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Dow Duo Rises to Top in Doubles

April 4, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Midland Dow’s fifth straight MHSAA championship in the fall was keyed by another outstanding group of veterans who have grown up winning in the program – including the most successful doubles players in MHSAA history.

Senior Jason Chang finished with the most career doubles wins (139), most consecutive doubles wins (50) and most tournament championships (37), while his No. 1 doubles partner and senior Vikram Shanker will graduate second to his teammate with 132 doubles wins including 42 straight and 36 tournaments won.

A number of other Dow standouts were added to the MHSAA boys tennis record listings. Senior Patrick Eschbach finished his career with 116 doubles wins and 21 tournaments won, and senior Julian Guerra finished tied for 10th with 119 singles career wins including 25 not giving up a point. Sophomore Michael Szabo and freshman Varun Shanker also made the single-season singles wins list, with senior Seamus Bartlett, junior Daniel Magno and sophomores Spencer Bouck and Colin Angell adding entries under the single-season doubles list.

Guerra became the sixth to win four MHSAA singles titles, and Chang became the first to win four in doubles. Click to see the MHSAA boys tennis record book, and read on for more recent entries for other sports.

Volleyball

  • Warren Mott’s Katie Murphy finished her four-year varsity career in 2009 as the top blocker in her school’s history – and now with all of the MHSAA’s blocks records as well. She had games with 27, 21 and 20 blocks as a senior (solo and assisted blocks combined), 343 total that fall, and 867 for her career – 187 more than the next highest entry during the rally scoring era. She finished her college career in the fall for Samford University in Alabama.
  • Michigan Center’s Elora Pittman capped her high school career in the fall with a big blocking season as well. She made MHSAA record lists five times for single-match blocks – including a season-high of 16 in a District Semifinal win over Hanover-Horton – and also made the season blocks list with 175 total, to tie for 15th.
  • Trenton’s Aevah Hebda also joined the single-match blocks list, against Wyandotte Roosevelt on Oct. 1. She had 13 over five games, to tie for 11th most, and added 26 kills in the win.
  • Traverse City St. Francis advanced to an MHSAA Final in 2012 for the first time keyed by a pair of standouts who are now listed a combined five times. Setter Kaitlyn Hegewald had 46 assists in a five-game Class C Semifinal win over Unionville-Sebewaing and also made the season aces and career assists lists – her 3,205 assists over three seasons rank 13th during the rally scoring era. Hitter Bridget Bussell also made the single-season aces list and the single-season list for kills with 580.
  • Utica Eisenhower’s Hailee Seifert made the single-match aces list with 10 in a two-set win over Holly at the Goodrich Invitational on Sept. 28. She also had seven kills and five digs in that match, and Eisenhower went on to win the tournament.
  • Flushing coach Shawn Andrews has been added to the career victories list with a record after this season of 596-243-34. She has led her teams to nine straight league championships – with 65 straight league wins dating to Feb. 2, 2006 – and this fall to a 32-16-5 overall finish.

Football

  • Novi’s Derek Ince had quite a game against Livonia Stevenson on Sept. 9, 2011, and more to the point, quite a first half. He entered the MHSAA record book for throwing five touchdown passes over the first two quarters of his team’s 49-13 win and finished having completed 15 of 22 passes for 338 yards and those five scores.

Girls Basketball

  • Carson City-Crystal junior Mikayla Duflo has been one of the state’s top 3-point shooters over the last two seasons as the Eagles have ascended to Class C elite. She made the MHSAA listings with 68 3-pointers during her sophomore season of 2012-13.

Boys Soccer

  • Kian Evans entered the single-season assists list with 26 this fall in leading Milan to its first District title and first appearance in a Regional Final. He had three assists in four games and a string of five straight games with at least two assists.

PHOTO: Midland Dow’s Vikram Shanker (left) and Jason Chang hold the Division 2 championship trophy after winning No. 1 doubles to help the Chargers claim their fifth straight MHSAA team title. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)

Mort Assists Corunna in Record Run

January 10, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Special for Second Half

Senior setter Lexi Mort and junior hitter Elizabeth Norris led Corunna’s varsity volleyball team to its first MHSAA Semifinals this fall with record book-caliber contributions.

