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Records Report: Shark Sets Standard

December 21, 2012

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Allison Smith needed only three seasons to become one of the MHSAA's top setters of all-time. But her final season this fall surely was the most memorable for the St. Louis standout.  

Her record-setting assists total could be the most noteworthy accomplishment to be added to the MHSAA volleyball record book from this season. This week's "Records Report" also includes a number of other achievements from that sport, including the season and career kills totals of Miss Volleyball finalist Chloe Reinig of South Lyon. 

Click the sport categories below to see the entire record book for each, and keep an eye out for more additions in 2013.  

Volleyball

  • Allison Smith set an MHSAA rally-scoring record with 1,568 assists this season, highlighting 10 entries from her and her St. Louis teammates added after this season. Smith, a senior, tallied 20 more assists this fall than former record-holder Erica Bartholomew of Coloma in 2006-07. Teammates Brooke Tubbs and Bri Alspaugh also were added to the record book after the Sharks finished 65-11-1. Smith’s 3,751 assists over the last three seasons puts her seventh on the career list for the rally scoring era, which began in 2004-05.
  • Livonia Churchill senior Emily Norscia had 786 kills this fall to finish with 1,964 in her career – good for 11th on the MHSAA list. Her kills this season were 16th-most for one year since rally scoring was introduced. Her coach, Mark Grenier, was added to the coaching list with 722 wins over 20 seasons at five schools. Churchill finished 44-9-2 this fall.
  • South Lyon’s Chloe Rienig finished her career also ranking among Michigan’s top hitters all-time. The 6-foot-4 senior – who played her freshman season at Bloomfield Hills Marian before coming to South Lyon – finished with 1,818 kills, tied for 15th on the MHSAA career list since the switch to rally scoring. Her kill totals the last two seasons both ranked on that single-year list. Reinig, who has signed with Michigan State, also made the list three times for kills in a match. Her 39 against Salem in a five-set win on Sept. 25 ranks second.
  • Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central’s Emily Campbell was added for her 749 kills this season, plus 39 she had in a five-game match against Forest Hills Northern on Oct. 31. Teammate Mya Udell was added for delivering 48 assists in that match, which Forest Hills Central won with a 15-9 clincher in the final game.

Football

  • Dowagiac’s Brett Scanlon finished his career among the top field-goal kickers in MHSAA history. He’s tied for second on the career list with 28 three-point makes in 53 attempts from 2009 through this fall. His 120 extra points also tie for 14th on that career list. Total, he appears in the MHSAA football record book seven times for his kicking achievements.

Boys tennis

  • A number of listings were added for Midland Dow players after the Chargers claimed their fourth straight Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship. Perhaps most impressive were the 41-0 season by junior Austin Woody – who tied the single-season record for wins and added to his record streak of 80 straight victories in winning the No. 2 singles championship – and the 37-0 finish by juniors Jason Chang and Vikram Shanker. They tied for second-most wins in a season on the way to claiming the No. 1 doubles title, and Chang has been part of 101 straight doubles wins – good for the second-longest doubles win streak.

Boys basketball

  • Our first listing from this boys basketball season comes from Leroy Pine River and Mitchell McDonald. He led the Bucks to an 87-36 opening-night win over Harrison with 19 assists, to go along with 11 points and six steals.

Softball

  • Fenton’s Cowger sisters and teammate Katie Carinduff all made the book for accomplishments last spring or during their careers. Sammi Cowger, now playing at Ball State, made the career doubles and triples lists, while now-junior sister Ellie Cowger tied for 11th for single-season stolen bases with 65 and tied for eighth with a 20-game hitting streak. Carinduff made the list for most RBI in one game, with seven May 12 against Macomb L’Anse Creuse North. 

PHOTO: St. Louis' Allison Smith (3) prepares to set a teammate during this season's St. Louis Invitational. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

Standouts Finish on Record Kicks

April 11, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Never underestimate the value of a talented kicker on a high school football team.

This season’s MHSAA Finals showed again just how much that unheralded player can contribute to a championship effort.

