Rosman Earns Spot Among Top Hitters

January 23, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Kayla Rosman finished her four-year varsity volleyball career this fall having helped Morley-Stanwood to four league and three District titles and the Class C championship as a freshman in 2011.

She also capped a marvelous run as a Miss Volleyball Award finalist and among top hitters listed in the MHSAA record book.

Rosman had 606 kills this season – good to make the single-season list – and her 1,896 career kills rank 15th since the start of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. She previously tied an MHSAA Finals record with eight blocks in that 2011 Class C Final against Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.

Rosman – who has signed with Ferris State University – just missed the single-match list with 28 kills in a 3-1 Regional Final loss to Ravenna this season. But teammate Lindsey Veersma made the single-match assists list with 48 over those four sets.

Click to see the MHSAA volleyball record book in full and read on for more recent additions to record listings (click the sport heading for each to see that record book).

Baseball

  • Blissfield’s Josh Knorr played a big part in that perennial power continuing its winning tradition during his four-year career from 2009-12. His 179 career runs are tied for ninth in MHSAA history, while his 215 hits are fourth on that list and his 103 walks tie for 11th. He also had 110 stolen bases and was hit by 23 pitches during his four-year varsity career, during which he played nearly every position on the field although primarily catcher as a senior. Blissfield finished Division 3 runner-up his freshman season. Knorr played at Jackson Community College and is now playing at Adrian College.  

 

Girls Basketball


  • Halle Wangler finished her high school career in 2011 among Royal Oak Shrine’s career leaders in scoring (1,311 points) and rebounding (631) and its record holder for free-throw shooting (72 percent). She made the MHSAA listings with her free-throw shooting as a senior after making 113 of 132 attempts (85.6 percent). She started her collegiate career at Oakland University and has since transferred to the University of Michigan, where she is a redshirt junior.

  • Jessica Marvin scored a game-high 19 points in Byron’s 54-40 win over Dryden on Jan. 16, 2014, and in the process became the latest to make at least 15 free throws in a game. She connected on 15 of 18, including 10 during the second half.

  • Howell junior Erin Honkala capped the first week of this season with an incredible all-around performance – and one of the best rebounding totals in MHSAA history. Honkala pulled down 28 rebounds – tied for 13th most for one game – to go with 19 points and eight blocked shots in the Highlanders’ 47-30 win Dec. 5 over Ann Arbor Skyline.

Football

  • Detroit Cass Tech running back Mike Weber finished a three-year run in the fall as one of the top running backs in Michigan, with perhaps his most memorable highlight this season a 404-yard rushing performance in his team’s Division 1 Regional win over Clinton Township Chippewa Valley on Nov. 15. Weber ran 32 times and scored five touchdowns. 

  • East Lansing's Efe Scott-Emuakpor kicked off his varsity career in 2009 with 64 catches as a sophomore and finished in 2011 with 134 total to make that career list, with his 1,624 yards just missing the career list in that category. He’ll head into his junior season at Ball State University this fall.

  • St. Charles’ Devin Ballien was one of the busiest running backs in MHSAA history Sept. 5, when he ran the ball 41 times, making the record listings in that category. He finished with 289 yards on the ground in his team’s 42-36 win over Saginaw Valley Lutheran and scored five touchdowns including the game winner with 28 seconds to play.

  • Macomb L’Anse Creuse North quarterback Sean Koski capped his career in 2013 with a record-setting season before heading to Siena Heights University, where he just finished his first collegiate season. Koski made the MHSAA record book 15 times; he owns two of 10 500-yard passing performances with his 511 on Sept. 6, 2013, against Grosse Pointe South ranking sixth all-time. His 3,833 yards passing as a senior are third-most for one season; his 355 attempts that fall are 11th, his 211 completions rank 10th for a single fall and his 41 touchdowns fifth – despite playing only 10 games.

Boys Soccer


  • Isiah Handspike ranks 11th in career shutouts with 34 – with one more season to play. The DeWitt junior also made the single-season shutouts list with 13 as a sophomore, and needs 16 more as a senior to tie with three others for the MHSAA career record. 

PHOTO: Morley-Stanwood's Kayla Rosman helped her team to the Class C championship in 2011, first with this victory over Charlevoix in the MHSAA Semifinals. 

