Newman, Grace Light Up Scoreboards

July 29, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Lake Fenton’s Jordan Newman scored an impressive 40 goals as a freshman in 2011. And then she just kept filling the net.

Camri Grace’s scoring run began much differently. She didn’t hit a home run in 33 games as a freshman – but had 18 homers in 34 games as a senior this spring.

Newman finished her career this season after easily setting the MHSAA career girls soccer scoring record with 195 goals – 27 more than the previous record set by Newaygo’s Jaleen Dingledine from 2004-07. Newman’s goal total ranks 14th in the national record book.

Grace, meanwhile, tied the MHSAA single-season home run record set in 1979 by Pentwater’s Melinda Van Gillis and will rank 11th in the national record book when her total from this spring is added.

Newman’s 58 goals as a junior tied for second-most in one season in MHSAA history, while her 56 as a sophomore tied for fourth-most. She also finished second to former Hudsonville Unity Christian star Laura Heyboer (290) with 245 career points. Newman will continue her career this fall at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina.

A catcher, Grace finished her high school career with 43 doubles, 31 home runs and 162 RBI, all good enough to make the MHSAA record listings, and batted .499. She’ll continue her softball career at Eastern Michigan University.

Read on for more recent additions to the MHSAA record books, and click on the headings below for all listings for those respective sports.

Girls Soccer

  • Cheboygan suffered its only loss of a 19-1-1 run this spring in a shootout to Freeland in their District championship game,  and logically, a handful of top performers ended up ranking highly in the MHSAA records. Junior Amanda Paull – also a member of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council – tallied the second-most assists in one season, 39, while teammate Sierra Kolatski made the single-season goals list with 34. Keeper Jessica Smith made the shutouts list with 17 as Cheboygan became the latest of nine teams to give up five or fewer goals in a season.

  • Monroe’s Jaci Morr finished her career this spring not only as Monroe’s record-setting goal-scorer for one season, but also as one of the top scorers in MHSAA history. She made the single-season list with 44 goals this season and had 72 over her four years on varsity. Teammates Claire Goines and Amy Smith also were added for five assists in one game and 15 shutouts this spring in goal, respectively. Morr broke her school’s single-season goals record of Abby McCollum, who had 40 as a senior in 2010 and 81 over a three-year career. McCollum also was added to the record listings four times, and LeAnn Garrett was added for her eight goals in a game against Carleton Airport in 1996.

  • Riverview’s Kirsten Chambers made the single-season assists list twice with 33 as a junior and 26 this spring as a senior, ranks third on the career list with 100 and also made the career goals (71), single-season points (54) and career points lists (171) during her outstanding four-year run. Her career points rank 16th.

  • Brooklyn Columbia Central’s Danielle Eastman capped her career with 54 points including 42 goals this spring, both totals making MHSAA lists. She also made the career goals list with 104 over the last three seasons.

Softball

  • Saginaw Heritage’s Lacy Tolfree finished her career this spring with 15 record book listings, including the second-longest hitting streak (37 games) in MHSAA history, fourth-most career hits (265) and sixth-highest career batting average (.588). She also made career lists with 230 runs, 57 doubles, 20 triples and 166 stolen bases. She’ll continue her career at Central Michigan University. Teammate Haley Lehner also was added to the record listings with 52 doubles over her four-year career.

Baseball

  • Former Gaylord St. Mary standout Dwain Koscielniak already had four listings in the MHSAA football record book, including the record of 529 yards rushing in a game in 1990. The following spring, 1991, Koscielniak finished his high school baseball career with a .629 average and 17 home runs. He ended with 35 home runs over four varsity seasons, second-most in MHSAA history at that time and now tied for eighth most. He went on to play baseball at Ferris State University, was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 1994 and played two seasons of minor league baseball.

  • Ortonville Brandon’s Sean Martens capped his high school career this spring pitching to a 9-1 record with a 0.33 ERA and six shutouts – the ERA and shutouts made the MHSAA record listings, and his ERA ranks ninth lowest for one season by pitchers who threw at least 60 innings. He’s committed to join the Central Michigan University baseball program this fall.

Boys Basketball

  • Mackinaw City’s Noah Morse capped his three-year varsity career among MHSAA leaders in single-game, single-season and career steals. He twice had 12 steals in a game to tie for third-most, with his 115 steals this season tied for 10th on the single-season list and his 258 career steals – in only three seasons – ranking 11th.

PHOTOS: (Top) Lake Fenton’s Jordan Newman pushes toward the goal during a win over Freeland in 2013. (Middle) Williamston’s Camri Grace tied a 35-year-old single-season home runs record this spring. 

