St. Mary's Star Finds Net at Record Pace

June 3, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A player must score at least seven goals in a game to make the MHSAA records listing for boys lacrosse.

Colin Theisen did so six times this spring – and took over the top spot on the season scoring list as well with 102 goals total.

Theisen set the record for goals in a game with 15 in Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s win over Whitmore Lake on May 4. He broke his own record that day, set with 13 goals against Ypsilanti Lincoln on March 30.

Theisen also made the single-game points list six times with a high of 17, which ranks second. His 133 points total this season rank third.

Teammate Alec Mahalak joins him in the record book; he had seven assists on April 19 against Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett to make that category’s single-game list, and finished with 10 points in that game.

The boys lacrosse season ends with MHSAA Finals on Saturday. St. Mary finished 11-3 this spring, falling to Warren DeLaSalle in a Regional game May 21. 

Click to see the boys lacrosse record listings in full, and see below for additional recent additions to the MHSAA records.

Boys Basketball

  • Dearborn Heights Annapolis senior Bryan Collins scored 1,281 points during his four-season career that came to an end this winter. He scored 380 of those on free throws, which places him 18th in the MHSAA records for that category. Collins connected on 77 percent of his attempts and had seasons of 153 and 155 makes. He also made 22 of 26 in a Jan. 16 game against Livonia Clarenceville, and scored 23 points total in a quarter against Robichaud on March 2. All totals made MHSAA lists.

  • Tanner Eubank also finished his high school career this winter among the sharpest shooters from the free throw line. The Paw Paw standout connected on 359 of 475 free-throw attempts during his four-year varsity career, hitting on 76 percent of his tries.

Football


  • Kyle Brindza not only made an MHSAA-record 17 field goals (in 24 attempts) for Plymouth during the 2010 season, but six of those makes and nine of those attempts came from at least 50 yards out – he scored a long of 53 yards. Brindza sits atop the record list for most field goals in one season (career stats are being researched; please email [email protected] with possible updates). He also made 40 of 42 extra-point attempts that season and went on to kick at the University of Notre Dame. He’s currently on the roster of the Detroit Lions.



Girls Soccer


  • Maggie Harma was nearly unbeatable in net in leading Richard Gull Lake to back-to-back Division 2 championships in 2013 and 2014. The keeper tallied 18 shutouts both seasons and a total of 52 during her four-year varsity career – her career total is tied for ninth in MHSAA girls soccer history. Harma made 12 starts in goal as a freshman in the fall for Wayne State University.

Softball

  • Senior Kelsey Smith earned all but one of her team’s 21 outs by strikeout in a 10-0 no-hitter win for Watervliet Grace Christian over Eau Claire on May 12. Smith walked only two to go with her 20 strikeouts over seven innings, with that win improving her record at the time to 10-1.

Volleyball

  • Chelsea finished 50-11-4 in 2014 and reached the Class B Regional Finals after finishing the regular season ranked No. 3, led by a record-setting setter and top hitter. Senior Mary Kelleher set her teammates to a record 1,757 points to eclipse the previous rally scoring assist record of 1,568 set by Allison Smith of St. Louis in 2012. Chelsea junior Emma Hess was the main recipient, making the single-season kills list with 666.

Wrestling

  • Portage Central’s Angelo Latora won his first MHSAA title and achieved his 200th career win in his final high school match. Latora won the Division 1 title at 140 pounds at the 2012 Finals to finish 53-1 that season and 200-22 for his career. He also finished third at 135 as a junior, fourth at 135 as a sophomore and seventh at 130 as a freshman. He currently wrestles for the University of Michigan.

  • Hartland’s Jacob Gorial graduates this spring as a four-time MHSAA Finals placer and with the 24th-most wins as an individual. Gorial ended his career this winter at 226-20, with back-to-back 60-win seasons as a junior and senior. He finished third in Division 1 at 152 pounds, following a fourth place at 145, second and 130 and seventh at 112 his first three seasons, respectively. Gorial also made the career pins list with 136. He’s signed to continue at Division II Coker College in South Carolina.

