Page 12 — Thursday, September 16, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
MHSAA plans its first ever
middle school C.C. regionals
The first postseason events in Michigan
High School Athletic Association history for
students at the junior high/middle school level
will be conducted in cross country this season
at eight Regional sites during the second half
of October.
The Junior High/Middle School Cross
Country Regionals were approved by the
MHSAA Representative Council during its
Spring 2020 meeting, on recommendation of
the MHSAA’s Junior High/Middle School
Committee. Students from the nearly 650
MHSAA-member junior highs and middle
schools may participate, with Regional meets
not counting against the 10 events teams are
allowed to compete in during the regular sea-
son.
“The MHSAA has, over the last decade,
grown its investment in junior high and mid-
dle school athletics in hopes of providingmemorable experiences earlier that will result
in students wanting to continue playing sports
longer instead of stopping before they even
reach high school,” MHSAA Executive
Director Mark Uyl said. “Adding a postsea-
son element to cross country may be just the
start of how we can provide more opportuni-
ties for our younger students to compete in
ways that will keep them excited to return
next season.”
Each of eight host sites will conduct one
girls and one boys race. Host sites determined
the dates Regionals will be run. Teams may
enter up to 20 participants in each race,
dependent on the size of their school (as larg-
er schools may enter more participants). The
Regional races will be two miles in length,
with girls and boys teams assigned to sites
based on their regional “Zone.”
Zone 1 – Saturday, Oct. 16, hosted by
Portage Central High School at Portage West
Middle School
Zone 2 – Saturday, Oct. 23, hosted by
Hudson High School at Hudson High School
Zone 3 – Saturday, Oct. 23, hosted by
Macomb Dakota High School at Macomb
Dakota High School
Zone 4 – Saturday, Oct. 16, hosted by
Midland High School at Northwood
University
Zone 5 – Saturday, Oct. 23, hosted by
Carson City-Crystal High School at Carson
City-Crystal High School
Zone 6 – Friday, Oct. 29, hosted by Grand
Rapids Public Schools at University Prep
Academy
Zone 7 – Saturday, Oct. 23, hosted by
Gaylord High School at Michaywe Golf
Course
Zone 8 – Friday, Oct. 22, hosted by
Marquette High School at Gentz Homestead
Golf CourseWoodies cheer Viking
spikers on to two big wins
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Lakewood High School athletic director
Mike Quinn gave the Wacky Woodies a shout
out on his Twitter feed before the start of the
Lakewood varsity volleyball team’s big
non-conference dual with Lowell Wednesday
evening.
After back-to-back big wins, over the Red
Arrows and then the Lansing Christian
Pilgrims Thursday at Lakewood High School,
it was Viking volleyball head coach Cameron
Rowland celebrating the student-section
which was really getting to cheer on its vol-
leyball classmates for the first time since the
fall of 2019.
“They were loud and energetic both nights,”
Rowland said. “The gym felt like a true home
court advantage again because of them being
there. We hope to have them all year and
throughout the post season.”
Lakewood returned from the Labor Day
break to play their first big home best-of-five
match of the season Wednesday, defeating the
Lowell Red Arrows 25-18, 25-21, 20-25,
25-23. Both teams finished as the state run-
ner-up in their respective Divisions [Lowell
D1 and Lakewood D2] last season.
“It was a great match with a great atmo-
sphere in the gym,” Rowland said. “It felt like
old times with loud students and fans from
both teams present. Both teams played some
of their best volleyball on the season as well,
which made it that much better of an atmo-
sphere.”
“On our side of the net we have been work-
ing on being the better ball control team
against all of our opponents and then being
creative in ways to score and cause disruption
for our opponents, I thought we executed both
at a high level throughout the night. Lowell
had to score points against us as we played
low error volleyball and forced them into
tough situations over and over. Tori
[Wickerink] and Ellie [Possehn] really stepped
up their roles and blocked effectively all night
to get great touches and funnel balls to our
defenders.”
Maradith O’Gorman was great at the net as
well, finishing the night with a team-high 25
kills and six bloc ks. She also added an ace
and 17 digs. Wickerink matched her six
blocks and Possehn finished with two.
Skylar Bump had 21 assists and ten kills as
well as 12 digs. Wickerink and Zayda Kruger
had six kills apiece. Setter Abby Pickard con-
tributed 21 assists and nine digs. Libero
Carley Piercefield had a team-high 23 digs forthe Vikings. Alli Pickard added 12. Bump
Alivia Everitt and Kruger had two blocks
each.
The Vikings weren’t quite at the same level
in their Greater Lansing Activities Conference
opener with Lansing Christian Wednesday,
but did what they needed to do to score a
25-23, 25-20, 25-16 victory.
“When the match got tight in the first set
we met the challenge and did the things we
are exceptional at (serving and passing) to
pull out the win and wear Lansing Christian
down throughout the night,” Rowland said.
“Lansing Christian is a great team and if I had
to choose a favorite for D4 this year they
would be my choice. They have two outside
hitters who can bring pace on the ball and
their setter is consistent and a threat to score
as well. I am excited that they have continued
to improve as it gives us a quality match in the
conference to look forward to playing.”
O’Gorman had 13 kills and 12 digs in the
win. Abby Pickard had 16 assists and Bump- Wickerink and Bump added seven kills
each, with Kruger adding five and Possehn
three.
Piercefield had 18 digs, with Alli Pickard
recording nine digs, Abby Pickard seven and
Bump six. Possehn, Wickerink, Everitt and
Kenzie Wells had one block each.
It was a busy stretch for the Vikings. They
went to East Kentwood for a tournament
Saturday and went 3-1 with wins over West
Catholic, Holland Christian and Grand Rapids
Catholic Central. Rockford handed the
Vikings their only defeat of the day.
