Shores' Title Tide Rolls to Record Book

July 24, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A spring that saw Muskegon Mona Shores accomplish its first perfect regular season in school history and first District title since 2007 has been followed up with entries for three players in the MHSAA record book.

Junior Sarah Mikesell was added for 40 goals and 55 points, while sophomore Raegan Cox was added for 30 assists and 59 points. Junior keeper Megan Swanker was added for 15 shutouts, and the team was entered for 10 straight shutouts over the latter half of the season. The Sailors finished 21-1, their only loss to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in a Regional Semifinal.

Click to see where they rank in the girls soccer record book as a whole, and read on for more recent record additions for football, boys soccer, softball, boys and girls tennis and wrestling.

Football

The offense's rise during a season-ending three-game winning streak got Eben Junction Superior Central into the 8-player record book with multiple listings. The Cougars put together 653 yards of total offense in an Oct. 15 84-54 win over Ewen-Trout Creek, and totaled 618 yards in downing Baraga 62-8 six days later. Superior Central ran for a record 611 yards against Baraga and total for 3,037 yards last season. Against Ewen-Trout Creek, the Cougars set records with 51 rushing attempts and 12 touchdowns in one game. They ran for eight touchdowns in that game and also in a 68-22 win over Michigan School for the Deaf on Oct. 8. Superior Central’s defense also earned an entry with five interceptions against Ewen-Trout Creek. Individually, sophomore Beau Rondeau made the single-game rushing touchdown list with six in that win.

Chase Brown’s passing prowess last fall earned him multiple entries for single game and season feats. The Comstock Park junior-to-be made single-game lists with 29 completions (in 49 attempts) for 495 yards and six touchdowns passing in a Sept. 16 loss to Allendale. He finished the season with 181 completions in 300 attempts for 2,286 yards and 19 touchdowns passing. Teammate Hunter Spence made the receptions list with 65 last fall, and Jo Jo Whitley was added for a 95-yard kickoff return against Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Oct. 7. Spence and Whitley will be seniors this fall.

Boys Soccer

A pair of recent Leland standouts were added after four-season careers that saw them rank in multiple MHSAA categories. Recent graduate Noah Fetterolf was added in part for 106 career goals and 160 career points, while 2016 grad Mike Osorio made the single-season points list with 57 as a senior and the career points list with 136. Osorio plays at Adrian College and Fetterolf will continue this fall at Davenport University.

Softball

Linden enjoyed a record-setting season offensively in finishing 23-17, with a number of accomplishments making the MHSAA records. The Eagles made the all-time lists with 493 hits, 39 home runs, 313 RBI and 100 doubles – the doubles rank third all-time, while the hits rank seventh and the home runs eighth. Elizabeth Rakowski made the hitting streak record list for the second time, stringing together hits in 29 straight games from April 20-May 25, and she also made season lists with 71 hits, 16 doubles and 10 home runs. Teammate Ashley Bertschy made the doubles list with 17 this spring, while Sterling DeGayner and Elle Klocek earned entries by hitting back-to-back home runs in May games and Klocek as well for six RBI in that game and 10 homers total this season. DeGayner was one of two seniors on the team and the only one of those mentioned above; she’ll play basketball at Cornerstone University. 

Saginaw Valley Lutheran senior Adrian Hildebrant finished her career this spring making the MHSAA records with 210 career hits and 47 doubles over four seasons, plus for her 18 doubles as a sophomore in 2015. She was joined by 2012 grad Sarah Appold, who had three previous entries for strikeouts in a game and was added for 991 over her four-season career. Saginaw Valley Lutheran as a team was added for 62 doubles in 2016 and 444 pitching strikeouts in 2012. Appold went on to play at Saginaw Valley State University.

Lansing Waverly catcher Madeline Stump was added for her 76 hits as a sophomore in 2016. She hit .618 over 35 games that spring.

Boys Tennis

A successful decade of Novi tennis led to a number of entries, highlighted by two-time MHSAA Finals singles champion Koushik Kondapi – he made the single-season wins list three times including twice with a high of 35, ranks fourth with 127 wins for his career from 2012-15, and also earned three other listings including for 25 career tournaments won. Alex Wen’s 36-0 record in 2014 earned him listings for single-season wins and consecutive wins, while Tim Wang (34-1 in 2013), Pavan Rao (34-1 in 2012) and Maxx Anderson (32-5 in 2013) also made the single-season wins list. A total of 18 pairs were added to the single-season wins list for doubles, led by Anderson and Daniel Yu with a 33-3 record in 2014. Others added once or more were Michael Chang, Nishant Kakar, Shashank Chitta, Kevin Xu, Aakash Ray, Nayan Makim, Jon Thompson, Andrew Ying, Sai Gotur, Abhishek Subash, Bill Bell, Alex Brizard, Jason Carless, David Mehl, Raymond Wen, Aditya Chitta, Robert Chen, Chaitanya Kanitkar, Vishnu Venugopal, Chris Kwederis, Ryan Krawec, Nathan Farooq, Nikhil Devarakonda and Greg Richard. Carless was added for a 101-16 career doubles record and Anderson was 91-10 in three seasons playing doubles. Wang plays at Columbia University.

