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St. Francis Tennis Wins at Record Pace

November 12, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Traverse City St. Francis’ run to third place at this fall’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final included a number of top performances throughout the season – including record-setting winners at both singles and doubles.

Patrick Burke, a Finals semifinalist at No. 4 singles, finished 45-3 in setting an MHSAA record for single-season boys tennis victories. The No. 4 doubles pair of Jackson Richmond and Ryan Navin set that single-season win record finishing 46-3 on the way to ending the fall runner-up at their flight.

Teammate Jake Krcmarik finished second on the MHSAA single-season wins list after going 43-5 at No. 3 singles; he made the semifinals in his flight. No. 2 singles Sam Holmes (40-6) also made the all-time single-season singles wins list, and Krcmarik’s 125 for his career ranks fifth. Three more pairs made the single-season doubles win list; Victor Casler and Nathan Tafelsky went 35-12, and Joe Primeau won 37 matches including 34 with Tyler Spigarelli as his partner. Jay Jones and Nathan Sodini added 28 wins this fall.

Also, Patrick Wilson was added for his 104 doubles wins from 2007-10. Teammates Michael Elliott and Chris Miller both tallied 100 during those seasons, while Nick Vanstratt won 73 from 1994-97 and Newton Calcutt 72 from 2007-10 as well.

Click for the MHSAA boys tennis record book in its entirety, and see below for more recent additions for other sports (click on each heading for that record book in full).

Girls Basketball

  • Rapid River’s Lauren Marshall enjoyed a performance of near perfection on Nov. 28, 2006 – and perfection from the free-throw line. Marshall made the MHSAA record list for most free throws in a game, 15, while making all 15 of her attempts and scoring 40 points total in her team’s 60-57 Class D Quarterfinal victory. She went on play collegiately at Division II Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

Football

  • Coleman quarterback Adam Stremlow led the Comets to a 7-3 finish in 2013 with one of the top passing seasons in MHSAA history – 138 completions in 260 attempts for 2,703 yards and 35 touchdowns. All but the completions made the MHSAA record book, and his career yardage through three seasons – 4,342 – did as well. He set an MHSAA record with six touchdown passes in a quarter during a 71-0 win over Ashley and made the single-game lists with 446 yards and 25 completions (in 27 attempts) in a 50-48 loss to Carson City-Crystal. Teammate Matthew Warner had 244 yards receiving on eight catches that game and also made the season receiving yardage list with 1,152 on 39 catches. Hunter Gross was added for 27 tackles for a loss, also in only 10 games.

  • A pair of Vassar quarterbacks made the record book for touchdowns in a game, among other notations. Kevin Pratt completed a 99-yard pass to Zac Case and had six touchdown tosses in a 2011 game against Cass City – the 99-yard pass is among seven of that distance on record. Michael Pratt, a senior this fall, threw for five touchdowns in a half and six for the game as Vassar defeated Cass City during his sophomore season of 2012. 

  • Elk Rapids kicker Robbie Wolfington had a solid season this fall, making 32 of 36 extra-point attempts. He had an especially strong night Oct. 10 – Wolfington became the 15th player to make at least 10 extra points, drilling all 10 of his attempts the tie for fourth for consecutive makes in one game. Elk Rapids defeated Grayling 70-26.

Boys Soccer

  • Bay City Central and Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy played to a 5-5 tie on Oct. 7, with Cameron Terry scoring four goals for SASA and five players scoring for Central. The game is one of five ties in MHSAA history in which both teams scored five or more goals.

Volleyball

  • Atlanta’s Allison Marklin set the rally scoring era record for aces in an Oct. 20 sweep of Vanderbilt. Marklin had 24 aces over three games, four more than four players who previously shared the record. She had 13 in the third game, a 25-4 win. Atlanta won the first two games 25-8 and 25-15, respectively.

  • Trenton hitter Aevah Hebda made the MHSAA records for the second time when she had 12 blocks in a District win over Riverview. Seven of those blocks were solos; she also had 12 kills. Hebda tallied 13 blocks in a match against Wyandotte Roosevelt in 2013.  

Wrestling

  • Longtime Sterling Heights coach Shawn Murray has joined the list of those who have led varsity teams to at least 400 victories. He’s 434-184 in 27 seasons at Sterling Heights after three as an assistant at Clinton Township Clintondale for teams that finished a combined 51-6. Although his team finished 6-17 last season, it was 27-7 in 2012-13 and advanced to a Division 1 Regional Final.

  • Marysville senior Austin Thompson won the MHSAA Division 2 championship at 130 pounds last winter with an 8-7 overtime decision. That was easily his closest match – he also had 18 technical falls, fourth-most in MHSAA history. He finished 52-1.

PHOTO: Traverse City St. Francis' Sam Holmes shakes hands with an opponent during this fall's MHSAA LP Division 4 Final. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).

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.