Fall sports #3 2015

LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS |Friday, AUGUST 28, 2015 | inside: ludington & manistee

SPORTS

20152015201520152015Fall1111

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWS

Ludington varsity footballMembers of the Ludington varsity football team are, sitting row, from left, Devin Mendez, Ethan Tucker, Charlie Cressell, Kylar Hendrickson, Andrew Jones, Eric Quick, Jakob Rowe and Randy Johnson; kneeling, Troy Althaus, Evan Cooper, Rolando Garcia, Antonio Ramirez, James Krauch, Jared Collins, Trevor Whipple, Mallory Shinn and Sam LaDuke; standing, assistant Robert Welzein, assistant Mike Nichols, assistant Rich Kirby, coach Charlie Gunsell, Ian Nash, Cameron Doan, Drew Althouse, assistant Brent Gilchrist, assistant J.P. Deines and assistant Bruce Gillett.

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2 | LuDINgTON DAILY NEWS/FALL SPORTS | FRIDAY, AuguST 28, 2015www.ludingtondailynews.com

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By DAVID BOSSICKDAILY NEWS SPORTS EDITOR

Ludington’s football team will be markedly younger for the 2015 season as the Orioles graduated a slew of players from last year’s team.

The Orioles lost virtual-ly every single lineman and most of the skill players.

Perhaps the biggest im-pact is along the lines. Not only did three-time all-Lakes 8 Activities Conference line-man Noah Dobrezlewski graduate, but so did line-mates Allen Keffer, Chase Ray and Griffin Ray along the offensive and defensive lines.

Gunsell, in his 12th season as the varsity head coach, said that’s really not the only place Ludington has to look to different faces.

“It’s definitely a turnover. We graduated 17 kids. It’s not just up front, but we graduated nearly all of our skill (players),” Gunsell said. “It’s been a lot of work, but our kids up front are do-ing a great job. We are defi-nitely not as big as we were, but we’re definitely athletic. I think we’re tayloring what we do to that.

“We aren’t going to blow people off the ball. We’re go-ing to get in their way. With our guys, they’re smaller

guys and we feel we can get to people quicker.”

It’s not just the lines that are different, either. For the third straight year, Luding-ton will have a new signal caller. Junior Jared Collins will step in at quarterback for Logan Sorensen. Collins piloted the junior varsity team last season.

“Not only has he had some success at the lower levels, he’s been in our program forever. He was one of our ball boys when he was in the fourth grade. He’s been around what we’ve been doing for a long, long time. He’s got a good grasp of the offense, and he is a natural leader,” Gunsell said. “We’re excited for him. We’re ex-cited with what he can do pushing the ball vertically and he has some speed.

“He’s fit for our offense. It might be his first varsity start this coming Friday, but he’s been around for a long time.”

Collins should have a fa-miliarity with his weapons around him because, for the most part, they, too, are new-

comers to the varsity team. Ludington’s roster:

SeniorS: Charlie Cressell, Cam-eron Doan, Rolando Garcia, Andrew Gentry, Kylar Hen-drickson, Ari Hoekstra, Andrew Jones and Eric Quick.JuniorS: Troy Althaus, Andrew

Althouse, Jared Collins, Evan Cooper, Randy Johnson, Devin Mendez, Austin Morris, Ian Nash, Jakob Rowe, Dylan Samuels, Mallory Shinn, Martin Torres, Ethan Tucker and Trevor Whipple.Sophomore: James Krauch.

Ludington doesn’t have a completely new roster with no holdovers, though. Kylar Hendrickson and Andrew Jones both return to run-ning back and receiver posi-tions they earned a season ago. Those two will help to lead the way for the gradua-tion of bruising tailback Alex English, speedy receiver Tay-lor Follrath as well as Ryan Bowen.

“We basically return three guys offensively between

SEE fOOtBALL, pAgE 8

Ludington football

Orioles awash with varsity newcomers

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWS

Ludington varsity cheerleadersMembers of the Ludington varsity cheerleading team are, front row, from left, Morgan Mitchell, Cassidy Pider and Jamie Nehm; back row, Hannah Schmuhl, Samantha Patch, Makena Malburg, coach Amanda Wingelaar, Kasey Eckstein, Darrah Hull and Madison Miller.

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ShAwn wALtER | cOuRTESY PHOTOMembers of the Ludington equestrian team are, front row, kneeling, grooms Mackenzie Reed, groom Lydia Hale, groom Carly Hindman, groom Evan Bennett and groom Elizabeth Lovato; back row, assistant Alyssa Walter, assistant Meghan Gillies, assistant Janelle Beaver, rider Heather Gentry, rider Emilie Walter, rider Breanna Hindman, rider Morgan Reed, rider Garrett Bennett, rider Carlie Rainbolt, rider Claire Leikert, rider Carlie Holcomb, assistant Lynne Bennett, coach Tanya Walter and coach Doyle Fenner. Not pictured: assistant Lindsay McMaster and rider Zach McMaster.

By thE DAILy nEwS

Ludington’s equestrian team is seeing a boom of in-terest as the club will head into the season with 10 riders.

The equestrian team was the Michigan Interscholastic Horsemanship Association’s C Division Reserve Champi-on, or state runner-up, with five riders.

The team returns Heather Gentry, Claire Leikert, Zach McMaster, Morgan Reed and Emilie Walter.

Leikert, Walter and Gen-try each won individual state championships last fall at the state competition in Mid-land. Leikert won five indi-vidual state championships and was the reserve champi-on in five others. Walter won

two state titles and two re-serve championships. Gen-try also had two state titles and a reserve championship.

Ludington adds five new riders to the team. Garrett Bennett, Breanna Hindman, Carly Holcomb and Carli Rainbolt all are new local rid-ers.

The riders are a part of a program that coach Doyle

Fenner says is the premier equestrian team in the state.

“We are very fortunate to have a strong commitment from parents, riders, the school, and community as a whole to help make our pro-gram one that is the envy of many other teams in the state,” Fenner said. “We have continued to win district and regional titles, and have more

appearances at the state fi-nals than any other equestri-an team in the state.”

Fenner couldn’t do it alone as he has a couple of assis-tants to go with co-coach Tanya Walter. Assisting Fenner and Walter are Lynne Bennett, Janelle Beaver, Meghan Gillies and Alyssa Walter.

The team competes in one

of the largest geographic ar-eas in the state in the asso-ciation. The district includes 19 schools that hail from Mason, Manistee, Oceana, Muskegon, Newaygo and Lake counties as well as parts of Ottawa and Wexford counties.

The team will start its 30th season Sept. 5 at the West-ern Michigan Fairgrounds.

Ludington equestrian

Team’s roster swells to 10 riders

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Ludington’s swimming program turned to a familiar face to help lift the program up even higher.

Gordon Brown is back coaching the girls swimming team this fall. Last year, he helped out as an as-sistant, but when Jacob Cook left for a teaching position in Spring Lake, it opened the position.

And Brown is filling in.“He eliminates that commute. He

can walk his daughter to school. From his family perspective, that was a no-brainer. Anyway, that left a void, I told the athletic depart-ment if they can not find anyone else, I’m there as a safety valve,” he said. “Bottom line is, I’m looking at this as a last hurrah. It’s a lot of fun with a great group of parents. It’s a good group of girls. I’ll do it for at least a couple years.”

Brown inherits a team that has a three-time state qualifier in Carson Middlebrook, the last two years of which have been here in Michigan and for Ludington. Middlebrook, though, may not be the only Oriole to be making the trek to the state meet at Eastern Michigan Univer-sity.

“Megan Scott has a shot in the butterfly. Sammie Gould could maybe in the backstroke (and) maybe in the breaststroke,” Brown said. “Temple Thompson has done great strides in the 500(-yard) and 200 freestyle. You can get some huge drops in those races. All of those girls, and a couple of others have a shot. Anna Gwiazdowski and (Alaina) Janish have untapped talent. We’ll see how they develop.

“We have at least the beginning of more girls than Carson. We’ll see. If we don’t do it in the practice pool, won’t do it in the swim meet.”

Scott, Gould, Middlebrook and Thompson are all seniors and the leadership of that quartet, and oth-ers, will aid the younger girls.

Ludington’s roster:

SeniorS: Elisa Actis, Meredith Filter,

Samantha Gould, Janna Hildebrand, Kaci Kuster, Carson Middlebrook, Maggie Nagle, Megan Scott and Temple Thompson.JuniorS: Allison Thompson and Mal-

lory Wietrzykowski.

SophomoreS: Elise Doan, Alaina Jan-ish, Anika Korendyke, Andrea Shoop, Anna Marie Thompson and Lauren Walls.FreShmen: Elaina Duncil, Megan

Gould, Anna Gwiazdowski, Megan

Mulherin and Davina Teal.

Gwiazdowski and Janish are a freshman and sophomore, re-spectively, and they are a part of a younger group that shows prom-

ise. Brown said Megan Gould can flourish, too.

“Anna Gwiazdowski, her fa-ther was an All-American for me

SEE SwIM, pAgE 8

Ludington girls swimming

Brown back in charge at pool

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWSMembers of the Ludington girls swimming team are, front row, from left, Andrea Shoop, Megan Mulherin, Megan Gould and Lauren Walls; middle row, Anna Marie Thompson, Anika Korendyke, Elise Doan, Anna Gwiazdowski, Alaina Janish, assistant Kelley Hatch, assistant Dana Thibault and coach Gordon Brown; back row, Mallory Wietrzykowski, Meredith Filter, Megan Scott, Temple Thompson, Janna Hildebrand, Sammie Gould, Kaci Kuster, Carson Middlebrook and Allison Thompson.

