Norris Spikes Way to All-Time Greatness

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

May 25, 2017

Corunna’s Meredith Norris ended a celebrated career in the fall by winning the Miss Volleyball Award – and delivering the last of 18 entries in the MHSAA record book.

For this past fall, the senior hitter made the records for kills in a season for the fourth time (839) – while also finishing second all-time for a career in that category since the start of rally scoring in 2004-05. Norris’ 3,126 career kills rank second only to eventual U.S. Olympian Alisha Glass’ 3,584 from 2003-06.

Norris – who will continue her career at Michigan State University – also added a 43-kill match (fourth all-time) to her record 56 set in 2015. The 839 kills this past fall were her most for one season. In addition, Cavaliers teammate Lexi Mort, a sophomore, made the single-match assists list three times with a high of 64 in four games against Goodrich.

See below for more recent record book entries in baseball, boys and girls basketball, football, softball, tennis and wrestling, and click on the sport headings to see those record books in full.

Baseball

Maple City Glen Lake has established itself as a regular contender in Division 4, and with a number of performances that have qualified the last few seasons for record book consideration. Among them, Travis Moore’s 188 career hits from 2013-16, 160 career RBI, .465 career batting average and 33 times hit by pitches during his career all were added. So too was Austin Odziana for 45 career doubles from 2012-15), 18 times hit by a pitch as a junior and 46 times hit by pitches (sixth all-time) for his career; Thomas Waning (2011-14) eight times including for 176 strikeouts and three no-hitters in 2014, Zach Cooper (2013-16) six times including for 11 career shutouts, and Matt Schweikart four times including for career ERA (0.73, fifth all-time) and seven shutouts last spring. A number of others from Glen Lake teams past were added in various categories: Brian Maurer (193 career runs from 1995-98 rank eighth; he set the season record of 84 in 1999), Curtis Bunek (2010-13), Zack Buchan (1999-2002), Weston Buchan (2004-07), Mike Baker (1998-2001), Steve Walker (1999-2002), Art Harland (1979-82), Andy Bunting (1997-2000), Scott Bunting (1994-97), Karl Malcolm (1999-2002), Joel Pierson (2000-03) and Corey Flaska for a single-season accomplishment in 1998. As teams, the 1978 Glen Lake squad hit 21 triples, second all-time, while the 2015 and 2016 teams both set MHSAA records being hit by pitches 78 times. The 2014 team ranks fifth with 326 strikeouts, and the 2015 team ninth with a 1.31 ERA.

Boys Basketball

North Adams-Jerome’s Stone Arnold finished a solid four-season career by playing himself into the MHSAA records with his defense. Arnold had 96 steals this past season to finish his career with 261, which rank 13th all-time. Arnold, a point guard, also became the first player in his school’s history to score 1,000 career points.

Girls Basketball

Marine City’s Karyssa Austin added 57 3-pointers this winter as a senior to finish her four-season varsity career with 213 – 11th in MHSAA history. She previously made the single-season list with 71 as a junior. She has signed to continue her career at Northwood University.

Football

Royal Oak’s Bobby Green and Darryl Davenport became the 10th pass-catching pair to be added to the MHSAA record book for longest pass with a 99-yarder launched by Green during a 35-0 win over Pontiac last Sept. 9. Davenport will continue his career this fall at Concordia University-Ann Arbor.

Powers North Central standout running back Bobby Kleiman added to his scoring entries with 200 points this past fall as a senior. He finished his career with 552 points over his junior and senior seasons of 8-player football – the only entry in a category where the minimum is 400. He’s also the first to be listed for career touchdowns, with 77 with at least one coming six ways – rushing, receiving, fumble return, interception return, punt return or kick return. He will play baseball at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Softball

Former Greenville standout Nikota Howe was placed in the records for a number of accomplishments, most notably as a senior in 2014 and over her four-year varsity career. Her 79 hits in 2014 are tied for 19th most in one season, and her .699 batting average that spring ranks eighth all-time. Her .563 career average ranks 10th in that category, and she also made lists with 206 career hits, 47 career doubles, 22 career home runs, 116 career RBI and for seasons of 18 and 16 doubles. She went on to play at Lake Erie College in Ohio.

