Standouts Climb Career Record Lists
April 13, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Vicksburg’s runs to back-to-back District titles – and the Division 2 championship game last spring – were keyed by a productive offense, including contributions by a pair who are seniors this spring.
Shaidan Knapp and Grace Stock both are entered into the MHSAA record book for single-season doubles from the last two seasons and for career doubles with a season to play – Stock has 39 and Knapp has 49, both over three seasons and 116 games. Knapp also ranks on the career RBI list with 188.
As a team, Vicksburg made the single-season wins list finishing 36-9 last season, when it had the second-most hits in MHSAA history with 522 over 45 games. The 2015 and 2016 teams are listed for various team accomplishments, also most notably for 366 RBI (third all-time) in 2016 and a .460 batting average (tied for second all-time) in 2015.
Click the softball heading below to see that record book in full, and also read on for more recent additions in boys basketball, football, boys soccer and volleyball.
Boys Basketball
Nearly two decades have passed since Rojelio Parra-Grady scored 49 points for Dearborn Fordson in its 2001 Class A District Final win over Allen Park. His total tied for ninth-most points in an MHSAA Tournament game at any level. He scored 15 points in the fourth quarter of the 76-49 win and made six 3-pointers in the game.
Ithaca kicker Adam Culp is climbing the charts for his position with a season yet to play. Culp made the single-season extra-point list with 59 as a sophomore and 46 this past fall as a junior, and his 105 career extra points also already rank among the best. Culp also had nine field goals in 11 attempts last season. Teammate Joey Bentley, also a junior, was added after throwing for 2,056 yards in 12 games in the fall.
Paul Verska finished a coaching career spanning four decades in 2015 with a record of 218-174-1 at seven Michigan schools – Lincoln Alcona, Allegan, Detroit Servite, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Cadillac, Ann Arbor Huron and Warren DeLaSalle. He finished with the Pilots, taking over in 2002 and leading them to the Division 2 title in 2014.
Boys Soccer
Marshall goalkeeper Kurt Kraushaar finished his high school career in the fall with 22 shutouts over four seasons to make the MHSAA career list in that category. He also made the single-season list as a junior in 2015 with 13 shutouts.
Grand Ledge finished 10-2-5 in the fall in part because of a strong defense; its seven goals given up tied for fourth-fewest in one season. Keeper Blaine Teahan also made the MHSAA records with a stretch of six straight shutouts from Aug. 20-Sept. 14.
Softball
Last season was a record-setting one for Coleman and a group of four-year varsity seniors. As a team, the Comets finished 39-3, setting MHSAA single-season records with 555 hits and 432 runs batted in, while tying for second with a .460 batting average and ranking second all-time alone with 510 runs scored in reaching the Division 4 Quarterfinals. Six players combined for 22 individual record book entries. Now-graduated Cassidy Tucker made the lists for 84 runs, 78 hits and 13 home runs in a season and 178 runs and 23 triples over her career (plus seven RBI in one game last May). Her 84 runs last spring were second-most in MHSAA history. Carley Starnes also made the single-season runs list with 74 and career lists with 224 runs, 231 hits and 34 doubles; and Grace Staley was added for 73 runs last season, 200 in her career, 81 hits last season and 238 in her career. Senior Laken Berthume had 71 RBI last season, 165 in her career and walked 77 times over four varsity seasons. Senior Kaylie Scott put together a 33-game hitting streak that stretched over nearly a year from May 2015-May 2016, while freshman MacKenzie Miller was among those added for six RBI in a game. Tucker is playing at Alma College and Starnes and Berthume are playing at Delta College.
Kalamazoo Christian has played in three MHSAA Finals over the last decade, and a number of entries from that time also were added. Kara Gjeltema, a senior last spring, was entered 18 times, most notably for 40 career home runs (tied for sixth most), 71 RBI in 2015 (tied for 11th) and 238 career RBI (tied for second). Also-2016 senior McKena Razenberg was added for 66 runs in 2015 and 180 over her four-year career, while 2014 graduate Tori Sides was added for 77 hits in 2014, 230 during her career and 183 career runs. Stephanie VanderLugt (class of 2013), Katie Dwyer (2009), Alex Hatfield (2005), Megan Rozeveld and Hannah Doorn also were added at least once; Hatfield’s 35 career triples are tied for fifth most. Kalamazoo Christian as a team earned 15 entries, with its 32 triples in 1999 (tied for 10th) most notable. Gjeltema is playing this season at Olivet College, while Razenberg is at Cornerstone, Sides played for Kellogg Community College, Dwyer for Huntington University (Ind.) and Rozeveld at Calvin College.
