Ludington & manistee fall sports 2014

LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS |thursday, AUGUST 28, 2014 | inside: ludington & manistee

2014 FALL

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2 | Ludington daiLy newS/SPoRtS taB | tHuRSday, auguSt 28, 2014

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newS

Ludington varsity footballMembers of the Ludington varsity football team are, front row, from left, Jacob Janowiak, Charlie Cressell, Nick Gurizzian, Taylor Follrath, Alex English, Dylan Karlsen, Logan Sorensen and Drew Jones; second row, Nicholas Richert, Jacob Harrie, Bennett Wojcicki, Ryan Bowen, Kylar Hendrickson, Noah Dobrzelewski, Cameron Doan and Jordan Gilbert; Andrew Gentry, Rolando Garcia, Allen Keffer, Chase Ray, Anthony Pianto, Griffin Ray and Kevin Brinkman; back row, assistant Bob Welzein, assistant Brent Gillett, coach Charlie Gunsell, assistant Rich Kirby, assistant Mike Nichols, assistant Randy Fountain and assistant J.P. Deines.

daILy nEwS fILE photoS

Ludington’s Jacob Janowiak (3)

and Logan Sorensenwrap up a Spring Lake

ballcarrierlast season

at Oriole Field.

Ludington’sTaylor Follrathlooks to haulin a pass lastseason against Spring Lake.

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tHuRSday, auguSt 28, 2014 | Ludington daiLy newS/SPoRtS taB | 3

By daVId BoSSICKdaiLy newS SPoRtS editoR

The lines are fairly intact and the skill players, too, at Ludington.

And that leaves the focus for the 2014 season for the Orioles’ football team on two other aspects: the signal caller and the coaching.

Logan Sorensen will take over for Chad Large. Large was an all-Lakes 8 quarter-back a season ago with So-rensen his backup. Lud-ington head coach Charlie Gunsell knows people will keep an eye on his new quar-terback who had some game time at the position last year, and he’s excited about what can unfold from his junior.

“We ask our quarterbacks to do a lot. We ask them to pitch, throw and run. Lo-gan’s a big kid. He’s wrestled in the past. He’s very physi-cal,” Gunsell said. “We’re go-ing to do what Logan does well. He’s not a Chad Large or a Boyd Meeker. Logan is going to be Logan.”

What helps Sorensen is what’s around him. The of-fensive line is relatively in-tact, led by all-conference player Noah Dobrzelewski. In the preseason, and espe-cially a scrimmage at Mon-tague against a handful of playoff qualifiers, the line did very well.

“Our offensive line held up really well. We were sacked twice on 17 dropbacks. We’re going to go through those guys,” Gunsell said.

That leads to the second change, the coaching. Steve Brockelbank served as the offensive coordinator call-ing plays on gameday and now he’s the back with sev-eral of coaching colleagues from his Grand Valley State days but at Miami Universi-ty. During the week, his pri-

mary focus was on the offen-sive line.

Gunsell said he’s taking on the offensive play call-ing and he’s happy with the job his new assistants, Ran-dy Fountain and Bruce Gil-lett, among others, are doing with the team.

Alex English will be lined up beside Sorensen as Lud-ington’s top tailback. A three-year varsity player, he’ll be splitting time with varsity newcomer Kylar Hendrickson. Both can earn some tough yards. What’s more is the receiving corps appears to be in great hands, too, led by Taylor Follrath, Ryan Bowen and Dylan Karlsen.

“Alex is the leader of that group,” Gunsell said. “He put on 25 pounds in the last year through the weight rom. He runs hard… The teams we were playing (at the scrim-mage) are very physical foot-ball teams. Alex wanted the ball.”

Ludington’s roster:

SeniorS: Ryan Bowen, Noah Dobrzelewski, Alex English, Taylor Follrath, Jordan Gilbert, Nicholas Gurizzian, Jacob Harrie, Jacob Janowiak, Dylan Karlsen, Allen Keffer, Anthony Pianto, Chase Ray, Griffin Ray, Nicholas Richert, Bennett Wojcicki.JuniorS: Kevin Brinkman,

Charlie Cressell, Cameron Doan, Rolando Garcia, Andrew Gentry, Kylar Hendrickson, Ari Hoekstra, Andrew Jones, Logan Sorensen.

The Orioles have several newcomers outside of Hen-drickson. Gunsell said Nick Gurizzian, Bennett Wojcicki and Andrew Jones are all out and looking good in the preseason. They will be re-lied upon to fill in for the losses of Joe Graham, Chase Rohrer, Remington Rohrer, Aaron Luurtsema, Ryan Mis-ton and Jake Kacynski. Ka-cynski is playing for Michi-gan Tech this fall.

The defense for Ludington will be led by its safeties — English and Sorensen — as well as its three down line-men in the 3-4 alignment.

“(English and Sorensen) are big hitters, both run well,” Gunsell said. “I think up front, in our 3-4 defense, the three down linemen will rotate with Dobrzelewski, (Allen) Keffer, Chase and Griffin Ray.”

For the third straight sea-son, the Orioles are seeing a change in its schedule be-cause of the evolving nature of the Lakes 8 Activities Con-ference. Two years ago, Ne-waygo left and now Grant and Tri-County took off for

See footBaLL, pagE 4

Ludington football

Orioles ready for challenge of slate

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newS

Ludington varsity cheerleadersMembers of the Ludington varsity cheerleading team are, kneeling, from left, Danica Kreiner, Jamie Nehm, Leah Chimel and Makena Malburg; standing, coach Judy Bernard, Samantha Patch, Hannah Schmuhl, Madison Coleman, Jordyn Alexander, Kasey Eckstein, Darrah Hull and Kayla Gottwald; sitting by the victory bell, Allie Bous and Andrew Scarface.

daILy nEwS fILELudington’s Allen Keffer, left, and Ryan Bowen celebrate a score last season.

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fRoM pagE 3

the Central State Activities Association, too. Muskegon Catholic, which won the MH-SAA Division 8 state champi-onship with a then junior-lad-en team, is filling one void.

Ludington picked up road games at Hesperia and Lakeview for this season in nonconference play. Hespe-ria went 4-0 last season be-fore tumbling and Lakeview was a playoff team last sea-son.

“I like to play new teams and in different environ-ments. I enjoy it more and I think the kids do, too,” Gun-sell said. “Let’s get on the road, see these people and play them.”

When it comes to the con-

ference race, Gunsell recog-nized the overall play of the league has improved both from within and from with-out.

“Catholic is the real deal. They throw so many athletes at you. That’s a special unit.

You look at Catholic, and you have to get prepared. You have to play great teams to have special moments. It’s going to take a special mo-ment.

“Fruitport is bringing back some kids. Spring Lake is

bringing back a lot of kids. I really like our kids. If we can stay healthy — that is a key — if we can stay healthy, we’re going to compete ev-ery Friday night. I expect to compete and give ourself a chance to win.”

CRoSS CoUntRySat., Aug. 23, at Benzie Invite, 9 a.m.Tue., Aug. 26, at Remus Chippewa

Hills Invite, 10 a.m.Thur., Sept. 4, at Leanna Wolf-Geers

Classic at Mason County Central, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 6, at Hill and Bale Invite at Fremont, 9 a.m.

Fri., Sept. 12, at Michigan State Uni-versity

Sat., Sept. 13, Briggs Invitational, 9:15 a.m.

Thur., Sept. 18, at Manistee, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 20, at Oakridge Invite, 8 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 23, at Lakes 8 jamboree at Spring Lake, 4 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 27, at FruitportTue., Sept. 30, Lakes 8 jamboree, 4

p.m.Sat., Oct. 4, at Portage InviteThur., Oct. 9, at Manistee Invite,

4:15 p.m.Tue., Oct. 14, Lakes 8 jamboree at

Orchard View, 4 p.m.Sat., Oct. 18, at Manistee National

Invite

VaRSIty footBaLLThur., Aug. 28, Manistee, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 5, at Hesperia, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 12, at Muskegon Catho-

lic, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 19, Fruitport, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 26, Orchard View, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 3, at Spring Lake, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 10, Fremont, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 17, at Lakeview, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 24, at Mason County Cen-

tral, 7 p.m.

JUnIoR VaRSIty footBaLLWed., Aug. 27, at Manistee, 7 p.m.Thur., Sept. 4, Hesperia, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, Muskegon Catholic,

6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 18, at Fruitport, 6:30

p.m.Thur., Sept. 25, at Orchard View,

6:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 2, Spring Lake, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 9, at Fremont, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 16, Lakeview, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 23, Mason County Cen-

tral, 6:30 p.m.

gIRLS goLfFri., Aug. 22, at Fruitport Invite, 8:30

a.m.Mon., Aug. 25, at Reeths-Puffer In-

vite, 9 a.m.Wed., Sept. 3, at Muskegon Catho-

lic, 3:30 p.m.Wed., Sept. 10, Lakes 8 jamboree,

3:30 p.m.Fri., Sept. 12, at Grand Rapids Ke-

nowa Hills, 9 a.m.Mon., Sept. 15, at Manistee, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 17, at Spring Lake, 3:30

p.m.Tue., Sept. 23, at Lakes 8 jamboree

at Fruitport, 3:30 p.m.Fri., Sept. 26, Ludington Invite, 9:30

a.m.Wed., Oct. 1, at Lakes 8 jamboree at

Fremont, 3:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 2, at Ryder Invite at Hud-

sonville, 4 p.m.

