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Orchard View Sluggers Continue Climb

July 16, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A pair of Muskegon Orchard View softball standouts are climbing MHSAA record book career lists with one more season to play.

Halee Holman drove in 71 runs over 36 games this spring as a junior to raise her career RBI total to 227, which ranks eighth all-time. She also made the record book with 21 doubles this season and sits on career lists as well with 51 doubles and 24 home runs.

Junior teammate Cassidee White had made the career doubles list with 40 and career runs list with 195, with a single-season best 17 doubles this spring and her best run total coming as a freshman when she crossed the plate 70 times over 41 games.

See below for more recent softball record book additions – with more to be published later this week. Click the heading below to see the record book in full.

Softball

Frankfort’s Natalie Bigley finished her four-year varsity run this spring with 227 runs scored – 14th most all-time and one of 11 entries for her in the MHSAA record book. Six were added from a May 10 win over Bellaire where Bigley hit three straight home runs, including two in an inning and two grand slams and drove in six runs in that fourth frame and 10 for the game. She finished her career with 30 homers over 151 games. Junior teammate Haley Myers moved up career lists in runs (210), doubles (49) and home runs (29) with a season to play. Bigley will continue her career at Calvin University (formerly Calvin College).

Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s MaKayla Thompson ranks 23rd with 1,141 career strikeouts after adding 266 in 150 innings pitched as a senior this spring.  She threw 643 innings over her four-season varsity career and will continue at Kent State University. 

Jada Bolhuis left a sizable impression on the record book during just her first season at Otsego this spring, finishing with the fourth-most hits in MHSAA history, 91, and 12th-most runs scored, 75, while also earning mention with a .674 batting average. Sophomore Kendra VanderLugt joined her teammate with six entries, including for 14 home runs and 88 RBI this year, with the latter ranking eighth all-time. Junior Skylar Anderson earned a line as well with 19 doubles. As a team, Otsego was added for 450 hits, a .423 batting average, 62 doubles, 29 homers and 290 RBI over 36 games. 

Brooklyn Columbia Central freshman Kenadee Tompkins also got her high school career off to a quick start with 16 doubles to make the single-season list in that category.

Sydney Stapf also made a stellar debut. The West Bloomfield freshman made the single-season home runs list with 12.

Niles Brandywine’s Kennedy Byrd was added for driving in eight runs during an April 13 win over Saugatuck, and also for hitting 12 home runs with 53 RBI for the spring. She was a junior.

Mackenize Nagelhout’s noteworthy debut came in 2018, when as a freshman she hit 19 doubles for Howard City Tri County to make the single-season list in that category. This spring, Tri County junior Alayna Merlington was added for six RBI in a May 17 game against Morley Stanwood.

Lauren Kuffel struck out 22 batters – including four in one inning – as Mio held on for a 5-4 District Final win in 10 innings over Au Gres-Sims on May 31. Kuffel, a senior, tallied 14 of those strikeouts and didn’t give up a run over the final six innings.

Mara Sczecienski became the second player in North Farmington history to be listed in the records for softball, finishing her career this spring with 202 hits, 55 doubles and 23 home runs over 127 games and four seasons. She also made the single-season doubles list with 17 as a junior. She is continuing at University of Hartford in Connecticut.

PHOTO: Orchard View’s Cassidee White watches a pitch come her way during a doubleheader this spring against Muskegon Western Michigan Christian. (Photo courtesy of Local Sports Journal.)

St. Mary's Star Finds Net at Record Pace

June 3, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A player must score at least seven goals in a game to make the MHSAA records listing for boys lacrosse.

Colin Theisen did so six times this spring – and took over the top spot on the season scoring list as well with 102 goals total.

Theisen set the record for goals in a game with 15 in Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s win over Whitmore Lake on May 4. He broke his own record that day, set with 13 goals against Ypsilanti Lincoln on March 30.

Theisen also made the single-game points list six times with a high of 17, which ranks second. His 133 points total this season rank third.