Boys Tennis

Midland Dow senior Varun Shanker finished his high school career in the fall as the state’s Mr. Tennis, making the single-season wins list for the second time at 32-1 and the career wins list at 115-19 over the last four seasons. Teammate Tyler Conrad also made the single single-season list with a team-high 34 victories, and Saketh Kamaraju made the single-season list with 33 wins and the consecutive wins list with those 33 before falling in the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final at No. 4 singles to finish his freshman campaign. A number of Dow doubles players also were added for wins in 2016 – Aditya Middha, Noah Nichols, Sagar Kamaraju and Ryan Killmaster all with 30; and J.J. Kirkman, Gopal Parthasarathy and Daniel Zhang all with 28. Sagar Kamaraju capped his career with 84 doubles wins, and Kirkman finished his with 69. Shanker at No. 1 singles, Conrad at No. 3, Kirkman and Middha at No. 1 doubles and Zhang and Parthasarathy at No. 3 all won Finals flight championships in the fall as Dow won the team title. Shanker will continue his career at the California Institute of Technology.

Volleyball

Samantha Stark served her way into the record book during a Class D District Semifinal win in 2015. The then-senior at Pellston had 11 aces in a three-set sweep of Alanson.

Wrestling

Westland John Glenn 2013 graduate Kyle Gillies is among the elite who finished their high school careers with more than 200 wins, ending at 204-34 after four varsity seasons. He went 55-1 as a senior, losing only to Davison’s Lincoln Olson in the 2013 Division 1 championship match at 112 pounds. Gillies went on to wrestle at Olivet College.

PHOTO: Corunna’s Meredith Norris serves during her team’s Class B Quarterfinal against Cadillac. (Click for more from Varsity Monthly.)

Shores' Title Tide Rolls to Record Book

July 24, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A spring that saw Muskegon Mona Shores accomplish its first perfect regular season in school history and first District title since 2007 has been followed up with entries for three players in the MHSAA record book.

Junior Sarah Mikesell was added for 40 goals and 55 points, while sophomore Raegan Cox was added for 30 assists and 59 points. Junior keeper Megan Swanker was added for 15 shutouts, and the team was entered for 10 straight shutouts over the latter half of the season. The Sailors finished 21-1, their only loss to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in a Regional Semifinal.

Click to see where they rank in the girls soccer record book as a whole, and read on for more recent record additions for football, boys soccer, softball, boys and girls tennis and wrestling.

Football

The offense's rise during a season-ending three-game winning streak got Eben Junction Superior Central into the 8-player record book with multiple listings. The Cougars put together 653 yards of total offense in an Oct. 15 84-54 win over Ewen-Trout Creek, and totaled 618 yards in downing Baraga 62-8 six days later. Superior Central ran for a record 611 yards against Baraga and total for 3,037 yards last season. Against Ewen-Trout Creek, the Cougars set records with 51 rushing attempts and 12 touchdowns in one game. They ran for eight touchdowns in that game and also in a 68-22 win over Michigan School for the Deaf on Oct. 8. Superior Central’s defense also earned an entry with five interceptions against Ewen-Trout Creek. Individually, sophomore Beau Rondeau made the single-game rushing touchdown list with six in that win.

Chase Brown’s passing prowess last fall earned him multiple entries for single game and season feats. The Comstock Park junior-to-be made single-game lists with 29 completions (in 49 attempts) for 495 yards and six touchdowns passing in a Sept. 16 loss to Allendale. He finished the season with 181 completions in 300 attempts for 2,286 yards and 19 touchdowns passing. Teammate Hunter Spence made the receptions list with 65 last fall, and Jo Jo Whitley was added for a 95-yard kickoff return against Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Oct. 7. Spence and Whitley will be seniors this fall.

