Roeper Standouts Climb Scoring Charts
April 17, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Birmingham Roeper’s first MHSAA boys soccer championship run included an expected number of key performances – especially from its top two scorers.
Sophomore Simon Roennecke this fall tied an MHSAA Finals record with four goals in the Division 4 championship game, and also made the MHSAA record book listings with 40 goals and 36 assists (and 76 points) – his assists ranking eighth for one season and the points 11th.
Teammate Max Whipple was added for a number of season and career milestones – 39 goals in 2013 and 46 this fall, 102 career goals, 49 career assists, 67 points this season and 151 over his four on varsity. Roeper as a team ranked second all-time for one season with 104 assists in 2014 and also made the team goals list with 107.
Click the “Boys Soccer” heading below to see those record listings in full, and read on for more recent additions to records for other sports.
Boys Soccer
- Cassopolis’ Dylan Armstrong became the latest of 20 who have had at least five assists in a game. He helped on five goals in his team’s 8-0 win over Watervliet Grace Christian on Sept. 25. Armstrong also scored in the victory.
Girls Basketball
- Here’s the highest-scoring individual performance we know of at this point from this winter; Kentwood Grand River Prep’s Mariah McCully scored 51 points in her team’s 79-52 win over Fruitport Calvary Christian on Dec. 8. She had three 3-pointers and only four free throws (making all four attempts); the rest of her points were scored on 19 two-point field goals. She scored 17 points in the first quarter.
- Edwardsburg sophomore Savannah Dixon placed herself among the top shooters in girls hoops history with two seasons to play, making 69 3-pointers this winter. She had a high of seven in a 56-45 victory over South Haven on Jan. 30.
- East Jackson fell in a Dec. 12 game to Grass Lake, 68-55, but Kassidy Blough had a headlining performance. She made 18 of 20 free-throw attempts to make the list for most successes from the stripe in a game. She scored 24 points total.
Boys Basketball
- East Jordan junior Jordan Weber is on his way to finishing as one of the top perimeter shooters in MHSAA history. Weber made 91 3-pointers (13th most) in 262 attempts this season – when he also went over 1,000 points for his career – and has 205 3-pointers after three varsity seasons to rank 21st on the career list. He averaged 26.7 points per game this winter as East Jordan finished 17-6.
- Troy Athens’ John Van Hoef was added to the career rebounding list with a four-season total of 822 and despite grabbing only 42 as a freshman. The 6-foot-5 post player averaged 12.8 rebounds per game this season and 11.8 per game as a junior. He also scored 15.2 points per game this winter.
Football
- Longtime Battle Creek Harper Creek coach Ed Greenman retired from the sideline after the fall and leading his team to a sixth straight playoff appearance. He finished with a 203-108 record over 30 seasons and despite starting 0-18 over his first two. He took nine teams to at least 10 wins, with his 2011 squad finishing 12-1.
- Holt’s Trent Stone achieved record-list numbers in back-to-back games this fall. On Sept. 12 he ran for seven touchdowns in his team’s 69-28 win over Lansing Eastern (total he carried the ball 21 times for 301 yards). The next week, Sept. 19, Stone ran 47 times – this time for 180 yards, in a 42-41 overtime loss to Lansing Everett. The seven touchdowns and 47 carries both made record book lists, the seven scores tying for second most rushing in one game.
Softball
- Pinconning finished last season as one of the top power-hitting teams in MHSAA history on the way to a 27-10-1 record. The Spartans hit 37 home runs – fourth-most for one season – and despite no player hitting more than eight (Gabby Yanoski and Katlyn Blake tied for the team lead with that total). Pinconning also made the records list with 64 doubles, including 15 by Millie Talaga.
PHOTO: Birmingham Roeper's Simon Roennecke looks for space during his record-setting performance in this season's MHSAA Division 4 Final.
Bowers Leaves Record-Caliber Mark on Kent City Hoops
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 4, 2021
Senior Kenzie Bowers added a pair of record book entries this past winter as she continued to help Kent City join the girls basketball elite.
Bowers scored 46 points in a win over Lakeview on Feb. 10 this winter, and also was added for 14 assists against Ravenna during a 2019-20 victory. The assists are tied for 12th-most in one game. Bowers also had earned a record book entry as a junior for drilling nine 3-pointers in a game.
Kent City reached the Division 3 championship game in April, falling just two points shy against Grass Lake in the finale. Bowers will continue her career at Illinois State.
See below for more recent record book entries for girls basketball, baseball, boys lacrosse and girls soccer.
Baseball
Nearly 50 years later, Jim Kniivila has reached the record book. The four-year Holt pitcher finished with a 0.21 ERA over 66 innings in 1973, ranking today as the eighth-lowest ERA for a single season. He went on to play at Michigan State.
Jacob Freeman capped his Gaylord career in 2016 by making the Division 2 all-state first team – and by earning a spot in the MHSAA record book with 47 stolen bases. He also hit .403 that spring.
Girls Basketball
Houghton’s Stella Wickstrom posted major rebounding performances as only a sophomore last winter. The 6-foot forward grabbed at least 25 rebounds in three games – with that many against Calumet on Feb. 15 and Iron Mountain on March 1, and a season-high 27 against Baraga on Feb. 8.
Ella Stemmer put up big numbers over her four-season, 88-game Saline varsity career – including some of the most impressive ever from the free throw line. She made the career list with 419 free throws in 506 attempts, with her 90.9-percent success this winter tying for second-highest for one season and her 82.8 career percentage ranking fifth. She’ll continue her career at Lehigh.
Comstock Park then-senior McKenna Bent connected on 10 3-pointers in two games during the 2019-20 season, against Holland that Dec. 13 and Sparta on Feb. 7. She finished with 40 and 41 points, respectively, in those games. She’s continuing her career at Saginaw Valley State.
Boys Lacrosse
Xander Roisen saved 32 shots for Pinckney in a 16-2 loss to Canton on April 23, setting an MHSAA record for most saves in one game (but to be broken three later; see below). Roisen was a senior this spring.
Warren Cousino senior Donovan Cece took over the record for saves in a game with 35 in his team’s 12-0 loss to Clinton Township Chippewa Valley on May 14.
JJ Hawkins had another of the busiest days for a goalie March 27. He made 21 saves in Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s 13-4 loss to Dearborn Divine Child. Hawkins was a freshman this spring.
Girls Soccer
Lily Usher tied for the seventh-most saves in a game when she made 35 in Owosso’s 6-0 loss to Goodrich on May 5. The Martians took a total of 56 shots, including those not on goal. Usher was a sophomore this spring.
PHOTO: Kent City's Kenzie Bowers gets to the basket during the Division 3 championship game against Grass Lake in April.