Delacher Set Rockford Up for Success

April 13, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Hailey Delacher finished her high school volleyball career in the fall with 17 entries in the MHSAA record book – and as one of the most successful setters in state history.

Delacher’s 5,106 career assists over the last four seasons rank third since the beginning of rally scoring during the 2004-05 season. She added 1,310 assists as a senior to make the single-season list for the third time. She also bested her previous single-match MHSAA record by three with 70 in a five-set loss over Grand Rapids Christian on Nov. 9, her final high school match.

Delacher’s main hitter this past season was junior Lindsay Taylor, who made the records with 609 kills. Delacher will continue her volleyball career at Bradley University.

See below for more recent record book additions in volleyball and also boys lacrosse, boys tennis and wrestling. Click on the sport headings to view those record books in full.

Boys Lacrosse

Then-junior Alexander Bourgeois faced a number of shots for the Sterling Heights/Warren Mott United team last spring, totaling the fourth-most saves in MHSAA history with 250 over 13 games. He also was added to the records for a number of single-game performances, including 27 saves (tied for second most) against St. Clair on May 9, 2017.

Volleyball

Troy senior setter Kelsey Moeller and junior hitter Jessica Robinson enjoyed career nights Sept. 19 against Oxford. Moeller had 54 assists and Robinson 32 kills as their team won 28-26, 23-25, 25-11, 25-16. Both totals made single-match record book lists.

Boys Tennis

Hudsonville won all but two events (matches and tournaments) this fall and tied for 11th in Lower Peninsula Division 1 in part on the strength of four powerful doubles pairs that made the MHSAA record book – Brendan Bentley and Pierce Arangua (37-1) at No. 1, Nolan Perrin and Nick Beery (33-4) at No. 2, Bennett Elling and Evan Elling (36-2) at No. 3 and Bret Bentley and Chris Cooper (33-4) at No. 4. Bentley and Arangua’s win total is tied for seventh highest in MHSAA history, and Bentley finished his career 89-12 over three seasons of doubles; he was 24-6 playing singles as a junior. In addition to this season’s standouts, Bentley and Brandon McEachern were added for 28 wins in 2015, and the pairs of Riley Costen/Isaac Bylsma and Eric Hull/Jared VanNorman both were added for 27 wins that season. Trey Elling and Brendan Costen were added for 34 wins in 2013.

Okemos senior Karthik Kolisetty was added to the doubles career wins list with a 92-31 record over the last four seasons. He and partner Aditya Kandula won the No. 4 doubles title this fall in Lower Peninsula Division 2, helping the Chiefs to the overall team championship.

Traverse City St. Francis’ back-to-back third-place finishes at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals were keyed by a number of strong performances, especially in doubles. Ryan Navin, who finished his career in 2016, was added for the most career wins in doubles at 145 after capping his career with a 35-2 record with partner Joe Primeau that fall. (Navin and Jackson Richmond set the single-season doubles win record of 46 in 2014). Primeau was added for 109 doubles career wins after capping his career this past fall, and Jack Kleinrichert also made the doubles career wins list with 70 after going 38-4 this past season. Alex Thelen (35), Brendan Chouinard and Adam Chittle (37), Sean Navin (41), Luke Krcmarik and Charlie Schmude (36) and Tyler Tafelsky (39) also were added for single-season doubles wins coming off this past campaign. Richmond (30) joined Primeau/Ryan Navin, Sean Navin, Thelen, Chouinard and Kleinrichert with worthy single-season doubles totals in 2016. Primeau also was added for singles wins in one season after claiming 32 matches in the fall, and Nathan Sodini was added after winning 37.

Wrestling

Donte Rivera-Garcia was a three-time Division 1 Finals runner-up over the final three seasons of his four-year varsity career at Southgate Anderson, finishing with a 203-18 record to make the list for career wins. He competed for Muskegon Community College this season.

Blain Wood – the Division 3 112-pound runner-up in 2016 – capped his Caro career with 28 pins this winter and a career 207-27 record. Teammate DJ Daniels, this season’s Division 3 152 champ, also was added for season records of 59-4 and 58-2 over the last two, respectively. He had 43 pins this winter as a junior.

Three recent Birch Run graduates were added to the career wins list – Jerry Fenner (210-18 from 2012-15), Caleb Slavik (200-38 from 2009-12) and Lake Bennett (199-32 from 2010-13). Fenner is wrestling at Ashland University in Ohio, and Bennett is competing at Olivet College.

Marysville senior Doug Ferrier finished his four-season career with 117 pins in 213 matches. He wrestled his final three seasons with the Vikings after competing for Port Huron as a freshman, and had a high of 31 pins as a junior. He was the Division 2 runner-up at 152 pounds this season.

