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Grace Graduates Among All-time Greats

July 7, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Alex Grace graduated from Saginaw Swan Valley this spring with 15 listings in the MHSAA football record book.

And he became one of the most accomplished running backs in Michigan high school history despite playing only three varsity seasons.

Grace’s 7,551 career rushing yards rank third in MHSAA history, only 880 yards behind record-holder Kevin Grady of East Grand Rapids – although Grady played 51 games over four seasons and Grace played only 36 games from 2012-14. Grace also finished with 102 rushing touchdowns, trailing only the 114 scored by Livonia Clarenceville’s Tim Shaw, who played in 11 more games during his career from 1998-2001.

Grace already held the single-season rushing record with 2,962 yards over 12 games as a junior, and set another record with eight straight games of at least 200 yards rushing during his final season. His 23 straight 100-yard games rank third on that list – Grace failed to reach 100 yards in only two games, both as a sophomore.

Grace, who will begin his college career this fall at Western Michigan University, also finished eighth with 616 career points, fourth with 102 career total touchdowns (rushing, receiving, etc. combined), and his 812 career carries are sixth on that list. He spent his freshman season cheering on his brother Jonathan, who ran for 1,790 yards and 21 touchdowns as Swan Valley’s lead back.

Click for the football record book in full and see below for more recent additions to MHSAA record listings (click on the sport heading to see those respective record books).

Baseball

  • Potterville’s Trevor Jones reached base three times in a three-inning, 22-0 win over Lansing Sexton in 2012 – all three times after being hit by pitches (once in the first inning and twice during the second). He’s one of 24 listed for having been hit by at least three pitches in one game.

Boys Basketball

  • Millington advanced to the Class C Quarterfinals this winter led by a pair of standouts in senior Austin LeVan and junior Shawn Pardee. LeVan capped his career with 1,714 points this season and earned six entries in the MHSAA records for 20 points in a quarter against Birch Run on Jan. 23, 197 career 3-pointers, 403 career free throws in 504 attempts, an .834 free-throw shooting percentage this season and an .800 percentage for his career, and for grabbing 249 steals over the last four seasons. His steals total ranks 14th and came in 89 games. Pardee similarly is an ace from the free throw line; he made the record listings with 18 free throws in 18 attempts against Caro on Jan. 30 (and just missed another entry with a perfect 17 for 17), 52 straight free throws over the course of four games this winter, 196 free throws in 222 attempts and his percentage of .883, which tied for 15th-best for a single season. LeVan will continue his career at Delta College.

 

Girls Basketball

  • Brooklyn Columbia Central 6-foot-1 senior Ashleigh Shay never made the MHSAA blocked shot records list for a single season, falling just shy with a career-high 105 as a junior in 2013-14. But she finished 16th on the career list with 319 over 82 games and four seasons, finishing her career this winter. Shay has signed to play volleyball at Siena Heights University.

Boys Lacrosse

  • Johnny Wagner finished his high school career with the winning goal for Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in its Division 2 championship game win over Okemos last month. He also ended this season with 69 goals and 41 assists for 110 points – all made MHSAA records lists – and career numbers of 177 goals, 99 assists and 276 points. The career points rank seventh on that all-time list. He’s signed to continue his career at Marquette University.

Girls Soccer

  • Portland sophomore Jordyn Spitzley had experienced stopping a barrage of shots already during her high school career, having made the MHSAA record book with 35 saves in a game as a freshman. On April 14, she set a single-game record with 49 saves in a 7-0 loss to Ithaca.

Softball

  • A pair of Coloma standouts have finished their careers the last two seasons with performances that stand among the elite. Jenna Faultersack finished her four-season varsity career this spring with 253 hits, 203 runs and 58 doubles (including 18 as a sophomore). Her hits count as the ninth most in MHSAA history. Emily Najacht finished her four-season career in 2014 with a pitching record of 111-33 and 999 strikeouts. Her career wins tie for 13th most and her 38 as a sophomore in 2012 are tied for 10th on that list. Faultersack will continue her career at Western Michigan University, and Najacht played last season at St. Mary’s College in Indiana.

  • Gladwin junior Lauren Mose stole 95 bases straight without making an out over two seasons before finally getting caught during a May 23 game against Midland Bullock Creek – ending the second-longest consecutive steals streak in MHSAA history. Mose fell only four more steals shy of the record set by Grass Lake’s Kellyn Herendeen from 2009-2012. She had two steals against the Lancers in that game, and after stealing second after a seventh-inning single, was thrown out then trying to steal third base. Mose finished this season with 53 steals total.

Volleyball

  • Meredith Norris hit it big as a sophomore in the fall, literally, for Corunna. Norris set an MHSAA rally-scoring record with 53 kills in a five-set match on Nov. 8 and had the third-most on the list, 42, against Durand on Nov. 3. She also had 38 in five sets against Byron on Sept. 11 and finished the season with 754 kills, 19th most for one season since rally scoring was adopted in 2004-05. Junior setter Skylar Napier started those offensive outbursts, making the single-match assists list with 56 against Durand and 50 against Goodrich. The 56 tied for eighth most during the rally scoring era.

