Special Year Thanks to No Specialization
August 7, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As we embark on another sports-filled school year Monday, we can look to a recent Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central grad for the value of a school year filled with sports.
As specialization at the highs school level continues to be debated, Bryce Windham will start his college baseball career this fall at Division I Old Dominion University – after playing baseball but also football and basketball for the Falcons.
The MHSAA has long advocated athletes taking on as many sports as they have interest instead of focusing on just one in pursuit of a college scholarship – a position that’s received plenty of public backing of late, be it from stars of the U.S. women’s soccer team after their World Cup championship run or former Lansing Waverly multi-sport athlete John Smoltz during his enshrinement in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Enter Windham – who easily could’ve been excused for focusing on baseball, or even basketball as his dad is the St. Mary’s varsity boys coach. Instead, Bryce quarterbacked the football team to last season’s Division 6 championship – breaking Ithaca’s national-best 69-game winning streak in the Final – before being named Class C Player of the Year by The Associated Press in basketball and earning a Most Valuable Player honor at the baseball state coaches association all-star game at Comerica Park this spring.
All three of Windham's teams reached at least the MHSAA Quarterfinals.
“His participation in football and basketball helped land a Division 1 baseball scholarship to Old Dominion. They were able to see his athleticism in basketball and toughness in football, and ODU’s coach loved it,” dad and hoops coach Randy Windham said.
“He probably would’ve given up football, and that ended up his greatest memory by winning a state championship.”
Click to read about Windham’s multitude of accomplishments as reported last month by the Monroe Evening News.
Honors Abound
National coaching honors were bestowed on a trio of Michigan coaches over the summer:
- Retired Trenton ice hockey coach Mike Turner – the winningest hockey coach in MHSAA history with a record of 629-126-52 from 1974-81 and then 1995-2014 – was named National Coach of the Year in Special Sports by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. His teams won 11 MHSAA titles and finished runner-up four times. “I was there when the MHSAA added hockey as one of their sanctioned sports and crowned their first MHSAA state championships in 1975. At that time there were 60-70 high school teams participating, and now there are 170,” Turner said. “It has been great to be a part of the advancements made in the sport of high school hockey, with more teams participating, more player development, and more opportunities that exist for players after high school.”
- Traverse City Central boys track and field and cross country coach John Lober won his second national coaching honor of the 2014-15 school year, named the NHSACA Coach of the Year for track and field to go with a previous honor earned in January from the National Federation of State High School Associations. He has coached the Traverse City Central boys track and field team since 1977 and also the boys cross country team since 1989. His 1992 track team won the Class A championship, and he has coached 17 individual MHSAA Finals champions. He was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
- Ann Arbor Pioneer assistant girls swimming and diving coach Liz Hill was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for all girls sports by the NHSACA. Hill, a former All-American at the University of Michigan and standout sprinter at Pioneer, began assisting her husband Denny Hill in 1983 before becoming his fulltime assistant a few seasons later. Together they’ve led the Pioneers girls to 15 MHSAA team titles, the last two as co-head coaches.
Michigan Mourns
Fremont and the high school athletic community statewide mourned the death July 21 of longtime coach Rich Tompkins, who led Fremont’s boys cross country teams to six MHSAA cross country championships including three and a runner-up finish during his last decade of coaching before retiring in 1997.
The Muskegon Chronicle reported that his boys and girls cross country teams and boys track and field team combined for 45 league championships, with his boys cross country team winning 116 straight duals from 1977-88. Tompkins was executive director of the Michigan High School Coaches Association for more than a decade and served on its board for more than two decades.
Click to read more from the Chronicle on Tompkins’ legacy.
Officials in the News
The Monroe County Officials Association took to the county fair to encourage passers-by to “Be the Referee” – and received 47 sign-ups from people interested in the avocation. Visitors to an MCOA booth at the fair were told in some detail what is involved with being an MHSAA official, and those who then signed up to find out more about officiating football, basketball, baseball or softball (sports the MCOA trains for and schedules) will be invited to an orientation session where they will become eligible for one of 20 complimentary registration fees for this school year.
The West Michigan Officials Association marked a decade of support at the start of this summer for the Visually Impaired Sports and Activity Day, sponsored by the Helen DeVos Children’s Foundation. The WMOA has contributed nearly $18,000 to the event over the last 10 years as well as taking part in the event, which includes a number of sports and other activities.
The Saginaw Athletic Officials Association sent along this photo of five members who worked 2013-14 MHSAA Finals, from left: Mark Jarlock (baseball), Tom Behmlander (softball), Scott Helmka (football), Dale Brown (softball and football) and Mark Schoenow (football). The Baseball Final was Jarlock’s first; the other officials had worked Finals in the past.
