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.
Brown, Brines End Cadillac Careers Among School, State's All-Time Elite
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 28, 2023
Macy Brown in 2020 and Renee Brines in 2021 completed two of the most prolific careers for one of the state’s most consistently-successful programs at Cadillac.
Brown’s 962 kills in 2020 rank fourth for one season, and her 2,349 over four seasons and 553 games rank 11th on that career list. Brines 4,295 assists over 561 games and four seasons rank ninth, and she made aces lists with 119 as a senior and 324 for her career.
Brown is playing at University of New Haven in Connecticut, and Brines is playing at Northwood.
See below for more recent additions to the volleyball record book.
Volleyball
Evelyn Karamon made her career-high assists match count as a senior in 2021. She put up 48 in Allen Park Inter-City Baptist’s five-set win over Ubly in a Division 4 Quarterfinal as the team advanced to the Semifinals for the first time.
Corrie Wisser capped her Hopkins career last fall with a series of record book-worthy achievements, including two that made career lists. She was added for 3,184 assists and 400 aces both over four seasons and 479 games, and with the aces tying for 12th-most all-time. She also made the list twice for 10 aces in a match and twice for single-season aces including a high of 143 as a junior. She has signed with Ferris State.
Fenton’s Eva Long earned her first record book entry last fall with 12 aces in a three-set match against Holly on Sept. 15. She will be a sophomore this upcoming season.
Despite a tough five-set loss to Novi, Brighton’s Abby Mainka enjoyed a career night Sept. 13 when she had 32 kills to make the record book. She’ll be a senior this school year.
Three Rivers’ Miley Southland reached the record book in just her first season of high school. The then-freshman posted 47 assists in a five-set comeback win over Edwardsburg last Aug. 31.
Gianna Sager picked the perfect night for a record book-worthy performance during her junior season at Utica Ford, as she set 63 assists in a five-game 2021 District Semifinal win over Sterling Heights Stevenson. Those assists are tied for ninth for one match, and Ford went on to win its District title.
Recent Boyne City grad Morgan Deming capped her career last fall with two of the most impressive performances, with her 52 kills Nov. 2 against Kingsley third-most in MHSAA history and her 44 kills the next day against Cheboygan tied for seventh on the list. She also made the single-season kills list with 606 over 117 games. Teammate Ava Tarsi made the single-match assists list twice with 68 against Kingsley and 65 against Boyne City. Deming has signed with Lake Superior State, and Tarsi will be a senior this season.
Saginaw Swan Valley then-junior Marli Robinson also joined the single-match assists list, posting 46 in her team’s Division 2 Regional Semifinal against Frankenmuth on Nov. 8.
Nearly two decades later, Ashlee Mosley was added for two performances while a senior at North Adams Jerome in 2005-06. She made the single-match blocks list with 11 in a five-set match against Camden-Frontier, then finished her high school career with 17 against Adrian Lenawee Christian that March 4 in postseason play. The latter remain tied for fourth on the list.
Despite playing an abbreviated senior season in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, Farmington Hills Mercy’s Julia Bishop finished that fall with a few more than 1,000 assists – and a four-season career total of 5,575 assists, good for third all-time and coming in 521 games despite playing only 95 as a senior. Bishop plays at Michigan State.
Mt. Morris’ run to the Division 2 Quarterfinals last fall was boosted in part by a strong 1-2 punch of setter Alisiya Boedecker and hitter Blair Wilson. Boedecker, then a sophomore, was added to the record book five times including with a high of 61 assists in a match against Clio, 1,389 assists over 159 games for the season and 2,595 assists for her career after just two years of high school. Wilson, then a senior, was added five times including for 17 aces in a three-set match (tied for 10th all-time), 42 kills in that Clio match (tied for 11th), 615 kills for the season and 2,128 for her four-year career. Additionally, then-freshman Destany Clymer was added for 140 aces last season and then-sophomore Callie Quackenbush for 121, as well as single-game ace totals.
Birch Run’s Kalliann Cook capped her four-year varsity career in the fall with 427 aces – 10th-most in MHSAA rally-scoring history. She made the single-season list with 121 as a freshman and 127 as a junior. She’s signed with Austin Peay State.
PHOTO Cadillac's Macy Brown (6) rises above the net during the 2020 Division 2 Semifinals.