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Ludington’s volleyball team has a new coach for the 2015 season, but it’s a recognizable face to any-one who’s come to know the pro-gram.

Theresa Shoop is coaching the varsity volleyball team for the first time in a long time as she takes over for Scott Stone. Shoop has served as the junior varsity coach the last few years, but she has 23 years of experience overall.

And she’s had a measure of suc-cess, too.

“Back in the late 90s, Joe Taranko and I took the team to the quarter-finals,” Shoop said, referring to the winter 1997 berth in the Class D tournament where the Orioles fell to Saginaw Swan Valley. “Pentwa-ter’s coach, Kerry Newberg, was on that team. So was former LHS coach Andrea Knowles.”

Most, if not all, of the Shoop’s cur-rent players, though, weren’t born yet. Still, she will have a strong con-nection to the players because she was a longtime junior varsity coach, working with nearly every player on the roster previously.

“We’ve built a strong relation-ship already. Anyone who coach-es volleyball knows it rates as one of the most important sports for building a concept of team in order to be successful,” she said. “Know-ing their strengths and using those strengths to make the team better is definitely a bonus.

“I’m very excited to work with this group of girls again. They are exceptional individuals, and it will be a nice adventure to watch them grow as people on and off the court.”

It’s an added benefit as the Ori-oles graduated their top hitters, including the all-time kill leader in program history with Annah Prys. Brandy Thomas and Lexi Craw-ford also graduated. Prys is playing volleyball at Jackson College and Thomas is participating in track and field at Illinois State. Madda Pung, a back row specialist, gradu-

ated, too.The Orioles retained both of

their setters, though. Brett Brown and Jenna Keson split time as Lud-ington’s setter and both are work-ing in that role again this fall. Ali Plamondon, Megan Bratschi and Kim Taylor both will see a bigger

role at the front of the net for Lud-ington.


SeniorS: Megan Bratschi, Brett Brown, Makenzie Condit, Hannah Peterson, Kimberly TaylorJuniorS: Jenna Keson, Melissa Mor-

ton, Ali Plamondon, Bethany Shay, Amya Sikon, Emma Taranko

The varsity team rosters 11 on the team with six newcomers to the varsity team.

“Five were on the varsity last year, three played JV, and three are

back after taking a year off,” Shoop said. “This group of young ladies were very successful on the JV team two years ago, and after play-ing catch up for a bit, we’ll be right on track.”

SEE VOLLEyBALL, pAgE 8

Ludington volleyball

Shoop returns to lead LHS spikers

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWSMembers of the Ludington varsity volleyball team are, kneeling from left, Jenna Keson, Brett Brown, Hannah Peterson, Melissa Morton and Amya Sikon; standing, Emma Taranko, Bethany Shay, Ali Plamondon, Megan Bratschi, Makenzie Condit, Kimberly Taylor and coach Theresa Shoop.

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CROSS COUntRyTue., Aug. 25, at Warrior Invitational

at Remus Chippewa HillsSat., Aug. 29, at Pete Moss Invita-

tional at Benzie Central, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Leanna Wolf-

Geers Invitational at Mason County Central, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 12, at Hill & Bale Invita-tional at Fremont, 9 a.m.

Fri., Sept. 18, at Spartan Invitational, Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Sat., Sept. 19, Briggs True-Value In-vitational, 9 a.m.

Sat., Sept. 26, at Oakridge Invita-tional, 9:40 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 29, at Lakes 8 jamboree at Fruitport, 4:30 p.m.

Tue., Oct. 6, at Lakes 8 jamboree at Fremont, 4:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 8, at Chris Grabowski In-vitational at Manistee, 4 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 10, at Portage Invitational.Tue., Oct. 20, at Lakes 8 jamboree

at Spring Lake, 3:45 p.m.Sat., Oct. 24, at Manistee National

Invitational, 10:30 a.m.Sat., Oct. 31, at MHSAA Div. 2 re-

gional at GaylordSat., Nov. 7, at MHSAA state meet

at Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn.

VARSIty fOOtBALLFri., Aug. 28, at Manistee, 7 p.m.Thur., Sept. 3, Hesperia, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 11, at Fremont, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 18, Muskegon Catholic,

7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 25, at Fruitport, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 2, at Orchard View, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 9, Spring Lake, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 16, Lakeview, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 23, Mason County Central,

7 p.m.

jUnIOR VARSIty fOOtBALLThur., Aug. 27, Manistee, 6:30 p.m.Wed., Sept. 2, at Hesperia, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, Fremont, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, at Wyoming Godwin

Heights, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, Fruitport, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, Orchard View, 6:30

p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, at Spring Lake, 6:30

p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, at Lakeview, 6:30

p.m.Thur., Oct. 22, at Mason County

Central, 6:30 p.m.

gIRLS gOLfWed., Aug. 19, at Chase Hammond

Invitational at Western Michigan Christian, 3:30 p.m.

Fri., Aug. 21, at Fruitport Invitation-al, 8:30 a.m.

Mon., Aug. 24, at Reeths-Puffer, 9 a.m.Thur., Aug. 27, at Big Rapids Invita-

tional, 9 a.m.Wed., Sept. 2, at North Muskegon,

3:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 3, Lakes 8 jamboree,

3:30 p.m.Fri., Sept. 11, at Grand Rapids Ke-

nowa Hills, 9 a.m.Mon., Sept. 14, at Manistee, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 16, at Lakes 8 jamboree

at Spring Lake, 3:30 p.m.Mon., Sept. 21, at WhitehallTue., Sept. 22, at Lakes 8 jamboree

at Fruitport, 3:30 p.m.Fri., Sept. 25, Ludington Invitational,

9:30 a.m.Mon., Sept. 28, at Big RapidsWed., Sept. 30, at Lakes 8 jamboree

at Fremont, 3:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 6, at Ryder Cup Invitation-

al at Hudsonville, 4 p.m.

VARSIty BOyS SOCCERFri., Aug. 21, Grandville Calvin Chris-

tian, 7 p.m.Mon., Aug. 24, at Manistee, 6 p.m.Fri., Aug. 28, Western Michigan

Christian, 7 p.m.Mon., Aug. 31, Whitehall, 7 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Muskegon Catho-

lic, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Sept. 15, Fruitport, 7 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, Fremont, 7 p.m.Sat., Sept. 19, at Cadillac, noonTue., Sept. 22, at Orchard View, 4

p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Spring Lake, 7

p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, Elk Rapids, noonTue., Sept. 29, Muskegon Catholic,

7 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, at Fruitport, 7 p.m.Tue., Oct. 6, at Fremont, 4 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, Orchard View, 7 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, Shelby, noon.Tue., Oct. 13, Spring Lake, 7 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, at Big Rapids, 6 p.m.

jUnIOR VARSIty BOyS SOCCERFri., Aug. 21, Grandville Calvin Chris-

tian, 5 p.m.Mon., Aug. 24, North Muskegon, 5

p.m.Fri., Aug. 28, Western Michigan

Christian, 5 p.m.Mon., Aug. 31, Whitehall, 5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 15, Fruitport, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, Fremont, 5 p.m.Sat., Sept. 19, at Cadillac, 10 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 22, at Orchard View, 6 p.m.

Thur., Sept. 24, at Spring Lake, 5 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 26, Elk Rapids, 10 a.m.Tue., Sept. 29, Shelby, 5 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, at Fruitport, 5 p.m.Tue., Oct. 6, at Fremont, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, Orchard View, 5 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, Shelby, 10 a.m.Tue., Oct. 13, Spring Lake, 5 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, at Big Rapids, 4:30

p.m.

gIRLS SwIMMIngSat., Aug. 22, Ludington Relays, 9

a.m.Tue., Aug. 25, Holland Christian, 6

p.m.Thur., Aug. 27, at Grand Rapids

Northview Invitational, 2:30 p.m.Tue., Sept. 1, at Mona Shores with

Wayland Union, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, at Traverse City Cen-

tral, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 19, at Spring Lake Invita-

tional, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 24, Mona Shores, 6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 29, at Grand Haven, 6:30

p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, Fremont, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, at Spring Lake, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, Manistee, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 17, at Up North Invitation-

al at Traverse City, 10 a.m.Thur., Oct. 22, Manistee and Mona

Shores, 6 p.m.Fri., Nov. 6, at Coastal Conference

meet at Manistee, noon.Sat., Nov. 7, at Coastal Conference

meet at Manistee, 10 a.m.

VARSIty BOyS tEnnISWed., Aug. 19, at Portland Invita-

tionalFri., Aug. 21, Ludington Invitational,

9 a.m.Thur., Aug. 27, at Traverse City St.

Francis Invitational, 9 a.m.Sat., Aug. 29, at Grand Rapids

South Christian Invitational, 11 a.m.Thur., Sept. 3, at Sturgis quad, 9

a.m.Wed., Sept. 9, Fruitport, 4 p.m.Sat., Sept. 12, Ludington quad, 9

a.m.Mon., Sept. 14, Fremont, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 16, at Western Michigan

Christian, 4 p.m.Sat., Sept. 19, at Almont Invitation-

al, 8:30 a.m.Mon., Sept. 21, North Muskegon,

4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 23, at Spring Lake, 4

p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, at Grand Rapids

NorthPointe Christian Invitational, 9 a.m.

Mon., Sept. 28, Whitehall, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 30, at Grant, 4 p.m.Sat., Oct. 3, Coastal Conference

Tournament, 9 a.m.

jUnIOR VARSIty BOyS tEnnISWed., Sept. 2, at Traverse City St.

