Nadolny Blasts Way to Top of MHSAA Career Homers List
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 20, 2021
Brooke Nadolny capped her career at Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in 2019 with 30 record book entries – and as the most prolific power hitter in MHSAA history.
Even as home run totals have increased over the last decade, Nadolny’s 73 over 141 career games are 18 more than the next-highest total. She also is listed for career hits (243), doubles (61), runs (226), RBI (196), walks (80) and batting average (.533).
Teammate Cynthia Galvan also was added to the MHSAA record book for a 2019 achievement of 16 doubles, and Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse as a team was added for 60 doubles and 36 homers in 2017 and 80 doubles and 27 homers in 2019.
Galvan, who graduated in 2020, has joined Nadolny in continuing at Wayne State.
See more recent record book additions below in boys basketball, softball, volleyball and wrestling, and click on the sport headings to see those record books in full.
Boys Basketball
Tyler Horky capped his four-season Manchester varsity career in 2020 with more of the scoring that made him tough defend, especially that Feb. 12 against Vandercook Lake. That night he scored 58 points, including 27 in the third quarter – tying the second-most for a quarter all-time with the most by any player since 2008. He also made the record book with 170 free throws in 203 attempts as a senior and 328 in 415 attempts for his career. Horky is continuing at Kalamazoo College.
Pellston’s Blake Cassidy graduated last spring as one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in MHSAA history. He made 227 3-pointers in 596 attempts over 95 games from 2017-20, tying for 18th-most 3-pointers for a career. He’s continuing his career at Lake Superior State.
Brad Simonsen reached the record book with the 13th-most points in one game on Feb. 4, 2020, scoring 63 for Houghton against Ishpeming to also break the school record of 60 scored by Gary Lange in a 1970 contest. Simonsen is continuing his career at Michigan Tech.
Wyoming 2020 grad Menalito McGee established himself as one of the state’s sharpest 3-point shooters as a senior, putting up two of the top-five long-range shooting performances of all-time over a two-week span. He made 12 3-pointers – tied for fourth – against Middleville Thornapple Kellogg on Jan. 28, 2020, then connected on 14 – second most all-time – against Wayland that Feb. 11. He is continuing his career at Aquinas College.
Over the first five days of February 2020, Hannahville Nah Tah Wahsh accomplished a 3-point shooting feat rarely seen – and did so twice. That Feb. 1, Hannahville sank 20 3-pointers, tying at the time for sixth-most in one game, in a 68-20 win over Mackinac Island. Four days later on Feb. 5, Hannahville connected on the third-most 3-pointers in a game, 24, during a 73-39 win over Big Bay de Noc. The Soaring Eagles scored all of their points on 3-pointers and free throws in both games.
Softball
Heidi Walters was among standouts who was unable to add to her career totals in 2020 because the season was canceled due to COVID-19, but she planted multiple entries in the records for home runs and RBI. She had 14 homers and 71 RBI as a junior in 2019 for Traverse City Central, making the record book for both, and she finished with 27 career homers over her first three seasons including playing her first two at Traverse City St. Francis. She is continuing at Concordia-Ann Arbor.
Volleyball
Bloomfield Hills’ Alexa Rousseau capped her four-year varsity career in 2019 as a Miss Volleyball Award finalist, and her excellence is now included in the record book as well. Rousseau just missed the single-season assists list as a senior but made the career list with 3,673 over 458 games to rank 24th all-time. She twice made the single-season aces lists, with a high of 159 as a senior, and her 458 total rank fifth on the career list in that category. Rousseau is continuing her career at Northwestern.
Jamie Burke earned an entry with 13 aces during Johannesburg-Lewiston’s two-set win over Fairview on Aug. 26, 2019. Burke was a junior at the time.
Wrestling
Kyle Woodruff already had a records entry for his 59-0 season for Pinconning in 2005-06, but he’s been added twice more. Woodruff finished 58-5 the season before as a junior and a combined 203-37 over his four high school seasons.
PHOTO: Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse’s Brooke Nadolny crosses the plate during a game her senior season in 2019. (Photo courtesy of C&G Newspapers.)
