'Stang Nation' Continues Tradition of Support
February 10, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MUNISING – Some of Izzy Nebel’s fondest memories took root during junior high, while watching Munising games, hearing the older kids yell and feeling a little overwhelmed by the booming of their voices.
Now?
“Everyone that I stand around, we just look at each other and scream. We’re so excited,” Nebel said. “It’s just so fun. That’s all I can really say about it.”
But they’re actually saying a lot more.
Nebel and her classmates in “Stang Nation” – one of five finalists for this year’s MHSAA Battle of the Fans recognizing the state’s top high school student cheering section – are carrying on a tradition of support going back generations and stretching far outside her small town’s border.
The Class D school, on the shore of Lake Superior overlooking the Pictured Rocks, is home to only 200 high schoolers. But it’s the center of pride for their community, and as the first BOTF finalist from the Upper Peninsula, something of an ambassador as well.
Munising was the fourth stop on this year’s BOTF finalists tour, which also has included visits to Yale, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian and Traverse City West and will finish with a trip to Charlotte on Friday. The public may vote for its favorite on the MHSAA’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites beginning Feb. 16, with the MHSAA Student Advisory Council taking that vote into consideration when selecting the champion – which will be named Feb. 19 on Second Half.
This was Stang Nation’s second time applying for Battle of the Fans. The idea was sparked by annual trips downstate for the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals – 10 families make the annual trek together – and watching Battle of the Fans videos shown on the Breslin Center scoreboard before tip-offs and during breaks in play.
It was nurtured during the fall of 2014, when Munising’s football team made the MHSAA Finals for the first time since 1980 and traveled to Ford Field for the Division 8 championship game. Stang Nation took hold as the official name of the longtime section.
Enthusiasm was stoked again when leaders attended the MHSAA’s Sportsmanship Summit in November in Marquette. That led to the section having theme nights for the first time, and the love isn’t just reserved for the boys basketball team as in other communities – Stang Nation’s “Beach Night” was for a girls hoops game and groups of fans attended most home volleyball games and traveled some too, although many of Munising’s opponents are located an hour’s drive or farther away.
But the filling of a section of bleachers under a “Sixth Man” sign in the school’s gym is only part of the cozy homecourt advantage. The sports teams select “super fans” and players present them with T-shirts. Nebel’s uncle is among many of the recognizable faces from over the years, as he’s always in the crowd wearing a foam orange cowboy hat from the football championship game trip 35 years ago. “Those are the kind of people we have here,” she said.
And then, there are the parades.
Munising has had a nice run of success the last few years. In 2012, the boys basketball team won its first District title since 1957. The 2014 football run included a first District title since 1980 and three straight road games before the trip to Detroit. This fall, the girls tennis team won its first MHSAA Finals championship.
That basketball triumph led to a welcoming parade of police cars and fire engines when the team returned to town from Superior Central. And that’s become something of the norm for any win at the District level or higher. Parades through town welcomed the football team back from its playoff wins in 2014 and ended in the school’s gym, where fans gathered to continue celebrating. The girls tennis team got theirs, with a fan hitting tennis balls over the bus into the woods beyond as it drove by and families standing in their yards to welcome the newly-crowned champs.
But the support doesn’t stop there. When Munising’s football team returned from Ford Field two seasons ago, it stopped at the entrance to town – and only continued on once Ishpeming’s football team, which had won the Division 7 championship, joined it in the parade as well as the Hematites made their way back home.
“We’re really supportive of everyone around us,” junior Marissa Immel said. “This fall, our girls volleyball team lost at Regionals to (Crystal Falls) Forest Park. Some of our teammates made a sign for them and went to their Quarterfinal game, and after we gave them the sign to bring to the Finals. They were super appreciative of it.”