Francis quad, 4 p.m.Sat., Sept. 12, at Spring Lake Invita-

tional, 8:45 a.m.Mon., Sept. 14, Fremont, 4 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, Traverse City St.

Francis, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 23, at Spring Lake, 4

p.m.Mon., Sept. 28, Whitehall, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 30, Grant, 4 p.m.

VARSIty VOLLEyBALLFri., Aug. 21, Ludington Invitational,

8:30 a.m.Mon., Aug. 24, at Hart with Fre-

mont, Mason County Central, 5:30 p.m.

Tue., Aug. 25, at Mason County Central Invitational, 9 a.m.

Wed., Sept. 2, at Falcon Invitational, East Kentwood, 4:30 p.m.

Tue., Sept. 8, Fruitport, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 12, at Cardinal Invitation-

al, Big Rapids, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 15, at Orchard View, 6

p.m.Sat., Sept. 19, at Cadillac Invitation-

al, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 22, Fremont, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, at McBain Invitational,

9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 29, at Spring Lake, 6

p.m.Tue., Oct. 6, at Muskegon Catholic,

6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, at Shelby Invitational,

8:30 a.m.Thur., Oct. 15, at Fruitport with Fre-

mont, Grant, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 20, North Muskegon and

Whitehall, 5:30 p.m.Sat., Oct. 24, Lakes 8 Tournament at

Orchard View, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 27, at North Muskegon

with Fremont, Shelby, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 29, at Howard City Tri-

County with Fremont, Grant, 5:30 p.m.

jUnIOR VARSIty VOLLEyBALLSat., Aug. 22, at Reed City Invita-

tional, 8:30 a.m.Mon., Aug. 24, Hart and North Mus-

kegon, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Aug. 27, at Wyoming Park In-

vitational, 9 a.m.Mon., Aug. 31, at Cadillac Invita-

tional, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 8, Fruitport, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, Muskegon Heights,

5:30 p.m.Tue., Sept. 15, at Orchard View, 6

p.m.Sat., Sept. 19, at Sparta Invitational,

9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 22, Fremont, 6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 29, at Spring Lake, 6

p.m.Sat., Oct. 3, at Brethren InvitationalTue., Oct. 6, at Muskegon Catholic,

6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, Ludington Invitational,

8:30 a.m.Thur., Oct. 15, Fremont, Fruitport

and Grant, 5:30 p.m.Sat., Oct. 17, at West Shore Com-

munity College InvitationalTue., Oct. 20, at Montague with

Oakridge, Orchard View, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 27, at Spring Lake with

Hart, Whitehall, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 29, at Grant with Fre-

mont, Howard City Tri-County, 5:30 p.m.

2015 Ludington fall schedules

DAVID BOSSICK | DAILY NEWS FILELudington’s Lauren Biggs runs at last year’s MHSAA Division 2 cross coun-try regional at Acme’s Grand Traverse Resort.

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fROM pAgE 3

Cameron (Doan), Juice (An-drew Jones) and Kylar. We’re go-ing to lean on them to provide a lot of leadership, especially early on when we get going. It helps to have Jared (Collins) around the varsity a lot over the years. He only had a handful of snaps, but he’s always been around,” Gun-sell said.

Because Ludington began camp with just 22 players on the varsity, playing for the major-ity of the game is something the Orioles will be doing. That isn’t just offense, but that’s defense and special teams, too. There are some exceptions, including new kicker Mallory Shinn.

“Twenty-two is kind of a tough number. We’ve brought one young man up, James Krauch is a sophomore. There is a dif-ference between quality and quantity. I’ve had teams of 40 where I’ve had six quality play-

ers,” Gunsell said. “We feel like we have 22 kids on the roster, but we have double-digits in the number of quality players. That’s a big difference. We be-lieve we have enough kids to win football games.

“Injuries are a concern be-cause of depth. We’re one-deep everywhere. We’ve got six of-fensive linemen that we feel can play right now and two tailbacks. We just have to be real cautious in camp... We want them for Fri-day nights. It’s all about Friday nights,” Gunsell said.

The program’s depth issues may be short lived. There are roughly 40 kids on the junior varsity team this fall, the major-ity of which are freshmen. Plus, there are more than 100 kids playing football at the youth lev-el.

The Lakes 8 Activities Confer-ence as the Orioles have known it will change drastically after this season. Ludington will play

Fremont, Fruitport and Spring Lake for the final time in confer-ence play as the trio head off to the Central State Activities As-sociation and the Ottawa-Kent Conference for 2016-17.

None of those three, though, are the favorites to win the Lakes 8.

“Until you beat (Muskegon) Catholic,... that’s the team to beat,” Gunsell said of the de-fending league and two-time MHSAA Division 8 state cham-pions. “They’ve got a lot of good looking kids, and they get after people. I think going into any-

thing, they’re going to be the fa-vorites.”

Gunsell said Spring Lake, Fruit-port and Orchard View will again be solid teams within the confer-ence this year.

“I think we are up-and-coming. We are so young,” he said. “We’re going to start three seniors on offense and three seniors on de-fense and the rest of them are juniors and sophomores. Until you turn the lights on, you don’t know how they’re going to re-act.”

Ludington’s nonconference schedule remains the same for this season with Hesperia and Lakeview making up a portion of the schedule to go with what was a traditional book end to the season — Manistee and Mason County Central. The Orioles and Chippewas meet tonight for the Dad’s Trophy for the last time as a nonconference game. Next year, the rivals will meet as con-ference foes once again.

SwimfROM pAgE 5

28-29 years back. I think she has the same kind of talent,” he said. “Megan Gould, if we can get her healthy from a sprained knee, she has a fair amount of experience with (recreation) and U.S. swimming. Lau-ren Walls is doing great.”

Leadership is also coming from a pair of sophomores when it comes to the diving board. Andrea Shoop and Anna Thompson have shown Brown their abil-ity to teach others and take on a big role on the board. The pair are helping with Davina Teal and Megan Mulherin.

“Even as sophomores, they’re teach-ing younger girls. It’s kind of fun,” Brown said.

It’s also been fun for Brown to get back into coaching. He’s got a wealth of experi-ence, having coached previously here and elsewhere. The Ludington Relays showed him where the team needs to shore up some of the shortfalls, but part of that is because their Coastal Conference oppo-nents swim year-round.

And the all relay event showed just how strong Spring Lake is. The Lakers won the Relays, followed by Mona Shores and Manistee. The Chippewas will be strong, too.

“I think we’re a third place team in our conference right now,” Brown said. “We could possibly be second. We have the talent. If they develop over the season, we could be second. I don’t see us catch-ing Spring Lake… We’ve got our work cut out for us to get close to (Manistee). A (disqualification) here and a miss there, and we might be able to beat them.

“If I look at the times right now, we’re kind of a distant third. We have the talent to close the gap.”

The Orioles swam against Holland Christian Tuesday and followed it with a trip to Grand Rapids Northview for an invitational on Thursday. Ludington has one more meet on Sept. 1 before taking a two week break before action picks up later in the month.

fROM pAgE 6

Beyond the good relationship Shoop has with the players, the girls themselves get along pretty well away from the court, too.

“Many of the young ladies on the team are friends off the court, so that level of teamwork is naturally there. I’m hoping to see their hard work and level of intensity I see in practices car-ry over to game play,” she said. “This is a wonderful group of

young ladies to work with and I’m looking forward to a very successful season on and off the court.”

Shoop gave a lot of credit to where Ludington has been the last couple of years to Stone.

“I hope to continue to what has been started, and with the help of the girls and coaching staff, continue to make the program stronger,” she said.

Joe Taranko is helping with Shoop, the pair reunited as they

were a generation of Orioles ago. Amy Stone, Scott’s wife, will be the junior varsity coach this fall while Dave Hamman will help out just about everywhere.

The Orioles the past couple of seasons have challenged tradi-tional Lakes 8 Activities Confer-ence power Fruitport, as well as Spring Lake and others, for the school’s elusive first ever league championship. Shoop figures the Trojans and Lakers again are the teams to target before

the schools leave for the Ottawa-Kent Conference at the end of the school year.

“Spring Lake and Fruitport are always challenging. The club vol-leyball opportunities in Muske-gon make volleyball easily avail-able year round to the athletes in that area,” Shoop said. “We have many multi-sport athletes on the team and I’m confident our athletes will be competitive with those programs.”

fOOTBaLL: Orioles very inexperienced on gridiron in 2015

vOLLeyBaLL: Ludington turns to veteran coach Shoop to lead

‘we are so young… until you turn the lights on, you don’t know how they’re going to react.’

Charlie gunsellLudington football coach

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Ludington’s boys ten-nis team has loads of expe-rience, and that includes reaching the MHSAA state tournament.

The Orioles are aiming for their fifth straight state tour-nament berth this fall, and they reach for that with eight seniors on the roster.

“This senior class is going

to be one of the great ones. Next year, is going to be a rebuilding year. We are go-ing to be very, very young. I’m going to enjoy these few tournament wins,” Luding-ton coach Cliff Perez said, signalling a potential end to his longtime coaching career. “I’m going to be re-building next year. Put in a more positive way.

“This could be the glo-ry year or next year. May or

may not. I’ve been in the pro-gram long enough, you’re going to cycle. You wait for the next great class to come around and you hope for the best.”

Before the seniors gradu-ate, and Perez fills out his final lineup, there’s reason to believe this season can be special given that all but three of the players in the varsity lineup are seniors.

