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Cass City Ace Fires to Near Perfection

July 17, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Cass City junior Kendall Anthes helped his baseball team to a 25-3 record this spring, in the process turning in one of the most impressive single-season pitching performances in MHSAA history.

Anthes finished 10-0 on the mound, making the record book in three categories. His 0.11 ERA over 65 2/3 innings pitched tied for fourth lowest all-time, while his four walks allowed tied for second fewest. He threw eight shutouts, tied for fifth most for one season.

See more recent baseball record book additions below, and click the heading to view the record book in full.

Baseball

Travis Hill tied the MHSAA record for stolen bases in a game in Onsted’s five-inning 13-3 win over Adrian Madison on May 9. The junior stole eight bases – both second and third base four times – and scored four runs. He tied Jeremy Freed’s eight steals for Morrice in a 2002 game.

A pair of Paw Paw standouts were added for extra-base hitting – Parker Marcon for seven triples in 2015 and Jimmy Wressel for 19 doubles in 2017. Wressel graduated a year later and played this spring at Grand Rapids Community College.

Novi’s Evan Yokie was added for seven triples, hit during his senior season in 2018.

Hartland’s Max Hendricks also made the record book for single-season triples, tying for fifth all-time with 11 in 2018. A senior that spring, he’s now playing at Wayne State University.

Zach Hopman’s power-hitting display this spring included two games with three homers. The Brighton senior hit three the first time against Plymouth on May 1 and then three against Ann Arbor Pioneer on May 20.

Kingsley tied for the eighth-most stolen bases in a season this spring, totaling 181 over 35 games in finishing 25-10. Jacob Radtke stole 38 bases and Owen Graves had 36 to lead the way.

Blake Borck capped a four-season career at Hudson this spring with 181 hits, 136 RBI and 34 times hit by pitches – which all made career record book lists. He also tied for third after being hit by pitches three times in a May 21 game. Younger brother Ethan Borck was added for his 1.12 ERA over 74 2/3 innings pitched this spring.

Sterling Heights Stevenson finished 28-7, pushing coach Joe Emanuele over 500 career wins and into the record book. Emanuele has led Stevenson to a 521-244 record since taking over the varsity in 1998, with three trips to at least the MHSAA Semifinals. Stevenson won the Division 1 title in 2005.

Flushing junior Nick Powers held opponents to a 0.77 ERA this spring, making the single-season list in that category while finishing with an 8-2 record. He’s committed to continue at Michigan State University after graduation next year.

PHOTO: Cass City’s Kendall Anthes begins his move toward the plate against Unionville-Sebewaing this spring. (Photo courtesy of Varsity Monthly.)

St. Francis Tennis Wins at Record Pace

November 12, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Traverse City St. Francis’ run to third place at this fall’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final included a number of top performances throughout the season – including record-setting winners at both singles and doubles.

Patrick Burke, a Finals semifinalist at No. 4 singles, finished 45-3 in setting an MHSAA record for single-season boys tennis victories. The No. 4 doubles pair of Jackson Richmond and Ryan Navin set that single-season win record finishing 46-3 on the way to ending the fall runner-up at their flight.

Teammate Jake Krcmarik finished second on the MHSAA single-season wins list after going 43-5 at No. 3 singles; he made the semifinals in his flight. No. 2 singles Sam Holmes (40-6) also made the all-time single-season singles wins list, and Krcmarik’s 125 for his career ranks fifth. Three more pairs made the single-season doubles win list; Victor Casler and Nathan Tafelsky went 35-12, and Joe Primeau won 37 matches including 34 with Tyler Spigarelli as his partner. Jay Jones and Nathan Sodini added 28 wins this fall.

Also, Patrick Wilson was added for his 104 doubles wins from 2007-10. Teammates Michael Elliott and Chris Miller both tallied 100 during those seasons, while Nick Vanstratt won 73 from 1994-97 and Newton Calcutt 72 from 2007-10 as well.

Click for the MHSAA boys tennis record book in its entirety, and see below for more recent additions for other sports (click on each heading for that record book in full).

Girls Basketball

  • Rapid River’s Lauren Marshall enjoyed a performance of near perfection on Nov. 28, 2006 – and perfection from the free-throw line. Marshall made the MHSAA record list for most free throws in a game, 15, while making all 15 of her attempts and scoring 40 points total in her team’s 60-57 Class D Quarterfinal victory. She went on play collegiately at Division II Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

Football

  • Coleman quarterback Adam Stremlow led the Comets to a 7-3 finish in 2013 with one of the top passing seasons in MHSAA history – 138 completions in 260 attempts for 2,703 yards and 35 touchdowns. All but the completions made the MHSAA record book, and his career yardage through three seasons – 4,342 – did as well. He set an MHSAA record with six touchdown passes in a quarter during a 71-0 win over Ashley and made the single-game lists with 446 yards and 25 completions (in 27 attempts) in a 50-48 loss to Carson City-Crystal. Teammate Matthew Warner had 244 yards receiving on eight catches that game and also made the season receiving yardage list with 1,152 on 39 catches. Hunter Gross was added for 27 tackles for a loss, also in only 10 games.

  • A pair of Vassar quarterbacks made the record book for touchdowns in a game, among other notations. Kevin Pratt completed a 99-yard pass to Zac Case and had six touchdown tosses in a 2011 game against Cass City – the 99-yard pass is among seven of that distance on record. Michael Pratt, a senior this fall, threw for five touchdowns in a half and six for the game as Vassar defeated Cass City during his sophomore season of 2012. 

  • Elk Rapids kicker Robbie Wolfington had a solid season this fall, making 32 of 36 extra-point attempts. He had an especially strong night Oct. 10 – Wolfington became the 15th player to make at least 10 extra points, drilling all 10 of his attempts the tie for fourth for consecutive makes in one game. Elk Rapids defeated Grayling 70-26.

Boys Soccer

  • Bay City Central and Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy played to a 5-5 tie on Oct. 7, with Cameron Terry scoring four goals for SASA and five players scoring for Central. The game is one of five ties in MHSAA history in which both teams scored five or more goals.

Volleyball

  • Atlanta’s Allison Marklin set the rally scoring era record for aces in an Oct. 20 sweep of Vanderbilt. Marklin had 24 aces over three games, four more than four players who previously shared the record. She had 13 in the third game, a 25-4 win. Atlanta won the first two games 25-8 and 25-15, respectively.

  • Trenton hitter Aevah Hebda made the MHSAA records for the second time when she had 12 blocks in a District win over Riverview. Seven of those blocks were solos; she also had 12 kills. Hebda tallied 13 blocks in a match against Wyandotte Roosevelt in 2013.  

Wrestling

  • Longtime Sterling Heights coach Shawn Murray has joined the list of those who have led varsity teams to at least 400 victories. He’s 434-184 in 27 seasons at Sterling Heights after three as an assistant at Clinton Township Clintondale for teams that finished a combined 51-6. Although his team finished 6-17 last season, it was 27-7 in 2012-13 and advanced to a Division 1 Regional Final.

  • Marysville senior Austin Thompson won the MHSAA Division 2 championship at 130 pounds last winter with an 8-7 overtime decision. That was easily his closest match – he also had 18 technical falls, fourth-most in MHSAA history. He finished 52-1.

PHOTO: Traverse City St. Francis' Sam Holmes shakes hands with an opponent during this fall's MHSAA LP Division 4 Final. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).