It’s an attitude that goes beyond sports. The school sponsored a fundraiser for cancer research at its football Homecoming and raised $4,200 – which would equate to roughly $21 per high school student. It’s not unusual that when someone in the community is struggling with a sickness or other hard times, the town and surrounding communities rally to help without a second thought. One of Nebel’s aunts lost her house in a fire three years ago and received an outpouring of assistance from Munising but also from as far away at Marquette.
Munising’s smaller student population allows for a little bit different student section setup than at larger schools, where a group of students usually take the reins. Whereas other BOTF finalists have had their leadership willed down or selected by administrators, Stang Nation unofficially follows leaders who have taken charge in other groups at the school – Nebel, Immel, junior Jared Immel (her cousin), junior Rachel Cooper and senior Ian McInnis all are in some combination of student council, National Honor Society and Key Club, and four play multiple sports.
Everyone knows everyone, and anyone is free to kick off a cheer or provide input. The building actually houses sixth, seventh and eighth graders as well, and the high school leaders work to get those younger students involved. Also, a peer-to-peer mentoring program connects high schoolers with elementary students, providing another avenue for inclusion and passing on the good word.
Nebel and her classmates are building plenty of memories in Stang Nation again, most of them including leaving games exhausted, barely able to speak, with sore feet from jumping around in the bleachers.
But they’ll also remember becoming the first Upper Peninsula school to represent in Battle of the Fans – and the opportunity to show the enthusiasm that has lived in Munising long before this winter while passing it on to younger fans above them in the stands.
“I hope we’ve opened people eyes to this, because it’s so fun to participate in,” Nebel said. “It’s just fun knowing that people are going to see what you’re putting into it. I hope other people see that and think, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a really cool idea,’ and they do it too. Because I want everyone to experience what we’re experiencing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Munising fans cheer during Friday's boys basketball game against Eben Junction Superior Central. (Middle) Stang Nation fills a corner of bleachers at the school's gym. (Below) Students celebrate another Homecoming victory. (Photos by Kristen Elizabeth Photography.)
Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 23, 2014
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2013-14 school year have been announced.
The program, celebrating its 25th anniversary, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.
Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 608 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, the final two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Dearborn Heights Crestwood, Hastings and Marlette each have three finalists this year. Fourteen schools each had two finalists: Bay City Central, Bloomfield Hills Marian, Dearborn, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids West Catholic, Manistee Catholic Central, Marquette, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, Midland Dow, Saginaw Swan Valley, Sturgis, Traverse City Central, Walled Lake Western and Yale.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.70, while the average of the application pool was 2.16. There are 75 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field, and all but two of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 407 schools which submitted applicants, 55 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,701 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The applications were judged by a 63-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 4; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 11, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 18. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 22, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan's major insurers, has a statewide force of more than 400 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
