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.
Lund Leads Leland Scoring Charge
April 23, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Leland’s run to the Division 4 championship this past fall came in part thanks to one of the highest-scoring offenses of all-time.
The Comets scored 157 goals – third-most all-time. Senior Cobe Lund capped his career with 42 goals and 63 points. He played two seasons at Leland after two at Traverse City West and also made career scoring lists with 139 points and 49 assists over four seasons.
Defense played a key part in Leland’s success, of course – sophomore keeper Gavin Miller made the shutouts list with 16 in the fall, and the team had 17 total.
See below for more recent record book updates in boys soccer, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and volleyball. Click on the headings to see those record books in full.
Ice Hockey
Bay City John Glenn senior Cole Parks scored an incredible three goals over 17 seconds against Grand Blanc on Nov. 28, breaking the previous record for fastest three goals by six seconds. Parks played for the Bay Area Thunder, a co-op program with athletes from six schools. He scored with 5:19, 5:10 and 5:02 left in the first period. The three goals also count as the second-fastest three scored by one team, and a fourth goal scored 1:20 before Parks’ hat trick by Justin Raymond gave the Thunder four goals in 1:37 – third on the list for four goals scored over the shortest amount of time.
Nolan Lockhart also joined the fastest three goals list with three for Lowell/Caledonia over 30 seconds against Chelsea on Jan. 7. The senior scored his at 2:41, 2:22 and 2:11 of the second period of a 4-3 overtime win. His string was the third fastest for three scores.
Novi as a team broke the record for fastest four goals, netting them over 1:07 in a win over Canton on Jan. 29. Evan Chippa started the run with 5:10 left in the first period, with Ryan Pinho scoring 10 seconds later, Tanish Nichanametla scoring at 4:28 and Isaac Gibbs finishing the streak at 4:03. The first three goals, over 42 seconds, made the record book list in that category.
Girls Lacrosse
DeWitt’s Alexa Beyer earned her first two record book entries last spring as a sophomore, for seven goals in a game against East Lansing and 53 for the season. Teammate Sarai Canales, then a junior, was added for five assists in a game against Huron Valley United, and then-senior goalie Julianna Harrison was added for 198 saves – the fifth most in MHSAA history. Beyer has committed to play collegiately at St. Bonaventure University.
Boys Soccer
Ithaca keeper Riley Vernon had 306 saves over 18 games in the fall, 14th most for a single season. He had a high of 31 on Oct. 3 against Alma.
Berkley finished 19-4-3 this past fall, making the MHSAA team shutouts list with 15 over those 26 games. Senior keeper Spencer Meade was added for 13 of those 15 shutouts. Berkley also was added for its 5-5 tie with Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, which tied for the third highest-scoring tie in MHSAA history.
Dowagiac’s Cristian Wilson joined the single-game scoring list with six goals in his team’s 7-0 win over Parchment on Aug. 30. Wilson is a junior.
Brett Robinson finished his successful four-year career in net in 2017, leaving Marysville on career MHSAA lists with 645 saves and 37 shutouts over 93 games. He had 13 shutouts his senior season. Robinson plays now at Ashland University.
Volleyball
Kaitlyn Bricker finished her sophomore season in 2017 with a pair of record book entries for sharp serving. Now a junior, Bricker had 13 aces during a three-set Oct. 10 match against Mancelona and finished the season with 127 aces total.
PHOTO: Leland’s Cobe Lund (17) pushes the ball upfield during his team’s Division 4 Final win over Ann Arbor Greenhills last fall.