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Records Report: Ashby Wins 6-0, 6-0 ...

May 10, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central's Meika Ashby is finishing up an incredible high school career and a senior season that's already included breaking an MHSAA record for most straight-set shutout wins.

That and an impressive winning streak that ended in the final match of 2012 put her among those entered into the MHSAA record books this week. Click on the sport headings below to view the entire record book for that respective sport.

Girls Tennis

  • Hackett’s Meika Ashby entered this spring on the cusp of an MHSAA record with 55 wins by scores of 6-0, 6-0 – one off the record. She’s since broken that and signed with Western Michigan University for next season. Ashby also won the first 69 matches of her high school career – the fourth-longest streak in MHSAA history – before falling in last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 4 No. 1 singles championship match. She won No. 1 singles as a sophomore and No. 2 as a freshman.

Baseball

  • Jack Ropp finished his Concord career last spring with the best base-stealing season in MHSAA history. Ropp stole 79 bases, seven more than Saginaw Nouvel’s Jeff Turner in 1995 and nine more than Ropp stole as a junior in 2011. Ropp’s career total of 166 steals ranks third, and he also was entered into the record book six times for games during which he had five or more steals. Ropp also was entered for his pitching shutouts last season and over his four-year varsity career, and Concord’s Dustin Bornefeld also now makes an appearance for his seven steals during a game in 2008.
  • Grand Ledge furthered its hold on the top spot for single-season ERA by posting a 0.97 in 2012, led by Blake Dahlstrom’s 0.99 – he made the individual MHSAA list. The Comets also now are listed with 91 doubles and a .356 average in finishing 30-7 last spring.

Boys Tennis

  • Kalamazoo Loy Norrix senior Jake Gumbleton will carry a two-season, 55-match winning streak into this fall. The streak is the fourth-longest in the MHSAA record book. He’ll also be seeking his first MHSAA Finals berth – Gumbleton has played No. 2 singles, but because his team hasn’t qualified as a whole he hasn’t advanced to the season’s final weekend.
  • Comstock Park had a number of strong performances in finishing runner-up at the Division 4 Lower Peninsula Final in the fall. Among them, twins Dylan and Tyler Fink advanced to the semifinals at No. 1 doubles and finishing this season with 27 wins and a career total of 70 – both good enough to make the records listings.

Boys Basketball

  • Ryan Marjerle cemented himself among the top free throw shooters in MHSAA history. His career percentage of .856 ranks third on that list among those who had at least 300 attempts. He also made the single-season list twice for 110 makes in 2009-10 and 136 in 2010-11.
  • The majority of the MHSAA single-game rebounds feats took place during the 1960s and 70s. But Isaac Bowles joined the list on Jan. 17 with 38 rebounds to help Detroit Cesar Chavez defeat Detroit University Prep Science & Math 64-58. That tied for the eighth-most rebounds in one game. He also had 12 blocks to make that single-game list and scored 16 points.
  • Carney-Nadeau’s 72-56 upset of No. 2 Pellston in a 2012 Class D Quarterfinal was one of the most memorable games of that season’s tournament, in part because of Wade Schetter and his sharp-shooting teammates. Schetter scored 30 points while making seven 3-pointers, and his team set an MHSAA Final Round (Qtr-Final) record with 14 3-pointers in the game. While Schetter’s 80 3-pointers that season just missed the MHSAA individual record list, his 117 steals are tied for seventh.

Girls Basketball

  • Kim Knuth finished a stellar career at St. Joseph in 1994 by winning the state’s Miss Basketball award. She also just made the MHSAA records for her career 97-7 record on varsity – 21-2 as a freshman, 26-2 as a sophomore, 25-2 as a junior and 25-1 her final season. St. Joseph finished Class B runner-up in 1992.

Football

  • Zeeland West became the first entry for most rushing yards in a game, with the 755 it gained last Sept. 28 against Holland Christian tied for fifth nationally. West ran 54 times in the 66-36 win over the Maroons, with three players gaining at least 100 yards apiece – Marcus Lambert with 254 on 15 carries, Jon Pung with 199 also on 15 carries and Braden Werley 135 on 11 carries. Eight others had carries for positive yards to contribute to the effort.

PHOTO: Kalamazoo Hackett's Meika Ashby claimed her second MHSAA championship at the LP Division 4 Final in 2011.

Miss Soccer Scores at Champion's Pace

January 22, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Saline’s run last spring to its first MHSAA girls soccer championship was keyed by a number of talented players – including a pair of all-staters with record book-caliber contributions.