Birmingham Brother Rice senior Jason Alessi helped his team win its third straight Division 2 championship, tying the MHSAA single-season record with 16 field goals – on 18 attempts – and finishing second on the career list with 32 on 37 tries. He also made all 59 of his extra point attempts this fall and finished his career with 135 extra points total – good for sixth on that career list – including 122 straight, which is the second-longest streak of makes.

In Division 8, Muskegon Catholic Central junior Griffin Seymour helped his team to a championship season as well. He finished on a 72-straight extra point streak (fourth longest), with his 75 extra points total tied for the sixth-most for one season.

Theirs are among recent additions to the MHSAA online record books. Read on for details on more in football, baseball, boys basketball and volleyball. 

Football

  • Brother Rice quarterback Alex Malzone made single-season lists for completing 190 of 281 passes for 2,782 yards and 25 touchdowns, and receiver Corey Lacanaria made single-season (65 catches/1,111 yards) and career (115/1,883 from 2011-13) lists in those categories. Defensive end Jack Dunaway made the single-season sacks list with 15, and Alessi also joined a list of 10 who have returned a kick at least 95 yards for a touchdown, doing so from that distance against Toledo St. John’s Jesuit on Sept. 6. (Former Warriors Anthony Jackson, Joey Henry and Devin Church also were added to the longest kick return touchdown list). 

  • It took more than 50 years to find its way into the MHSAA record books, but Bob Bentley’s 99-yard kickoff return touchdown for Corunna against Elsie on Oct. 5, 1962, has been added and is the oldest listing for this record-setting distance.

  • A number of Holland Christian offensive standouts were added in a variety of categories. Among highlights: Quarterback Ross Schreur was added to four single-season lists after completing 195 of 319 passes for 2,752 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2012, and Caleb VanderLugt was added after throwing six touchdown passes against Holland last season. Schreur also completed 32 of 45 passes against Zeeland West in a 2012 game for 497 yards – eighth on the single-game passing list. Kyle Steigenga had seasons with 18 and 17 touchdown receptions, and finished his career with those 35 scores in addition to 112 catches (and 2,048 yards) total.

  • Grayling is on a run for five straight playoff appearances with three straight seasons of nine wins, and much of that success can attributed to a high-powered passing attack. Quarterback Jake Swander was added for his 2012, 2013 and career totals in four categories – he finished his career last fall with 392 completions in 720 attempts for 5,281 yards and 51 touchdown passes in two seasons. Zane Tobin completed 194 of 365 attempts for 2,664 yards and 28 TDs in 2011, and Zach Wolcott threw for 2,404 yards in 2009. Tyler McClanahan finished his three-year receiving career with 160 catches for 2,378 yards and 25 touchdowns, and Cody Myers had 144 catches for 2,140 yards from 2008-10.

Baseball

  • Hale’s Kaydon Reimer is on his way to finishing his career this spring as one of the most hit batsmen in MHSAA history. He entered this season tied for 15th on the career hit-by-pitch list with 30. He made the single-season list in 2013 after getting hit by 15 pitches.

  • Jackson High School ran like almost no team has before in MHSAA history, totaling the third-most stolen bases, 196, in 2013. The Vikings were led by Trevor Polewka, who had 46 steals to make the individual single-season list.

Boys Basketball

  • Ann Arbor Rudolf Steiner and Adrian Lenawee Christian combined to make the second-most 3-pointers in a game in MHSAA history – 27 – on Feb. 24, 2012. Rudolf Steiner connected on 13 of its 17 3-point tries, and Lenawee Christian connected on 14 of 24 from behind the arc in going on to win the game 91-62.

Volleyball

  • Teagan Reeves will graduate this spring as one of the top blockers in MHSAA history. The Three Rivers senior followed up her 236 blocks as a junior (third-most for a season during the rally scoring era) with 177 this fall. She finished with 622 blocks, third most on the rally-scoring career list.

  • Onaway’s Mariah Ehrke will graduate as well this spring with multiple entries for kills. She made the single-season list with 592 this fall and finished on the career list with 1,419 over four seasons. Teammate Devin Bristley added 132 aces this fall to finish her three-season career with 310.

PHOTOS: Birmingham Brother Rice’s Jason Alessi (left) and Muskegon Catholic Central’s Griffin Seymour put up some of the most impressive kicking performances in MHSAA history in 2013. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)