BoyS VaRSIty SoCCERFri., Aug. 22, at Benzie Central, 5

p.m.Mon., Aug. 25, Manistee, 5:30 p.m.Wed., Aug. 27, at Elk Rapids, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 4, at Muskegon Catho-

lic, 5:30 p.m.Sat., Sept. 6, Muskegon, noonMon., Sept. 8, at Shelby, 4 p.m.Tue., Sept. 9, at Fruitport, 7 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, at Fremont, 7 p.m.Tue., Sept. 16, Orchard View, 7 p.m.Thur., Sept. 18, Spring Lake, 7 p.m.Sat., Sept. 20, Cadillac, noonTue., Sept. 23, Muskegon Catholic,

5:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 25, Fruitport, 7 p.m.

Tue., Sept. 30, Fremont, 7 p.m.Thur., Oct. 2, at Orchard View, 4

p.m.Sat., Oct. 4, Shelby, noonTue., Oct. 7, at Spring Lake, 7 p.m.Thur., Oct. 9, at Big Rapids, 6 p.m.

BoyS JUnIoR VaRSIty SoCCERWed., Aug. 27, at Elk Rapids, 3 p.m.Mon., Sept. 8, at Shelby, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Sept. 9, at Fruitport, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, at Fremont, 6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 16, Orchard View, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 18, Spring Lake, 5 p.m.Sat., Sept. 20, Cadillac, 10 a.m.Thur., Sept. 25, Fruitport, 5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 30, Fremont, 5 p.m.Thur., Oct. 2, at Orchard View, 7

p.m.Sat., Oct. 4, Shelby, 10 a.m.Tue., Oct. 7, at Spring Lake, 5 p.m.Thur., Oct. 9, at Big Rapids, 4:30

p.m.

gIRLS SwIMMIngSat., Aug. 23, Ludington Relays, 9

a.m.Tue., Aug. 26, at Holland Christian,

6:30 p.m.Thur., Aug. 28, Mona Shores, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 6, at South Haven InviteTue., Sept. 9, at Manistee triangular,

6 p.m.Wed., Sept. 17, Traverse City Cen-

tral, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 20, at Spring Lake Invite,

9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 25, Muskegon Catholic,

6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 30, Grand Haven, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 2, Manistee, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 9, Fremont, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 16, at Spring Lake, 6 p.m.Fri., Oct. 17, at Up North Invite at

Traverse City YMCA hosted by T.C. Central, 4 p.m.

Tue., Oct. 21, at Manistee, 6 p.m.Tue., Oct. 28, at Fremont, 6 p.m.

BoyS VaRSIty tEnnISWed., Aug. 20, at Portland InviteFri., Aug. 22, Ludington Invite, 10

a.m.Thur., Aug. 28, at Traverse City St.

Francis Invite, 9 a.m.Wed., Sept. 3, Grant, 4 p.m.Sat., Sept. 6, at Grand Rapids South

Christian quadMon., Sept. 8, at Fruitport, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 10, at Fremont, 4 p.m.Sat., Sept. 13, Ludington quad, 9

a.m.Mon., Sept. 15, Western Michigan

Christian, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 17, at North Muskegon,

4 p.m.Sat., Sept. 20, at Almont Invite, 8:30

a.m.Mon., Sept. 22, Spring Lake, 4 p.m.Wed., Sept. 24, at Whitehall, 4 p.m.Sat., Sept. 27, at Grand Rapids

NorthPointe Christian InviteWed., Oct. 1, Grand Haven, 4 p.m.Sat., Oct. 4, Coastal Conference

tourney at Fruitport

BoyS JV tEnnISFri., Aug. 22, at Traverse City Cen-

tral, 8:30 a.m.Sat., Sept. 6, at Mona Shores InviteSat., Sept. 13, at Spring Lake Invite,

9 a.m.Wed., Oct. 1, at Grand Haven, 4

p.m.

VaRSIty VoLLEyBaLLFri., Aug. 22, Ludington Invite, 9

a.m.Tue., Aug. 26, at Mason County

Central Invite, 8:30 a.m.Wed., Aug. 27, at Orchard View

quad, 5:30 p.m.Wed., Sept. 3, at East Kentwood In-

vite, 4:30 p.m.Tue., Sept. 9, Fremont, 7:30 p.m.Sat., Sept. 13, at Benzie Central, 9

a.m.Sat., Sept. 20, at Cadillac Invite, 9

a.m.Tue., Sept. 23, at Orchard View, 7:30

p.m.Sat., Sept. 27, at McBain, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 30, Spring Lake, 7:30

p.m.Sat., Oct. 4, at East Grand Rapids

InviteTue., Oct. 7, FruitportSat., Oct. 11, at Shelby Invite, 9 a.m.Tue., Oct. 14, at Muskegon Catholic,

7:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 21, at Oakridge triangular,

5:30 p.m.Sat., Oct. 25, Lakes 8 tournament,

9 a.m.Tue., Oct. 28, Montague, Orchard

View, Shelby, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 30, at Fremont quad, 6

p.m.

JUnIoR VaRSIty VoLLEyBaLLSat., Aug. 23, at Reed City Invite,

8:30 a.m.Wed., Aug. 27, at Hart quad, 5:30

p.m.Thur., Aug. 28, at Wyoming Park In-

vite, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 4, at RavennaSat., Sept. 6, at Cadillac Invite, 9

a.m.Tue., Sept. 9, Fremont, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, at Muskegon

Heights (vs. Hts varsity), 5:30 p.m.Sat., Sept. 20, at SpartaTue., Sept. 23, at Orchard ViewTue., Sept. 30, Spring Lake, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 4, at Brethren Invite, 9

a.m.Tue., Oct. 7, Fruitport, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 11, at Mason County East-

ern Invite, 9 a.m.Tue., Oct. 14, at Muskegon Catho-

lic, 6 p.m.Tue., Oct. 21, at Fruitport quad, 5:30

p.m.Tue., Oct. 28, at North Muskegon

quad, 5:30 p.m.Thur., Oct. 30, at Grant quad, 6 p.m.

2014 Ludington fall schedules

fOOtbaLL: Ludington looks forward to some new opponents, in and out of Lakes 8

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Ludington’s girls cross country received an infusion of youth last season with several then freshmen com-ing out for the team.

This year, that group of sophomores continues to be the core group of runners for the Orioles.

“I hope that’s the case,” Ludington coach John Lipa said. “Those girls got a lot of confidence from last year.”

The group is led by Lauren Biggs, who gave the area its best time of the 2013 season and qualified for the state cross country meet. And it includes runners like Naomi Billings, Asia Patterson and Makenna Schwass.

Biggs nearly was an All-State runner from the state meet, completing the course with a stress fracture. She more than made up for it during the spring as she was an All-Stater during the state track meet. She’s healthy and ready to go for this year.

This group of sophomores will help to lead this team.

Ludington’s girls team:

SeniorS: Ashley Bates, Riley Brown.JuniorS: Mackenzie Brown,

Kelsey Koss.SophomoreS: Lauren Biggs,

Naomi Billings, Moira O’Brien, Asia Patterson, Makenna Schwass, Marissa Stickney, Samantha White.FreShmen: Amaya Abdullah,

Carissa Bush, Brooke Nash,

Anlin Larson.

The Orioles, though, have their share of lost athletes because of graduation or other reasons. Kayleigh Shil-linger graduated, and she was one of the best runners in the area, too.

Lipa said that though she’s graduated, Shillinger’s influ-ence on the team is evident

with the sophomores.Ludington will add in

See CRoSS, pagE 8

Ludington cross country

big numbers for LHS cross teams

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newSMembers of the Ludington cross country teams are, front row, from left, Naomi Billings, Emelie Wenz, Anlin Larson, Makenna Schwass, Lauren Biggs, Mackenzie Brown, Samantha White, Asia Pat-terson, Marissa Stickney, Moira O’Brien, Ashley Bates, Brooke Nash and Carissa Bush; back row, John Lipa, Samuel Tucker, Kyle Gracia, Brendan Pollock, Lucas Catron, Riley Brown, Nathan Anderson, Randy Johnson, Trenton Dalm, Benjamin Jensen, Jarod Cobb, Luke Schwass, Kyle Wendt, Caleb Schillinger, Jacob Lesinski, Quinn Phelps, Joseph Hatch, John Siegert and assistant Brooks Johnson.