Teammate Alec Mahalak joins him in the record book; he had seven assists on April 19 against Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett to make that category’s single-game list, and finished with 10 points in that game.

The boys lacrosse season ends with MHSAA Finals on Saturday. St. Mary finished 11-3 this spring, falling to Warren DeLaSalle in a Regional game May 21. 

Click to see the boys lacrosse record listings in full, and see below for additional recent additions to the MHSAA records.

Boys Basketball

  • Dearborn Heights Annapolis senior Bryan Collins scored 1,281 points during his four-season career that came to an end this winter. He scored 380 of those on free throws, which places him 18th in the MHSAA records for that category. Collins connected on 77 percent of his attempts and had seasons of 153 and 155 makes. He also made 22 of 26 in a Jan. 16 game against Livonia Clarenceville, and scored 23 points total in a quarter against Robichaud on March 2. All totals made MHSAA lists.

  • Tanner Eubank also finished his high school career this winter among the sharpest shooters from the free throw line. The Paw Paw standout connected on 359 of 475 free-throw attempts during his four-year varsity career, hitting on 76 percent of his tries.

Football

  • Kyle Brindza not only made an MHSAA-record 17 field goals (in 24 attempts) for Plymouth during the 2010 season, but six of those makes and nine of those attempts came from at least 50 yards out – he scored a long of 53 yards. Brindza sits atop the record list for most field goals in one season (career stats are being researched; please email [email protected] with possible updates). He also made 40 of 42 extra-point attempts that season and went on to kick at the University of Notre Dame. He’s currently on the roster of the Detroit Lions.



Girls Soccer

  • Maggie Harma was nearly unbeatable in net in leading Richard Gull Lake to back-to-back Division 2 championships in 2013 and 2014. The keeper tallied 18 shutouts both seasons and a total of 52 during her four-year varsity career – her career total is tied for ninth in MHSAA girls soccer history. Harma made 12 starts in goal as a freshman in the fall for Wayne State University.

Softball

  • Senior Kelsey Smith earned all but one of her team’s 21 outs by strikeout in a 10-0 no-hitter win for Watervliet Grace Christian over Eau Claire on May 12. Smith walked only two to go with her 20 strikeouts over seven innings, with that win improving her record at the time to 10-1.

Volleyball

  • Chelsea finished 50-11-4 in 2014 and reached the Class B Regional Finals after finishing the regular season ranked No. 3, led by a record-setting setter and top hitter. Senior Mary Kelleher set her teammates to a record 1,757 points to eclipse the previous rally scoring assist record of 1,568 set by Allison Smith of St. Louis in 2012. Chelsea junior Emma Hess was the main recipient, making the single-season kills list with 666.

Wrestling

  • Portage Central’s Angelo Latora won his first MHSAA title and achieved his 200th career win in his final high school match. Latora won the Division 1 title at 140 pounds at the 2012 Finals to finish 53-1 that season and 200-22 for his career. He also finished third at 135 as a junior, fourth at 135 as a sophomore and seventh at 130 as a freshman. He currently wrestles for the University of Michigan.

  • Hartland’s Jacob Gorial graduates this spring as a four-time MHSAA Finals placer and with the 24th-most wins as an individual. Gorial ended his career this winter at 226-20, with back-to-back 60-win seasons as a junior and senior. He finished third in Division 1 at 152 pounds, following a fourth place at 145, second and 130 and seventh at 112 his first three seasons, respectively. Gorial also made the career pins list with 136. He’s signed to continue at Division II Coker College in South Carolina.

  • Nathan Wynkoop earned his 211 victories, with just 21 defeats, for West Branch Ogemaw Heights from 2010-13. He also made the single-season wins list going 62-2 as a senior; he finished third in Division 2 at 160 pounds that winter after taking fourth at 145 in 2011-12. Wynkoop currently wrestles at Cleveland State University. 

PHOTO: Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central players, including Colin Theisen (13), celebrate. Theisen scored 102 goals this season. (Photo courtesy of Monroe St. Mary.)