  • Nathan Wynkoop earned his 211 victories, with just 21 defeats, for West Branch Ogemaw Heights from 2010-13. He also made the single-season wins list going 62-2 as a senior; he finished third in Division 2 at 160 pounds that winter after taking fourth at 145 in 2011-12. Wynkoop currently wrestles at Cleveland State University. 

PHOTO: Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central players, including Colin Theisen (13), celebrate. Theisen scored 102 goals this season. (Photo courtesy of Monroe St. Mary.)

Records Report: VanNoord Goes National

May 2, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Holly VanNoord capped her Hudsonville Unity Christian soccer career last spring by helping hoist the team’s third MHSAA championship trophy won during her brilliant four seasons in goal.

But her accomplishments as the team’s keeper made more than just MHSAA history. Her 75 career shutouts also are a national record and top this week’s "Records Report."

Click on the sport headings below to see the entire MHSAA record book for each. 

Girls Soccer

  • Unity Christian’s Holly VanNoord had an MHSAA single-season record 24 shutouts as a junior in 2011 and finished with 20 more last season – to go with 16 as a freshman and 15 as a sophomore. She finished with a career goals-against average of 0.25 in helping Unity Christian to MHSAA Division 3 titles in 2012, 2010 and 2009 and the runner-up finish in 2011. The Crusaders gave up a total of seven goals last season. VanNoord's career shutouts broke the MHSAA record by 11 and the national record by three. She was a freshman on Liberty University’s team in Virginia last fall.

Girls Lacrosse

  • Ryan Skomial’s junior season at Hartland ranks as one of the best in MHSAA lacrosse history. She totaled 162 points last spring – good for third on the single-season points list. Her 99 goals ranked fourth and her 63 assists fifth in those respective categories. Hartland fell to Birmingham United 12-11 in overtime in the MHSAA Division 1 Final.

Softball

  • Beaverton’s Alix Price tied an MHSAA record with 18 triples last season as a junior – equaling the total hit by South Haven’s LeAnn Covey in 1993. Heading into this season, Price had a career batting average of .544 – good for ninth-best in MHSAA history – and the fourth-most career triples, 33. Teammate Kayla Balzer also made the record book for her two home runs in consecutive at bats April 21, 2012, against Unionville-Sebewaing.
  • Coincidentally, Farmington Hills Mercy’s Alex Sobczak joined 11 others with three homers in three consecutive at bats, also hit on April 21, 2012, in her team’s win against Pinconning.
  • Hudsonville Unity Christian was added 12 times for achievements mostly during its strong seasons of 2006-09, when the team averaged 28 wins per spring. The 2007 team gave up only 24 runs and the 2006 team gave up just 26. Kara Dornbos made the season strikeouts list with 402 in 2009, and Ashley Wagner and Marie Prins both made lists for doubles – both had 16 in a season, and Wagner finished with 44 for her career.

Football

  • Napoleon’s Rod Rhoad launched a school-record 75-yard punt against Vandercook Lake on Sept. 26, 1975 that stands as a school record to this day – and qualifies as the 12th-longest in MHSAA football history.
  • West Bloomfield’s Chance Monarch was the third-leading tackler in Oakland County last fall with 128, according to the Oakland Press, and 29 of those were for losses – good enough to rank fourth in that category in the MHSAA football record listings.
  • Saugatuck’s Ethan Colton already was in the MHSAA record book for his 2,613 yards rushing in 2010. A large chunk of that came in seven straight 200 yard-plus games from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12 – which tied Issac Harper of East Lansing for the longest string of 200-yard rushing games.
  • Evan Pohlmann played a big part in Menominee advancing to last season’s Semifinals, booting 53 extra points to join a long list of successful kickers.

Volleyball

  • White Cloud’s Maria Feldpausch joined a list of those who have had 48 assists in a match during the rally scoring era, but hers came in only three games as he team swept Central Montcalm on Sept. 5.

PHOTO: Holly VanNoord led her team to a win over Flint Powers Catholic in last season's MHSAA Division 3 Final at Williamston High School.