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.

FHC star Clay Tops Every Scoring Chart

November 8, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central standout Bryce Clay rewrote the MHSAA boys lacrosse record book over the last four seasons.

He graduated this spring atop the career goals list with 385, with the most career assists at 224 and far beyond the pack with 609 career points – 154 more than anyone else has achieved.

Clay’s single-season high of 166 points rank second on that list, with his 66 assists this spring tied for fourth in that category and his career-high 105 goals in 2016 also ranking second.

He helped Forest Hills Central to the Division 2 title in 2016 and runner-up finishes the last two springs. He’s continuing his career at University of Michigan.

Click to check out the lacrosse record book in full, and read on for more recent additions in baseball, football, girls soccer, volleyball and wrestling. Click on the headings to view those record books.

Baseball

Homer’s 37-2 season this spring included a string of 48 scoreless innings that topped its previous MHSAA record of 44 set in 2005. The Trojans had 20 shutouts, a record-setting team ERA of 0.78 and 377 strikeouts, which were the second-most on that list. Homer also hit .368 with 83 doubles and 308 RBI, all three accomplishments making record book lists. Jordan Sherman capped his four seasons on career lists with 151 runs scored and 136 RBI, while Joe Roth was added for a career ERA of 1.59 over the last three seasons and Zach Butters was added for a 1.22 ERA with a fourth season to play next spring. Brock Ridgeway was added for 33 pitching wins from 2013-16. Sherman is continuing his career at Concordia University-Ann Arbor, Roth is playing football at Indiana Wesleyan University and Ridgeway plays baseball at Central Michigan University.

Birmingham Groves was added for games with 13 and 11 stolen bases this spring and for 12 steals in a game in 2017. As a team, Groves also made the season hit-by-pitch list in 2018 with 49 in 36 games. Chaise Ford completed his career in the spring with 33 times hit by pitches over 110 games and three seasons. He’s playing football at Ferris State University.

Jack Pramuka became the second player in Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart history to be hit by three or more pitches in one game when he was hit in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings April 21 against Battle Creek Harper Creek. Pramuka was a senior.

Four four-year varsity players left record-book milestones in graduating from Frankfort this spring. Brett Zimmerman has eight record book entries, with his .640 batting average this past season ranking third all-time. He made career lists hitting .506, getting hit by pitches 55 times (third all-time), stealing 115 bases, scoring 184 runs and driving in 135. Griffin Kelly also was added to the career runs list with 156, and teammates Jack Morrow and Kirk Myers made the career ERA list at 1.50 and 1.36, respectively. As a team, Frankfort was added for getting hit by pitches 49 times this spring, and also for tying the MHSAA record with eight straight shutouts and ranking third all-time with 45 straight scoreless innings. (Frankfort was one of three teams to break the scoreless innings streak record this spring, with Homer finishing with 48 as explained above and Brownstown Woodhaven ending its record run May 17 with 60 straight.) Zimmerman is playing baseball at Wayne State University, Morrow and Myers are playing at Albion College, and Kelly is playing football at Northern Michigan.

Football

Clinton Township Chippewa Valley made the team defense record book a second time by holding Utica to only four first downs in a 49-0 victory Oct. 19. Chippewa Valley previously had been added for holding Utica to five first downs in their 2017 meeting. Also, senior Niko Kepi was added for connecting on 61 straight extra points beginning near the end of 2017 and carrying through his first attempts in Friday’s District Final win over Macomb Dakota.

Despite falling 67-37 to eventual Division 5 champion Grand Rapids West Catholic on Oct. 16, 2015, Belding’s special teams shined. Connor Barker, a senior, returned kickoffs 90 and 88 yards for touchdowns to make the list for multiple kickoff return touchdowns in one game.

Girls Soccer

Kristi Vandeberghe has taken her rightful place among the leading scorers all-time, with the addition of her single-season goals for her sophomore (50), junior (40) and senior (48) seasons to go with her record 66 as a freshman. The former Mount Clemens star finished with 204 career goals from 2001-04, which ranks second. She went on to play at Grand Valley State and then Oakland University.

Softball

St. Joseph’s Courtney Farrish enjoyed a power-packed spring, making the MHSAA single-season home runs list with 14 over 31 games. Farrish is a senior this fall and will sign with Western Michigan University.

Wrestling

Hunter Machus finished his four-season varsity career at Bronson in 2013 on career lists for wins and pins. He ended 209-25 with 111 of those victories by fall. Machus went on to wrestle at Alma College.

PHOTO: Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central’s Bryce Clay begins a run upfield during last season’s Division 2 Final against East Grand Rapids.