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If last year was about learning for a team without a senior, then this year’s se-nior-laden Ludington volley-ball team is set to give some lessons its foes this year.

Because last year’s team

didn’t have any seniors, al-most all of them are back. Two players, though, are gone from a year ago. Erin Thomsen elected not to play this year and Maddie Brock-elbank moved with her fam-ily to Ohio. Thomsen split time as a setter for Luding-ton and Brockelbank was

one of the Orioles’ big out-side hitters.

Still, Annah Prys, Brandy Thomas, Ali Plamondon and Lexi Crawford have shown they can hit from just about anywhere on the court. Pla-mondon is a sophomore and the others are seniors.

Megan Bratschi, a junior,

was also a solid all-around player a year ago, and she returns. Brett Brown, anoth-er junior, set for a time last year, too. Madda Pung, a se-nior, played a libero last sea-son and did well.

“That takes a lot of pres-sure off of them. They know where my expectations are.

They’re more effective on offense. Less questions on whose responsibilities. They gel a lot better.”

Pung is the team’s captain this season.

“Madda is our team cap-tain. She’s demonstrated to be the leader. Annah Prys is getting double teamed at

the front of the net. She’s got a lot of experience. Both played AAU last winter,” Stone said. “Brandy has re-ally made some big improve-ments, from JV to last year, a year of varsity helped with her confidence. Lexi

See VoLLEyBaLL, pagE 8

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newSMembers of the Ludington varsity volleyball team are, from left, Jenna Keson, Brett Brown, Ali Plamondon, Megan Bratschi, Annah Prys, Brandy Thomas, Kimberly Taylor, Madda Pung, Lexi Crawford and coach Scott Stone.

Ludington volleyball

Orioles primed for big season

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One shot was the differ-ence between a trip to the state tournament and stay-ing home last season for Ludington’s girls golf team.

They didn’t go, but, this year, they return all but one critical player from last year’s team. Now juniors Theresa Andersen, Kelsey Wallace and Makana Ed-wards return for this year’s team and each was impact-ful in the team score.

They’ll be the nucleus for new coach Andrew Wood, who takes over for Marianne Hayne. Wood has coached the Ludington boys team the last three springs and has seen individual and team state qualifiers in that time.

“It’s definitely more laid back. The girls enjoy it. They don’t put the same pres-sure on themselves as the guys do,” Wood said. “I think they’re a little more open. They’ll try anything you sug-gest. They’re wanting to get better, but not be perfect. With the guys, they want to be perfect right away.”

Andersen won second team all-conference from the Lakes 8 last year and Wallace was honorable men-tion. The Orioles also return seniors Katie Biggs and Me-gan Wild to the roster for their senior season as well as juniors Skylar Korendyke and Summer Thompson.

The Orioles competed in the Fruitport Invitational al-ready this season and it was Korendyke and Wild leading the way.


Senior: Katherine Biggs, Me-gan Wild.JuniorS: Theresa Andersen,

Makana Edwards, Skylar Ko-rendyke, Summer Thompson, Kelsey Wallace.

FreShman: Kamryn Wallace.

Ludington’s top golfer graduate from last year’s team, Sam MacDonnell. Ash-ley Harrie, who also played well for Ludington last fall, transferred to another school. Both were Lakes 8 honorable mentions a year

ago.“We lost two good play-

ers. Sam was the only senior. Ashley Harris is at a differ-ent school this year. Both are good players. We do have seven back with varsity ex-perience. It makes it nice. I don’t think there’s a huge gap between our 1-7,” Wood

said.There is one addition to

the lineup for this year, freshman Kamryn Wallace.

“She’s being thrown right into varsity competition. It’ll take her some time,” Wood said. “A lot of these girls were brand new two years ago. To see all of the differ-

ence from two years ago. In a couple of years, she’ll be in the same position.”

Last year, Ludington played exceptionally well as several times each of the four girls that factored into the scoring shot below 100. Ludington won the Fruitport Invitational already this sea-

son. Where does Wood see the Orioles going for the fall?

“It’s tough. I think in the conference, I’d like to finish second. I don’t think any-one else in our conference is very close to (Spring Lake),” Wood said. “I’d like to finish second.”

Ludington girls golf

Wood likes chances of his fall team

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newSMembers of the Ludington girls golf team are, front row, from left, Summer Thompson, Skylar Korendyke, Kamryn Wallace, Theresa Anderson, Kelsey Wallace, Makana Edwards, Katie Biggs, Megan Wild and coach Andy Wood.

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fRoM pagE 6

Crawford, she was second team all-conference last year and she has really worked hard in the offseason.”

The Orioles roster:

SeniorS: Alexi Crawford, Brianna Prys, Madison Pung, Brandy Thomas.JuniorS: Megan Bratschi, Brett

Brown.SophomoreS: Jenna Keson, Ali

Plamondon, Kimberly Taylor.

Ludington will add a cou-ple of players to the varsity rotation this year, Jenna Ke-son and Kim Taylor.

“They’ve played togeth-er through the spring. We did Zero Hour (work be-fore school last spring). They played together dur-ing the summer,” Stone said. “There’s not a setback hav-ing those two come and as-

sume some starting spots.”Taylor will step in as an in-

side and outside hitter with Keson splitting the setting duties with Brown.

“Brett Brown and Jenna Keson are our two setters,” Stone said. “There is very lit-tle question with where the ball is going. There is very little ad-libbing on our team. Everything is structured. I think it’s helping.”

Last season, the Orioles reached the MHSAA Class B regional semifinals, falling to what was a Lakes 8 Activi-ties Conference foe, Grant. Grant and Tri-County left for the Central State Activi-ties Association, following Newaygo. The Lakes 8 adds Muskegon Catholic starting this year.

With the exit of Grant, one of the potential Lakes 8 title contenders is gone. Spring Lake was also a league run-ner-up with the Orioles last

season. Fruitport isn’t that far removed from its state dominant days, and the Tro-jans figure to be somewhere in the title picture, too.

“Just like last year, I’m try-ing to be at the top of the conference. Those are my expectations and those are my goals, we do what we can in our time constraints to get into that. Ludington has nev-er won a conference champi-onship, and I’m hoping that this is our first year,” Stone said. “We’re getting the girls to play really good volley-ball. It’s one thing to play the game, but we want to play the game at the highest lev-el.”

Ludington also had a solid season, nearly 40 victories in total, despite some chang-es within the coaching staff during the season. Scott Stone was injured in an acci-dent, leaving his wife, Amy, and Theresa Shoop to come

in and guide the girls. Scott said he is grateful for both.

“I’m in pain almost every step. I’m not 100 percent. I feel more 50 percent. Last year, I was more 10 percent,” he said. “My wife had to take over and she did a great job. I’m very thankful for her and Theresa, I couldn’t have been more pleased.”

With Stone continuing his recovery, and a veteran group seeking that Lakes 8 title, the nonconference schedule continued to get tougher for his veteran team.

“We had 39 wins last year. That’s a good telltale sign, move in the right direction. If we get 39 wins, I’ll be hap-py,” he said. “We’re seeing top-ranked teams the first half of the season where we haven’t seen this quality of competition like we’ve seen. That’s going to be interest-ing to see how we step up with that.”

fRoM pagE 5

several new runners. Brooke Nash showed that she can be within that top group of five runners and she’s a fresh-man. Fellow freshman Anlin Larson ran well along with Nash at the Pete Moss Invi-tational at Benzie Central in Ludington’s first competi-tive action. And, the Orioles added a transfer from Adri-an, Mackenzie Brown.

Other newcomers include senior Ashley Bates and sophomores Marissa Stick-ney, Moira O’Brien and Sa-mantha White.

“We’re going to develop as we go,” Lipa said. “If every-one stays healthy, we’ll do well. We add Brooke Nash and Carissa Bush, who’s a transfer from Grand Haven. Anlin Larson will help us.”

Ludington was the run-ner-up to Spring Lake in the Lakes 8 last season. At the

regional at Grand Traverse Resort in Acme, the Orioles were seventh in a strong field. The Lakers are the two-time Division 2 state run-ners-up, and Lipa said run-ning against them will only help when it comes time for the regional.

“I think we could contend, or at least give them a head-ache,” Lipa said of the Lakers. “I’ve told them, ‘You’re going up against the state runners-up. It will only help you at the regional meet. Maybe we can get the girls out (of the region-al). They’ve definitely got an uphill battle.”

LUdIngton BoySThe boys team reached

the MHSAA state cross coun-try meet a season ago with a good mix of upperclassmen. Luke Schwass, Ben Jensen and Jarod Cobb all were ju-niors on the team last year

and all competed at the state meet last season. Schwass and Jensen each also had one of the best times of the area last season.

