K-Christian Aces Take Places in Records

August 22, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The Kalamazoo Christian girls tennis team capped off this spring with a sixth-place team finish at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals – led by a pair of singles players who enjoyed plenty of significant victories during their high school careers.

Seniors Lizzie Bauss and Audrey Bouma finished Finals flights runners-up at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Earlier in the season, Bouma (No. 2) experienced her first loss since 2013 after building the second-longest winning streak, of 78 straight matches, in MHSAA girls tennis history. She also made the record book as one of only a handful of standouts who won at least three Finals championships – she earned her titles at No. 3 singles as a freshman and sophomore and No. 2 as a junior. Bouma also graduated with 56 wins by a score of 6-0, 6-0.

Bauss, the No. 1 singles player this fall, made the record book with 31 matches won 6-0, 6-0. Bauss will continue her career at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Click to see where both rank in the MHSAA girls tennis record book and read on for more recent additions in girls basketball, girls soccer and softball. (Click the sport headings to see those record books in full.)

Girls Basketball

It’s never too late to update our records. Carrollton’s 1992 Class C champion team was added this week for combining with Merrill to score 164 points in a game (Carrollton won 118-46); the Cavaliers made an MHSAA-record 52 field goals in that game and also were added for 16 3-pointers in a 106-41 win over Bay City All Saints in 1993. The 164 points tied for seventh most in one game and the 16 3-pointers tied for sixth most.  

Leland’s Eva Grobbel grabbed 20 or more rebounds three times during the 2015-16 season, including a personal-best and record book-making 25 on Jan. 4. Grobbel will play volleyball this fall at Alpena Community College.

Girls Soccer

Libby Munoz’ ascension to MHSAA all-time leading scorer was reported frequently this spring, and now it’s official. With the addition of the Leland star’s 64 goals this past season, she finished her high school career with 228 to break the previous record by 33. Munoz also finished this spring with 79 points total – and her career with 298, eight more than previous points record holder Laura Heyboer of Hudsonville Unity Christian. Munoz will continue her career at Kalamazoo College.

Hannah Davis became one of 11 players in MHSAA history to score 50 goals in a season when she netted that many in 26 games for Big Rapids this spring. She also had 43 goals in 2015 as a junior and graduated with 113 goals in 71 career varsity games. She will continue her career at Taylor University in Indiana.

Lansing Catholic’s Shannon Crilley finished up a fine career this spring as her school’s all-time leading goal-scorer – and her 71 goals over four seasons also make the MHSAA list. She played all four seasons on varsity and scored a personal season high of 28 as a junior.

Softball

Belding’s Greta Wilker – a member of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council – finished her career this spring on three MHSAA career records lists, for 20 home runs, a .538 batting average and 170 runs scored in 115 games over four seasons on varsity. Two more Belding standouts also were added to the records: pitcher Kyleigh Linebaugh for 35 wins – and 35 consecutive – in 2010 and 100 pitching wins total from 2009-12, and Brooke Linebaugh for six RBI in a game against Hastings on May 17, 2014. Wilker will continue her career at Emory University in Georgia, while Kyleigh Linebaugh played collegiately at Davenport University.

Gladwin’s Dayna Fennell capped her career this spring among Michigan’s top power hitters of all-time, knocking 19 home runs to place second on the single-season list and with 32 over her four-season varsity career to tie for 12th most. Teammate Lauren Mose also made the record book for the third time, with 73 hits this spring. Both were seniors. Fennell will continue her career this fall at Delta College.

Midland’s first trip to the MHSAA Semifinals since 1988 this spring included a number of impressive team-wide statistical accomplishments, keyed by a pair of standout juniors. The Chemics finished 36-8 to make the MHSAA list for most wins and had 454 hits, 104 doubles and 328 RBI – with the doubles second-most by a team in a single season. Junior pitcher Maya Kipfmiller hit .664, with her 83 hits this spring tying for seventh most in a season and her 23 doubles tying for eighth. She also had 20 strikeouts over seven innings in a game against Flint Carman-Ainsworth on May 19. Julia Gross, the junior shortstop, had 19 doubles this season and hit back-to-back home runs against Goodrich on May 24. Both Kipfmiller and Gross also made the career doubles list with a season to play. Kipmiller already has committed to continue her career at Boston University.  

