5 Ways West’s Creatures Continue to Crush
January 24, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
TRAVERSE CITY – We’ve worn a path on U.S. 127 and M-115 the last few years with nearly annual visits to Traverse City West to check out the Bleacher Creatures for Battle of the Fans.
The reigning BOTF champions have set that kind of standard as one of Michigan’s elite high school student cheering sections – and didn’t disappoint Friday as we dropped in for “Titans GameDay” and our second stop on this year’s finalists tour.
The breakdown: In addition to winning last year’s Battle of the Fans V, Traverse City West’s Bleacher Creatures have been finalists three of the contest’s six years. That being the case, we’re pretty well-versed in the section’s beginnings under founder Chase O’Black, who served as the school’s student senate governor in 2007-08. The Creatures are organized and managed by the senate, and during games led by a group of 4-6 section leaders who wear green and yellow-sprayed paint suits and make up the Bucket Brigade – named for the buckets they pound during football games and other outdoor events.
We visited for Friday’s boys basketball game against Alpena and met with seniors Liz Anton, Dani Priest and Sam Schriber and junior Connor Thompson. Below is our video report, followed by some of what makes the Creatures contenders again.
1. This year is more than a victory lap.
And that’s quickly obvious. West didn’t have school Friday and only a half-day Thursday, yet nearly 300 Creatures filled the student section despite a number of families getting out of town for the long weekend. But that's how West rolls. Leaders told us about how some of their classmates showed up at the gate for this fall’s football game against rival Traverse City Central at 8 a.m. so they could be sure to get near the front of that night’s section – missing class to secure a spot (which, of course, we do not condone). “After winning last year, there’s definitely a standard or an expectation we have to meet. The bar is way up there,” Schriber said. But last year’s BOTF championship also has this year’s leaders wanting the section to be a little different too. So while they’re drawing on some of the many cheers and chants that have become tradition over the last decade, they’re also working to keep things fresh. And more importantly, Priest pointed out, while last year’s BOTF effort was driven hard by the school’s senate, this year’s is really being carried by the student body as a whole.
2. Senate rules.
Traverse City West has two student-led government bodies. The student council is responsible for more of the traditional student government work, “behind-the-scenes” efforts like stocking the school’s food pantry and working on projects aimed at daily lives of their constituents. The student senate – of which Priest is this school year’s governor – is more the social chair planning activities that “make school more of an enjoyable place,” she said. The senate created the Bleacher Creatures and manages all student section activities, with the leader of the Bucket Brigade – this year Schriber – among the 29 senators. Each grade of nearly 400 elects six representatives, and five more are chosen at-large based in part on past service. The school has nearly 1,600 students, but Schriber said he thinks the senate connects with probably 80 percent in some way by hosting a variety of entertainment options. And Battle of the Fans is a daily part of the conversation.
3. They’re always coming up with new ideas.
After now 27 visits to Battle of the Fans finalists, we rarely run across a completely original idea. And of course West does a lot this year of its favorite stuff from last year and others before – they have plenty in their bag that are time-tested and get the crowd rolling. But we’ve got to give a big shout for some of the most imaginative game themes we’ve heard. During a boys soccer game in the fall, the Creatures dressed up as soccer moms, complete with snacks for halftime. That’s at least a little related to last year’s “dad” theme, where students dressed up like dads but drifted more toward looking like grandfathers instead. For another soccer game, the Creatures took a spin way off a “green screen” theme, making it a shrubbery game where they all brought branches from various bushes and trees and formed something of a wooded wave. “We always have our classic themes that are super easy for people to get involved in,” Priest said. “But sometimes for games where we expect a lower turnout, we’ll just do a weird one.”
4. They really love their school.
There’s no question. In the video above you’ll hear Priest talk about being emotionally tied to her work with the Bleacher Creatures, and that passion is similar to what we found with last year’s leaders as well. Take as another example the annual “Patriot Game” – that football game between West and Central that led students to line up at 8 a.m. to get the best seats for a game that regularly draws upward of 8,000 fans including most of both student bodies. In the video above you’ll see Creatures before the Friday's game reciting “The Creature Creed” below, written by Schriber and Thompson this winter and another example of what’s behind the section spirit.