Boys Soccer

A pair of recent Leland standouts were added after four-season careers that saw them rank in multiple MHSAA categories. Recent graduate Noah Fetterolf was added in part for 106 career goals and 160 career points, while 2016 grad Mike Osorio made the single-season points list with 57 as a senior and the career points list with 136. Osorio plays at Adrian College and Fetterolf will continue this fall at Davenport University.

Softball

Linden enjoyed a record-setting season offensively in finishing 23-17, with a number of accomplishments making the MHSAA records. The Eagles made the all-time lists with 493 hits, 39 home runs, 313 RBI and 100 doubles – the doubles rank third all-time, while the hits rank seventh and the home runs eighth. Elizabeth Rakowski made the hitting streak record list for the second time, stringing together hits in 29 straight games from April 20-May 25, and she also made season lists with 71 hits, 16 doubles and 10 home runs. Teammate Ashley Bertschy made the doubles list with 17 this spring, while Sterling DeGayner and Elle Klocek earned entries by hitting back-to-back home runs in May games and Klocek as well for six RBI in that game and 10 homers total this season. DeGayner was one of two seniors on the team and the only one of those mentioned above; she’ll play basketball at Cornerstone University. 

Saginaw Valley Lutheran senior Adrian Hildebrant finished her career this spring making the MHSAA records with 210 career hits and 47 doubles over four seasons, plus for her 18 doubles as a sophomore in 2015. She was joined by 2012 grad Sarah Appold, who had three previous entries for strikeouts in a game and was added for 991 over her four-season career. Saginaw Valley Lutheran as a team was added for 62 doubles in 2016 and 444 pitching strikeouts in 2012. Appold went on to play at Saginaw Valley State University.

Lansing Waverly catcher Madeline Stump was added for her 76 hits as a sophomore in 2016. She hit .618 over 35 games that spring.

Boys Tennis

A successful decade of Novi tennis led to a number of entries, highlighted by two-time MHSAA Finals singles champion Koushik Kondapi – he made the single-season wins list three times including twice with a high of 35, ranks fourth with 127 wins for his career from 2012-15, and also earned three other listings including for 25 career tournaments won. Alex Wen’s 36-0 record in 2014 earned him listings for single-season wins and consecutive wins, while Tim Wang (34-1 in 2013), Pavan Rao (34-1 in 2012) and Maxx Anderson (32-5 in 2013) also made the single-season wins list. A total of 18 pairs were added to the single-season wins list for doubles, led by Anderson and Daniel Yu with a 33-3 record in 2014. Others added once or more were Michael Chang, Nishant Kakar, Shashank Chitta, Kevin Xu, Aakash Ray, Nayan Makim, Jon Thompson, Andrew Ying, Sai Gotur, Abhishek Subash, Bill Bell, Alex Brizard, Jason Carless, David Mehl, Raymond Wen, Aditya Chitta, Robert Chen, Chaitanya Kanitkar, Vishnu Venugopal, Chris Kwederis, Ryan Krawec, Nathan Farooq, Nikhil Devarakonda and Greg Richard. Carless was added for a 101-16 career doubles record and Anderson was 91-10 in three seasons playing doubles. Wang plays at Columbia University.

Girls Tennis

A number of Novi standouts also were added to the girls tennis records, including Diana Ticu for 31 straight singles wins in 2003. Emily Holt (104-17 from 2001-04), Colene Brockman (101-13 from 2000-03), Lauren Thomas (89-17 from 2001-04) and Jenna Snyder (84-23 from 2008-11) all were added for career doubles wins.

Wrestling

Walled Lake Central standout Ben Freeman graduated this spring as the most recent of 22 four-time MHSAA Finals champions. He also finished 167-0 over his career, his streak ranking eighth for most consecutive victories. He’ll continue his career at University of Michigan.

PHOTO: Muskegon Mona Shores soccer players hold their District title trophy this spring. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)