Girls Tennis

A number of Novi standouts also were added to the girls tennis records, including Diana Ticu for 31 straight singles wins in 2003. Emily Holt (104-17 from 2001-04), Colene Brockman (101-13 from 2000-03), Lauren Thomas (89-17 from 2001-04) and Jenna Snyder (84-23 from 2008-11) all were added for career doubles wins.

Wrestling

Walled Lake Central standout Ben Freeman graduated this spring as the most recent of 22 four-time MHSAA Finals champions. He also finished 167-0 over his career, his streak ranking eighth for most consecutive victories. He’ll continue his career at University of Michigan.

PHOTO: Muskegon Mona Shores soccer players hold their District title trophy this spring. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)

Esman's Career Among All-Time Best

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

August 14, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Richland Gull Lake’s Lauren Esman was named Miss Softball Pitcher of the Year as a senior in 2019.

But her MHSAA record book legacy all was built at the plate, as she graduated with 19 entries.

Esman ranks on career lists with 216 runs scored (tied for 20th), 225 hits, a .580 batting average (10th), 108 walks (11th), 44 home runs (13th) and 211 RBI (also 13th). She’s playing at University of Michigan. 

See below for more recent record book additions in baseball, girls lacrosse, girls soccer and softball, and click on the sport headings to see those record books in full.

Baseball

Former East Grand Rapids standout Ryan Eible has been added in a number of categories for accomplishments over 137 games from 2008-11 before going on to play at Miami of Ohio. His 15 career triples are tied for 11th all-time, and his 176 career runs are tied for 15th. He also was added for a .451 career batting average and twice for being hit by pitches – 15 times as a senior and 35 times over his career.

Cam Schuelke missed out on the opportunity to finish his Byron Center career this spring, but earned a record book entry as a junior with a 0.70 ERA over 69 2/3 innings pitched in going 8-2 on the mound. Schuelke will continue his career at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Girls Lacrosse

Julia Brown took on a significant role for Grand Rapids Forest Hills United as a freshman in 2019, scoring 53 goals. She also made the record book with eight goals in a May 24 game that season against Hudsonville.

A pair of DeWitt standouts both joined the highest scorers all-time during the 2019 season. Then-sophomore Kerrigan Brown finished with 52 goals and 86 points, and then-junior Alexa Beyer scored 57 goals as the Panthers as a team scored 279 over 21 games. DeWitt also was added to the records for 239 goals in 2018 and 264 in 2016. Beyer will continue her career at Youngstown State in Ohio.

Girls Soccer

Ashley Beck set a Charlotte school record and made the MHSAA record book with 30 goals as a senior in 2019. She finished just shy of making the career goals list, ending her four seasons with 65.

Despite playing only three high school varsity seasons, New Baltimore Anchor Bay keeper Ally Gaunt finished with 41 career shutouts to make that record list after adding 11 shutouts as a senior in 2019. She’s currently playing at Saginaw Valley State University.

Longtime St. Clair Shores South Lake coach Marty Shearer was added to the career victories list with a 324-146-48 record from 1990-2017. He led the program to 10 league and seven District championships, and a Regional title in 2000.

Kevin Fiebernitz has coached both girls and boys varsity teams for three decades, and was added to the career wins lists for both. He’s 421-160-61 on the boys side after leading Flint Powers Catholic from 1989-2002 and Linden from 2003-19. He’s 328-162-55 on the girls side after leading Flint Southwestern Academy from 1990-95 and Linden from 1999-2019. He remains coach of both Linden teams, and led the Powers boys to the Class B title in 1996.

Softball

St. Joseph hit 53 home runs in 2019, tied for fourth-most in MHSAA history. Leading the way were then-senior Courtney Farrish with 17 and then-junior Taylor Garey with 12 – both made the single-season individual home run list. Farrish is playing at Western Michigan University, and Garey has signed to join her.  

Madelin Skene capped her high school career at Hartland in 2018 with 14 record book listings, including for 239 hits, 63 doubles, 41 home runs and 219 RBI over 143 games and four seasons. The RBI are tied for ninth-most all-time, while the doubles are tied for 13th and the homers rank 16th. Skene is playing at University of Michigan-Dearborn. Additionally, then-senior Brooke Cowan was added to the records for 16 doubles and then-sophomore Delaney Robeson for 11 home runs during the 2019 season. Cowan plays at Davenport University and Robeson has committed to sign with Kent State.

PHOTO: Gull Lake's Lauren Esman readies for a pitch during a 2018 game. (Photo courtesy of JoeInsider.com.)