The trio, along with now sophomore Randy Johnson, have that experience.

Those four showed early on already, at the Pete Moss Invitational at Benzie Cen-tral, that they will be leading the Orioles this season.

“It’s awesome. Every year it seems like we lost some great runners. I almost think we have a better overall team. The grouping of the top one through five is so important in cross country. We’re going to be running well,” Lipa said.

“Scwhass and Jensen learned a lot last year. I think with Luke and Ben, they’re going to be our leaders of the team.”

Those four will help guide the way for the Orioles ros-

ter.Ludington’s boys team:

SeniorS: Jarod Cobb, Ben Jen-sen, Kyle Wendt, Riley Brown and Lucas Schwass.JuniorS: Trenton Dalm, Jacob

Lesinski, Nathan Anderson, Lucas Catron.SophomoreS: Kyle Gracia,

Quinn Phelps, Samuel Tucker, Randy Johnson, Brendan Pol-lock.FreShmen: John Siegert,

Joseph Hatch.

Ludington returns a hand-ful of other runners to this year’s team and they’ll be working for a spot within the top five. Trenton Dalm and Jacob Lesinski return in this, their junior year. Fel-low sophomores with John-son, Kyle Gracia and Quinn Phelps. also come back.

They’ll help to make the top five and even seven very

strong.“Our grouping is going to

be very good. We may not have that one top runner, but we’ll have our top five in the top 30 of the races we run,” Lipa said. “Jarod Cobb came in really dedicat-ed this year. He’s improved. Trenton Dalm ran below 20 minutes (at Benzie Central), and that’s the first time he’s done that.”

The Orioles add in a few new runners. Sam Tucker, a sophomore, is joined by freshmen Anlin Larson and John Siegert. They’ll need to help curb the losses of Luke Riley, Christopher Snow and Matt Ritter. Ritter is run-ning for Oakland University this fall and is the second straight Oriole to run for a Division 1 school, follow-ing Luke Johnson who went to Michigan State. Ritter and Snow had two of the fastest

times for the season in 2013. And Ritter won the Lakes 8 title race.

“John Seigert and Joe Hatch are out and they’re very dedicated to the sea-son,” Lipa said. “They’re go-ing to develop into top ath-letes. That’s only going to help us with our top five, six or seven runners as a group. I’m excited about that.”

Ludington was the region-al runner-up last season and won its third consecutive Lakes 8 Activities Confer-ence title. Lipa said he be-lieves Fremont will be look-ing to topple the three-time champions this fall. And at the regional, Whitehall of the West Michigan Conference could also be trying to cut out the Orioles.

But the Orioles have tons of experience, and they crave to do more in Brooklyn this fall.

crOSS: Ludington’s boys should run well as a group through the 2014 season

vOLLeybaLL: Orioles return nearly everyone from last year’s league runner-up team

daILy nEwS fILELudington’s Brandy Thomas goes up for a spike against Man-istee during the MHSAA Class B District in Manistee last season. Thomas returns for her senior year.

8



Looking at the Ludington boys soccer roster can be de-ceiving.

Sure, there’s a handful of seniors and juniors. And there are some sophomores and freshmen.

But inexperience isn’t nec-essarily something Orioles coach Tim Bryant is con-cerned about.

“By the end of the sea-son, they’ll have it. The kids have played together a lot and they’ll be ready when it comes to the time.”

The Orioles lost 10 seniors

from last year’s team, includ-ing all-state honorable men-tion defender Zeb Jones. Much of what Bryant must re-place is in the team’s defense.

Thankfully, Eric Janowiak will anchor the team’s back end for Bryant.

“He’s a tough kid to get around,” he said.

Janowiak is one of five se-niors and four juniors on the team. That’s where it’s deceptive when it comes to the kids who return — Josh Cooney and David Ritter — both played significantly as freshmen last season.

And the team’s leading scorer returns. Zac Schoon’s

sophomore season included 27 goals and a second team all-state selection from the coaches association. He had arthoscopic surgery on his hip in the spring, but he showed already this sea-son that he was back at full strength. He scored three goals and assisted on two

others in an 8-0 rout of Ben-zie Central.

Bryant is also impressed with newcomers Zach Peter-son, Logan Anders and Luke Snyder. Peterson is a fresh-man and Snyder and Anders are sophomores.

See SoCCER, pagE 13

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newSMembers of the Ludington varsity boys soccer team are, front row, from left, Logan Anders, Josh Cooney, Jordan Bottrell, Julius Lenz, Ben Strbich, Jared Murphy, Samuel Ramirez, Caleb Schillinger and Davide Galluzzo; assistant Chris Edwards, Connor Timinski, Noah Dodson, Luke Snyder, Dylan Hansen, Zac Schoon, Eric Janowiak, Zac Peterson, David Ritter, Noah Peterson and coach Tim Bryant.

Ludington boys soccer

LHS has plenty of experience

9



Ludington’s girls swim-ming and diving team has many familiar faces for the 2014 season, including one that paces alongside the pool.

Jacob Cook, an assistant under David Glancy for the

past few years, moves up to be the head coach for the Orioles this fall as Glancy stepped down. He’ll be as-sisted by Kelley Hatch and Gordon Brown. The coach-ing staff is a good mix of ex-perience, including Brown having coached the Orioles years ago.

“It’s been great. The girls

are wonderful. They’ve been tremendous. Their efforts in practice have been tre-mendous. I’m happy to have them on board and helping out,” Cook said.

“We coach the teams the same way. Right now, we’re working on building up the girls team. We don’t want to overdo it at the start. We

want to make them feel good about the work they’re put-ting in.”

Ludington returns more than dozen swimmers and divers from last year’s team, including state finalist Car-son Middlebrook, a junior. Middlebrook qualified for the state swim meet in the 100 breaststroke and 200

individual medley. Juniors Sammie Gould and Temple Thompson, seniors Kath-erine Biggs and Madalyn Flewelling swam well last year and she’s back this year, too.

“It’s just great to have those type of kids as role models for underclassmen. They’re hard workers and

they’re driven both aca-demically and athletically. They’re nice girls. They want to build a culture on this team that’s inviting to this team and they want to be in-volved with,” Cook said.


See SwIM, pagE 13

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newSMembers of the Ludington girls swimming team are, front row, from left, Kendra Schmuhl, Alexandra Guerra, Madalyn Flewelling, Lauren Markham, Theresa Knizacky, Katie Biggs, Andrea Shoop and Anna Thompson; back row, assistant Kelley Hatch, coach Jacob Cook, Mallory Wietrzykowski, Tess Hallead, Elise Doan, Anika Korendyke, Sammie Gould, Carson Middlebrook, Allison Thompson, Temple Thompson, Megan Scott, Lauren Walls and Meredith Filter. Not pictured: Maggle Nagle and assistant Gordon Brown.

Ludington girls swimming

cook takes over head coaching role

10



Cliff Perez is trying to tem-per those expectations even though there’s lofty goals for his Ludington boys ten-nis team.

The program has been state ranked for the past three years, has won a berth as a team in the state tourna-ment for the same time and

has had its share of stand-outs, too.

But the coach wants the team to be focused on what-ever foe is next and that hap-pens to be at Traverse City St. Francis today.

“We’re going to look ahead to the next event and that is the tournament at St. Francis. That’s their focus. They’re the defending re-gional champs and they’re

bringing back all of their sin-gles players,” Perez said.

Then sophomores Alec Johnson and Aidan Brown reached the state semifinals last season at No. 4 doubles. The team also had an All-State player in Jon Pugh at No. 1 singles, but Pugh grad-uated. But overall, there are 10 juniors who form the nu-cleus of the team.

“They’re the biggest group

on my roster. What I’m scare of is, when these guys grad-uate, we are total rebuild-ing. I’ve been riding a great group of kids,” Perez said. “They’re making my job look easy.”

Johnson and Brown have been split up from teaming with each other for this fall, but the play of the doubles teams overall has shown to be a tremendous strength

early in the 2014 season.Ludington’s doubles

teams swept the top honors at the Orioles’ own tourna-ment. That was two days after opening the season in Portland and taking the top honors in three of the four flights.

The top doubles team for this season are juniors Ryan Lin and Ethan Leavitt. John-son is now teamed with Kae-

din Plummer, both juniors, at No. 2 doubles. Brown is teamed up with another re-turning player, senior Mason Chapman, for the No. 3 dou-bles slot. Two more juniors, Abe Yeck and Trevor James, are slotted at No. 4 doubles.

“It’s the opposite from a couple of years ago where my singles players were my

See tEnnIS, pagE 13

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newSMembers of the Ludington varsity tennis team are, front row, from left, coach Cliff Perez, Ryan Lin, Ethan Leavitt, Ryan Schrader, Nolan Meeker, Caleb Richert, Trevor James and Aidan Brown; back row, assistant Sam Nellis, Austin Sniegowski, Mason Chapman, Kaedin Plummer, Noah Laman, Abe Yeck, Alec Johnson, assistant Chris Toellner and assistant Tom Kudwa.