5. Because tradition doesn’t graduate.
As noted at the start of this report, the Bleacher Creatures have been around for a decade, and during all three of our visits we’ve heard current leaders recount how the foundation was laid – in fact, a spirit scholarship has been created for a graduating senior in O’Black’s name. Because of the senate, there is an organized and expected handing down of leadership from year to year, and the Bucket Brigade has a similar succession plan, with a junior or two chosen for the brigade each year, and those juniors then in charge of filling out the group the following fall when they are seniors. Senate leaders have a plan to visit the junior high and teach some of the cheers to this year’s eighth graders – and although that idea hasn’t panned out yet, a group of about 20 middle schoolers occupied the adjacent section Friday and even got a “Future Creatures” chant directed their way from their high school mentors.
In their words
All of one, one for all: “Being an athlete, I think almost every athlete’s dream is to win a state championship with their team,” Schriber said. “(Winning BOTF) isn’t just like the soccer team winning states; this is the entire school winning the state championship. That’s just so cool. … Everyone was a part of it.
Let’s do this again: “I think what sets this year apart is we won last year, and I think some people are like, ‘Oh, we already won. Do we even have to try now?’” Thompson said. “But then you see those kids who are at Thirlby (Field for the Patriot Game) at 8 or 9 in the morning and it just makes you realize we care about it just as much as they did in 2008. It’s still a really big thing here at West.”
No time to waste: “There’s a time you can just sit home and watch Netflix. There’s a time you just don’t want to be with anyone. There’s a time you just want to go home and take a nap. I have those days,” Anton said. “But when there are sports or games going on … this is high school. You have to enjoy it. Getting involved and going to these games is the highlight of my high school career.”
Next stop on BOTF: We'll visit Charlotte for Saturday's game against DeWitt, followed by trips to Petoskey (Feb. 1) and Frankenmuth (Feb. 3). Click for coverage of our visit to Boyne City on Jan. 13.
The Battle of the Fans is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.
PHOTO: (Top) Traverse City West's Bleacher Creatures follow their Bucket Brigade leaders during Friday's boys basketball game against Alpena. (Photo by Alan Newton/Alan Newton Photography.)
Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 25, 2013
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2012-13 school year have been announced.
The program, which has been recognizing student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year, 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 Award, and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 576 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, there also will be two at-large honorees which also are part of the general judging process, may come from any classification, and are designated by their school at the time of entry.
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. Saline has five finalists this year, while Kalamazoo Hackett and Muskegon Mona Shores have three. Eleven schools each had two finalists: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Comstock Park, Grosse Ile, Hillsdale Academy, Macomb Dakota, Okemos, Oxford, Portland, Rock Mid-Peninsula and Sand Creek.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.48, while the average of the application pool was 2.16 – both within a tenth of last year’s rates in those categories. There are 59 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field, and all but one of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 409 schools which submitted applicants, 54 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,675 applications were received. All 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 66-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 on February 5; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced on February 12, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced on February 19. 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 23, 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 submit 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.
