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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.)

Records Report: Stiles Strikes Out 25

September 14, 2012

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Four pitchers combined for 49 strikeouts when Bath's baseball team faced Pewamo-Westphalia through 40 mph winds on April 16.

The first hit of the game didn’t come until the 11th inning, and the lone run wasn’t scored until the 13th, when the Bees finally claimed a 1-0 victory.

Despite an incredible performance, senior Nick Stiles didn’t get that pitching win. But he did strike out 25 batters over the game’s first 10 innings, good to tie for eighth-most in an extra-inning game in the MHSAA record book.

Reliever Ryan Orr came in and struck out six over three innings to get the victory in relief. And opposing pitcher Cam Trierweiler finished with a mere 15 strikeouts over eight no-hit innings before he also was relieved.

Below are highlights from recent submissions to the MHSAA record books. Click to see the baseball record book, or the headings below to see records listings for those sports.

Softball

  • Manistee standouts Haley Maser and Megan VanderWeele were added for their doubles last season, 17 and 16, respectively. Maser hit .471 and VanderWeele .451 for the spring.
  • Manchester’s Katie McClure became the latest of nine entries who have struck out 21 batters in a seven-inning game, having doing so while giving up just two hits in a 7-0 win over Michigan Center on May 14. Only two others have struck out more in a seven-inning game. McClure also made the list with 16 doubles this spring, as she hit .441.
  • A number of listings for New Baltimore Anchor Bay were added, including those for season (34 in 2008) and career wins (101) and career strikeouts (902) for former hurler Olivia Nicholas, who totaled her numbers from 2007-2010.

Football

  • Macomb Lutheran North senior J.J. McGrath wasted little time creating his first individual highlight of this fall. He connected on a 57-yard field goal – third-longest in the MHSAA record book – to help his team to a 24-21 win over host Yale on opening night.

Girls lacrosse

  • Recently-graduated Midland Dow goalkeeper Meridith Murley had the third-most saves for one game, 22, in a 15-6 win over Flushing on May 8.
  • White Lake Lakeland senior Nichole Laflamme capped her three-year varsity career this spring with 93 goals and 107 points, both among the top 10 in those respective categories. She scored seven goals in a game five times this season, and sophomore teammate Dominique Zigo did so once on the way to 82 goals and 97 points – which also made the records listings.