detroit Catholic Central on April 25 and 184 on the season, the latter ranking 18th all-time.

Softball

Reese Ruhlman capped a stellar four-year career by leading North Branch to its first Semifinals this spring, and she ended with 13 record book entries. She made career lists with 196 runs scored, 257 hits (tied for 10th all-time), 58 doubles (tied for 18th), 43 home runs (tied for 12th) and 194 RBI (tied for 16th) over 149 games. Her 76 runs scored as a junior tied for 11th most, while her 19 doubles in 2018 tied for eighth and her 73 RBI that season tied for 16th.  She will continue her career at University of Detroit Mercy.

Three Rivers has enjoyed one of the most impressive two-year runs of offense in MHSAA history, making the record book 12 times as a team during either 2018 or this spring. The 2018 team finished 37-4 with 499 hits (eighth all-time), 112 doubles (second), 53 home runs (third), 392 RBI (second) and a .431 batting average (11th). This spring’s most notable achievements were 57 homers (second) and 368 RBI (sixth). Sophomore Kali Heivilin has led the way; she set the runs scored record this spring with 88, two more than Rogers City’s Logan Fleming scored in 2015. Heivilin’s 19 home runs this spring are tied for eighth most and her 37 over two seasons put her on the career list already in that category, while her 72 RBI as a freshman are tied for 18th most for one season. Four more Three Rivers players also earned record book accolades over the last two seasons: Erin Brady for 21 doubles in 2019 and Kylee Nash and Halle Carpenter both with 18 doubles in 2018, and Amy Jo Tavernier with 11 homers that spring. Brady was a senior this season, Nash was a junior, Carpenter graduated in 2018 and plays at Hope College and Tavernier also was a senior in 2018 and plays at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Additionally, Libby Judsen now sits atop the record list for most hit-by-pitches in one game with four against Marshall when she was a senior in 2017.

Boys Tennis

The retirement of longtime Allegan coach Gary Ellis after 45 seasons during the winter was accompanied by a number of additions to the MHSAA record book from his tenure, swelling the number of Allegan individual entries to 111. Among the most notable of recent additions was Kody Harrington for 37 wins last fall and 131 for his career – the latter ranking fourth all-time. He also finished with 45 wins by scores of 6-0, 6-0, to rank fourth in that category. Zach Lang built a 38-2 doubles record last fall and Zach Sisson came in at 37-2, with Korbin Sisson and Lukas Vlietstra both coming in with 36 wins. Zach Sisson graduated with a 131-16 record over four seasons, ranking fifth all-time on the doubles wins list, and Curt Woodhams and Matt Nooney took over the 10th spot going 105-16 from 2001-04. Vlietstra also became the first listing for doubles wins by 6-0, 6-0, with 21 of those victories, and Sisson was added to the career tournaments won list with 19, as was Mark Chappell (1986-89). Harrington, Lang and Vlietstra also were seniors last season, joining Zach Sisson, and Korbin Sisson will be a junior this fall.

Volleyball

Muskegon Catholic Central setter Amelia Heminger finished her three-year varsity run last fall making the career assists list with 2,524. She also was added for 51 assists in a five-game match against Big Rapids Crossroads in 2017, and she tied for third on the single-match aces list with 20 against Fruitport Calvary Christian over three games also that season.

PHOTOS: Forest Hills' Erin Kloostra, left, and Grand Rapids Christian's Kate DeYoung were among lacrosse standouts from the Grand Rapids area over the last four seasons. (Submitted photos.)