Gee, Mason ... What a Run for Stockbridge

December 18, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Stockbridge averaged 45 points per game in building a 13-7 record over the last two seasons, mostly on the arm of quarterback Mason Gee-Montgomery and top receivers Austin Cimala and Kolby Canfield.

Their achievements are among those added this week to the MHSAA record book, along with a record-setting game by another receiver, the fastest goal ever in boys soccer (with video of the feat) and more top performances in softball and volleyball.

Football

Mason Gee-Montgomery, a junior, is listed 24 times, most notably after setting records this fall with 22 straight completed passes in an Oct. 9 games against Vermontville Maple Valley and for 51 touchdown passes in one season; he also tied a record with seven touchdown passes against Leslie on Sept. 11. Total, Gee-Montgomery has thrown for 5,660 yards and 84 touchdowns over his two seasons on varsity with the touchdowns already ranking fourth on the career list for that category. Receiver Austin Cimala earned 13 entries in the records with a two-year varsity career that saw him total 133 receptions for 2,674 yards (10th most) and 43 touchdowns, also tied for second-most in MHSAA career history. Kolby Canfield, also a junior, had 90 receptions this fall, sixth-most for one season, and he gained 1,265 yards and scored 19 touchdowns. Also, 2015 graduate Nick Ensign was added for six rushing touchdowns in a 66-64 win over Perry in 2014. The Panthers were part of four games this season with more than 100 points – wins of 54-50 over Parchment, 53-48 over Sand Creek and 55-46 over Essexville Garber, and a 61-42 loss to Lake Odessa Lakewood.

Senior pass combo Pat Naughton and Nick Turowski also earned its way into the records this season leading Comstock Park to an 8-3 finish. Turowski tied the MHSAA record with 18 receptions in a 44-27 win over Allendale on Oct. 16 and set the MHSAA season record with 113 receptions total (he also made the yardage list with 1,474, good for eighth most). Naughton was a three-year starter for the Panthers, completing 444 of 719 passes for 6,133 yards and 54 touchdowns. This fall he completed 184 of 271 passes for 2,386 yards and 25 scores. His career completions rank 10th on that list.

Former Kent City quarterback Jake Krueger finished his senior season in 2013 with five entries. He earned two with five touchdown passes in a half and six for a game against Howard City Tri-County, and also for 26 touchdown passes total that season and 52 over his three-year varsity career. He also threw for 4,547 yards over those three seasons.

Ypsilanti Community’s Jahz Watts joined Gee-Montgomery and a host of others by throwing six touchdown passes in a game, in his team’s 51-40 loss to Monroe on Sept. 4. Watts, a junior, completed 13 passes total for 315 yards that evening.

Clinton’s Erik Bouse kicked 11 straight extra points in a 77-6 win over Britton-Deerfield on Oct. 24, 2014, to tie for second-longest extra point streak in one game. He also contributed as the team reached the Division 6 Final this season.

Boys Soccer

Allen Park Inter-City Baptist added a trio of high scorers new and old. Senior Garrett Kraatz had 46 goals and 25 assists this fall for 71 points, good to tie for 13th most for one season. He finished his four-year career with 105 goals and 47 assists. Steven Fiema was added for finishing his career in 2011 with 96 goals and 130 points over four seasons. And Lyle Wensley was added for notching 121 goals from 1982-85; he made the all-state Dream Team as a junior and senior and currently is an assistant coach at Spring Arbor University, while Fiema plays at Division II Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida.

Josh Busscher’s kickoff for Holland Christian against Muskegon Western Michigan Christian on. Oct. 3 landed four seconds later as the fastest goal scored in MHSAA history. See video below. 

Softball

Allen Park pitcher Hayley Bartholomew joined an elite group May 11 with 20 strikeouts in a seven-inning, 9-3 win over Taylor Kennedy. She’s now playing at Oakland University.

Reese’s Carlee Selle finished her career this spring with three more entries to go with 16 doubles she hit in 2014. She also had 16 this season, plus eight RBI in a game May 21 against Essexville Garber and back-to-back home runs against Sandusky in a Regional game June 6. Teammate Monica Hagen also was added for her 73 hits during the 2014 

Volleyball

DeWitt’s five-set win over Mattawan on Nov. 12 included a pair of record-qualifying performances. Lexi Nordmann had 39 kills and Brooke Binkley had 55 assists although the Panthers fell 3-2. 

PHOTO: Stockbridge quarterback Mason Gee-Montgomery drops back to pass during a game this season. (Photo courtesy of Frazzini Photography.