Ludington boys tennis

Next match ahead sole focus of LHS

11



A proud tradition of excel-lence is the continuing goal of the Ludington equestrian team and this fall is no dif-ferent.

The Orioles return two rid-ers from last year did excep-tionally well at the Michigan Interscholastic Horseman-ship Association state finals.

Emilie Walter and Heather Gentry each won individu-al crowns last season. Wal-ter scored her title in saddle seat pattern and also was the reserve state champion, or state runner-up, in saddle seat equitation and saddle seat pattern.

Gentry won her title also won a title in saddle seat pat-tern. She also placed at the state competition in saddle seat pattern, hunt seat bare-back and western bareback.

The duo will be joined by Miranda Dunn, Claire Leikert and Zach McMaster, each of whom are freshmen.

“We have a team this year that has put in a tremendous amount of time and effort getting ready for the com-petition this fall,” co-coach Tanya Walter said.

Ludington lost Lyndsay McMaster and Lacy Sroka from last year’s team. Doyle Fenner again will be the coach, along with Walter, and the pair are assisted by Lynne Bennett, Janelle Bea-ver and Meghan Gillies.

“We are very fortunate to have a strong commit-ment from parents, riders, the school and communi-ty as a whole to help make

our program one that is the envy of many other teams in the state,” Fenner said. “We have continued to win dis-

trict and regional titles, and have more appearances at the state finals than any oth-er team in the state.”

The season gets underway Sept. 13 with a home compe-tition at the Western Michi-gan Fairgrounds.

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Ludington equestrian

LHS’ excellent tradition to continue

RUSS MILLER | FoR tHe daiLy newSMembers of the Ludington equestrian team are, left to right, coach Tanya Walter, assistant Lynne Bennett, groom Garrett Bennett, riders Claire Leikert, Heather Gentry, Zach McMaster, Emilie Walter, assistant Meghan Gillies, coach Doyle Fenner with team mascot Oli, and assistant Janelle Beaver.

12


fRoM pagE 11

rock and my doubles play-ers were where somebody would pull something out,” Perez said. “It’s a little bit of team reversal now. I have to concentrate more on dou-bles now. That’s something that Tom Kudwa has taught me.

“It’s all about doubles. If you ask Tom Kudwa, he’s the master.”

Ludington has just two seniors and Austin Snie-gowski takes on the No. 1 singles spot vacated by Pugh. Juniors Nolan Meek-er and Ryan Schrader fill in the No. 2 and No. 3 singles places for this year. Meek-er was at No. 3 singles last season and Schrader at No. 4 singles.

“We’ve been battling through challenge matches and Austin Sniegowski, he’s the man,” Perez said. “Once you establish the best play-er on your team, the rest kind of falls into place.”

The Orioles’ roster:

SeniorS: Mason Chapman and Austin Sniegowski.JuniorS: Aidan Brown, Trevor

James, Alec Johnson, Ethan Leavitt, Ryan Lin, Nolan Meeker, Kaedin Plummer, Caleb Richert, Ryan Schrader and Abe Yeck.Sophomore: Noah Laman.

Not only did the Orioles lose Pugh, they also lost Justin Markham from the top doubles tandem a year

ago. Lin now teams up with Leavitt. Leavitt also lost a partner to graduation, Bren-nan O’Brien. Leavitt and O’Brien were at No. 2 dou-bles.

Plummer was at No. 3 doubles last season, team-ing with foreign exchange student Koki Takeshita.

The remaining players saw some varsity action, but were not a part of the lineup in the regional or state tourna-ments. They’ll see those ex-periences, perhaps, this fall.

“Noah is a quality athlete. We weren’t sure he was go-ing to come out or concen-trate on basketball,” Perez said. “We’re really glad that he came out.

“Down low is Abe Yeck. We’re trying to get him a sol-id partner (at No. 4 doubles). Right now, Trevor James and Caleb Richert are fighting for that 12th spot. We’ve got eight guys on (junior varsity) that want a shot,” he said.

Ludington will again be taking aim at Spring Lake and North Muskegon as the schools to beat in the Coast-al Conference this fall. Whitehall could also be a

tough school in the league.“For about 12 years,

(Spring Lake) has been gifted with four-year play-ers that win conference all four years in a row,” Perez said. “This is the first year, I think, that Spring Lake doesn’t have the most dom-inant player in the confer-ence. I like to see what they put together this year.

“On paper, they’re the conference champion, but with this group of kids (at Ludington), they could sur-prise Spring Lake.”

The Orioles typically play a very ambitious schedule. It’s already shown with the quad at Portland and the tournament they hosted at Schoenherr Tennis Center. Ludington will again play not only tough competition inside the Coastal Confer-ence, but outside of it, in preparation for the regional later this fall.

“We host the region-al. We’ve been picked two years in a row,” Perez said. “We’re also hosting a Lud-ington quad for the first time. We’ve got two quality Grand Rapids schools com-ing for the first time ever.

“This Schoenherr Tennis Center is the key. Everyone loves coming to Luding-ton. They love the beaches. But you still have to have a quality team, or they’re not going to show (up). I think we’ve proven that when you come to Ludington, you’re going to get some competi-tion.”

teNNiS: Big junior group to lead LHS

fRoM pagE 9


SeniorS: Dylan Hansen, Eric Janowiak, Julius Lenz, Sam Ramirez and Connor Timinski.JuniorS: Jordan Bottrell, Noah

Dodson, Jared Murphy and Zac Schoon. SophomoreS: Logan Anders,

Josh Cooney, David Ritter and Luke Snyder.FreShmen: Zach Peterson.

Even before Ludington came to fall practices, Bryant

saw some good potential out of his team over the sum-mer. In Traverse City, the Orioles played well against Central, Davison and Ponti-ac Notre Dame Prep. And the team recently played Cadil-lac to a tie in another scrim-mage.

The early successes, both officially and unofficially, haven’t changed Bryant’s outlook on the season. He expects the team to be in the hunt for the Lakes 8 Ac-tivities Conference title and

challenge for a district title.“You always have to look

at Spring Lake and Fruit-port (in the league),” he said. “Last year, we took second with Spring Lake. We played two double overtime games with them… They’ve got good players. Fruitport is al-ways very good. We haven’t played Muskegon Catholic, but there isn’t an easy game in the conference.

“Fremont is always tough. Orchard View is going to be tough.”

fRoM pagE 10

SeniorS: Katherine Biggs, Madalyn Flewelling, Theresa Knizacky, Lauren Markham.JuniorS: Meredith Filter,

Samantha Gould, Tess Hallead, Carson Middlebrook, Maggie Nagle, Megan Scott, Temple Thompson.Sophomore: Kendra Schmuhl,

Allison Thompson, Mallory Wietrzykowski.FreShmen: Elise Doan, Alexan-

dra Guerra, Anika Korendyke, Andrea Shoop, Anna Marie Thompson, Lauren Walls.

The Orioles, though, lost Paige Leedham, Katherine Draghi, Brittany Seption and Lexi Morris. Ludington adds several swimmers, including a freshman class that has six

members.“All the freshmen are

coming from the middle school team. Anika Kore-ndyke has a ton of poten-tial. Lauren Walls and Al-exandra Guerra, they’ve shown up off of the middle school team,” Cook said. “We’ve got up to four div-ers this year. That’s more than we’ve had in the past five years.

“Obviously, we’re going to lean on the returning swim-mers. We won’t be as fast, but we’re far deeper team this year. We’re working on race in practice.

Cook is hoping all of the girls, whether they’re re-turning or new, keep in mind that their hard work will eventually pay off. It

very well could pay off in a big way when the end of the season nears.

“It’s kind of one of those things, the effort they keep putting in is going to pay off. We’re hoping to get a couple relays into the state meet and a couple individuals as well. We’re hoping to return to second or third place in the conference,” Cook said. “They’re starting to see the results.”

That all began with the Ludington Relays that opened the season last Sat-urday.

“Gordon and I both said af-ter the meet, it far exceeded our expectations of what we thought going in. We’re very encouraged on where they can go.”

SWim: Putting in work to improve

SOccer: Seeking another district title

‘with this group (at Ludington), they could surprise Spring Lake.’

Cliff perezLHS boys tennis coach

13

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By gREg gIELCZyKdaiLy newS SPoRtS wRiteR

MANISTEE — Coming off a season in which it finished eighth in the state in Divi-sion 3, the Manistee High girls cross country team has a chance to do some great things led by two All-State performers, Annie Fuller and Ashley Lindeman.

Two other runners who

ran close to those two, Na-talee Kott and Sophie Shriv-er, are also back lending fur-ther credence to coach Craig Fuller’s assessment of what the Chippewas are capable of accomplishing.