Coach Rowland said his girls were more
consistent throughout the day than they had
been at any tournament so far this season.
O’Gorman had 52 kills at the tournament.
Abby Pickard had 47 assists and Bump 33.
Bump added nine aces and 27 digs. O’Gorman
had 44 digs and seven blocks. Piercefield
recorded 59 digs.
Lakewood opened the Greater Lansing
Activities Conference season with a 25-5,
25-12, 25-6 win at Olivet Tuesday.
“We took care of business and played effi-
ciently to get in and out,” Rowland said of the
win over the Eagles. He was pleased to get a
number of girls time on the court.
Kruger had seven kills for the Vikings and
O’Gorman five. Abby Pickard had 12 assists,
Bump nine and Paige Wolverton added three.
Piercefield had a team-high ten digs and eight
aces. Wolverton had six aces herself. Alli
Pickard chipped in six digs. Possehn and
Bump had four kills each.
Vikings keep
GLAC record
perfect with
win over
Panthers
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Lakewood varsity boys’ soccer team
won’t find its name at the top of the Division
3 Michigan High School Soccer Coaches
Association rankings again this week, but the
Vikings are still undefeated.
The Lakewood boys scored a 4-0 win on
the road at Stockbridge in Greater Lansing
Activities Conference play Wednesday (Sept.
8) to improve to 3-0 in the conference this
fall.
Colby Carter scored twice for the Vikings
in the win over the Panthers Wednesday.
It was the first shut out of the season for the
Vikings, who are still undefeated overall this
season. Lakewood finished in a 1-1 tie, the
first blemish of any kind on their record this
season, at Dansville Friday. The Vikings
bounced back Tuesday to score a 5-0 non-
conference win over visiting Grand River
Prep.
The Vikings were slated to host Olivet for a
GLAC ballgame Wednesday and will visit
Lansing Christian for a battle between the
GLAC’s two best teams next Wednesday,
Sept. 22.Panthers earn win and draw
in pair of SAC match-ups
Delton Kellogg’s varsity boys’ soccer team
finally got to play on its home turf for the first
time this season Monday and scored its first
win.
Delton Kellogg scored an 8-0 win over
visiting Parchment with Marshall Warner
powering the offensive attack with three goals
and three assists. Hector Jimenez had three
goals and two assists for the Panthers. James
Blackburn contributed two goals and an assist.
DK also got two assists from John Sinclair.
DK is now 1-3-2 overall this season and
1-1-1 in Southwestern Athletic Conference
action.
The Delton Panthers were slated to returnto conference action yesterday (Sept. 15) at
Schoolcraft.
Last Wednesday, the DK team finished in a
2-2 draw in SAC play at Kalamazoo Christian.
DK had a 1-0 lead at the half thanks to a
breakaway goal from Jimenez. The Comets
tied the game at 1-1 in the second half, and
then DK took the lead back on a shot by
Warner that deflected off a Comet defender
and into the net.
Kalamazoo Christian tied the game back up
with 12 minutes to plays, and the two teams
continued to go back and forth the remainder
of the ballgame.TK responds to first Gold loss by
besting two foes 8-
The Thornapple Kellogg varsity boys’
tennis team bounced back from the tough
defeat against Forest Hills Eastern to score
8-0 wins over Kenowa Hills in a conference
dual in Walker last Wednesday and a non-
conference dual at Otsego last Thursday
afternoon.
The Trojans host a conference dual with
Cedar Springs Monday. TK is currently 2-1 in
conference play.
TK only dropped one set in the dual with
Kenowa Hills, at second doubles where the
Trojan team of Hayden Oly and Kameron
Nichols were edged 9-7 in a tiebreaker at the
end of the first set before bouncing back towin the final two sets 6-2, 6-3.
TK had the team of James Thorne and
Ronald Simmons at first doubles score a 6-3,
6-0 win. Holler and Cuisson won 6-2, 6-0 at
number three doubles. TK’s fourth doubles
duo of Aaron Michalk and Aidan Dudik won
6-2, 6-1.
At first singles, TK’s Nick Vreeland scored
a 6-3, 6-1 win over the Knights’ Logan
TenBrink. Jack Geukes scored a 6-1, 6-1 win
at second singles, Josh Wedyke won 6-1, 6-
and Payton Wilkinson won 6-2, 6-4 at number
four.
The Trojans had the same line-up win all
eight flights in the dual at Otsego Thursday.Viking teams get a few best
new times at Hornet Run
The Lakewood varsity cross country teams
competed in the Central Montcalm Hornet
run, a meet broken up into races for each grade
level.
Junior Ryan Alford had the top time for the
Lakewood boys’ team, placing eighth in his
race with a time of 20 minutes 19.92 seconds.
Lakewood sophomore Ethan Cappon ran
his fastest race yet to place 39th in his compe-
tition with a time of 25:55.12.
In the girls’ race, Madason Morelli was thelone senior running for Lakewood. She placed
32nd in her race with a time of 26:41.56.
Lakewood’s best pack was in the junior
girls’ contest where Reagan Lab was 23rd in
23:44.33 – a new personal record. Sadie
Brearley was 27th in 24:17.30 and Emma
Lancaster 32nd in 25:38.99.
Viking sophomore Claire Fortier ran her
fastest race of the season, a time of 25:21.40,
to place 37th in her competition.The boys take off at the first middle school cross country meet of the season last Wednesday in Middleville. The Michigan High
School Athletic Association announced this week that it will host regional championships for middle school cross country teams
around the state next month, the first middle school championships ever conducted by the organization. (Photo by Brett Bremer)