Senior Ryan Schrader

moves up into the No. 1 sin-gles slot, taking over for Aus-tin Sniegowski. Sniegowski was all-Coastal Conference last season and second-team all Muskegon Area. Schrader is making the jump up from No. 3 singles, where he was a Coastal Conference champi-on and regional semifinalist and finished 23-9. Schrader was second team all-confer-ence last year.

Nolan Meeker retains his

spot as the No. 2 singles player. The senior was 20-13 last season and reached the championship of both the league and regional. He was second team all-conference last season.

Ryan Lin and Ethan Leavitt, both seniors, return at No. 1 doubles this season as the pair went 23-10 last season. The duo was named to the second team for the Coast-al Conference last season as

well as all-Muskegon Area.Seniors Aidan Brown and

Abe Yeck are slotted at No. 2 doubles. Brown was paired with now graduated Mason Chapman at No. 3 doubles while Yeck was with a handful of partners last season at No. 4 doubles. Each made the way to the championship rounds at both the conference and re-gional tournaments.

SEE tEnnIS, pAgE 13

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWSMembers of the Ludington boys tennis team are, front row, from left, Jason Rakczynski, Garrett Hanson, Nolan Meeker, Trent Meeker, Ryan Schrader, Luke Reilly and Nathan Wietrzykowski; back row, coach Cliff Perez, Alec Johnson, Ethan Leavitt, Josh Laman, J.T. Walunas, Abe Yeck, Noah Laman, Aidan Brown, Kaedin Plummer, Trevor James, Alex Wright and assistant Rob Killips.

Ludington boys tennis

Big senior class ready to leave its mark

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Ludington’s cross coun-try teams have made a great showing over the past sever-al years, and a lot of that has been from the boys team.

This year, it’s the girls, as a group, that will shine.

There is a large group of juniors that will continue to well extremely well, led in part by Lauren Biggs. Biggs finished 80th at the state cross country meet at Michi-gan International Speedway in Division 2 last year.

She suffered an injury in the spring during track sea-son, but Ludington cross country coach John Lipa was

confident in Biggs.“She’s been running less

miles but with more intensi-ty,” Lipa said. “We’re looking for big things. She should be no less than All-State and in the top three in the confer-ence.

“I’m excited about our group of girls.”

As he should be. The Ori-oles bring back Asia Pat-terson, Naomi Billings and Makana Schwass for their third season of running cross country. Each has grown quite a bit in the past two seasons.

Then there’s the addi-tion of another junior, Jody Fuller. Fuller and her fam-ily moved to Ludington, and

she had an outstanding fall last season at Manistee. She was 36th in Division 3 for the Chippewas last year.

“Hopefully, they all can get along because we have a very talented group,” Lipa said.

Ludington’s girls team ros-ter:

SeniorS: Kelsey Koss.JuniorS: Lauren Biggs, Naomi

Billings, Jody Fuller, Moira O’Brien, Asia Patterson, Maken-na Schwass, Marissa Stickney.SophomoreS: Carissa Bush.FreShmen: Katrina Lesinski

and Anna Sipes.

The Orioles also add a freshman in Katrina Lesinski and senior Kelsey Koss.

“We’ll have eight or nine girls fighting to be into that top seven,” Lipa said. “That’s another aspect I’m excited about.”

Spring Lake won the Lakes 8 last season and eventually finished 13th during the Di-vision 2 state cross country meet last season at Michi-gan International Speedway. The Lakers remain a team to beat, Lipa said.

“I hope we can give them some fits on their way out (of the conference),” he said, re-ferring to Spring Lake’s final season in the conference be-fore leaving for the Ottawa-Kent. “I think we can qualify out of the regional. It’s up to the girls to work hard and

work as a team.”

LUDIngtOn BOySThe Ludington boys cross

country saw the gradua-tion of several key runners again last year. Ben Jensen is now at Davenport Univer-sity running cross country and track for the NAIA Pan-thers. Lucas Schwass, who reached the state meet, also graduated.

The Orioles do return a pair of very good sopho-mores, though. John Siegert and Joe Hatch will be relied upon to lead the way. Tren-ton Dalm also returns for his senior season.

“(Dalm) has done a great job over the last three years.

He will be in the 17s,” Lipa said.

Lucas Catron, a senior, also returns. Lipa said he’s taking a wrestling attitude of never give up and over-coming any pain to his run-ning, and Catron very well could be one of the better improved runners for this season.

Ludington’s boys team roster:

SeniorS: Nathan Anderson, Lu-cas Catron and Jacob Lesinski, JuniorS: Kyle Gracia, Randy

Johnson, Quinn Phelps, Brena-don Pollock, Gabriel Sanborn and Sam Tucker.

SEE CROSS, pAgE 13

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWSMembers of the Ludington cross country teams are, sitting, from left, Anna Sipes, Keira Hatch, Rylee Cregg, Asia Patterson, Chaline van der Velden, Moira O’Brien Savannah Pohl, Carissa Bush, Naomi Billings, Makenna Schwass, Kelsey Koss, Katrina Lesinski, Lauren Biggs and Jody Fuller; standing, assistant Jim Keillor, assistant Brooks Johnson, Brendan Pollock, Samuel Tucker, Gabe Sanborn, Lucas Catron, Kyle Gracia, John Siegert, Randy Johnson, Nathan Anderson, Trenton Dalm, Jacob Lesinski, Joseph Hatch, Quinn Phelps, Jared Garten, Diego Ruiz and coach John Lipa.

Ludington cross country

Orioles girls look destined for big year

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Ludington’s boys soccer team has its sights set on an-other big season in 2015 af-ter

The Orioles have two con-secutive district titles and hope to get more out of a group that realistically is pretty young.

“There’s not a lot of se-niors,” Ludington coach Tim Bryant said. “We’ve got five seniors, and not many more juniors. We’ve got to rely on our younger players.”

The older players Luding-ton does have are very good, if not great. Zac Schoon, an

All-State player last season, returns for the Orioles in his senior year as does juniors Josh Cooney and Luke Sny-der. The trio will trigger the offense.

“We had Luke Snyder play-ing outside defender last year. We’ve moved him up to midfield and he’s going to help with our scoring,” Bry-ant said.

Zac Peterson, a sopho-more, will anchor the de-fense with seniors Jordan Bottrell and Noah Dodson, a pair of seniors, bottling up other teams at midfield.

“The two of them togeth-er have been playing well,” Bryant said of Bottrell and

Dodson. “Nobody’s going to push them over. You’ve got guys in the middle that can hold their ground.”

Should teams get through, Ben Strbich is back in goal.

“He’s solid back there. He’s come a long way since his freshman year,” Bryant said. “He’s a senior. He’s got a lot of experience. He knows what to do back there. It’s good thing to have an expe-rienced goal keeper.”


SeniorS: Ben Strbich, Jared Murphy, Jordan Bottrell, Zac Schoon and Noah Dodson. JuniorS: Josh Cooney, Luke

Snyder, Ryan Ruba, Nathan

Basler, Kevin Eldredge and Logan Anders.SophomoreS: Zac Peterson,

Ben Knoer and Josiah Bandstra.FreShmen: Will Flewelling and

Noah Peterson.

The Orioles did have some significant losses to the team. Eric Janowiak an-chored the defense and he graduated. David Ritter moved to Charlevoix, and he provided offensive spark for Ludington, too.

Bryant said players such as Josiah Bandstra, Noah Pe-terson and Will Flewelling will all either have an impact as the season progresses or have already as the season

began in mid-August.Bandstra returns from a

season-long knee injury and will pick up things as an out-side defender. Peterson, an-other speedy outside defend-er, is fast and can be difficult to maneuver around.

“We like to have fast guys on the outside, even at out-side (midfield). They can push up and that allows us to create more offense,” Bry-ant said.

Numbers are a bit limit-ed for the soccer program, though. Bryant would like to have about nine or 10 boys per grade level participat-ing, but because of the few boys from the senior and

junior classes, sophomores and freshmen are getting a chance.

“We do have that (9 or 10 kids) for the sophomores and freshmen,” he said. “And we have no foreign ex-change students this year. That has something to do with it.

“They enjoy being around each other. It should be a fun year.”

Bryant tabbed Spring Lake as the team to beat in the Lakes 8 Activities Confer-ence this year, the Lakers’ final year before heading to the Ottawa-Kent.

SEE SOCCER, pAgE 13

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWSMembers of the Ludington boys varsity soccer team are, kneeling, from left, Zac Schoon, Will Flewelling, Zac Peterson, Jordan Bottrell, Noah Peterson, Jared Murphy, Ryan Ruba and Noah Dodson; standing, coach Tim Bryant, manager Caleb Richert, Ben Strbich, Josiah Bandstra, Kevin Eldredge, Logan Anders, Luke Snyder, Josh Cooney, Nathan Basler, Ben Knoer and manager Korben Sheaffer.

Ludington boys soccer

LHS relies on youth to keep high level

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Ludington’s girls golf team will have its third coach in as many years as Dennis Cook takes over the team.

Cook has lived a life with golf, so coaching the girls is another natu-ral progression of his life.

“I’ve been playing golf since I was 10-years-old. I’ve done nothing but work at a golf course since I was 12,” Cook, who is also the course superintendent at Lincoln Hills, said.

He played high school and col-lege golf, and was enrolled in the PGA program at Ferris State when he went there. He transferred to Michigan State, and began a focus on being a course superintendent.

“I’ve always loved the game and always played the game.”

Cook takes over for Andrew Wood, who coached the girls for one season last fall. Marianne Hayne coached the team through 2013.

Cook and the girls are already fairly familiar with each other be-cause of not only being the course superintendent, but also because he has two children in the high school.