Okemos’ Sally Patterson, a freshman this spring, also struck out 20 in a seven-inning game. She made the list in a 9-2 Chiefs win over Haslett on April 26, striking out the side in two innings. 

PHOTO: Kalamazoo Christian's Audrey Bouma (left) and Lizzie Bauss connect on swings this season. (Photos courtesy of Kalamazoo Christian High School.)

Kennedy Completes Record Power Surge

September 11, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Michigan has a new softball career home run leader.

Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard’s Julia Kennedy hit 22 this spring – tied for third most in a season – to finish her four-year career with 55 homers over 125 games. That’s one more home run than Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse’s Brooke Nadolny, who will enter her senior season in 2019 with 54.

Kennedy also was added for 18 doubles this season, and freshman teammate Savannah Wing made that list with 22. Kennedy will continue her career at Miami University of Ohio.

See below for more recent record book entries in softball and football, and click the headings to see those record books in full.

Football

A handful of teams made the move from 11 to 8-player football for the 2009 season, making Nick Zaleski’s performance of Oct. 10 of that season one the earliest to grab headlines in the new format. Zaleski scored 11 touchdowns – nine rushing and two on kickoff returns – to lead Owendale-Gagetown to a 90-52 win over Posen. He also gained 431 yards rushing on 21 carries.

Grant Dittmer grabbed four interceptions in an Oct. 23, 2015, win over Mesick to help Bay City All Saints clinch its first playoff berth at the time since 2010. Those interceptions are tied for fourth most in one game (three players grabbed five in a game).

Auburn Hills Avondale enjoyed three highlight-reel returns that made the MHSAA records in 2017. Derrick Hinton Jr. produced two of them – a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown against Troy on Aug. 24 and a 97-yard punt return touchdown against Macomb Lutheran North on Oct. 20. Zeke Ringstaff also added to the scoring in that Week 9 win over Lutheran North that put Avondale into the playoffs – he brought back a fumble 100 yards for a score. Hinton’s kickoff return and Ringstaff’s return tied MHSAA records. Both are seniors this fall. 

Softball

Anna Dixon closed her Farmington Hills Mercy career this spring on career lists with 177 runs, 226 hits and 42 doubles. She also made the hitting streak list with at least one in 33 straight games from May 12, 2017, through May 5 of this spring. Dixon will continue her career at Hillsdale College.

Pinckney’s Elizabeth Kramer hit her way nearly to the top of one of the longest category lists for any sport in the MHSAA record book, knocking 28 doubles as a sophomore in 2017. That total ranks third all-time for one season. Kramer is a senior this fall.

Brownstown Woodhaven’s Alyssa Harris capped her four-year varsity career this spring with 46 doubles, 27 homers and 150 RBI over 137 games. She’s continuing her career at University of Findlay.

Tessa Nuss’ junior season for Lake Orion was one of the most impressive in MHSAA history. She hit .654 this spring with 89 hits and 79 runs scored – the hits were the fourth most all-time and the runs tied for sixth most in one season. Nuss will sign with Binghamton University in New York.

Faith Howe capped her four-year Beaverton career this spring on the strikeouts list with 1,037, which included a career-high 397 in 2017 when she went 34-4. Teammate Ann-Marie Hicks was added for 42 career doubles over her four-year run with the Beavers, and senior Amaya Ware was added for six RBI in a game this April against Breckenridge. Howe also was added for three homers – including two consecutive – against Pinconning in May.  Beaverton made team record lists going 38-4 in 2017 with 68 doubles, 250 RBI and 432 pitching strikeouts. Howe is continuing her career at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee, and Hicks will continue at St. Clair County Community College.

Averi Munro completed an incredible four-year career in 2016 among the MHSAA’s best all-time in a number of categories. The Morrice standout earned 25 record book entries. Her 81 runs scored in 2015 rank fourth, her 266 career runs are third, her 271 career hits are tied for fifth, her 67 career doubles rank eighth, her 93 RBI in 2016 came in fourth, while her 287 career RBI are second most and her .630 career batting average ranks fourth as well. She continuing her career at Alma College.

PHOTO: Gabriel Richard’s Julia Kennedy powers through a pitch this spring. (Photo courtesy of the Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard softball program.)