2013-14 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Stone Manczak, Bay City Central
Zachary Segall, Berkley
Andrew Barton, Birmingham Seaholm
Rami Kadouh, Dearborn
Samuel A Mousigian, Dearborn
Jared Hagan, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Jalal Taleb, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Brad King, Garden City
Ryan S Fischer, Grandville
Kenneth Elkin, Grosse Pointe North
Chris Kruger, Holt
David Doyle, Linden
Craig Ekstrum, Marquette
David Walter III, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg
Nate Fisher, Midland
Vikram Shanker, Midland Dow
Tanner Vincent, Novi
Trevor Denoyer, Petoskey
Kellen Scott Michael, South Lyon
Kyle Dotterrer, Traverse City Central
Cody James McKay, Utica Ford
Devin Kimberlin, Walled Lake Northern
Mitchell Dennis, Walled Lake Western
David J Walczyk, Walled Lake Western
GIRLS CLASS A
Anna Haritos, Auburn Hills Avondale
Saige Tomczak, Bay City Central
Jessica Hacker, Bay City Western
Tatyanna Dadabbo, Bloomfield Hills Marian
Clare Nienstedt, Bloomfield Hills Marian
Tala Taleb, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Caroline Ann Hagan, East Lansing
Elizabeth Cowger, Fenton
Paige Blakeslee, Gibraltar Carlson
Mallory Beswick, Grand Haven
Claire Elise Borchers, Grand Haven
Joslyn Mae TenBrink, Jenison
Jessica Graves, Lowell
Gabrielle Gencheff, Marquette
Fiona B Shea, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg
Kallisse R Dent, Midland Dow
Rachel Barrett, Milford
Grace Kao, Okemos
Kirsten Avery Chambers, Riverview
Meghan Datema, Rockford
Elianna Shwayder, Saline
Molly Peregrine, Traverse City Central
Sarah O'Connor, Waterford Kettering
Jenna Ciennik, Waterford Mott
BOYS CLASS B
Tye Wittenbach, Belding
Carl Steinhauser, Berrien Springs
Ryan Spaulding, Freeland
Joseph Corey, Grand Rapids West Catholic
Nicholas Linck, Grand Rapids West Catholic
John Gatti, Grosse Ile
Matt Johnson, Hastings
Richard Cassell, Jackson Lumen Christi
Ben Woodruff, Jackson Northwest
Ismail Aijazuddin, Madison Heights Lamphere
Zachary A Ohs, Monroe St Mary Catholic Central
Michael T von Kronenberger, Ogemaw Heights
Anthony William Canonie, South Haven
Trenton Karle, Three Rivers
Daniel Kosiba, Vicksburg
Noah Nicholl, Yale
GIRLS CLASS B
Greer Elizabeth Clausen, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
Abigail Brown, Caro
Lindsey Brewis, Dearborn Divine Child
Bailey Baker, Eaton Rapids
Callie Jensen, Gladstone
Grace Bosma, Hastings
Kylee Nemetz, Hastings
Amanda M Metz, Otsego
Alexandra J Grys, Portland
Kiersten Mead, Saginaw Swan Valley
Courtney T Reinhold, Saginaw Swan Valley
Roxane L Strobel, Spring Lake
Peyton Boughton, Sturgis
Alea Penner, Sturgis
Angela Maurer, Williamston
Alana Koepf, Yale
BOYS CLASS C
Ty Michael Rollin, Beal City
Matthew S Johnson, Fennville
Carter Ballinger, Jonesville
Luke Joseph Smigielski, Mancelona
Dakota Hall, Marlette
Bradley Schaub, Marlette
Kyle Baxter, Mayville
Stephen T Erwin, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic
Jason Beckman, Shelby
James Barber, St Charles
Devin Morrow, Three Oaks River Valley
Nicholas DeSimpelare, Unionville-Sebewaing
GIRLS CLASS C
Korinna Corbin, Addison
Kirsten Olling, Breckenridge
Elizabeth Baker, Bronson
Melissa Dowell, Clinton
Amanda Reagle, Homer
Mandy Haferkorn, Iron Mountain
Megan Chapman, Ishpeming Westwood
Keara Wilson, Marlette
Grace Leighton, Mendon
Allie Kendall, Saginaw Nouvel
Kari Feddema, Schoolcraft
Erin McDonnell, Traverse City St Francis
BOYS CLASS D
Grant Hohlbein, Adrian Lenawee Christian
Bret Hiveley, Au Gres-Sims
Tyler Anthony Johnson, Bear Lake
Jeremy Bigalke, Manistee Catholic Central
Ben Feliczak, Manistee Catholic Central
Steven McKenzie, Marcellus
Alec Firack, Pickford
Harding Fears III, Southfield Christian
GIRLS CLASS D
MacKenzie Ciganick, Bellaire
Julie Ahnen, Bessemer
Sara Inbody, Deckerville
Vanessa Freberg, Eben Junction Superior Central
Kari Borowiak, Gaylord St Mary
Lyvia Deaver, Jackson Christian
Erin Gast, Lake Linden-Hubbell
Jennifer Malcolm, Plymouth Christian