Coach Fuller is hoping that Jody Fuller, Grace Chandler and Kelsey Harrigan will produce a spirited battle to determine who will be in the top seven. It might even turn

out that they will change places throughout the sea-son. Presley Petzak ran fifth last year, so there’s a lot of possibilities among those eight.

On the boys’ side, Man-istee returns Bryce Cam-eron and Will Shriver, who engaged in an intense com-petition for the top spot all last year and ran in the top two on a regular basis.

Those two will be up front. Fuller expects sophomore Kyle Schaubroeck to provide some help.

Manistee’s roster:

SeniorS: Sophie Shriver, David Bottrell, Bryce Cameron, Annie Fuller;JuniorS: Zachary Carter, Kelsey

Harrigan, Ashley Lindeman, Presley Petzak, William Shriver, Jacob Stefanski;

SophomoreS: Noah Cameron, Jody Fuller, Natalee Kott, Kyle Schaubroeck;FreShman: Grace Chandler, El-

liott Kamaloski, Anthony Lind, Craig Popkowski.

“After that it’s really un-known,” Fuller said. “We had five seniors last year on the boys’ side, so they’re in they’re in control of their own destiny. If they get bet-

ter, they should be good. We have go all the way up to Tra-verse City for the regional.

“So that’s where we really want to run well. Manistee National the week before, re-gionals and then the state. That’s the goal, to get good for the end of the season. That’s our emphasis right now.”

See CRoSS, pagE 16

gREg gIELCZyK | daiLy newSThe Manistee High cross country teams include, front row, from left, Annie Fuller, Jody Fuller, Sophie Shriver, Ashley Lindeman, Kelsey Harrigan, Natalee Kott, Presley Petzak and Grace Chandler; back row, coach Craig Fuller, Bryce Cameron, Zac Carter, Jake Stefanski, David Bottrell, Kyle Schaubrueck, Noah Cameron, Elliott Komaloski, Anthony Lind and Craig Popkowski.

Manistee cross country

chippewa girls loaded for big season

14



MANISTEE — After coach-ing in the youth soccer pro-grams for a decade, Brandon Prince moved up to the Man-istee Recreation Association and the past four years was a varsity assistant for both the boys and girls programs.

He was a varsity assistant on the girls’ team for one year, and spent the last two years strictly with the boys team. Now, he’s taking the next step, replacing Rudy Guillen as the boys head coach.

The experience he gained should serve Prince well as he attempts to turn around a boys program that has fallen on hard times recently, and has been struggling with low numbers for a number of years.

Knowing his players should give Prince an advan-tage as he goes through the evaluation process, and in fact several positions were already decided as the Chip-pewas began their second week of practice.

The players are familiar with Prince’s style of coach-ing and what he expects out of everyone… which is to work hard every minute in practice, and to keep their eyes open for any contingen-cy.

Prince was the starting goalkeeper when he played for the Chippewas, so he has a soft spot in his heart for whoever steps up to stand in net. Right now, that appears to be a freshman with a lot of heart and determination.

“Having been one, I defi-nitely bring a high respect for goalkeepers,” Prince said, “knowing that posi-tion the most. But, I’ll look at every position on the field the same, and look for the strength in it all.

“I’ve always thought the goalie is the leader on the team, even without a ‘C’ on his shirt (designating that player as the captain). They’re the focal point of the team. They’re basically where everything starts and finishes.

“Offense starts with the goalie and the defense ends with the goalie. So, I’ve felt that person’s the big catalyst for the team to be success-ful.”


SeniorS: Blake Davis, Sebastian Hes and Rudy Linke;JuniorS: Zachery Bonzheim,

Mitchell Jordan, Logan Maser, Cameron McElrath and Eric McElrath;SophomoreS: Zachary Davis,

Nick Harthun and Tyler Peck;FreShmen: Garrett Brown and

Shane Harrigan.

Just a day or two into prac-tice, and Prince had spot-ted who he wanted to be the Chippewas’ primary goal-

keeper this season.Freshman Shane Harrig-

an made an immediate im-pression on the new Man-istee coach as soon as he took his first shot in net and there hasn’t been anything to change Prince’s opinion in the interim.

“I’m very confident in his abilities already as a young player,” Prince said. “The positive thing is that the older players are starting to get comfortable with him. They see his abilities. I’m ex-

cited to be part of his grow-ing process in his next four years of being a goalkeeper because I think it’ll be some-thing special.

“Number one, he has a high-level work ethic. He’s open minded to learning. He constantly wants to learn something new every day. When he goes to train, he trains at a high level. He just pushes himself to the brink of exhaustion every day, which is a big thing for a goalkeeper. A lot of people

don’t realize the amount of work they do.”

Six players return from last year, including center backs Zachery Bonzheim (a junior) and senior Rudy Linke. This will be Linke’s fourth year starting at cen-ter back, while Bonzheim is switching over from the in-side on defense.

Blake Davis is the Chippe-was’ most versatile player. The senior can fit into just

See SoCCER, pagE 16

Manistee boys soccer

Prince takes charge of soccer team

gREg gIELCZyK | daiLy newSThe Manistee High boys soccer team includes, front row, from left, Blake Davis, Logan Maser, Zac Bonchein, Zach Davis and Garrett Brown; back row, Nick Harthun, Cameron McElrath, Rudy Linke, Shane Harrigan, Eric McElrath, Mitch Gordon and coach Brandon Prince.

15


VaRSIty footBaLLThur., Aug. 28, at Ludington,

7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 5, Orchard View,

7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 12, Lake City, 7

p.m.Fri., Sept. 19, Pinconning,

7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 26, at McBain, 7

p.m.Fri., Oct. 3, Grand Rapids

NorthPointe Christian, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 10, at Muskegon

Heights, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 17, Cadillac, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 24, White Cloud,

7 p.m.

JUnIoR VaRSIty footBaLLWed., Aug. 27, Ludington,

6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 4, at Orchard

View, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, at Lake City,

6:30 p.m.Fri., Sept. 19, Pinconning,

4 p.m.Thur., Sept. 25, McBain, 6:30

p.m.Fri., Oct. 3, Grand Rapids

NorthPointe Christian, 4 p.m.Thur., Oct. 9, Muskegon

Heights, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 16, at Cadillac,

6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 23, at White

Cloud, 6:30 p.m.

BoyS SoCCERSat., Aug. 23, at Leland, 9

a.m.Mon., Aug. 25, at Ludington,

5:30 p.m.Thur., Aug. 28, Maple City

Glen Lake, 5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 2, Pentwater, 5

p.m.Thur., Sept. 4, Hart, 5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 9, LeRoy Pine Riv-

er, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, at Kingsley,

5 p.m.Mon., Sept. 15, at Mason

County Central, 5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 16, Traverse City

Bulldogs, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 18, at Mason

County Eastern, 5 p.m.Fri., Sept. 26, Benzie Cen-

tral, 5 p.m.Tue., Sept. 30, at Pentwater,

5 p.m.Tue., Oct. 7, Cadillac, 5 p.m.Thur., Oct. 9, at Benzie Cen-

tral, 5 p.m.Fri., Oct. 10, Kingsley, 7 p.m.

VaRSIty VoLLEyBaLLSat., Aug. 23, at Holton tour-

ney, 9 a.m.Tue., Aug. 26, at Mason

County Central, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 4, at Brethren,

6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 6, at Hesperia

tourney, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 9, Pentwater, Le-

Roy Pine River, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, Mason

County Eastern, Suttons Bay, 6 p.m.

Thur., Sept. 18, Frankfort, McBain, 6 p.m.

Tue., Sept. 23, Muskegon Heights, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Sept. 25, at Benzie Central quad, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 2, Mason County Central, 5:30 p.m.

Tue., Oct. 7, Traverse City Christian, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 9, at Kingsley with Manton, 6 p.m

Sat., Oct. 11, at Suttons Bay, 9 a.m.

Tue., Oct. 14, at Muskegon Heights, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 16, Benzie Cen-tral, 5:30 p.m.

Tue., Oct. 21, at Pentwater, 6 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 23, Manton, Reed City, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 30, at Big Rap-ids Crossroads triangular, 5:30 p.m.

JUnIoR VaRSIty VoLLEyBaLLSat., Aug. 23, at Holton tour-

nament, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 4, at Brethren,

6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 6, at Benzie Cen-

tral tournament, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 9, Pentwater and

LeRoy Pine River, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, Mason

County Eastern and Suttons Bay, 6 p.m.

Thur., Sept. 18, Frankfort and McBain, 6 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 20, at Hesperia, 9 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 23, Muskegon Heights, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Sept. 25, at Benzie Central quad, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 2, Mason County Central, 5:30 p.m.

Tue., Oct. 7, Traverse City Christian, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 9, at Kingsley with Manton, 6 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 11, at Mason County Eastern, 9 a.m.