PHOTO: Rockford’s Hailey Delacher celebrates a point during the 2016 Class A Final against Novi at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.

Dunn Finishes Among Scoring Leaders

April 24, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Blake Dunn is one of the finest all-around athletes in Michigan, a four-sport star for Saugatuck who will go on to play baseball at Western Michigan University this fall.

But his most notable accomplishments may have come on the football field, and his name appears 19 times in the MHSAA record book for that sport.

Dunn, as quarterback this past fall, scored 323 points – third most in MHSAA history – to graduate with a four-season total of 827 points, which ranks second all-time for a career. He scored 42 total touchdowns as a senior to finish with 113, fourth on that career list, and his 101 career rushing touchdowns also rank fourth in that category. His 6,954 career rushing yards rank eighth all-time, and his streak of 26 straight 100-yard rushing games ranks third.

Dunn also made lists for kicking extra points, passing touchdowns, kickoff return touchdowns (four this past season tied for second-most) and for a 100-yard interception return.

As might be expected, Saugatuck as a team scored more than 500 points each of the last two seasons, finishing both 10-1. Its 53.5 ppg average this past fall ranks eighth all-time.

Click to see the football record book in full and read on for more of the latest additions for girls and boys basketball, hockey, softball, volleyball and wrestling.

Girls Basketball

Alma’s Maddy Seeley capped her high school career in 2014 with a record-setting performance in a 68-62 Regional loss to Freeland. Seeley made all 21 free throws she attempted, breaking the previous girls basketball record by one for consecutive free throws in one game. Those 21 free throws also are tied for third most in a game, as she scored 39 points total. Seeley currently plays at Northwood University.

New Lothrop teammates Monica Confer and Amber Sammons graduated in 2010 among the winningest players in MHSAA girls hoops history. The two four-season standouts finished with a career record of 97-11 and Class D titles in 2008 and 2009. Confer went on to play at Davenport and then Northwood University, while Sammons played at Schoolcraft and then Rochester College.

Boys Basketball

Trenton needed a big fourth quarter to come back against Wyandotte Roosevelt on Jan. 17 – and got one of the biggest in Michigan high school history. Trenton scored 42 points – tied for fifth most in a quarter – to edge Roosevelt 73-72 after trailing 50-31 heading into the final period. Joel Childers scored 13 points with four 3-pointers to lead the barrage.

Hockey

New Baltimore Anchor Bay senior Joey DeMarte played himself into the MHSAA records for scoring prowess twice within four days this winter. On Jan. 21, DeMarte score three goals within 37 seconds – at 8:06, 7:54 and 7:21 of the second period – in an 8-0 win over Utica to move into second place for fastest three goals by one player in one game. On Jan. 24, he had five goals during the second period of a 14-0 win over Port Huron to also rank second for most goals in a period.

Girls Soccer

Middleville Thornapple Kellogg keeper Aly Miller capped her career last spring on the MHSAA career shutouts list despite missing all of the 2014 season with an injury. She graduated with 39 shutouts over 60 games in 2013, 2015 and 2016, and was added for single-season shutouts for a second time with 13 a year ago. Middleville Thornapple Kellogg as a team made the list for fewest goals given up with seven in going 16-2-2 in 2016. Miller plays now at Webster University in Missouri.

Softball

Manistee then-junior Sydney Arendt joined the single-season doubles list last spring, knocking 18 in 36 games. She batted .537 overall last season.

Volleyball

Rockford setter Hailey Delacher upped her number of entries in the MHSAA record book to 12 in leading her team to a Class A runner-up finish in the fall. Delacher, who already had the record for most assists in one match (67 in 2015), added four more entries to the category as a junior while coming on especially strong during the playoffs – her season-high 54 came in the Semifinal, with 49 in a Quarterfinal, 46 in a Regional Final and 53 during the regular season. Her 1,635 assists this past season rank fourth since the start of rally scoring in 2004-05, and she moved into 10th on the career list with 3,802 assists and a season still to play.

Wyoming Godwin Heights enjoyed a strong senior season to end a record-book career for senior middle Mya Jordan in the fall. Jordan made the single-season kills list with a career-high 622, and with those also made the career kills list with 1,569 over four seasons. Senior teammate Tony Henry also made the record book with 128 aces for the season, including 11 in a three-set match against Wyoming Lee. Godwin Heights won its first league title in the fall in 17 years.

Wrestling

Grand Rapids Christian junior Desean Bryant became the first in MHSAA history to achieve a pin in six or fewer seconds at 112 pounds when he did so in a match during the Traverse City West Invitational on Dec. 28. That win was Bryant’s ninth straight to start the season.

PHOTO: Saugatuck’s Blake Dunn rushes toward an opening upfield during a game his junior season. (Photo courtesy of the Saugatuck athletic department.)