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).

Forest Park Runs to 8-Player Records

May 14, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Crystal Falls Forest Park ran away, literally, with its first 8-player football championship this past fall.

The Trojans set the MHSAA 8-player records for 5,327 total yards, 77 total touchdowns, 686 rushing attempts, 4,350 rushing yards and 65 rushing touchdowns on the way to claiming the 8-player Division 2 title. Forest Park also played just 12 games, with an open date during the regular season.

Individually, senior Connor Bortolini was added for a record 54 carries, 402 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns and seven total touchdowns against Powers North Central on Sept. 1. Senior teammate Peter Ropiak was added for five tackles for a loss against Eben Junction Superior Central on Sept. 15 and a record 28 total in just nine games for the season. Sophomore Noah Gilner earned the record for tackles for loss in a game with seven against Phillips, Wis., on Sept. 22. 

Bortolini will continue his career this fall at Finlandia University.

See below for more recent record book additions in football, plus baseball, girls and boys basketball and boys lacrosse. Click on the headings to view those record books in full.

Baseball

Grand Ledge was added for 420 hits, 87 doubles, 337 RBI, a .389 average and 1.62 ERA as a team in 2017, over 41 games. Senior Wyatt Rush was added for 0.69 ERA over 70 2/3 innings pitched; he now plays for Lansing Community College.

Jesus Becerra did not get a hit during his record-book worthy performance last season. But the Stephenson now-senior did reach four times on errors against Peshtigo, Wis., and turned those opportunities into seven stolen bases – tying for second most steals in one game in MHSAA history. 

After giving up two singles to start a May 9 game against Warren Fitzgerald, Madison Heights Madison junior pitcher Austin Brown struck out 20 of the next 21 hitters. He’s tied for seventh most strikeouts in a seven-inning game.

Girls Basketball

Sophomore Kelynn Kujat made 66 3-pointers this past season to set a Frankenmuth record. She scored a team-leading 332 points for the Eagles.

Boys Basketball

Clinton Township Clintondale’s Richard Washington was added to the single-season steals list with 111 over 21 games this winter. The junior also averaged 20.3 points per game and made 63 3-pointers.

Football

Hunter Spence capped a two-season varsity career at Comstock Park in the fall with six record book entries, with his 18 catches against Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Oct. 6 tied for third-most in one game. Spence finished with 136 catches and 1,948 receiving yards over the past two seasons. Senior Logan Serba was added for 245 yards receiving and four touchdowns in one game against Belding. Junior quarterback Chase Brown is up to 18 entries in the record book after two seasons and with one more to play – he ranks on career lists already with 592 passing attempts, 373 completions and 5,126 yards. Senior kicker Nathan Hughes also was added for making 56 extra points in 58 attempts this past season. Hughes will play baseball after graduation at Aquinas College.

Jacob Witt finished his career in the fall with 12 entries in the 8-player record book while playing for Ewen-Trout Creek in 2016 and then a co-op of E-TC and Ontonagon last season. Witt added 31 receptions for 759 yards and 14 touchdowns to finish with two-season career totals of 102 catches, 2,457 yards and 39 scores. Witt will play basketball next season at Michigan Tech University.

Eben Junction Superior Central added to its list of accomplishments in the 8-player record book, including for 643 total yards and 635 rushing against Felch North Dickinson on Oct. 6. The Cougars’ latest listings also include 72 rushing attempts against Rapid River on Aug. 31 and 3,301 total rushing yards last season. Junior Beau Rondeau was added for 41 carries and six rushing touchdowns against Rapid River.

Boys Lacrosse

Howell senior Jack Radzville scored more than half of his team’s goals in a 20-15 loss to Brighton on April 19, tallying nine to tie for sixth most in one game in MHSAA history. He added two assists, and his 11 points total also made that single-game list.

PHOTO: Crystal Falls Forest Park's Connor Bortolini high fives a teammate after scoring during last season's 8-player Division 2 Final at the Superior Dome. (Photo by John Johnson.)