Practices for the Orioles in the early part of the season was a bit a slow-go. The upper clansmen are winding down summer jobs, which is opening up opportunities for the underclassmen that are coming on board.


SeniorS: Kelsey Wallace, Theresa Anderson, Skylar Korendyke, Summer Thompson and Makana Edwards.SophomoreS: Kate Kirby, Kamryn

Wallace and Haileigh HuberFreShmen: Alaina Ashley.

The Orioles have five returning seniors, led by Theresa Anderson, Kelsey Wallace and Skylar Kore-ndyke. Summer Thompson and Makenna Edwards also return to the team this year, too. Kamryn

Wallace, a sophomore, also re-turns.

The early season competitions, including last Friday’s Fruitport In-vitational as well as tournaments at Reeths-Puffer and Big Rapids, saw Ludington’s youth get a shot to show what they can do.

That includes freshmen Alaina

Ashley and Kate Kirby as well as sophomore Haileigh Huber.

Cook knows the conference race will be tough, considering the de-fending MHSAA Division 3 state champions also reside in the Lakes 8 Activities Conference — Spring Lake.

“I’d like to see improvement

throughout the season. I’d like to see them make good decisions. I want them to manage their way around the course and use their head when they’re playing. I want them to be good representatives of the school, and to do it with integ-rity and honor.

“If we do all of those things, it’ll

be a successful season to me.”Although the season is under-

way, the Lakes 8 season doesn’t tee off until Sept. 9, when the Orioles host a jamboree. The MHSAA Di-vision 3 regional is scheduled for Oct. 7 at Egypt Valley Country Club hosted by Ada Forest Hills Eastern.

Ludington girls golf

Cook takes on coaching Orioles

RUSS MILLER | FOR THE DAILY NEWSMembers of the Ludington girls golf team, from left, are coach Dennis Cook, Alaina Ashley, Summer Thompson, Makana Edwards, Kelsey Wallace, Theresa Anderson, Kamryn Wallace and Kate Kirby. Not pictured: Skylar Korendyke and Haileigh Huber.

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12

fROM pAgE 9

Kaedin Plummer and Alec Johnson, both seniors, will begin the season at No. 3 doubles. Last season, the duo won conference and regional championships and made it to the state semifinals.

Noah Laman will move into the No. 3 singles spot af-ter he carried a 25-8 record at No. 4 singles and won a conference title. He was also in the regional champion-ship match.


SeniorS: Aidan Brown, Kyle Dixon, Trevor James, Alec Johnson, Ethan Leavitt, Ryan Lin, Nolan Meeker, Kaedin Plummer, Ryan Schrader and Abe Yeck.JuniorS: Noah Laman and Alex

Wright.SophomoreS: J.T. Walunas.FreShmen: Alex Ahlgren, Gar-

rett Hanson, Josh Laman, Trent Meeker, Jason Rakczynski and Luke Reilly.

The team has a handful of newcomers to the team. Freshmen Trent Meeker and Joshua Laman join the var-sity roster. J.T. Walunas will see an expanded role after playing a handful of match-es his freshman year.

Meeker will start the season as the No. 4 singles player. La-man and Walunas will team at No. 4 doubles. Walunas played three matches at the position a year ago.

“We always say you’re job is to leave a legacy for the next class behind you. I’m always telling the seniors you have to show these guys leadership and you have to be nice to them and help them in prac-tice,” Perez said. “This is the next generation. We owe it to the next generation.

“A lot of these kids have been around the middle school program. They have gone to summer camps. They’ve been waiting for their turn.”

Success for the Orioles on the tennis courts the past four years has been great.

Ludington not only has reached the state tourna-ment every year since 2011, but it has two regional titles and two Coastal Conference titles as well. Ludington en-ters the league season as the defending champions.

“We think we can compete in the conference. I don’t see them (Spring Lake) being the dominant team they were in the past,” Perez said. “In the regional, we hope we can contend with Traverse City St. Francis.”

Ludington’s season began last Wednesday with a tour-nament in Portland, and the Orioles followed it up with a home tournament followed by heading to St. Francis on Thursday. Coastal Confer-ence play doesn’t begin until Sept. 9 against Fruitport.

But there’s another tour-nament on the schedule that’s new to the Orioles, and that’s going to Sturgis.

“They are one of the pre-dominant tournaments in the state,” Perez said. “We are go-

ing to see competition we’ve never seen before. They can pull from all over the state. We were lucky to have them call us up. I’m happy that we at least got an invite.”

That only means that the Orioles have become one of the premier programs them-selves.

“I think it goes to the boys and girls tennis program. We’re starting to get on the map. People know we are a reputable tennis program,” Perez said.

fROM pAgE 10

SophomoreS: Jared Garten, Joseph Hatch, Anlin Larson and John Siegert.

Jacob Lesinski is a senior who is settling as a runner that could make an impact. Randy Johnson is splitting time with the football pro-gram this fall, and Johnson has made football a prima-ry sport over cross country.

The cross country boys program itself is in a bit of a lull, to a degree. Lipa said he has no new freshman

out so far this season. The team may pick up a runner, or two, when school begins in September, but for now, it doesn’t appear that way.

The Orioles finished in third place in the Lakes 8 Activities Conference last year to Fremont and Spring Lake. Fremont, which was the state runner-up with a strong cast of sophomores, figures to be at the top as those boys are just juniors. It was Spring Lake that seemed to nip the Orioles last year.

fROM pAgE 11

“They always have good team after good team,” he said. “We’ve been close with them the last few years.”

Fruitport should also be a quality team. The noncon-ference schedule has im-proved with the addition of West Michigan Christian and Whitehall. The Orioles play the Warriors — a pre-view of sorts of next year’s in-conference Lakes 8 game — tonight followed by the game with the Vikings on Monday. Whitehall and Ludington played an ex-citing game in the district semifinal in Manistee last fall.

Ludington hosts the dis-trict this fall, and teams such as Big Rapids and Whitehall aren’t there. But Traverse City Christian is.

“That’s probably one of the big ones there. They beat us a couple of years ago in Big Rapids (at the re-gional),” Bryant said. “We’ll see.”

CrOSS: No freshmen boys

SOCCer: Orioles still strong

TenniS: Seniors dominate Ludington’s lineup in 2015

‘we’ve been close with (Spring Lake) the last few years.’

tim BryantLudington boys soccer coach

jEff KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS FILELudington’s Ryan Schrader plays a ball at the net during his third flight singles match against Whitehall last October at Epworth Heights during the MHSAA Division 4 regional hosted by Lud-ington. Schrader moved up to be the Orioles’ No. 1 singles player this fall.

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By gREg gIELCZyKDAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

MANISTEE — Last year’s winning season (8-6-1) and appearance in the Division 3 district semifinals has spurred renewed interest in the Manistee High boys soccer program, which was demonstrated in the num-ber of players who turned out for tryouts at the start of practice.

Head coach Brandon Prince actually found him-self in the difficult position of having to make cuts and the Chippewas wound up with a final roster of 19, fall-ing a little short of being able to field a junior varsity.

The Chippewas had a sev-en match winning streak at the end of the season, and lost the district semifinal in double overtime.

With the increased num-bers, as well as a large num-ber of returning players the Chippewas understandably enter the new season with high expectations. The bar has been raised, and now that they’ve had a taste of success they’d like even more.

Although they did lose three key members of the squad to graduation, the Chippewas are confident that they can build on last year’s success and take it another step further in their final season as an indepen-dent before they join the Lakes 8 Conference in 2016.

“The difference from last year to this year is we’re starting out with 19 players, and last year we started out with 10,” Prince said. “That’s a huge difference. I actually had to make some cuts, just to keep a roster.

“We were looking for a ju-nior varsity team, but the numbers just didn’t turn out

well enough. But, our num-bers will make a big differ-ence for practice. We even have a couple of juniors who have a lot of minutes under their belt.”

Manistee’s roster:

SeniorS: Eric McElrath, Cam-eron McElrath, Mitchell Jordan, Zac Bonzheim, Logan Maser;JuniorS: Zach Davis, A.J. Reau,

Jared Wrzesinski, Nicholas Harthun and Tyler Peck;SophomoreS: Shane Harrigan

and Ben Miller;FreShmen: Spencer Linke,

Abdiel Nunez, Ben Doolittle, Elmo Sarabia, Josh Fitzgerald and Noah Owens.

Prince is looking for the older players, especially those with more experience on the pitch, to keep the younger players composed in certain pressure situa-tions in the game. Or even when things are going well.

He doesn’t want the Chip-pewas getting too down if things aren’t going their way, or becoming too over-confident when things are going well. He’s looking for the team to play on an even keel emotionally, in bad times as well as good.

“Obviously, defensively we want to be strong,” Prince

says. “That’s a point we stick to. Defense first.”

In-coming sophomore Shane Harrigan returns in goal for the Chippewas af-ter a full season between the pipes as a freshman.

After treading water at the beginning of last sea-son, Harrigan eventually grew more comfortable in the position and showed a lot of potential with a bright future. He is big and physi-cally strong, with a fearless nature.

Backing him up is fresh-man Josh Fitzgerald.

“He’s quick, and has good head skills with his move-

ment and things like that,” Prince said. “I’m looking for-ward to watching him grow as a goalie.”

The Chippewas should also be strong in the mid-field, where they have a cou-ple of guys with experience having played consider-able minutes last year in se-nior Eric McElrath, Cameron McElrath and junior Nicho-las Harthun.

