St Francis Standouts Net Record Entries

April 18, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Traverse City St. Francis missed tying for a Lower Peninsula Division 4 championship in girls tennis by a point in 2016, but continued adding big winners to the MHSAA record book.

Amanda Bandrowski capped her high school career as a Division 4 semifinalist at No. 1 singles and on the career wins list with a record of 117-10 – tied for 11th-most victories – and with 26 wins by a score of 6-0, 6-0 over her four seasons. She’s now playing at Hope College.

Anne Bandrowski, then a sophomore who finished runner-up at No. 3 singles, was added to the record book with a 35-3 record last spring, and senior Rosemary Wilson was added with a 34-4 record after winning the No. 4 singles title.

Click to see the MHSAA girls tennis record book in full, and read on for the latest additions in baseball, boys and girls basketball, football, softball and volleyball.

Baseball

Austin Yager was hit by pitches three times during the first game of a doubleheader last season against Lake Fenton. The Durand now-senior tied for second-most times being hit by a pitch in a game, and also had a single in his only other plate appearance in the 11-2 win.

Wyoming Lee’s Jose Cruz, Jr., also was hit by pitches three times in a March 28, 2016, game against Byron Center Zion Christian. Cruz ended up scoring two runs and driving in two runs in the 9-7 loss despite not getting a hit; one of his hit-by-pitches came with the bases loaded. Cruz was a junior at the time.

Boys Basketball

Bear Lake just missed an MHSAA record in its 81-62 win over Custer Mason County Eastern on Feb. 10. The Lakers scored 46 points during the third quarter – tied for second-most ever for one quarter and just two shy of tying the record set in 1966. Bear Lake also made 18 3-pointers in the game, good to make that record book single-game list as well. With Mason County Eastern’s four 3-pointers that game, they combined to make the list for most 3s for two teams in one game; Bear Lake also made 12 in a March 2 game against Walkerville, which had 10 to give the two teams 22 total and another listing.

Girls Basketball

Kaylee Benge finished her high school career this winter among the top 3-point shooters in MHSAA history, totaling 156 on 477 attempts during her four seasons for Sand Creek. She made a career-high 57 in 170 attempts this season while averaging 14.7 points per game.

North Muskegon senior Mya Duncan this season tied the third-longest consecutive free throw streak, making 37 straight over nine games beginning Dec. 20 and ending Jan. 27. As a junior, Duncan made the record book with 16 straight free throws in one game.

Bethany Baldwin went over 1,000 career points this winter as only a junior at Watersmeet, so it’s not entirely a surprise that she’s also put up multiple 50-point games. She had 52 in a Jan. 19 win over Republic-Michigamme and then 56 in a Class D District loss to Wakefield-Marenisco on Feb. 27. The 56 rank seventh for one game in MHSAA history.

Football

Milan’s Trace Lindeman capped his career in the fall among the leading rushers in MHSAA history with 5,483 yards over 42 games the last four seasons. His yardage ranks 13th on that career list, and his 75 rushing touchdowns rank ninth while also qualifying him for the overall career points (450) and touchdown lists.

Softball

Linden’s now-junior Elizabeth Rakowski earned an entry in the record book as a sophomore last spring with a 27-game hitting streak from March 30-May 23. The all-league outfielder finished the season with a .476 average over 36 games.

Volleyball

Brooke Binkley had 60 assists in DeWitt’s 3-2 Regional Final loss to Portage Central on Nov. 10, those assists good for seventh most in one match since the beginning of rally scoring in 2004-05. Binkley, a junior, finished this season with 1,376 assists to also make the single-season list.

PHOTO: St. Francis' Rosemary Wilson returns a volley during her Division 4 championship match last spring. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

Norris Spikes Way to All-Time Greatness

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

May 25, 2017

Corunna’s Meredith Norris ended a celebrated career in the fall by winning the Miss Volleyball Award – and delivering the last of 18 entries in the MHSAA record book.

For this past fall, the senior hitter made the records for kills in a season for the fourth time (839) – while also finishing second all-time for a career in that category since the start of rally scoring in 2004-05. Norris’ 3,126 career kills rank second only to eventual U.S. Olympian Alisha Glass’ 3,584 from 2003-06.

Norris – who will continue her career at Michigan State University – also added a 43-kill match (fourth all-time) to her record 56 set in 2015. The 839 kills this past fall were her most for one season. In addition, Cavaliers teammate Lexi Mort, a sophomore, made the single-match assists list three times with a high of 64 in four games against Goodrich.

See below for more recent record book entries in baseball, boys and girls basketball, football, softball, tennis and wrestling, and click on the sport headings to see those record books in full.

