Records Fall to Gaylord Star, Technically
May 16, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Gaylord junior Dominic LaJoie just missed on a third MHSAA wrestling individual championship this winter, falling in the Division 2 championship match at 119 pounds.
But he finished 61-1 to make the MHSAA single-season wins list and set two records with 43 technical falls this season and 64 over his three-season career.
Teammate Jon Martin also was an MHSAA runner-up, at 130 pounds, and closed his career with a 201-22 record – which made an MHSAA wins list, as did his 58-4 finish this season.
Click the “Wrestling” heading below for the record book for that sport in full, and read on for more of last week’s record listing additions in football, girls soccer and softball.
Football
Grand Ledge kicker Brendan Baker finished his career last fall with near perfection, connecting on 60 of 61 extra-point tries to make the single-season list in that category, while also finishing a streak of 49 straight that started at the end of 2014 and stretched 13 games into Week 10 of 2015. Baker total made 123 of 131 extra-point attempts during a three-year varsity career.
A pair of long scoring players made the records lists from Ionia’s 2015 season. During a 34-26 loss to Eaton Rapids on Sept. 11, Ionia quarterback Mitchell Lahr completed a 99-yard scoring pass to John McCord. Against Portland on Sept 25, Martin Gale returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score in a 61-13 defeat.
Muskegon Oakridge quarterback Brady Luttrull put together a strong junior season in the fall – and set himself up for some career milestones as well. Luttrull made single-season lists with 2,579 passing yards, 270 attempts, 159 completions and 32 touchdown passes and already sits on career lists with 4,240 passing yards and 53 passing touchdowns over his sophomore and junior seasons. He also made single-game lists with 25 completions, including 17 straight, and six touchdown passes against Muskegon Catholic Central on Aug. 28 and for 416 passing yards against North Muskegon on Sept. 11. Teammate James Cooper III caught all six of those TD passes against MCC to rank second all-time on the single-game receiving touchdowns list, and he made the career touchdowns list with 22 over 20 games as a junior and senior.
Millington’s 1940 team was added to the list of now 20 that did not give up a point (the last team to do so was in 1973). The Cardinals finished 1940 with a 7-0-1 record.
Girls Soccer
Middleville Thornapple Kellogg had a few submissions added from earlier this decade – including one for an MHSAA record. Erin Scheidel assisted on all 10 goals for her team in its 10-0 shutout of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills on May 19, 2014, setting the record for most assists in one game by three. She finished the season with 27 assists in 20 games to make the single-season list, and teammate Aly Miller made the single-season shutouts list for goalkeepers with 14 the year before, 2013. Thornapple Kellogg finished 14-4-2 in 2013 and 16-2-2 in 2014. Scheidel plays now at Siena Heights University.
Softball
Alex Sorgi played a significant role in Utica Ford’s success over the last four seasons, and she made the MHSAA records in multiple categories – for her 20 doubles last spring, her 204 hits over four seasons from 2012-15 and her 183 career stolen bases in 149 games. The stolen bases total ranks ninth all-time. Sorgi is playing this season at Bowling Green State University.
Wrestling
Laingsburg senior Kevin Koenig added a Division 4 championship at 285 pounds this winter to go with a title at 215 as a sophomore and runner-up finishes at 215 in both 2013 and 2015. He finished with a career record of 219-10, and his 60-4 record as a freshman made the single-season wins list.
Clinton’s Nicholas Rolland finished his career this winter with 153 escapes, good for fourth on that career list. He was 53-8 as a senior and 128-58 for his career after surviving a horrific lawnmower accident as a child. (Read about it in the Adrian Daily Telegram.)
Southgate Anderson’s Logan Parks capped his high school career in 2015 with a Division 1 runner-up finish at 145 pounds and has entries in the MHSAA records for his 58-2 record as a junior and 197-26 record over his four-season career. Parks wrestled this season at Central Michigan University.
PHOTO: Gaylord's Dominic LaJoie wrestles Melvindale's Julian Saldana in the Division 2 championship match at 119 pounds this winter. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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.)