SAC Sound-off: Meet Kevin Beazley
April 4, 2012
Detroit Catholic Central senior Kevin Beazley is one of Michigan's top wrestlers and finished his high school career in the best way possible -- with a win. After finishing runner-up at 171 pounds at last season's MHSAA Division 1 Finals, Beazley won the 189-pound title last month at The Palace of Auburn Hills. He also helped the Shamrocks to the Division 1 team championship the weekend before.
Kevin Beazley, Detroit Catholic Central senior
- Sport: Wrestling
- Non-sports activities: Brothers Club, Monogram Club, Student Council
- Favorite class: English
- Must-see TV: "The Big Bang Theory"
- One shining moment: Beating (Lowell's) Gabe Dean, the No. 2-ranked wrestler in the country. (NOTE: This was submitted before Beazley's championship run.)
- What’s next: I'm going to Old Dominion University next year to wrestle, and I will be studying biology, hopefully on the path to becoming a med student at the Eastern Virginia Medical School.
- My favorite part of game day is: ... the mental preparation I go through. Getting in the zone in a corner of the gym, listening to my iPod. Focusing and visualizing are so much fun for me.
PHOTO: Detroit Catholic Central senior Kevin Beazley (right) wrestles in the Division 1 189-pound Final against Temperance Bedford's Brandon Sunday last month. (Photo courtesy of High School Sports Scene).
Grand Blanc's Fisher, Caledonia's Olsen Lead Past MHSAA Standouts at Olympics
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 15, 2024
Several past Michigan high school athletes participated during the recent Olympics in Paris – and several did so only a few years after starring for their high schools in MHSAA competition.
Among those who graduated from Michigan schools, Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher and Caledonia’s Alena Olsen provided the most memorable finishes this month.
Fisher, a two-time Lower Peninsula Division 1 cross country champion and five-time champion at Track & Field Finals, won bronze medals in the Olympic 5,000 and 10,000-meter races.
After high school, Fisher went on to win NCAA championships at Stanford, and he still owns the all-MHSAA Finals record in the 1,600 (4:00.28), run in 2015 as a senior. His 14:52.5 in 2014 remains the sixth-fastest 5K time in MHSAA cross country championship history.
Olsen played volleyball and soccer at Caledonia, graduating in 2014, and was part of the bronze medal-winning U.S. rugby team in Paris. She began playing that sport as a freshman at Michigan, where she was a two-time All-America selection.
Also competing this month for the United States were the following (with high school graduation year in parentheses):
- Heath Baldwin, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep (2019) – Track & Field (10th in decathlon)
- Adam Coon, Fowlerville (2013) – Wrestling
- Freddie Crittenden, Utica (2013) – Track & Field (sixth in 110 hurdles)
- Aaron Cummings, Grand Haven – Rugby (also played football, wrestled and ran track at Grand Haven)
- Andrew Evans, Portage Northern (2009) – Track & Field
- Hobbs Kessler, Ann Arbor Skyline (2021) – Track & Field (fifth in 1,500)
- Grace Stark, White Lake Lakeland (2019) – Track & Field (fifth in 100 hurdles)
- Abby Tamer, Dexter (2021) – Field Hockey (also played soccer at Dexter)
Additionally, Devin Booker was a member of the gold medal-winning men’s basketball team; he played as a freshman at Grandville before moving to Mississippi. Cindy (Ofili) Sember from Ann Arbor Huron ran the 100 hurdles for Great Britain, Udodi Onwuzurike from Bloomfield Brother Rice ran the 200 meters for Nigeria, Alex Rose from Ogemaw Heights threw the discus for Samoa, and Myles Amine from Detroit Catholic Central wrestled for San Marino.