Baseball

Maple City Glen Lake has established itself as a regular contender in Division 4, and with a number of performances that have qualified the last few seasons for record book consideration. Among them, Travis Moore’s 188 career hits from 2013-16, 160 career RBI, .465 career batting average and 33 times hit by pitches during his career all were added. So too was Austin Odziana for 45 career doubles from 2012-15), 18 times hit by a pitch as a junior and 46 times hit by pitches (sixth all-time) for his career; Thomas Waning (2011-14) eight times including for 176 strikeouts and three no-hitters in 2014, Zach Cooper (2013-16) six times including for 11 career shutouts, and Matt Schweikart four times including for career ERA (0.73, fifth all-time) and seven shutouts last spring. A number of others from Glen Lake teams past were added in various categories: Brian Maurer (193 career runs from 1995-98 rank eighth; he set the season record of 84 in 1999), Curtis Bunek (2010-13), Zack Buchan (1999-2002), Weston Buchan (2004-07), Mike Baker (1998-2001), Steve Walker (1999-2002), Art Harland (1979-82), Andy Bunting (1997-2000), Scott Bunting (1994-97), Karl Malcolm (1999-2002), Joel Pierson (2000-03) and Corey Flaska for a single-season accomplishment in 1998. As teams, the 1978 Glen Lake squad hit 21 triples, second all-time, while the 2015 and 2016 teams both set MHSAA records being hit by pitches 78 times. The 2014 team ranks fifth with 326 strikeouts, and the 2015 team ninth with a 1.31 ERA.

Boys Basketball

North Adams-Jerome’s Stone Arnold finished a solid four-season career by playing himself into the MHSAA records with his defense. Arnold had 96 steals this past season to finish his career with 261, which rank 13th all-time. Arnold, a point guard, also became the first player in his school’s history to score 1,000 career points.

Girls Basketball

Marine City’s Karyssa Austin added 57 3-pointers this winter as a senior to finish her four-season varsity career with 213 – 11th in MHSAA history. She previously made the single-season list with 71 as a junior. She has signed to continue her career at Northwood University.

Football

Royal Oak’s Bobby Green and Darryl Davenport became the 10th pass-catching pair to be added to the MHSAA record book for longest pass with a 99-yarder launched by Green during a 35-0 win over Pontiac last Sept. 9. Davenport will continue his career this fall at Concordia University-Ann Arbor.

Powers North Central standout running back Bobby Kleiman added to his scoring entries with 200 points this past fall as a senior. He finished his career with 552 points over his junior and senior seasons of 8-player football – the only entry in a category where the minimum is 400. He’s also the first to be listed for career touchdowns, with 77 with at least one coming six ways – rushing, receiving, fumble return, interception return, punt return or kick return. He will play baseball at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Softball

Former Greenville standout Nikota Howe was placed in the records for a number of accomplishments, most notably as a senior in 2014 and over her four-year varsity career. Her 79 hits in 2014 are tied for 19th most in one season, and her .699 batting average that spring ranks eighth all-time. Her .563 career average ranks 10th in that category, and she also made lists with 206 career hits, 47 career doubles, 22 career home runs, 116 career RBI and for seasons of 18 and 16 doubles. She went on to play at Lake Erie College in Ohio.

Boys Tennis

Midland Dow senior Varun Shanker finished his high school career in the fall as the state’s Mr. Tennis, making the single-season wins list for the second time at 32-1 and the career wins list at 115-19 over the last four seasons. Teammate Tyler Conrad also made the single single-season list with a team-high 34 victories, and Saketh Kamaraju made the single-season list with 33 wins and the consecutive wins list with those 33 before falling in the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final at No. 4 singles to finish his freshman campaign. A number of Dow doubles players also were added for wins in 2016 – Aditya Middha, Noah Nichols, Sagar Kamaraju and Ryan Killmaster all with 30; and J.J. Kirkman, Gopal Parthasarathy and Daniel Zhang all with 28. Sagar Kamaraju capped his career with 84 doubles wins, and Kirkman finished his with 69. Shanker at No. 1 singles, Conrad at No. 3, Kirkman and Middha at No. 1 doubles and Zhang and Parthasarathy at No. 3 all won Finals flight championships in the fall as Dow won the team title. Shanker will continue his career at the California Institute of Technology.

Volleyball

Samantha Stark served her way into the record book during a Class D District Semifinal win in 2015. The then-senior at Pellston had 11 aces in a three-set sweep of Alanson.

Wrestling

Westland John Glenn 2013 graduate Kyle Gillies is among the elite who finished their high school careers with more than 200 wins, ending at 204-34 after four varsity seasons. He went 55-1 as a senior, losing only to Davison’s Lincoln Olson in the 2013 Division 1 championship match at 112 pounds. Gillies went on to wrestle at Olivet College.

PHOTO: Corunna’s Meredith Norris serves during her team’s Class B Quarterfinal against Cadillac. (Click for more from Varsity Monthly.)