Standouts Swat to New Blocks Records

May 5, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

By nature of sports, we usually celebrate those who score the most points.

But this basketball season allowed us to marvel at two of the best ever at keeping opponents from getting to the hoop.

Kalamazoo Central senior Asia Robeson became the leading shot-blocker in MHSAA girls basketball history this winter, finishing an incredible four-year career with 723. On the boys side, Muskegon junior Deyonta Davis set the MHSAA boys single-season record with 199 blocks in helping the Big Reds to their first Class A title since 1937.

The 6-foot-4 Robeson and former Grandville standout Alyssa DeHaan (718 blocks from 2002-05) are the only female players in MHSAA girls history to block more than 600 shots. Robeson’s 228 blocks as a junior rank third for one season and her 227 as a sophomore are fourth. She was a Miss Basketball Award finalist and will continue her career this fall at Auburn University.

Davis, a 6-9 center, had 16 blocks in a game twice and also made the single-season rebounds list with 380 – averaging 13.6 per game – and scored 15 points per game.

Click for the entire boys basketball record listing, and see below for more recent entries to the girls basketball and other sports’ listings.

Girls Basketball

  • Novi Franklin Road Christian’s Kristen Massey finished her high school career this winter as one of the leading scorers in girls basketball history with 2,032 points – she’s one of 27 to score at least 2,000, and this total doesn't include the 190 she scored on the school’s varsity as an eighth grader. She’s also the most frequently successful free throw shooter, tying for the career free throw record of 697 (on 926 attempts; .752 percentage) after following her season record of 213 in 2012-13 with 209 more in 2013-14. She made 52 more as an eighth-grader, but again, those were not counted toward her high school career total.

Football

  • Two Ottawa Lake Whiteford players were added for seasons filled with interception return touchdowns, but 20 years apart. Troy Goetz had four scoring returns in 1987 and sits second on that MHSAA list, with Josh DuPree among those tied for third after bringing three opponents’ passes all the way back in 2007.

  • Former Almont kicker Peter Deppe moved into the second spot on career extra points with 159 (in 170 attempts) he drilled during a four-year varsity career from 2010-13. He also is on the single-season list with 63 in 65 attempts as a sophomore. He currently punts for Northern Illinois University.

  • Hazel Park’s Tom Stephens returned a punt 96 yards for a touchdown against Warren Fitzgerald on Sept. 13, 1963, to tie him for eighth-longest in that category. His points contributed to Hazel Park’s 24-19 opening-night win.

Hockey

  • Two of the longest games in MHSAA history were played this season. Joining the 103-plus minute Traverse City West win on Feb. 24 in the record book is a 91-minute, 15-second Grand Rapids Catholic Central win over Flint Powers Catholic in a Division 3 Quarterfinal on March 5. GRCC scored the go-ahead goal 15 seconds into the sixth overtime to clinch a 2-1 victory. The win came eight years and one day after GRCC beat Mattawan in six overtimes in what before this season stood as the fourth-longest game.

Boys Soccer

  • Tyler Deese gave Corunna its winning goal in an 8-0 win over Portland on Sept. 17 only eight seconds into the first half – making it the second-fastest goal scored from the start of a game in MHSAA boys soccer history.

Softball

  • Morgan Rombach opened May with a record-setting performance that earned her two lines in the home runs listings. The New Lothrop standout hit three home runs in a win over Burton Bentley, in her first, second and fourth at bats. She is one of 18 tied for second on the single-game home runs list and one of a larger group of players who have hit at least two in consecutive at bats. She also had a single in her third at bat of the game.

Volleyball

  • Corunna freshman Meredith Norris kicked off her varsity career with plenty of points this fall. The 6-2 hitter made the MHSAA record book with 697 kills, 30th all-time for a single season, and also made the single-match list twice with 34 and 33 kills.

PHOTOS: Muskegon’s Deyonta Davis, far right, defends the rim during Muskegon’s Class A Final win over Bloomfield Hills. (Inset) Kalamazoo Central’s Asia Robeson blocks a shot. (Photos courtesy of HighSchoolSportsScene.com and Auburn University, respectively.)