Smith's Record-Caliber Swing Lifts Mendon to Multiple Titles
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 12, 2021
Anna Smith’s four-year varsity career capped in November included helping Mendon to back-to-back Division 4 championships in 2018 and 2019, and she finished last season among the top hitters in MHSAA history.
Smith graduated with 2,234 kills to rank 18th all-time since the start of rally scoring. She has eight record book entries total, also including for a career-high 740 kills as a junior, a tied-for-second 24 aces in a match last fall, and a career total of 398 aces to rank 13th on that list.
She’s continuing her career at College of Charleston (S.C.).
Click to see the volleyball record book in full, and read on for more recent record book updates in baseball, football and girls lacrosse.
Baseball
Saugatuck’s baseball success over the last three seasons has been tied in part to its work on the base paths – with its total steals in 2018, 2019 and 2021 all making the record book. Saugatuck’s 222 steals in 248 attempts in 2018 remain the second-most steals for one season, while its 182 steals in 2019 rank 10th and its 166 steals this spring were tied for 22nd-most.
11-player Football
Belleville senior quarterback Christian Dhue-Reid became the first to be added to the football record book for the 2020 season after throwing for seven touchdown passes – including six during the first half – of his team’s win over Dearborn Fordson last Sept. 25. The first-half TD passes tied for sixth-most in a half, and the seven total tied for eighth-most in a game.
Mitchell Middleton showed his powerful leg in Middleville Thornapple Kellogg's Sept. 17, 2019, win over Wyoming. The then-senior booted a 52-yard field goal to make the list for longest.
DeWitt’s championship run last season included a number of record book performances, on both sides of the ball. Then-junior quarterback Tyler Holtz made the records for 2,396 passing yards over 12 games, and for a single-game high of 405, and also for 35 passing touchdowns. Senior Tommy McIntosh was added for 245 yards and four touchdowns in the same game, against Grand Ledge, and Nathaniel Deppin was added for a 96-yard kickoff return in that same game. The Panthers as a team made the touchdown list with 70, and also for giving up only 80 points over the season. Additionally, senior Brandon Soltis finished his two-year varsity career with 78 extra points and also was added for his 45 as a junior. A number of others were added for accomplishments over the last four seasons, including Blake Gatfield, Noah Koenigsknecht, Alan Smith, Jack Horan, Carson Hayes and Luke Bresser. Koenigsknecht and Bresser play for Northwood.
Then-junior Nick Kay earned his first record book entry last Sept. 25 with a 52-yard field goal for Walled Lake Central against Troy. Also added was past quarterback Nick Krumm, who scored eight total touchdowns (six rushing) during a 2013 game against Waterford Mott. Krumm was a junior that season; he went on to play at Michigan State.
North Muskegon then-senior Brendan Moat navigated some tough weather in his team’s 2019 playoff loss to Pewamo-Westphalia to drill a 74-yard punt, tying for 17th longest in MHSAA history. Moat is playing currently at Kalamazoo College.
Despite a shortened 2020 season, Brady Hessbrook finished his four-season Ithaca career with record-book highlights. He made the single-season passing yards list with 2,002 over eight games, and the career list with 4,091 over 37 games total. He made the lists for passing touchdowns in one half and a single game with six against Michigan Lutheran Seminary on Oct. 9, on the way to making the single-season passing TD list with 30 and career list with 51. Hessbrook is continuing his career at Wayne State.
Livonia Stevenson senior Caden Woodall put together one of the most impressive rushing seasons in state history over just eight games last fall. On just 186 carries, Woodall ran for 2,228 yards and 34 touchdowns, making single-season lists for both. He scored six touchdowns in a game twice and totaled more than 200 yards rushing in seven straight games. He’s continuing his career at Harvard.
Girls Lacrosse
Three Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central players earned single-game entries during the 2021 season. Sophomore Gabriella Hendricks was added for eight goals in a May 19 game against East Grand Rapids, seven goals on May 14 against Ann Arbor Skyline and five assists on May 10 against Grandville. Sophomore Shannon Murphy also had seven goals in that Skyline game and seven against Grand Rapids Christian on May 20, and sophomore Delaney Smith had five assists against Holland West Ottawa on March 29.
PHOTO: Mendon’s Anna Smith follows through on a kill attempt during the 2019 Division 4 championship match against Leland.