Tue., Oct. 14, at Muskegon Heights, 5:30 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 16, Benzie Cen-tral, 5:30 p.m.

Tue., Oct. 21, at Pentwater, 6 p.m.

CRoSS CoUntRySat., Aug. 23, at Pete Moss

Invitational at Benzie Central, 9 a.m.

Sat., Sept. 6, at Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, 8:45 a.m.

Sat., Sept. 13, at Briggs In-vitational at Ludington, 9:15 a.m.

Thur., Sept. 18, Brethren and Ludington, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 20, at Calvin Col-lege

Tue., Sept. 30, at Kelder Poured Walls Invite at Mason County Central, 4:15 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 9, Chris Grabows-ki Invite, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 18, Bear Lake In-vite at Manistee National, 10 a.m.

gIRLS goLfFri., Aug. 22, at Fremont, 4

p.m.Wed., Aug. 27, at Traverse

City West, 10 a.m.Tue., Sept. 9, at Muskegon

Catholic, 4 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, Whitehall,

4 p.m.Mon., Sept. 15, Ludington,

4 p.m.Thur., Sept. 18, Traverse City

Central, 4 p.m.Mon., Sept. 22, Fremont, 4

p.m.Fri., Sept. 26, at Ludington,

4 p.m.Mon., Sept. 29, at Big Rap-

ids, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 30, at Maple City

Glen Lake, 3 p.m.Thur., Oct. 2, Big Rapids, 1

p.m.

gIRLS SwIMMIngSat., Aug. 23, at Ludington,

9 a.m.Tue., Aug. 26, West Branch

Ogemaw Heights, 3 p.m.Thur., Aug. 28, at Hudson-

ville Unity Christian, 6:30 p.m.Tue., Sept. 9, Traverse City

and Ludington, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 11, at East

Grand Rapids, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 18, Fremont, 6

p.m.Sat., Sept. 20, at Spring

Lake, 10 a.m.Sat., Sept. 27, at Holland,

noonThur., Oct. 2, at Ludington,

6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 9, at Spring Lake,

6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 11, at Eastern

Michigan University, 10 a.m.Thur., Oct. 16, Muskegon

Catholic, 6 p.m.Fri., Oct. 17, at Up North In-

vite at Traverse City Central, 5 p.m.

Tue., Oct. 21, Ludington, 6 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 23, at South Ha-ven, 6 p.m.

Fri-Sat., Nov. 7-8, at Coastal Conference meet at Spring Lake, 3 p.m.

fRoM pagE 14

Manistee has added an big invitational meet which will be run at Calvin College to its schedule. Another first for the Chippewas will be their competing in the Mus-kegon Big Red Invitational, where they’ll see some good competition.

Locally, of course, they have the big home meet Oct. 9 which typically draws some of the better teams in the state. Everyone is moti-vated to run fast in that, and get their names up on the board for fast times.

“I think the girls have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder,” Fuller said. “Ben-zie beat us by six points last year at regional. I don’t think Benzie’s been beat in the re-gional competition for over a decade.

“So, the girls would like to beat them at regionals and then at state, like they did in track.”

Fuller’s plan for the pre-

season is to start real slow and not get into the harder running until later. It’s a pre-ventative measure.

“We found that last year we lost a couple people due to injuries, and that didn’t help us much at the end,” Fuller said. “We’re going to try to stay healthy by build-ing up to our hard runs. So that’s our main goal, not to go too crazy early in the season with the hard run-ning.”

Benzie Central isn’t the only challenge for Man-istee’s girls in the regional this year with Traverse City St. Francis moving up from Division 4. So the road will be anything but easy if the Chippewas are to return to the state meet.

Cameron and Shriver are both capable of qualifying for state as individuals. But the question is if the Chippe-was will be good enough to finish in the top three at the regional to make it to state as a team.

fRoM pagE 15

about every position on the field, although he’s most a midfielder/forward and will be used as an attacker quite a lot because of his experi-ence.

“Nick Harthun (a sopho-more) is a player I might be moving from the outside to the inside to kind of control the ball more, possess it and get some shots on goal from different areas,” Prince said. “We have a new player, (ju-nior) Logan Maser. He’s got a fire in him. He’s got a scor-er’s mentality, so we’re hop-ing he can put some in the net for us.

“Then in our midfield we have two players return-ing. They’re brothers, (ju-niors) Cameron and Eric

McElrath. They just do the small things that makes the team tick. They’re the ones that I think overall will pos-sess our game, keep the ball on our side and do the right things with it to keep it mov-ing forward and help out on defense.”

Prince is excited about the team’s prospects.

“I think the guys that are returning, they understand the type of play that we want to push for,” Prince said. “The new guys coming in are open-minded. They’re learn-ing quick. They’re seeing the style. They’re fitting in per-fectly. I don’t think were lag-ging any in catching up with what we’ve got to do.

“They want to compete with anybody and make it a game.”

2014 Manistee fallsports schedules

SOccer: Looking to compete

crOSS: Big season ahead

daILy nEwS fILEManistee’s Ashley Lindeman, left, and Annie Fuller.

16



MANISTEE — In just her second year as the Man-istee High girls volleyball coach, Lacey Hudson faces a rebuilding project with a young team that is focusing on developing its skills in pre-season practice.

Hudson has gone back to stressing the basics and fundamentals in getting the Chippewas ready for anoth-er challenging schedule that will find them tested early and often, which hopefully will reap rewards later on.

The plus side of having a young squad is that, if every-one comes back, the Chippe-was should benefit from the year’s experience. At least, that’s the plan. Hudson is also concerned about keep-ing everyone healthy, so she doesn’t have to raid the ju-nior varsity ranks.

“Being a really young team, they’re really moldable,” Hud-son added, “which I’m excited for. I’ve done a lot of train-ing myself in the off-season, so I’m looking forward to us-ing some of the things I’ve learned to make a power-house of a team, hopefully.”


Senior: Sydney Johnson;JuniorS: Emma Burns, Megan

Gutowski, Emilee Kott, Presley Petzak and Emily Thompson;SophomoreS: Erica Jozwiak,

Briana Larsen, Audrey Padilla and Emily Rankin;FreShmen: Marissa Peterson.

Loaded with seniors last year, and no — count them, zero — juniors, the Chippe-was will be searching for lead-ership from among the five juniors and one senior on this year’s team. It’s a tall order.

Fortunately, the Chippe-was do have athletes. Most

of the girls play at least one other sport, and that can go a long way for a team Hud-son is hoping to mold into an aggressive unit that at-tacks the net and isn’t afraid to hit the ball hard.

Sydney Johnson is the only senior on the roster, but there are five juniors who Hudson is counting on to

be the senior leaders a year from now. First, however, the coach is focusing on the here and now.

Hudson was still in the process of evaluating the team, but was fairly certain that she was going to stick with junior Emilee Kott as one of the primary setters after having her fill that role

a year ago. Otherwise, she was still moving girls around and nothing was set in stone.

“The first two weeks (of practice) when we don’t have a lot of competition, we re-ally worked on strength training and building up the foundational skills,” Hudson said, “passing, hitting those kinds of things.

“I think it’s really impor-tant that you always go back to fundamentals and make sure that we have a sound team ready to hit the floor. Sitting down and thinking of the girls’ strengths, where I can put them, who’s going to work where, making sure my back row is just as strong as my front row when they ro-

tate is huge.“Just making sure I have a

solid, all-around defense. I think this year we’ll definite-ly improve our offense from last year. I’m hoping to real-ly get some kills, really have a good foundation. Being a second-year coach, I feel I got rid of a lot of the jitters last year.”

Manistee volleyball

manistee going with youth on court

gREg gIELCZyK | daiLy newSThe Manistee High varsity girls volleyball team includes, front row from left, Erica Jozwiak, Emilee Kott, Briana Larsen, Megan Gutowski, Audrey Padilla and Marissa Peterson; back row, coach Lacey Hudson, Emily Thompson, Emma Burns, Emily Rankin, Sydney Johnson and Presley Petzak.



MANISTEE — Despite los-ing four or five girls, two of whom were four-year start-ers in Sara Wehrmeister and Valerie Urban, the Manistee High swimming and diving team is primed to have a big season. Perhaps even better than a year ago.

The Chippewas’ goal is to improve on their 17th place finish at the Division 3 state meet, and while it goes with-out saying they’ll miss the departed seniors coach Co-rey Van Fleet is confident the team has the talent to do it.

“We have a big group of freshmen who can all swim pretty well,” Van Fleet said. “So, at least they’re talented. If we can get them strong and make them grow. Their goal for the freshmen class is to replace the seniors who’ll be graduating this year.

“If we can do that, we can perpetuate the program. But, in the meantime the girls coming back have qual-ified in 10 of the 12 events in the state championship by their times. As soon as we get them qualified, we’ll have another representative team in the state meet.”