Volleyball
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard seniors Jurnee Tipton and Emma Nowak capped outstanding careers in the fall with record book-worthy totals in their final match, a 3-2 Regional Final loss to Adrian. Tipton had 40 kills, which tied for the seventh-most in one match since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. Nowak had 63 assists, which tied for fourth-most in that category. Tipton will continue her volleyball career at Howard University.
Frankenmuth setter Lindsey Mertz never made the MHSAA single-season assists list during her four-year varsity career (needing a minimum of 1,200 to do so). But combined, her four seasons of more than 1,000 assists added up to 4,436 – the third-most for a career during the rally scoring era. Mertz will play next season at Hillsdale College.
PHOTO: Vicksburg shortstop Shaidan Knapp prepares to make a throw during last season’s Division 2 Final at Secchia Stadium.
Nadolny Blasts Way to Top of MHSAA Career Homers List
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 20, 2021
Brooke Nadolny capped her career at Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in 2019 with 30 record book entries – and as the most prolific power hitter in MHSAA history.
Even as home run totals have increased over the last decade, Nadolny’s 73 over 141 career games are 18 more than the next-highest total. She also is listed for career hits (243), doubles (61), runs (226), RBI (196), walks (80) and batting average (.533).
Teammate Cynthia Galvan also was added to the MHSAA record book for a 2019 achievement of 16 doubles, and Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse as a team was added for 60 doubles and 36 homers in 2017 and 80 doubles and 27 homers in 2019.
Galvan, who graduated in 2020, has joined Nadolny in continuing at Wayne State.
See more recent record book additions below in boys basketball, softball, volleyball and wrestling, and click on the sport headings to see those record books in full.
Boys Basketball
Tyler Horky capped his four-season Manchester varsity career in 2020 with more of the scoring that made him tough defend, especially that Feb. 12 against Vandercook Lake. That night he scored 58 points, including 27 in the third quarter – tying the second-most for a quarter all-time with the most by any player since 2008. He also made the record book with 170 free throws in 203 attempts as a senior and 328 in 415 attempts for his career. Horky is continuing at Kalamazoo College.
Pellston’s Blake Cassidy graduated last spring as one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in MHSAA history. He made 227 3-pointers in 596 attempts over 95 games from 2017-20, tying for 18th-most 3-pointers for a career. He’s continuing his career at Lake Superior State.
Brad Simonsen reached the record book with the 13th-most points in one game on Feb. 4, 2020, scoring 63 for Houghton against Ishpeming to also break the school record of 60 scored by Gary Lange in a 1970 contest. Simonsen is continuing his career at Michigan Tech.
Wyoming 2020 grad Menalito McGee established himself as one of the state’s sharpest 3-point shooters as a senior, putting up two of the top-five long-range shooting performances of all-time over a two-week span. He made 12 3-pointers – tied for fourth – against Middleville Thornapple Kellogg on Jan. 28, 2020, then connected on 14 – second most all-time – against Wayland that Feb. 11. He is continuing his career at Aquinas College.
Over the first five days of February 2020, Hannahville Nah Tah Wahsh accomplished a 3-point shooting feat rarely seen – and did so twice. That Feb. 1, Hannahville sank 20 3-pointers, tying at the time for sixth-most in one game, in a 68-20 win over Mackinac Island. Four days later on Feb. 5, Hannahville connected on the third-most 3-pointers in a game, 24, during a 73-39 win over Big Bay de Noc. The Soaring Eagles scored all of their points on 3-pointers and free throws in both games.
Softball
Heidi Walters was among standouts who was unable to add to her career totals in 2020 because the season was canceled due to COVID-19, but she planted multiple entries in the records for home runs and RBI. She had 14 homers and 71 RBI as a junior in 2019 for Traverse City Central, making the record book for both, and she finished with 27 career homers over her first three seasons including playing her first two at Traverse City St. Francis. She is continuing at Concordia-Ann Arbor.
Volleyball
Bloomfield Hills’ Alexa Rousseau capped her four-year varsity career in 2019 as a Miss Volleyball Award finalist, and her excellence is now included in the record book as well. Rousseau just missed the single-season assists list as a senior but made the career list with 3,673 over 458 games to rank 24th all-time. She twice made the single-season aces lists, with a high of 159 as a senior, and her 458 total rank fifth on the career list in that category. Rousseau is continuing her career at Northwestern.
Jamie Burke earned an entry with 13 aces during Johannesburg-Lewiston’s two-set win over Fairview on Aug. 26, 2019. Burke was a junior at the time.
Wrestling
Kyle Woodruff already had a records entry for his 59-0 season for Pinconning in 2005-06, but he’s been added twice more. Woodruff finished 58-5 the season before as a junior and a combined 203-37 over his four high school seasons.
PHOTO: Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse’s Brooke Nadolny crosses the plate during a game her senior season in 2019. (Photo courtesy of C&G Newspapers.)