Mort had 1,529 assists (10th all-time) to go with 1,429 as a junior and to finish her career with 4,322, which ranks sixth all-time. She also made the single-match assist list with 54 against Mount Morris, when Norris had 33 kills.

Norris had 879 kills this season, 13th-most on that list. Freshman Ellie Toney was added for 11 aces in a match against Burton Genesee Christian. The Cavaliers finished the fall 50-7-5, with District and Regional titles in Division 2. Mort will run collegiate track at Saginaw Valley State University.

See below for more recent record book additions in volleyball, football and boys soccer, and click on the headings to see those sports’ record books in full.

Football

Clinton Township Chippewa Valley’s Division 1 championship season this fall included a number of record-setting performances. David Ellis returned four kickoffs for touchdowns, good for second most all-time. Niko Kepi made the season extra point list with 73 and the career list with 104 in 109 attempts over the last three seasons. Quarterback Tommy Schuster threw 26 touchdown passes for the second straight season and made career lists with 4,960 passing yards, 509 attempts, 330 completions and 67 scores through the air over the last three seasons. As a team, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley made lists with 546 points and 76 touchdowns over 14 games. Ellis will continue his career at Indiana University. Also, Jeff Deliz was added for a 93-yard punt return in 2003 and Chris Lomasney for six rushing touchdowns in a game in 2000. Deliz went on to play at Navy and Lomasney at Michigan Tech.

Sanford Meridian’s Kyle Stockford found his way to the end zone in multiple record-setting ways over the last two seasons. This fall, he made the record book for two kickoff return touchdowns in one game, against Lake City, scoring from 87 and 85 yards out. He also made the season kickoff return touchdown list with four despite playing only six games. The senior also returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a game this fall against Houghton Lake – after accomplishing the same feat as a junior against Farwell.

Among highlights of Hudsonville Unity Christian’s Division 5 championship run this season was a 57-20 win over Hamilton on Oct. 5, when Unity totaled 637 yards – which sits fifth all-time. Its 629 rushing yards, on 39 carries, is one of two totals on the list for most rushing yards in one game.

Quanelle Pritchett had a solid senior season receiving for Warren Fitzgerald in the fall – augmented by a record book-worthy accomplishment against Sterling Heights on Sept. 14. Pritchett caught seven passes for 239 yards in the 52-13 win to make the single-game receiving yardage list.

Boys Soccer

Jack Vezmar had 17 shutouts this fall in leading Marshall to a 23-1-1 record and Division 2 District title. Those shutouts tied for 11th-most in one season and helped him make the career shutout list with 28 over the last two seasons.

For the second straight fall, Midland Dow made the team record lists for total shutouts and consecutive shutouts, this time with 18 overall in 24 games and nine straight from Aug. 18-Sept. 12. Dow also tied for ninth all-time by giving up only eight goals on the way to finishing 20-1-3 on the season.

Volleyball

Longtime southwest Michigan coach Tony Hooley has reached the 500-win plateau, actually doing so in 2017 at Marcellus and adding to his total this fall leading Dowagiac to a 25-15-2 finish. Hooley has coached at Centreville and White Pigeon as well plus two seasons at Glen Oaks Community College, and his high school record stands at 538-311-92 over 18 seasons.

After two seasons of varsity volleyball, Vermontville Maple Valley sophomore Keilyn Carpenter has four record book entries. She’s been added three times for kills in a match – twice reaching 32 – and for this fall totaling 623 kills over 126 games.

Bronson’s fourth straight MHSAA championship – this one in Division 3 in the fall – included, predictably, a number of outstanding individual performances. Sophomore Meagan Lasky had 1,775 assists this past season to rank third on that list, while senior sister Kiera Lasky added to her career aces total to finish with 454 – fifth most all-time. Senior Ashton Wronikowski made the season aces list with 137, and junior Keona Salesman did as well with 122 to go with her entry for 766 kills. She’s also on the career kills list with 1,679 over three seasons and with one to play. Kiera Lasky will continue her career at Davenport University, and Wronikowski will continue at West Liberty University in West Virginia.

PHOTO: Lexi Mort cheers on her Corunna teammates during their Division 2 Semifinal against Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in November.