SAC Sound-Off: Seniors Say Good-Bye
June 13, 2012
All over Michigan during the last three weeks, seniors have been finishing up their high school athletic careers -- some to next play at the college level, most to continue as students only, but armed with a book full of memories and lessons learned on the field.
Our SAC seniors are no different. Here's what they'll miss most as they too move on to the next level.
I'm going to miss ...
"...everything about high school sports -- competing, winning, hanging out with my friends and meeting new people." -- Benzie Central's Travis Clous
"... the atmosphere of growth and learning, with others around encouraging me to always strive for greatness as I do the same for them." -- New Buffalo's Lena Madison
"... the butterflies in my stomach before every serve-receive and cheering for my teammates when they make a mistake." -- Detroit Country Day's Maria Buczkowski
"... the team unity the most. In high school sports, I've been friends with most of my teammates ever since kindergarten. Sports in college aren't the same because your teammates aren't your lifelong friends." -- Rudyard's Tyler Wilson
"... supporting my fellow students while leading our student cheering (section) for football. Those were some of the most fun nights of my life in high school." -- Grand Blanc's Bailey Truesdell
"... the support that my community gives to all of the sports teams." -- Muskegon Catholic Central's Alissa Jones
SI Honors Belding SAC Member Wilker
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 11, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A nationally-known media giant like Sports Illustrated can seem worlds away from a town of fewer than six thousand just left of middle in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
Belding senior Greta Wilker figured the New York-based magazine would never find someone like her. But it did, and this week readers all over the world have the opportunity to find out why.
Wilker was chosen as SI’s High School Athlete of the Month for May, with the video below appearing at SI.com and an article to follow, she believes, later this week or soon after. Wilker was nominated for the award – she’s not sure by whom – and was first contacted by Sports Illustrated near the end of her basketball season in March.
A camera crew came to Belding in mid-April and spent two days shooting video of Wilker at school, training dogs at her Paws with a Cause class and then during her softball game and track & field meet. Another reporter came out the next week to spend a few more days reporting for the written story that will appear on the website and in part in the magazine this month.
“When you watch the other kids who got picked … some of the things other kids are doing are ridiculous,” Wilker said. “To think I was up at the same level as those other kids, it’s pretty cool.”
Wilker, a member of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, has some pretty “ridiculous” achievements herself. She’s her class’ top student with 4.2 grade-point average weighted to include Advanced Placement classes, and she’ll graduate with 16 varsity letters – four each in volleyball, basketball, softball and track & field. In her spare time, she trains service dogs that are placed to assist people with hearing and other disabilities.
She will study and play softball next at Emory University in Georgia with another big goal in mind – she hopes to eventually become a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.