Senior forward Taylor Mulder was named Miss Soccer after scoring 43 goals with 11 assists – her goals and 54 points made single-season records lists – and she finished her four-year varsity career with 80 goals. All-state keeper Sofia Sweier had 22 shutouts last season, tying for second-most in MHSAA history. She finished her four-year career with 42 shutouts, all coming over her final three years in net.

As a team, Saline gave up only four goals – tied for third fewest in MHSAA history – and had runs of 10 and nine consecutive shutouts. The nine straight began with the second-to-last regular-season game and included the entire Division 1 Tournament.

Mulder is currently playing at Siena Heights University, and Sweier played this fall at Grand Valley State University.

Click to see the girls soccer record book in full, and read on for more recent additions for other sports. (Click the sport headings to see those record lists.)

Girls Basketball

Sterling Heights’ Kendal Ring blocked 16 shots in her team’s 48-33 win over Macomb L’Anse Creuse North on Jan. 23, 2015, good to tie for sixth-most blocks in one game. The 5-foot-11 center is a senior this season.

Boys Soccer

Holland Christian’s run to the Division 2 Regional Semifinals in the fall including 15 shutouts in 24 games – and the team gave up only 11 goals all fall. Both milestones made the MHSAA records. Sophomore Nick VanderLaan had 11 shutouts and combined on four more.

Shelby made the team shutouts list with eight straight to start the 2015 season and also for giving up only 10 goals in 22 games. Keeper Jonah Kelley made the individual lists for consecutive shutouts and with 13 total for the season.

Softball

Rogers City’s outstanding run the last four seasons included two trips to the MHSAA Semifinals and a Division 4 title in 2014. A number of standouts played major parts, Logan Fleming among the stars. Fleming set an MHSAA single-season record for runs scored with 86 last spring, when she hit in all 39 games, and finished her four-season varsity career second all-time both with 264 runs and 304 hits; her 95 hits last spring also were second-most for one season. She also hit 25 doubles in 2015, third-most for one season, with her career total of 68 coming in sixth, and her .551 career batting average is 12th. Teammate Sarah Meredith is listed in the record book eight times, most notably for her .664 average in 2015. Kayla Rabeau and Kayla Fleury were among those entered for back-to-back home runs, while Nikkie Jo LaLonde was added for 34 career doubles from 2010-13 and Morgan Hall and Cassie Brege were among those added for RBI in one game. Rogers City as a team also earned a number of listings; its 42 runs in a game in 2014 were third most, and its 479 runs last season were second-most. The team’s 500 hits in 2015 ranked third and its 376 RBI and .449 team batting average also both ranked second. Meredith will be a senior this spring, and Fleming now plays at Ferris State.

Volleyball

A number of Rockford’s all-time leaders were added to the MHSAA listings, including a record-setter from the fall. Setter Hailey Delacher, a sophomore, set a rally-scoring era (2004-05 – present) record with 67 assists in a five-set match against Hudsonville on Nov. 10. Total, she made the single-match records five times for assists and also the single-season list with 1,310. She was joined by a number of her school’s previous setters including Halle Peterson, Abby Carlson (her 1,465 assists in 2013 rank fifth for a season), Kim Weaver, Debbie Nikodemski and Heather Gates. Andrea Kacsits was added for her career kills (1,831), aces (283) and blocks (631 – ranking third) among seven entries overall. Nikodemski also was added for 10 aces in a two-set match in 2007, and Weaver for her school-record 121 aces in 2008. Kacsits went on to play at Ohio State University, while Peterson just finished her career at Michigan State, Carlson plays at Cornerstone University and Weaver also played for the Golden Eagles, and Gates played at Bethel College in Indiana. Nikodemski played basketball at Olivet College. Also, coach Kelly Delacher, who has led teams at Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, Grand Rapids Northview and now Rockford the last decade, was added to the career coaching wins list with a record of 848-385-32.

South Lyon senior Jessie Ignace had 38 of her team’s 53 kills in a 3-2 loss to Salem on Sept. 17. The 38 kills ties for eighth-most for one match during the rally scoring era.

North Adams-Jerome junior Holly Trujillo set a school record and finished eighth in MHSAA history with 206 blocks (including 148 solos) in helping her team to a District championship and state ranking in Class D.   

Sarah DeVries capped her Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian career this fall with her second entry for single-season kills and tied for 11th-most kills for a career in the rally scoring era. DeVries added 717 this season to 743 she had as a junior, and total finished with 1,964 over four seasons. She’ll play next season at Calvin College.

Brooke Beaubien capped her four-season Cheboygan career among the MHSAA career-best with 1,517 kills and 280 aces, and she also made the single-season aces list with 116 as a sophomore. Her teams finished a combined 151-69-18 and won two league championships. 

PHOTO: Saline's Taylor Mulder (7) works to get past a defender during last season's Division 1 Final against Grand Blanc.