Where the Chippewas do lack experience is at the for-ward spots. Leading the way is junior Zach Davis, but he’ll be supported by freshmen who still need some season-ing to grow into the posi-

tions up top.“Our experience in the

midfield is going to be key in leading that front charge” Prince says. “They’re going to have to direct the offense. It’s going to be exciting to watch the freshmen and see what they can do at this lev-el.

“They seem confident, and I’m confident in them just watching them. It’ll be excit-ing to watch them through-out the year and see how it turns out.”

Manistee wants to keep the momentum from last year moving forward.

Manistee boys soccer

winning helps to bolster lineup

gREg gIELCZyK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Manistee boys soccer team are, first row, from left, Spencer Linke, Abdiel Nunez, Zach Davis, A.J. Reau, Jared Wrzesinski, Eric McElrath, Mitchell Jordan, Zac Bonzheim and Logan Maser; middle row, Garrett Brown, Nicholas Harthun, Ben Doolittle, Elmo Sarabia, Shane Harrigan, Josh Fitzgerald, Ben Miller, Tyler Peck and Noah Owens; back row, coach Brandon Prince and assistant Cody McShane.

14



MANISTEE — Hilary Ed-mondson couldn’t have picked a tougher act to fol-low in replacing Craig Full-er as the Manistee High cross country coach. Espe-cially with the girls coming off a historic 2014 season that saw the Chippewas win their first Division 3 regional championship.

But she has an impressive competitive and coaching background.

Edmondson, then Hilary Adamczak, ran track while she attended Ferris State University in Big Rapids but gave it up after just one season because of her class load. She later coached high school track at Big Rapids for three years.

She moved back home and was an assistant on the Manistee High track and field team with former head coach Sam Joseph for three years. After taking a couple of years off, Edmondson re-sumed her coaching career with the middle school pro-gram, a position she’s held for the past five years.

Edmondson and her hus-band, Dave, have two daugh-ters, Jayna, 9, and Alayna, 7, as well as two sons, Ethan, 10, and Calvin, 7. Her hus-band coaches football and baseball, while Edmondson works at West Shore Medical Center.

“I’m excited because it’s been a pretty successful pro-gram coach (Craig) Fuller had built,” Edmondson said. “We start the season at Ben-zie Central, which is always a very competitive meet.

“That will be tough, and that’s good for (the kids). However, I’ve heard that the course is pretty flat, and not so hilly. I’m pretty ex-

cited about our next meet (after that), we’re actually going to run at the Ferris State course. The kids will get to watch the college kids run first. To run at a college course… that’s a great expe-rience.”


SeniorS: Ashley Lindeman, Mallory Stefanski, Zac Carter, Elliott Kamaloski;JuniorS: Natalee Kott, Georgia

Hiipakka, Kyle Schaubroeck;SophomoreS: Taylor Williams,

Sydney Williams, Cameron Edmondson; FreShmen: Grace Jankwietz,

Erin Dorn, Travis Bickle, Mat-thew Pierson, Thomas Veine, Emma Witkowski.

A repeat of last season is going to be a tall order, with

the graduation of Annie Full-er and the move of Jody Full-er to Ludington. Edmondson points to the arrival of sev-eral outstanding incoming freshmen who had success and the middle school level. Senior-to-be Ashley Linde-man is expected to be a team leader and step up to fill the void.

While she acknowledg-es the pressure from the heightened expectations af-ter last season’s historic run, Edmondson is excited to see what the freshmen do once the competition starts, and how the seniors will respond to the challenge of picking up the torch.

The middle school track team is coming off a ban-ner season of its own in Ed-mondson’s final season as

coach, breaking five school records, including some that had stood for two decades. Edmondson anticipates that they’ll do well at the high school level.

Lindeman and junior Na-talee Kott competed at state last year.

None of the boys quali-fied for state last season, but Edmondson looks for senior Elliott Kamloski to be a leader. In pre-season practices he’s been running out ahead of the rest of the team already.

Also expected to have an impact on the boys’ team are junior Kyle Schaubroeck as well as the incoming fresh-men who excelled in track at the middle school level, par-ticularly Matthew Pierson, who is 6-foot-4 with a long

stride.“Our regional is at the

home course, so we should have great support,” Ed-mondson said. “We won’t have to travel so far, either. The week before regionals, we actually have a meet at the Manistee National course so that should help.

“It would be wonderful if we could repeat as regional champions. There are some different teams that are in our region this year, how-ever, there’ll be some tough competition with Shepherd and Hart.

“With the returning run-ners, and the ones we have coming in, I hope that we’ll be competitive. Of course, with the boys it would be great if we could have some individual qualifiers as well.

From what I’ve been told, this is the most numbers that have been in the pro-gram for a lot of years. We still have some thinking about joining, so we should be in the low 20s.

“More numbers is going to help out with team points overall.”

Eric Thummel, who fol-lowed after Fuller, is coach-ing the middle school program and has been a valuable pool of knowledge for Edmondson and she’s also been in communication with Fuller. She hasn’t been shy about asking both for-mer varsity coaches ques-tions.

She admits to being a bit nervous about her first sea-son as the coach.

Manistee cross country

edmondson takes charge of program

gREg gIELCZyK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Manistee cross country team are, sitting, from left, Grace Jankwietz, Natalee Kott, Erin Doren, Georgia Hiipakka, Ashley Lindeman, Mallory Stefanski, Taylor Williams and Sydney Williams. Back row left to right, Cameron Edmondson, Travis Bickle, Zac Carter, Kyle Schaubroeck, Matthew Pierson, Thomas Veine, Elliott Kamolski, Emma Witkowski and coach Hilary Edmondson.

15



MANISTEE — Coach Lac-ey Hudson enters this sea-son with a much better feel-ing about the prospects for the Manistee High girls vol-leyball team because of the experience the Chippewas have coming back, and the new approach she’s taken to instill some toughness into her troops.

Stepping back and evalu-ating where the team was at the end of last season con-vinced Hudson that changes were necessary if the Chip-pewas were to begin show-ing the kind of improvement she expected.

Toward that end, the third-year coach brought two new assistants on board, Julie Portello who has been working on schooling the players on growing familiar and comfortable with their positions on the court to en-hance their skill level, and Chris Khon to start instilling the mental toughness Hud-son felt was missing.

Khon’s background as a former cadre at the Michi-gan Youth Challenge Acad-emy speaks to his ability to bring a more intense and en-ergized nature to the team’s practices, which Hudson says is already noticeable.

On the court, Hudson will rely on the leadership of seniors Emilee Kott, Em-ily Thompson and Emma Burns. All three also play on the girls basketball team, and possess competitive fires that burn deep.


SeniorS: Presley Petzak, Rylee Eckhardt, Emilee Kott, Emily Thompson, Emma Burns;JuniorS: Dakotah O’Hagan, Au-

drey Padilla, Hayleigh Codden, Briana Larsen, Emily Rankin;SophomoreS: Teagan Way-

ward.

Hudson expects defense and passing to be the team’s strengths this season. Senior Presley Petzak had a major role defensively last year as the Chippewas’ libero, but Hudson anticipates using her more as a hitter this year.

“We worked on a ton of ball control last year, so we’re bringing that to this season and building on those skills even more,” Hudson said.

“I’m confident that we can reach (our) goals. But, we shouldn’t (set) goals that we can’t reach. It would be (dis-appointing).

“As we reach those goals,

we’ll re-visit them and make different goals for better outcomes. I am excited be-cause we have a lot of skilled players this year. Everyone has played, everyone has a handle on the game, so I think we’ll have a much bet-ter season.”

Kott has been the team’s primary setter, but will do more hitting this season ac-cording to Hudson. Eckhardt didn’t finish the season be-cause of other commitments last year, but is a strong passer in the back row.

Petzak’s move to the front row leaves the libero posi-tion open, and Hudson has been evaluating her options

in that area. Kott will proba-bly start out the season as the setter, but Hudson is looking at training a couple of other players to fill that role.

“I’m hoping to be able to run a 6-2, with Kott being able to hit in the front row,” Hudson explained. “She is an amazing all-around ath-lete, so having her hit in the front row would really help the team.

“My two middles, Emma Burns and Emily Thompson, performed really well last year. Audrey Padilla played outside and she’s got a great swing. We also brought up sophomore Teagan Way-ward, and she’s really get-

ting her hit under wraps. Emily Rankin is a strong hit-ter in the front row.

“I have a lot of talent on the team this year, and I’m excit-ed for it. Dakotah O’Hagan is another one who really im-pressed us in tryouts. She hit harder than I think I’ve ever seen her hit. So, coming into the season I’m looking for-ward to a strong front row and a strong defense.”

One of Hudson’s personal goals is to see the Chippe-was limit shanked balls.

“A good varsity high school team can do anything with a passed ball,” Hudson added. “So, making sure that not only the setter, but every girl can

make a play on a ball, make an assist on a ball and get a kill would be awesome.

“(With) our schedule, I like the amount of compe-tition. We have a lot of tri meets, we have a lot of quad meets. But, it seems that they’re all teams within our range. It seems like last year we played teams that were above us skill level wise.

“I mean, we can build on losses, but to capitalize on wins hasn’t been happening. I’m hoping with the schedule we can be competitive with some of the teams we play, and be able to capitalize and have some momentum off the wins.”

gREg gIELCZyK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Manistee volleyball team are, kneeling, from left, Dakotah O’Hagan, Audrey Padilla, Presley Petzak, Rylee Eckhardt and Emilee Kott; back row, coach Lacey Hudson, Teagan Wayward, Hayleigh Codden, Briana Larsen, Emily Thompson, Emma Burns, Emily Rankin and assistant Chris Khon. Not pictured: assistant Julie Portillo.