Wrestling

  • Gaylord’s Jeff Heinz qualified for the MHSAA Individual Finals the last two seasons and finished his career this winter with 117 pins, enough to make the MHSAA records in that category. He had a high of 33 pins, this season as a senior. 

PHOTO: Swan Valley's Alex Grace finds an opening in the Ovid-Elsie defense during a game last season against the Marauders. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).

Rosman Earns Spot Among Top Hitters

January 23, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Kayla Rosman finished her four-year varsity volleyball career this fall having helped Morley-Stanwood to four league and three District titles and the Class C championship as a freshman in 2011.

She also capped a marvelous run as a Miss Volleyball Award finalist and among top hitters listed in the MHSAA record book.

Rosman had 606 kills this season – good to make the single-season list – and her 1,896 career kills rank 15th since the start of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. She previously tied an MHSAA Finals record with eight blocks in that 2011 Class C Final against Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.

Rosman – who has signed with Ferris State University – just missed the single-match list with 28 kills in a 3-1 Regional Final loss to Ravenna this season. But teammate Lindsey Veersma made the single-match assists list with 48 over those four sets.

Click to see the MHSAA volleyball record book in full and read on for more recent additions to record listings (click the sport heading for each to see that record book).

Baseball

  • Blissfield’s Josh Knorr played a big part in that perennial power continuing its winning tradition during his four-year career from 2009-12. His 179 career runs are tied for ninth in MHSAA history, while his 215 hits are fourth on that list and his 103 walks tie for 11th. He also had 110 stolen bases and was hit by 23 pitches during his four-year varsity career, during which he played nearly every position on the field although primarily catcher as a senior. Blissfield finished Division 3 runner-up his freshman season. Knorr played at Jackson Community College and is now playing at Adrian College.  

 

Girls Basketball

  • Halle Wangler finished her high school career in 2011 among Royal Oak Shrine’s career leaders in scoring (1,311 points) and rebounding (631) and its record holder for free-throw shooting (72 percent). She made the MHSAA listings with her free-throw shooting as a senior after making 113 of 132 attempts (85.6 percent). She started her collegiate career at Oakland University and has since transferred to the University of Michigan, where she is a redshirt junior.

  • Jessica Marvin scored a game-high 19 points in Byron’s 54-40 win over Dryden on Jan. 16, 2014, and in the process became the latest to make at least 15 free throws in a game. She connected on 15 of 18, including 10 during the second half.

  • Howell junior Erin Honkala capped the first week of this season with an incredible all-around performance – and one of the best rebounding totals in MHSAA history. Honkala pulled down 28 rebounds – tied for 13th most for one game – to go with 19 points and eight blocked shots in the Highlanders’ 47-30 win Dec. 5 over Ann Arbor Skyline.

Football

  • Detroit Cass Tech running back Mike Weber finished a three-year run in the fall as one of the top running backs in Michigan, with perhaps his most memorable highlight this season a 404-yard rushing performance in his team’s Division 1 Regional win over Clinton Township Chippewa Valley on Nov. 15. Weber ran 32 times and scored five touchdowns. 

  • East Lansing's Efe Scott-Emuakpor kicked off his varsity career in 2009 with 64 catches as a sophomore and finished in 2011 with 134 total to make that career list, with his 1,624 yards just missing the career list in that category. He’ll head into his junior season at Ball State University this fall.

  • St. Charles’ Devin Ballien was one of the busiest running backs in MHSAA history Sept. 5, when he ran the ball 41 times, making the record listings in that category. He finished with 289 yards on the ground in his team’s 42-36 win over Saginaw Valley Lutheran and scored five touchdowns including the game winner with 28 seconds to play.

  • Macomb L’Anse Creuse North quarterback Sean Koski capped his career in 2013 with a record-setting season before heading to Siena Heights University, where he just finished his first collegiate season. Koski made the MHSAA record book 15 times; he owns two of 10 500-yard passing performances with his 511 on Sept. 6, 2013, against Grosse Pointe South ranking sixth all-time. His 3,833 yards passing as a senior are third-most for one season; his 355 attempts that fall are 11th, his 211 completions rank 10th for a single fall and his 41 touchdowns fifth – despite playing only 10 games.

Boys Soccer


  • Isiah Handspike ranks 11th in career shutouts with 34 – with one more season to play. The DeWitt junior also made the single-season shutouts list with 13 as a sophomore, and needs 16 more as a senior to tie with three others for the MHSAA career record. 

PHOTO: Morley-Stanwood's Kayla Rosman helped her team to the Class C championship in 2011, first with this victory over Charlevoix in the MHSAA Semifinals.