Van Fleet is assuming that the Chippewas, beginning their fifth year, will again be battling it out with Spring Lake in the Coastal Confer-ence Championships at the end of the season, and use each meet during the year to prepare for that test.

The Chippewas’ roster:

Senior: Taylor Antal, Maddy Applegarth, Syriah Dobis, Lillie Edwards, Jessica Gustad, Hannah Harland, Molly Mo-rang, Hannah Stuck and Riley Wrzesinski;JuniorS: Anna Kutschke,

Sinead McCann, Sofia Quinta and Allie Zimmerman;

SophomoreS: Gabby Apple-garth, Kiara Bromley, Hannah Gutowski, Laura Kane, Brittany

Nichols;FreShmen: Haley Anderson,

Joelle Bartynski, Maggie

Blevins, Billie Gajewski, Haley Harland, Tatum Liston, Hope Miller.

Many of the girls swam during the summer in prepa-

ration for the season.

See SwIM, pagE 20

Manistee girls swimming

Swimmers seek even better finish

gREg gIELCZyK | daiLy newS The Manistee High girls swimming and diving team includes, front row, from left, Maggie Blevins, Joelle Bartynski, Kiara Bromley, Sinead McCann, Riley Wrzesinski and Tatum Liston; middle row, Anna Kutschke, Jessica Gustad, Molly Morang, Hannah Harland, Syriah Dobis, Maddy Applegarth and Taylor Antal; back row, Brittany Nichols, Allie Zimmerman, Hannah Stuck, Laura Kane, Gabby Applegarth and Haley Harland. Not pictured: Hope Miller, Madison Miller, Sofia Quinta, Haley Anderson, Lillie Edwards, Billie Gajewski and Hannah Gutowski.

18



MANISTEE — Although he’d like to see better num-bers than the 19 players he has on the varsity this sea-son, which includes five re-turning seniors, Manistee High football coach Tod

Miller isn’t crying the blues about his personnel.

If anything, he’s impressed with the solid group of ath-letes who’ll be wearing the blue and gold for the Chip-pewas this year. Keeping everyone healthy and build-ing depth is Miller’s prima-ry concern heading into the

season opener.The seniors are all quali-

fied leaders, even if there aren’t many of them. One of the best of the bunch is re-turning running back and inside linebacker Jacob Wil-liams, who is expected to fill an even bigger role on the team this year.

Matthew Bauman is anoth-er returning senior who al-ternated between defensive back and inside linebacker a year ago, but has stepped up big time in pre-season prac-tice as a receiver as well as a defensive back.

Bradley Madsen, a third senior, was a starter on the

offensive line. Jeremiah Hamilton is a transfer from Mesick, but has the experi-ence so vital on a team that is lacking quite a bit of it at the skill positions. He’ll shore up the offensive line and play at one of the line-backer spots on defense. Brad Murphy is a senior re-

ceiver/defensive back.Despite the departure of

some talented players, and big holes to fill in the offen-sive backfield, Miller says the Chippewas are improved all the way around.

See footBaLL, pagE 20

gREg gIELCZyK | daiLy newSThe Manistee High varsity football includes, front row, from left, Carter Eckhardt, Hunter Adams, Jake Williams, Brandon Wick, Bradley Murphy and Tai Allen; second row, Matthew Bauman, Spencer McDougall, Jeremiah Hamilton, Cody Pefley, Jakob Nezki and Ian Kiefer; third row, Chase Janis, Spencer Helminski, Brad Madsen, Ryan Johns and Ben Chandler; back row, coach Tod Miller, assistant Troy Bytwork, assistant James Pratt, assistant Chris Codden and assistant Troy Nezki. Not pictured: Skylar Carpentar and Thomas Berensten.

Manistee football

chippewas short on numbers

19


fRoM pagE 19

“We’re not the biggest, we’re not the fastest but we play pretty hard,” Miller said, “and we’re at least twice as strong, if not two and a half times as strong per person based on body weight, so we made gains there.

“I think we’re better in tech-nique, so we’re making huge strides. We see the results coming right now. I think we can catch the ball well. Our specialty people, we just don’t have the numbers but we have some very solid people there.”

But the backbone of the of-fense will be the line.

“Like I told the team, the guys up front are going to take us where we go. The amount of wins we’re going to get is go-ing to be based on how well they step up, and how much improvement we see in them. It’ll depend on how well they hold together and block for the other group.”


SeniorS: Jacob Williams, Mat-thew Bauman, Jeremiah Hamil-ton, Nicholas Fowler and Bradley Madsen;JuniorS: Ben Chandler, Carter

Eckhardt, Brandon Wick, Spencer McDougall, Cody Pefley, Jakob Nezki, Ian Kiefer, Chase Janis, Thomas Bersentsen, Spencer Helminski, and Skyler Carpenter;SophomoreS: Hunter Adams, Tai

Allen and Ryan Johns.

The offensive line is solid, but just doesn’t have any size. It’s not filled with big bruisers who can dominate the line of scrimmage with their sheer physical strength. But it may not need to.

Miller is confident the line-men will be effective and lead a productive offense even if they don’t have imposing size and strength.

“We can get downhill pret-ty good,” Miller offered. “Our first two steps, we’re going to come at you and we’re getting right in your face. We’re hop-ing with the backfield we can get there in a hurry and do

some things that way.“We’re not running the ‘I’

formation stuff any more. We’re running the Pistol Veer. We’re coming downhill fast, get the ball in our best kids’ hands. We figured out last year that we need to adapt a little bit, and we need to do some things that are good. We’re moving ahead and doing things where we don’t have to block people, and things like that. Read off what you’re go-ing to do, and use your aggres-siveness against you.”

Manistee has looked faster on defense in the pre-season according to Miller.

“We’re quicker. We’re start-ing to tackle better,” the coach said. “We’re fully committed to stopping the run. We’re go-ing to do that first. We’ll have eight men in the box, if we have to put nine we’re going to.

“I think we’re improved at most positions as far as foot-ball techniques is concerned. I think you need to look to guys like Spencer McDougall (a ju-nior), who’s an inside lineback-er (and) a very physical kid.

“Brandon Wick (a junior) started on varsity last year. Some other guys who are start-ing to step forward are Jakob Nezki (a junior) and (junior) Ben Chandler. We had them up as 10th graders last year. You can see that they understand the game of football, and are starting to become the type of leader there. Hamilton brings a load with him. He’s about 200 pounds now, and he’s very physical. He’s been a valuable addition.”

The secondary should be strong with sophomore Tai Al-len, Bauman and sophomore Hunter Adams. Heading into the pre-season scrimmage, Allen was projected to be the team’s starting quarterback with fellow sophomore Ryan Johns probably the backup al-though he can play multiple positions, including tight end and offensive guard.

It’s still a very young football team, relying on a lot of sopho-mores and juniors to grow up real fast.

fOOtbaLL: 19 out for sport

fRoM pagE 18

Even though she’s only a junior, Anna Kutschke is acknowledged as the leading swimmer coming back for Manistee after placing in the 50 and 100 in the state meet last year.

But the Chippewas have some other swimmers coming back who placed at the state meet last year, as well as all three of the relay teams that competed, so there’s certainly talent in the pool.

Other seasoned state meet per-formers coming back include senior Jessica Gustad, senior Syriah Dobis and junior Allie Zimmerman. Kiara Bromley placed in the state meet as a freshman. She’s back as a sopho-more and is expected to be tough. Senior Lillie Edwards returns as the

team’s diver.“We have to replace some people,”

Van Fleet said. “Valerie was our back-stroker, so Maddy (Applegarth) will have to step in there. Anna, Maddy and Jess will have to step up in the breaststroke a little bit.”

The Chippewas have three but-terfliers in senior Hannah Harland, Dobis and Bromley. Van Fleet consid-ers them pretty much interchangable parts.

All the freshmen are outstanding and should improve with age.

“We will probably break every school record this year,” Van Fleet said. “But, then again you have to ask are the records good enough? On the 11th of September we’re going to swim the state championship team of East Grand Rapids.

“In the middle of the season we go to the Spring Lake Relays, and the following week we are an invitee against some of the top 10 teams in Division 3 down in Holland. We’re taking on the best people that we can find anywhere in the state with the hopes sooner or later we can hang with them.

“Our first line kids can swim with the other teams’ second line kids. Those teams that are winning state championships, and those teams in the top four or five, all of three or four girls that are better than we are ... at this point. We’re beginning to get there, and I have high hopes that we’ll keep going.”

Van Fleet considers it a pretty bal-anced team capable of accomplish-ing great things.

SWim: Chippewas aim for better showing at state

daVId BoSSICK | daiLy newSMembers of the Manistee swimming team cheer on a teammate during the Ludington Relays in the Chippewas’ first meet of the season. The Chippewas won the all relays event in Ludington.

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Ludington & manistee fall sports 2014