Manistee volleyball

Hudson welcomes experience on court

16



MANISTEE — From top to bottom, this could be the most talented group of ath-letes the Manistee High girls swimming and diving team has ever assembled in its seven-year history of exis-tence according to veteran coach Corey Van Fleet.

Despite seven key swim-mers graduated off last year’s team, including four state finalists who have moved on to compete at the college level, the Chippewas return six experienced fresh-men who are expected to have a major impact.

Anna Lee, Keri Zimmerman, Haley Johnson, Celia Star Chief, Jaelyn Thomas and Ali-ena Broome competed in the summer with the Manistee Swim Club and can swim all the strokes and are especially strong in the free style events.

“I’m very, very pleased with the freshmen poten-tial,” Van Fleet said as the Chippewas prepared to open their 2015 fall season on Aug. 24. “Coupled with last year’s freshmen, who were outstanding, we stand to be in good shape for awhile.

“We’ve got a diver. We’ve got people in every event. It’s just a matter of whether you can swim fast and keep go-ing for 100 days. The season’s 100 days long. (If) everybody stay on their goals, and make their individual goals, we’ll make our team goals.”


SeniorS: Paige Picardat, Sinead McCann, Madelyn Schweikert, Anna Kutschke and Allie Zim-merman;JuniorS: Gabby Applegarth,

Laura Kane, Joelle Bartynski and Kiara Bromley;SophomoreS: Maggie Blevins,

Madison Miller, Haley Harland and Billie Gajewski;FreShmen: Jaelyn Thomas,

Aliena Broome, Kari Zimmer-man, Anna Lee, Haley Johnson and Celia Star Chief.

The Chippewas look to build on last year’s seventh place finish in the MHSAA Division 3 state champion-ship meet last November with the return of the out-standing freshmen who are now sophomores with ex-tensive experience and give the team exceptional depth.

Leading the way are free-stylers Tatum Liston, Hay-ley Anderson, Haley Har-land, Madison Miller, Maggie Blevins, Joelle Bartynski and Billie Gajewski. While they specialize in freestyle, all will contribute in other events as well.

Among the solid crop of juniors are Gabby Apple-garth, Kiara Bromley and Laura Kane. The seniors in-clude Anna Kutschke, Allie Zimmerman, Sinead McCann and Paige Picardat who are expected to score points in

the stroke events and pro-vide team leadership.

Manistee’s only diver this year is Madelyn Schweikert, who is a transfer student from Sault Ste. Marie and comes with an impressive pedigree having qualified for and placed in the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Champion-ships.

Van Fleet is anticipating a few more swimmers will join the team when the foreign exchange students arrive af-ter Labor Day, as well as af-ter school starts.

“We’d like to think we’ll win the (Coastal) confer-ence,” Van Fleet said. “We were seventh in the state last year, and we’d like to think we can be somewhere near there or better. If we can move up a spot or two in the state that would be great.

“It would be nice if we had a state champion or two. We’ll see. Anna Kutschke was third or fourth in the 50 and the 100, and our re-lays were all in the top eight. Three legs of those relays are back. We’ll be alright.”

Van Fleet expects Brom-ley, who is from Onekama, to do very well in the butter-fly while Allie Zimmerman should be strong in the cross stroke. The schedule is load-ed with the top Division 3 teams in the state which will test the Chippewas.

Manistee hosts the confer-ence championship meet at the Paine Aquatic Center on Nov. 6-7. The Chippewas have four home meets this season.

“We want to make sure that we put on a good show,” Van Fleet said.

gREg gIELCZyK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Manistee girls swimming team are, front row, from left, Sinead McCann, Maggie Blevins, Laura Kane, Gabby Applegarth and Tatum Liston; middle row, Madilyn Schweikert, Kiara Bromley, Madison Miller, Haley Harland, Billie Gajewski, Jaelyn Thomas and Aliena Broome; back row, Anna Kutschke, Allie Zimmer-man, Hayley Anderson, Paige Picardat, Kari Zimmerman, Anna Lee, Haley Johnson and Celia Star Chief. Missing: Joelle Bartynski.

Manistee girls swimming

Talent all over Chippewas lineup

17


VARSIty fOOtBALLFri., Aug. 28, Ludington, 7 p.m.Thur., Sept. 3, at Orchard View,

7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 11, Muskegon Heights,

7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 18, at Pinconning, 7

p.m.Fri., Sept. 25, Shelby, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 2, at Mason County

Central, 7 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, Burton Bentley, 5

p.m.Fri., Oct. 16, at Cadillac, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 23, at White Cloud, 7

p.m.

jUnIOR VARSIty fOOtBALLThur., Aug. 27, at Ludington, 6:30

p.m.Wed., Sept. 2, Orchard View, 6:30

p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Muskegon

Heights, 6 p.m.Fri., Sept. 18, at Pinconning, 4

p.m.Fri., Oct. 1, Mason County Cen-

tral, 6:30 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, Burton Bentley, 2

p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, Cadillac, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 22, White Cloud, 6:30

p.m.

BOyS SOCCERSat., Aug. 22, at Leland, 9 a.m.Mon., Aug. 24, Ludington, 6 p.m.Thur., Aug. 27, at Hart, 4:30 p.m.Fri., Aug. 28, at LeRoy Pine River,

5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 1, at Pentwater, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 3, at Kingsley, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Shelby, 4:30

p.m.Mon., Sept. 14, Mason County

Central, 6 p.m.Fri., Sept. 18, Traverse City Chris-

tian, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Benzie Central,

5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 29, Pentwater, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, at Mason County

Central, 4:30 p.m.Fri., Oct. 2, Benzie Central, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, Kingsley, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 10, at Suttons Bay, 2

p.m.Sat., Oct. 12, Traverse City Home-

school, 5 p.m.Tue., Oct. 14, at Maple City Glen

Lake, 5 p.m.

VARSIty VOLLEyBALLSat., Aug. 22, at Holton, 9 a.m.

Tue., Aug. 25, at Mason County Central, 9 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 1, Brethren and Mus-kegon Heights, 6 p.m.

Wed., Sept. 9, at Evart, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Mason County

Eastern, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 12, at LeRoy Pine River,

9 a.m.Mon., Sept. 21, at Muskegon

Heights, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Benzie Central,

5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 6, at Traverse City

Christian, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, Kingsley and Man-

ton, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, at Suttons Bay, 8:30

a.m.Tue., Oct. 13, at Mason County

Eastern, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, at Maple City Glen

Lake, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 20, Pentwater and

Brethren, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 22, Benzie Central, 6

p.m.

jUnIOR VARSIty VOLLEyBALLSat., Aug. 22, at Holton, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 1, Brethren, 6 p.m.Wed., Sept. 9, at Evart, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Mason County

Eastern, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 12, at Leland, 8:30 a.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Benzie Central,

5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 6, at Traverse City

Christian, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, Kingsley and Man-

ton, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, at LeRoy Pine River,

9 a.m.Tue., Oct. 13, at Mason County

Eastern, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, at Maple City Glen

Lake, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 20, Pentwater and

Brethren, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 22, Benzie Central, 6

p.m.

CROSS COUntRySat., Aug. 29, at Pete Moss Invite

at Benzie Central, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Leanna Wolf-

Geers Invite at Mason County Cen-tral, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 19, at Briggs True Val-ue Invite at Ludington, 9 a.m.

Sat., Sept. 26, at Grand Rapids Catholic, 8 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 29, at Northwest Meet.

Tue., Oct. 6, at Kelder Poured Walls Invite at Mason County Cen-tral, 4:15 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 8, Chris Grabowski In-vite, 4 p.m.

Wed., Oct. 14, at Mason County Eastern, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 24, at Manistee Nation-al Invite, 10 a.m.

gIRLS gOLfFri., Aug. 21, at Fruitport, 8:30

a.m.Wed., Aug. 26, at Traverse City

West, 10 a.m.Tue., Sept. 8, Muskegon Catholic,

4 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at Whitehall, 4

p.m.Mon., Sept. 14, Ludington, 4 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, at Traverse City

Central, 4 p.m.Mon., Sept. 21, at Fremont, 3:30

p.m.Fri., Sept. 25, at Ludington, 9:30

a.m.Tue., Sept. 29, Maple City Glen

Lake, 4 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, Big Rapids, 1 p.m.Mon., Oct. 5, at Traverse City

Central, 10 a.m.

gIRLS SwIMMIngSat., Aug. 22, at Ludington Re-

lays, noonThur., Aug. 27, at Grand Rapids

Northview, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 3, at West Branch

Ogemaw Heights, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, at East Grand

Rapids, 6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 15, at Hamilton, 6

p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, Spring Lake, 6

p.m.Sat., Sept. 19, at Spring Lake,

noonThur., Sept. 24, Fremont, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, at Holland Chris-

tian, noonThur., Oct. 8, Muskegon Catholic,

6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, at Ypsilanti, noonThur., Oct. 15, at Ludington, 6

p.m.Sat., Oct. 17, at Up North Invite

at Traverse City Central, 5 p.m.Thur., Oct. 22, at Ludington, 6

p.m.Tue., Oct. 27, Traverse City, 6 p.m.Fri., Nov. 6, Coastal Conference

meetSat., Nov. 7, Coastal Conference

meet

2015 Manistee fall schedules


MANISTEE — This should be an in-teresting year for the Manistee High girls golf team, which has three play-ers returning from last season includ-ing one who qualified for the state fi-nals and four who are just starting to test the waters.