2012-13 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Marcus William Barnett, St Clair Shores Lake Shore
Connor James Bos, Holland
Andrew Camp, Midland Dow
Bryan Condra, Hartland
Jarrod Eaton, St. Johns
Tristan Eggenberger, Okemos
Alex Fauer, Macomb Dakota
Thomas Greidanus, Grand Rapids Christian
Kalvis Hornburg, Traverse City Central
Reed Hrynewich, Muskegon Mona Shores
Austin Jones, Bay City Central
Tyler Scott Kemerer, Saginaw Heritage
Anthony Lamus, Saline
Jacob J. Presto, Orchard Lake St Mary's
Charles Robert Proctor, Bay City Western
David Read, Midland Dow
Harrison Schurr, Jenison
Jeremy Simon, Richland Gull Lake
Jonathan Sollish, Berkley
Thomas Spicuzza, Oxford
Jason Vander Horst, Milford
Kevin W. Walsh, Detroit Catholic Central
Pierce Watson, Lowell
Adam Whitener, Saline
GIRLS CLASS A
Kristy Allen, East Grand Rapids
Casie Ammerman, Ann Arbor Huron
Jacqueline Burke, Troy
Francesca Ciaramitaro, Grosse Pointe North
Lara Fawaz, Dearborn
Kayla Giese, Macomb Dakota
Morgan Alexandria Gilliam, North Farmington
Kristin Nicole Green, Saline
Sarah Gutknecht, Farmington
Kelly Hall, Saline
Hailey Hrynewich, Muskegon Mona Shores
Jessica Kalbfleisch, Traverse City West
Jillian Klein, Muskegon Mona Shores
Brooke Kovacic, Oxford
Teresa LaForest, St. Joseph
Elizabeth Michno, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North
Kelly Raterink, Zeeland East
Roxanne Raven, Okemos
Kerigan Riley, Livonia Churchill
Haley Schaafsma, Riverview
Carley Serowoky, Waterford Kettering
Kendall Tamler, Birmingham Seaholm
Reinie Thomas, Portage Central
Lindsay Walter, Saline
BOYS CLASS B
Michael Azzopardi, Detroit Country Day
Michael Broderick, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Brice Brown, Ionia
Michael Chickeral, Flat Rock
Thomas D. Finch, Otsego
Alec Robert Fisher, Battle Creek Harper Creek
Mark Gibson, Freeland
Patrick Gifford, Haslett
Andrew Hammond, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern
Michael Heinrich, Ludington
Luke James Hurst, Ovid-Elsie
Matthew Liu, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
Adam Olszewski, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
Scott Parkinson, Grayling
Keeton Thayer Ross, Grosse Ile
Ryan Schall, Comstock Park
GIRLS CLASS B
Brittany Beeler, Spring Lake
Ashley M. Carney, Jackson Northwest
Kelsi Caywood, Sturgis
Amanda Ciancio, Comstock Park
Morgan Kathleen Cinader, Goodrich
Mary Emington, Cadillac
Hannah C. Engle, Adrian
Nicole L. Green, Portland
Haley June Obetts, Wayland Union
Molly Oren, Hamilton
Catherine Polgar, Grosse Ile
Emily Quinn, Portland
Florence Ann Sobell, Croswell-Lexington
Anjali Sood, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
Megan Taylor, Houghton Lake
Shelby Walsh, Livonia Ladywood
BOYS CLASS C
Brian Christopher Aldrich, Kalamazoo Hackett
Jesse Anderson, Union City
Kenner Broullire, Manistique
Jesse Corbat, Breckenridge
Parker Eldred, Blanchard Montabella
Ashwin Fujii, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Zachary A. Kerr, Saugatuck
Connor Lockman, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic
Mike O'Brien, Maple City-Glen Lake
Elliott Rains, Sand Creek
Quinton Rice, Marcellus
Luke Schaffner, Clinton
GIRLS CLASS C
Alyssa R. Briolat, Ubly
Kara Craig, Schoolcraft
Lindsey Dopheide, Lawton
Margaret Elizabeth Durbin, Boyne City
Macayla Geiner, Hart
Natalie Perry, Sand Creek
Theresa Pickell, Reese
Abigail Radomsky, Kalamazoo Hackett
Kylei Ratkowski, Bronson
Faith Schroeder, Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary
Grace Smith, Kalamazoo Hackett
Nicole Winter, Watervliet
BOYS CLASS D
Charles Barchett, Watervliet Grace Christian
Charles A. Blood, Hillsdale Academy
Brett Branstrom, Rock-Mid Peninsula
Matthew R. Katz, Tekonsha
Alexander G. Knight, Lake Linden-Hubbell
Francisco Jay Noyola, Lansing Christian
Joseph Samuel Paquette, Munising
Hunter Selby, Genesee Christian
GIRLS CLASS D
Anna Marie Couture, Posen
Sarah Cullip, St. Ignace
Erica LeClaire, Dollar Bay
Elyse Kathleen Lisznyai, Hillsdale Academy
Elena Victoria Luce, Mason County Eastern
Christina Smith, Gaylord St. Mary
Kari L. Steenwyk, Ellsworth
Krysta M. VanDamme, Rock-Mid Peninsula