PHOTO: (Top) Monroe St. Mary quarterback Bryce Windham unloads a pass during last season's Division 6 Final win over Ithaca at Ford Field.
Clarkston Everest Collegiate Caps Repeat as 1st Undefeated Champ Since 2015
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 23, 2024
BATTLE CREEK – Sarah Bradley and her Clarkston Everest Collegiate volleyball teammates accomplished something Saturday that hasn’t been done since 2015.
Behind 28 kills from the senior outside hitter, the Mountaineers completed an unbeaten season and defeated St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic in four sets at Kellogg Arena, claiming their second-straight Division 4 Finals title.
But when it all ended, and she was asked to look back on the accomplishments, Bradley looked more toward the bond she and her teammates had created.
“Yes, we won two state championships, but nothing will ever amount to the amount of fun I had with these girls and this team,” Bradley said through tears. “I’m so sad to leave them and everyone behind. I think this season, we really played for each other, and it’s going to be so hard to leave them.”
Everest won 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-13 to finish 37-0-1 on the year, with a split against two-time reigning Division 2 champion North Branch the only match result that kept the team from achieving perfection. It was the first undefeated season for any Michigan high school volleyball team since Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard accomplished the feat in winning Class B in 2015.
The dropped set was one of just six that the Mountaineers lost all season.
“Everyone on the team was dialed in, everyone was in on the effort to go back to back,” Everest senior middle Addison Pearce said. “It wasn’t just a couple people that were like, ‘Oh, this is something we could do.’ It was everyone combined that worked hard every day, didn’t let anything come in our way to keep our momentum going.”
Madelyn Krappmann had 16 assists and 14 digs for the Mountaineers, and Pearce had 10 kills and five blocks. Erica Walker added 45 assists and 14 digs, while Bradley had 16 digs and Samantha Pietras had 14.
A year ago, Everest came into the final weekend as an underdog seeking its first Finals title. This year, it had to hold off an incredible effort from a St. Joseph Our Lady team that was in a similar position, albeit as a much bigger underdog.
The Lakers were making the first Finals weekend trip in program history, as five seniors led the charge to Thursday’s Semifinals. But they were the only five players on the roster who are actually in high school. Two eighth graders rounded out the seven-player team, which is allowed due to the enrollment of the school (61 students).
“I just feel like we played hard; there’s no question about that,” Lakers coach Erin Cashen said. “We knew this was going to be one heck of a feat to do. Seven players, two eighth graders that had never played before this season. We knew it was going to be tough. They were just too much for us in the end.
“I’m really just so proud of our girls. Nothing’s changed for me. I’m really proud of you guys. I think you did some amazing things. I’m pretty sure you didn’t believe me when I took the position two years ago and said I’m going to take you to state. And, here we are. I did it for you, and you deserve it.”
Nora Proos led St. Joseph Our Lady with 25 kills and 14 digs, while Jojo Marsh had 10 kills and 15 digs. Aislin Sargent added 34 assists for the Lakers (34-4-1), and Ellie Howard had 16 digs.
Winning the third set against the unbeaten soon-to-be repeat champ was certainly a badge of honor for the Lakers, although they agreed it may have woken something up in the Mountaineers.
“I think it’s great that we were able to take a set,” Marsh said. “We didn’t win the whole thing, but we did take a set. That’s huge for all of us. Everyone just played their hearts out, you could tell. You could tell it was our last game, everyone was flying everywhere and the eighth graders really stepped up. It was a really great season.”
After the first three sets were incredibly close, Everest did open things up in the fourth, winning 11 of the final 14 points in the match. It ended, fittingly, with an emphatic spike from Krappmann.
“I’m incredibly grateful that I had that opportunity, that Erica (Walker) set me that ball,” Krappmann said. “Something was off the first few sets. Passing and defense were OK, but hitting, I just had this weird disconnect. … We got to the fourth one, and I was hyped up, ready to go. Something switched, and I was like, ‘I want this.’ I just felt like I had control of the ball.
“On the last one, I felt like, ‘This could be the game point. This could be our second state championship. This could be the last point we play for Everest.’ Of course I want to give everything I have to that point, out of respect and gratitude to this team and my coach, and to all the people that support us.”
PHOTOS (Top) Clarkston Everest Collegiate players raise their championship trophy Saturday at Kellogg Arena. (Middle) The Mountaineers’ Sarah Bradley (4) sends a spike into the block of Rachel Kalamaros (3) and another Lakers teammate. (Below) Our Lady’s Nora Proos (12) and Everest’s Erica Walker (6) contend for a ball. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)