Fallon Gates is definitely the top player on the team, having qualified for the Division 3 state champion-ships last year as an individual and finishing 13th overall. She opened the season on Friday, Aug. 21 at Fruitport with a higher than normal 94 strokes for 18 holes yet still man-aged to track the top 10 with that re-sult.

“She’s a good player, and I know she’ll come back from what for her was a poor start,” Manistee coach

Cory Crowell said. “Fallon is a very consistent player, and she’s been at this now for awhile, so you come to expect her to do well.

“It’s her work ethic that I’m look-ing to provide a motivation for the younger players who are just begin-ning their careers. If they watch how she goes about her craft, it will be a benefit to them as they go forward.”


SeniorS: Fallon Gates and Michelle BallJuniorS: Makenzie WittliefSophomore: Sarah Shathelm; FreShmen: Katie Huber, Emily Thomas

and Tiffany Elo.

Although she didn’t hit the ball well in the Chippewas’ first compe-tition of the season, Gates has been

SEE gOLf, pAgE 20

gREg gIELCZyK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Manistee girls golf team are, from left, coach Corey Crowell, Maken-zie Wittlief, Katie Hubel and Emily Thomas. Not pictured: Sarah Shathelm, Tiffany Elo, Fallon Gates and Michelle Ball.

Manistee girls golfMix of experiences

on golf team

18



MANISTEE — It’s an entire-ly different program now for the Manistee High football team. The Chippewas made impressive, if not great strides in compiling a 5-4 record in coach Tod Miller’s second season on the side-lines and hope to continue that upward trend this sea-son.

Expectations are higher this season with a solid core

of returning players in the fold, and everyone buying into the system as Miller be-gins his third season at the helm. Now, it just remains for the Chippewas to take the next step up the ladder and make the playoffs.

Making the playoffs isn’t a far fetched dream, either despite the absence of Jake Williams, last year’s leading rusher and an All-State selec-tion who admittedly carried the majority of the offensive load on his shoulders.

“The seniors here are starting to understand what we’re trying to accomplish,” Miller said. “This isn’t an 11-week season. (The kids) have to become athletes year-round, whether that means being in another sport, whether that means being in the weight room or whatever it is.

“Being a part of those things. You just can’t do 11 weeks of the year. We’ve had great participation all sum-mer in our weight program,

we’ve had great participa-tion in our camps. We do our conditioning primarily dur-ing the summer. It’s football now.”

Miller felt the Chippewas took a step forward last year.

“It wasn’t a big step. It was a medium step as a pro-gram,” Miller says. “This year, we did the triple jump. We have total buy in from the kids, (and) a total belief in the system. We’ve imple-mented the full system of both. It’s not half of an of-

fense, it’s not a basic under-standing of a defense.

“It’s the entire offensive package with a pistol veer. We have an entire defensive philosophy package under-standing of what we’re try-ing to accomplish up front, and how it’s 11 players not one or two, which was a mentality we had to break.”


SeniorS: Brandon Wick, Spencer McDougall, Cody Pefley, Chase Janis, Thomas

Bersentsen, Jakob Nezki, Skyler Carpenter, Ben Chandler and Andrew Pierson;JuniorS: Nick Harthun, Hunter

Adams, Logan Guenthardt, Tai Allen, Chase Swidorski, Tanner Vadeboncoeur, Austin Bachin-ski, Robert Florian, Chase Reid, Austin Pefley, Logan Schmut-zler, Corbin Miller, Connor Madsen and Ryan Johns.

The coaching staff wants to make sure that the team

SEE gRIDIROn, pAgE 20

gREg gIELCZyK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Manistee football team are, front row, from left, Hunter Adams, Carter Eckhardt, Jakob Nezki, Brandon Wick, Spencer McDougall, Ben Chandler and Tom Berentsen; second row, Austin Pefley, Austin Bachinski, Tai Allen, Logan Guenthardt, Bobby Florian, Andrew Pierson, Tanner Vadeboncoeur and Logan Schmutzler; third row, Chase Swidorski, Ryan Johns, Skyler Carpenter, Chase Janis, Conner Madsen, Corbin Miller, Cody Pefley and Chase Reid; fourth row, assistant David Russell, assistant Troy Bytwork, coach Tod Miller, assistant Stacey Pefley and assistant Jason Kaminski; back row, assistant Kevin Kott, assistant Mike McGuire, assistant Troy Nezki and assistant Josh Smith. Not pictured: Nick Harthun.

Manistee football

expectations high around gridiron

19


fROM pAgE 19

is peaking at the end of each week in practice.

“First of all, you have to be ac-countable to yourself. You have to believe in yourself, and you have to understand that the forces around you are not always correct or right. To be good, you have to step out of that box and challenge yourself ev-ery day. You have to come to play every day.

“You have to do things right, as far as sleep, nutrition (and) hy-dration. We’re force feeding them now. They can’t leave until they weigh the same as when they start-ed. They’re starting to see how much better their legs are (the sec-ond week of practice).”

Williams might be gone, but ju-nior Tai Allen returns as the Chip-pewas’ starting quarterback and he’s is just one of 11 or 12 play-ers who comprised 75 percent of the offense and defense last year. The players coming up from the ju-nior varsity are expected to blend in seamlessly with the sophomores who came up as freshmen last year.

As the triggerman of the of-fense, Allen will be important but the Chippewas also return Bran-don Wick, who was one of the team leaders running and catching the ball and is expected to be a major contributor.

Carter Eckhardt and Logan Guen-thardt are battling for the other running back spot, and took the lion’s share of the handoffs in the Chippewas’ four-team scrimmage on Thursday, Aug. 20, and looked very strong.

The offensive line is experienced with Chase Janis returning and moving from center to guard. Ja-kob Nezki and Ben Chandler also are back and with Janis played ev-ery down a year ago. Miller needs to fill in a couple of spots up front yet, but is confident it will be a strength.

“They became a pretty good unit last year,” Miller added. “They’re all bigger. They’re all more physi-cal. They’re all smarter, and they all have that same mindset that the offensive line is where it goes from. It’s a good group of kids to have back there.

“Allen has a year’s experience, and traveled up north to a com-

bine. He was chosen camp quar-terback. He’s had a great summer throwing the football. He is a force whether it be with his legs or his arm.”

Switching around to the other side of the ball, Manistee’s defen-sive line should also be an asset with Nezki and Ryan Johns return-ing at the defensive ends, Chandler and Skyler Carpenter at the tack-les. Tom Berensten started on the defensive line last year, but has moved back to linebacker.

Carpenter has leaned up and be-come a much faster skilled player. Spencer McDougall is coming off ACL surgery and has looked good so far in preseason.

Wick has been doing a good job at free safety. Four guys are vying for the cornerback position in Al-len, Chase Swidorski, Hunter Ad-ams and Tanner Vadeboncoeur.

Right now, they’re making it hard for Miller to name the starter.

“Right now, we’re pretty solid on the defensive side of the foot-ball,” Miller says. “What people can’t judge is how we are quicker, and we’ve done it through tech-nique. Foot in the ground, not tak-ing choppy steps wasting 0.3, 0.4 seconds.

“We are to the ball. We’re on per-fect angles right now. The kids know where the ball’s at on the field. We look good. We’re very physical. And we have younger guys vying for spots on the offen-sive line behind the returning play-ers.

“Jake didn’t have 1,200 yards be-cause he didn’t have an offensive line last year. He had an offensive line, and with five of them back that had playing experience last year, we’re solid up there.”

gOLffROM pAgE 18

hitting the ball well this sum-mer and is a supremely confi-dent player who has her expec-tations on making a return trip to states.

Mackenzie Wittlief and Mi-chelle Ball are the other two players coming back from last year, and they’ve been also hit-ting the ball well this summer which leads Crowell to feel con-fident that they’ll have good seasons.

But the Chippewas also have four new golfers who are totally unfamiliar with the game, and especially competing in varsi-ty meets. Still, the numbers are better than in the past with sev-en total players which gives the Chippewas a little more depth.

“That’s a very interesting dy-namic with three very good play-ers returning and four brand new ones,” Crowell said. “It’ll be a nice challenge. I actually en-joy working with the new ones. It’s not only teaching them how to hit the ball, you kind of have to go over everything ... how to mark a ball, where to stand, what constitutes a penalty and everything like that.

“When you’ve been playing as long as I have you take those things for granted, so it kind of keeps you on top of things (teaching the new players). It also takes a little time away from the veterans, too, which is kind of my challenge to give the time to them that they de-serve and bring the rookies up to speed.

“But, it’ll be a nice season. It’s nice to have seven girls who are excited to play. It’s more than we’ve ever had since I’ve been here, so that’s good. Generally, you take six and score four, so we’ll have a little bit of a cush-ion. If somebody had a bad day in the last few years, it just had to count.”

Unfortunately, the Chippe-was have been struggling to get more than four girls to prac-tice at Manistee National with school starting so late. Some families are still on vacation, and other girls are still working.

Once school starts, the struc-ture will be better.

gridirOn: Manistee’s lines remain relatively intact from last year

jEff KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS FILEManistee quarterback Tai Allen (11) rolls out to pass against Ludington in last year’s season-opening game at Ori-ole Field in Ludington. Allen, now a junior, returns to pilot the Chippewas’ offense. Manistee’s linemen shown here, Jeremiah Hamilton (51) and Bradley Madsen (78) graduated, but the Chippewas bring back several linemen to help protect Allen and play up front on defense, too.

DAVID BOSSICK | DAILY NEWS FILEManistee’s Jakob Nezki (55) and Carter Eckhardt (3) move in on Lake City’s quarterback during a game at Chip-pewa Field last season. Both return for their senior season.

20


Documents

Fall sports #3 2015