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.

Evart Reaches Record Book 23 Times During Run Including 2022 Finals Trip

December 26, 2023

Evart was added to the MHSAA softball record book 23 times for achievements during an outstanding three-season run that has included a Division 3 runner-up finish in 2022.

Then-junior Katelyn Gostlin twice was included for hitting streaks, of 26 straight games during the 2022 season and 22 straight this past spring. She also was added for 23 doubles in 2022, and then-senior Addysen Gray was added for 16 doubles in 2023. Ally Theunick was added for 11 home runs this spring and 23 over her first three seasons with one more to play. Gostlin, Theunick and 2021 graduate Ryenn Baumgardner all were added for single-game accomplishments.

Among team record listings, Evart had 405 hits, 419 runs, 85 doubles, 35 home runs and 328 RBI over 39 games this spring. Gostlin has signed with Mid-Michigan College, and Gray is playing softball and basketball there this school year.

See below for more recent additions to the MHSAA softball record book:

Olivia Mikowski followed up her Maple City Glen Lake team’s Division 4 basketball championship in March with a national record this spring on the diamond. She tied the MHSAA and national records with 20 triples, over 35 games, among five record book entries she earned. She also is listed for 74 RBI this past season, while now-junior Jessie Pugh earned a listing with 66 runs scored over 37 games. Mikowski is continuing at Schoolcraft College.

Essexville Garber finished a combined 71-14 over the last two seasons and reached the Division 2 Semifinals in 2022 after winning its first Regional title since 1997, along the way achieving several record book performances for both team and individual lists. The Dukes hit 53 home runs over 41 games this past spring, tying for sixth most as senior Sarah Basket set a program record and made the individual list with 12. Basket also was added for 21 doubles in 2022, with Laney Kokaly making the doubles list that season with 16 and Ella Wagner making it was 16 this past season. Kortney Kotenko set the previous Garber home run record in 2022, making the record book list with 11. All four were seniors in 2023. Kotenko is continuing at Madonna, while Basket is playing at Lawrence Tech and Wagner at Northwood. Kokaly is playing volleyball at Northwood.

Three Rivers and now-senior Ava Forman made the single-season hits list with 75 over 41 games and the single-season doubles list for 22 last spring and also 18 over 40 games as a sophomore. Three Rivers as a team made the records for 423 hits, 101 doubles and 277 RBI over 42 games in 2023.

Armada’s Taylor Capozzo had 19 doubles in 2023 to make that single-season list, plus hit back-to-back home runs in a game against Yale, and Natalie Sauer drove in six runs in a game against Brown City. Capozzo is a sophomore this school year, and Sauer graduated in the spring and is continuing at St. Clair County Community College.

Schoolcraft’s Lauren Evans hit 31 doubles in 2023 as a junior, the second-most in MHSAA history, as the Eagles totaled 118 over 41 games – also the second-most doubles on the team list. Schoolcraft also made record lists for 436 hits and 316 RBI for the season and five home runs in a game against Battle Creek Pennfield (which included back-to-back homers by Evans). Teammate Sydney Drenth, then a sophomore, made the doubles list with 22, and senior Alayna Meade made the same list with 16. Meade is continuing at Cornerstone, and Evans has committed to sign with Saginaw Valley State.

Farmington Hills Mercy finished 29-1 in 2023, earning four record book entries along the way. The Marlins tied for second-fewest runs allowed, giving up only 16. They also made lists for 11 consecutive shutouts, 385 strikeouts and a .435 average and just missed the single-season shutouts list with 23.

Unionville-Sebewaing’s 2022 Division 4 championship season produced another series of record book-worthy accomplishments. As a team, USA set an MHSAA record with 128 doubles over 40 games and was fourth on the team RBI list with 391, while also earning entries with 44 runs scored, 485 hits and 48 home runs. Individually, then-sophomore Gabriella Crumm was added for 80 hits, 21 doubles and 11 home runs, and then-senior Laci Harris was added for 11 home runs as well plus 72 hits, 19 doubles and career totals of 31 home runs, 170 RBI, 170 runs scored and 51 doubles over 123 games despite her sophomore season of 2020 being canceled due to COVID-19. Then-junior Oliva Jubar was added for 18 doubles, and then-sophomore Ella Neumann was added for 17. Harris is continuing her career at Madonna.

Paige Ratliff finished her Battle Creek Lakeview career in the spring with 10 record book entries across a variety of categories. Most notably, she totaled 37 doubles, 30 home runs and a .520 career average over three seasons and 108 games. She’s continuing at Lake Forest College (Ill.).

Hudson then-freshman Taylor Kopin opened her high school career in the spring by scoring 65 runs to make the individual record book. In doing so, she also helped Hudson make the team record book list with 417 runs scored over 39 games.

Haslett’s Payden Whitmore earned her school’s first softball record book entry since 2007 by hitting 12 triples over 38 games in the spring. She’s a junior this school year.

Mancelona has a pair of softball players who reached career lists last season with more to play. Now-senior Ella Jones was added for 20 doubles as a sophomore in 2022 and 19 this spring, and made the career doubles list with 39 and a season to play. Now-junior Ella Schram was added for her 13 triples as a freshman and .650 average this spring, and she’s on the career triples list with 23 and will qualify for the career average list if she keeps hitting at this pace over her next seasons.

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart hit the second-most triples in MHSAA history on the way to the Division 4 Semifinals in the spring. The Irish piled up 48 over 43 games, led by freshman Mairin Wheaton, who hit 12 over 42, respectively.

Reed City made the team record lists with 78 doubles and 252 RBI over 39 games in the spring, and a pair of standouts also were added. Morgan Hammond, then a freshman, and then-sophomore Paityn Enos both were added for single-game RBI, plus Enos was added for 72 hits and 20 doubles and Hammond was added for 22 doubles.  

Manton now-junior Adriana Sackett earned her first record book listings in the spring. Twice she hit back-to-back home runs in games, and she also was added for 11 homers total over 26 games.

A trio of Ravenna standouts put up a series of record book-caliber totals over the last two seasons, including some of the highest-ranking all time. Emma Gillard graduated in the spring with nine record book entries, including for 85 runs (fourth most) and 13 triples (tied for 20th) this past season, and she made career lists with 200 runs, 27 triples and a .532 average over 111 games and three years. Emma Herremans is just a junior but has 11 record book listings after two seasons including for 25 doubles (11th-most) as a freshman in 2022 and a .652 average and 73 RBI this past spring, and she’s already on career lists for doubles and triples. Kara Postema graduated this spring with six record book entries, including season and career records for times hit by pitch (23 and 49, respectively), and she also made career lists with 36 doubles and 153 RBI over 111 games and three seasons. Gillard is continuing at Ferris State and Postema at Cornerstone.

PHOTO Evart's Riley Brigham connects during her team's Division 3 Final against Millington in 2022.