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.)
Shores' Title Tide Rolls to Record Book
July 24, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A spring that saw Muskegon Mona Shores accomplish its first perfect regular season in school history and first District title since 2007 has been followed up with entries for three players in the MHSAA record book.
Junior Sarah Mikesell was added for 40 goals and 55 points, while sophomore Raegan Cox was added for 30 assists and 59 points. Junior keeper Megan Swanker was added for 15 shutouts, and the team was entered for 10 straight shutouts over the latter half of the season. The Sailors finished 21-1, their only loss to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in a Regional Semifinal.
Click to see where they rank in the girls soccer record book as a whole, and read on for more recent record additions for football, boys soccer, softball, boys and girls tennis and wrestling.
Football
The offense's rise during a season-ending three-game winning streak got Eben Junction Superior Central into the 8-player record book with multiple listings. The Cougars put together 653 yards of total offense in an Oct. 15 84-54 win over Ewen-Trout Creek, and totaled 618 yards in downing Baraga 62-8 six days later. Superior Central ran for a record 611 yards against Baraga and total for 3,037 yards last season. Against Ewen-Trout Creek, the Cougars set records with 51 rushing attempts and 12 touchdowns in one game. They ran for eight touchdowns in that game and also in a 68-22 win over Michigan School for the Deaf on Oct. 8. Superior Central’s defense also earned an entry with five interceptions against Ewen-Trout Creek. Individually, sophomore Beau Rondeau made the single-game rushing touchdown list with six in that win.
Chase Brown’s passing prowess last fall earned him multiple entries for single game and season feats. The Comstock Park junior-to-be made single-game lists with 29 completions (in 49 attempts) for 495 yards and six touchdowns passing in a Sept. 16 loss to Allendale. He finished the season with 181 completions in 300 attempts for 2,286 yards and 19 touchdowns passing. Teammate Hunter Spence made the receptions list with 65 last fall, and Jo Jo Whitley was added for a 95-yard kickoff return against Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Oct. 7. Spence and Whitley will be seniors this fall.
Boys Soccer
A pair of recent Leland standouts were added after four-season careers that saw them rank in multiple MHSAA categories. Recent graduate Noah Fetterolf was added in part for 106 career goals and 160 career points, while 2016 grad Mike Osorio made the single-season points list with 57 as a senior and the career points list with 136. Osorio plays at Adrian College and Fetterolf will continue this fall at Davenport University.
Softball
Linden enjoyed a record-setting season offensively in finishing 23-17, with a number of accomplishments making the MHSAA records. The Eagles made the all-time lists with 493 hits, 39 home runs, 313 RBI and 100 doubles – the doubles rank third all-time, while the hits rank seventh and the home runs eighth. Elizabeth Rakowski made the hitting streak record list for the second time, stringing together hits in 29 straight games from April 20-May 25, and she also made season lists with 71 hits, 16 doubles and 10 home runs. Teammate Ashley Bertschy made the doubles list with 17 this spring, while Sterling DeGayner and Elle Klocek earned entries by hitting back-to-back home runs in May games and Klocek as well for six RBI in that game and 10 homers total this season. DeGayner was one of two seniors on the team and the only one of those mentioned above; she’ll play basketball at Cornerstone University.
Saginaw Valley Lutheran senior Adrian Hildebrant finished her career this spring making the MHSAA records with 210 career hits and 47 doubles over four seasons, plus for her 18 doubles as a sophomore in 2015. She was joined by 2012 grad Sarah Appold, who had three previous entries for strikeouts in a game and was added for 991 over her four-season career. Saginaw Valley Lutheran as a team was added for 62 doubles in 2016 and 444 pitching strikeouts in 2012. Appold went on to play at Saginaw Valley State University.
Lansing Waverly catcher Madeline Stump was added for her 76 hits as a sophomore in 2016. She hit .618 over 35 games that spring.
Boys Tennis
A successful decade of Novi tennis led to a number of entries, highlighted by two-time MHSAA Finals singles champion Koushik Kondapi – he made the single-season wins list three times including twice with a high of 35, ranks fourth with 127 wins for his career from 2012-15, and also earned three other listings including for 25 career tournaments won. Alex Wen’s 36-0 record in 2014 earned him listings for single-season wins and consecutive wins, while Tim Wang (34-1 in 2013), Pavan Rao (34-1 in 2012) and Maxx Anderson (32-5 in 2013) also made the single-season wins list. A total of 18 pairs were added to the single-season wins list for doubles, led by Anderson and Daniel Yu with a 33-3 record in 2014. Others added once or more were Michael Chang, Nishant Kakar, Shashank Chitta, Kevin Xu, Aakash Ray, Nayan Makim, Jon Thompson, Andrew Ying, Sai Gotur, Abhishek Subash, Bill Bell, Alex Brizard, Jason Carless, David Mehl, Raymond Wen, Aditya Chitta, Robert Chen, Chaitanya Kanitkar, Vishnu Venugopal, Chris Kwederis, Ryan Krawec, Nathan Farooq, Nikhil Devarakonda and Greg Richard. Carless was added for a 101-16 career doubles record and Anderson was 91-10 in three seasons playing doubles. Wang plays at Columbia University.
Girls Tennis
A number of Novi standouts also were added to the girls tennis records, including Diana Ticu for 31 straight singles wins in 2003. Emily Holt (104-17 from 2001-04), Colene Brockman (101-13 from 2000-03), Lauren Thomas (89-17 from 2001-04) and Jenna Snyder (84-23 from 2008-11) all were added for career doubles wins.
Wrestling
Walled Lake Central standout Ben Freeman graduated this spring as the most recent of 22 four-time MHSAA Finals champions. He also finished 167-0 over his career, his streak ranking eighth for most consecutive victories. He’ll continue his career at University of Michigan.
PHOTO: Muskegon Mona Shores soccer players hold their District title trophy this spring. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)