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Ludington Daily News Monday, April 14, 2014

Spring

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Your guide to Ludington’s and Manistee’s upcoming sports seasons,

featuring stories, team photos and schedules

2 | LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/SPRING SPORTS | MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2014

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BY DAVID BOSSICKDAILY NEWS SPORTS EDITOR

There were several new faces for Ludington’s girls soccer team when it began the season last Thursday at Mason County Central.

The Orioles return just a handful of players from last year’s team that reached the MHSAA regional tourna-ment for the third straight year. But the cupboard isn’t completely bare. The Orioles return Dallas Lindenau, Jor-dan Alberts, Madisyn Brock-elbank, Jacquelyn Lynch and Ingrid Peterson.

“We are young,” Ludington coach Kris Anderson said, “but there is some experi-ence with that youth. Brock-

elbank is in her third year. Lynch is a third-year start-er. Some of the girls that are juniors, they’ve had some postseason experience. They’ve come up as fresh-men or sophomores.”

Ludington’s roster:

SENIORS: Madison DePlonty, Hannah Doggett, Katherine Draghi, Heidi Hodges, Dallas Lindenau and Alexys Morris.JUNIORS: Kaylynn Battice, Madi-

syn Brockelbank, Kaitlin Bunce, Jacquelyn Lynch, Amanda Payne, Ingrid Peterson and Ashley Smith.SOPHOMORES: Kaitlyn Reiden-

bach and Kristen Reidenbach.

The Orioles have a new goalkeeper in Amanda

Payne, who takes over for Molly Hallead. Payne will have several new varsity de-fenders in front of her, ex-cept for Lindenau.

Ashley Smith will step into being the main person in the middle of Ludington’s de-fense, Anderson said.

“(She) will be in the middle and kind of the director, the leader back there,” he said. “Dallas will return as a start-er. Hopefully, her experience as a starter will help. Lexy Morris played (at midfield) last year and played defense most of her soccer experi-ence. She will go back there.”

The fourth defender, though, was a question mark in the preseason.

Lynch figures to lead the

offense again this season with both Kristen Reiden-bach and Ingrid Peterson taking on part of the scor-ing. Jordan Alberts, who suffered a fractured leg last spring, also returns.

“It’ll be nice to get her go-ing and get a game in,” An-derson said.

The midfield rotation looks good, with Alberts, Pe-terson and Brockelbank as the anchors. Kaylynn Bat-tice along with sisters Kris-ten and Kaitlynn Reidenbach will also fill into those posi-tions.

Because of the long winter, the Orioles practiced for the most part indoors like any-one else in the region. Lud-ington played Mason County

Central Thursday, and An-derson was looking forward to getting a game in ahead of the Lakes 8 Activities Con-ference opener against Or-chard View.

And the Cardinals are one of those teams that the Ori-oles will need to be wary of in the Lakes 8 race.

“Spring Lake will be the fa-vorite. Fruitport is right up there with them,” Anderson said. “I think we run a close third. Orchard View will give us competition. I think the Fruitport and Luding-ton games will be exciting. Spring Lake returns some strong players from last year’s team.”

The Orioles could very well be in the mix, too, as they lost

slim games to the Lakers and Trojans a season ago.

While many of the players who moved up on the var-sity team are new to the full season of play, most of them have seen the benefits of three straight district cham-pionships.

“They know what it takes and how hard you have to work to have an opportu-nity to win,” Anderson said. “They’ve gotten a good month of varsity experience in because of how far we go.

“We’re hosting districts this year. I’d put us as a fa-vorite to win our district. If we do win, it would be our fourth in a row. That’s quite an accomplishment for any school.”

Ludington girls soccer

Fourth district title aim for young LHS

DAVID BOSSICK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Ludington girls soccer team are, kneeling from left, Katherine Draghi, Ingrid Peterson, Kaylynn Battice, Abby Matheson, Jacquelyn Lynch, Amanda Payne and Ashley Smith; standing, coach Kris Anderson, Katie Reidenbach, Madison DePlonty, Heidi Hodges, Dallas Lindenau, Lexy Morris, Hannah Doggett, Maddie Brockelbank, Kaitlin Bunce, Kristen Reidenbach, assistant Chris Edward, assistant Trish Forfinski. Not pictured: Jordan Alberts.

MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2014 | LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/SPRING SPORTS | 3

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Ludington’s girls tennis team isn’t new to the courts, which is great for coach Tom Kudwa.

So what can make his team even better? There are only two seniors.

The lineup again will be led by Sam MacDonnell, one of the team’s seniors, at No. 1 singles with the other se-nior being Gabrielle Kelly, who is one half of the top doubles tandem.

MacDonnell has improved since last season and Kudwa is encouraged by what he’s seen so far this spring.

“She is a true athlete. She’s fast, has great footwork, has added a few skills to her game and is playing so much smarter,” he said. “She’s fun to watch and compete. “

Gabrielle is paired with her younger sister, Stepha-nie, a junior. Having the sis-ters paired up, let alone at the top spot for doubles, is good.

“They are both so kind and supportive of others, in-cluding each other, it works great. In fact, as only time will tell, this could be one of the best doubles teams to take the courts for Lud-ington,” Kudwa said. “They both have a great serve, both love to volley, hit overheads and their ground strokes are solid. They are the defend-ing regional champions and have stepped up their games from last year.”

The Orioles also return several other players from last season, one where they reached the MHSAA state tournament in the Flint area in Division 4.

Lauren Markham, a junior, and Kelsey Wallace, a sopho-more, also return to singles play for this season. Markham

again will be at No. 2 singles and she has improved in the off-season. Wallace advanc-es from No. 4 singles to No. 3 and with the move up, she’s vastly improved her reper-toire on the court.

Also returning to play doubles are juniors Olivia Laman and Kayela Wallace as well as sophomores Ju-lia Maltbie, Megan Scott and Claire Flewelling.

Maltbie and Flewelling will pair up this spring at No. 3 doubles. It was the same spot each played last sea-

son and both improved their games.

“I think these two girls can really step up another level this year and they seem to be enjoying their new game,” Kudwa said.

Kayela Wallace will be paired this spring with Scott at No. 4 doubles. Scott played in a more reserve role last season.

“Both girls are doing a bet-ter job of setting up their feet and preparing their rackets as the ball is arriving,” Kudwa said. “So their consistency is

much better also.”Laman will be paired with

a returning Brooke Sch-neider at No. 2 doubles. Schneider sat out all of last spring with a knee injury.

“Brooke is still learning doubles as she played sin-gles as a freshman,” Kud-wa said. “But Brooke brings skills from singles that are paying dividends already. She’s fast and lobs well. As she learns to use her feet better to set up her ground strokes and learns the tac-tics of doubles and tenden-

cies of her partner, she is go-ing to be a great addition.

“Olivia has added pow-er to her already consistent ground strokes. Her serve is stronger and her deep vol-leys keep pressure on her opponents. I like the upside of this pair.”

The final spot on the line-up, No. 4 singles, will be filled by newcomer Kennedi Killips, a freshman.

“Kennedi is young, has a few good skills and is just learning the game of tennis. But she comes in with some

of the most important skills, she has a pretty good baseline game on both the forehand and backhand sides and has a nice serve,” Kudwa said. “I see her game rising rapidly as the season moves forward.”

The Orioles lose Anika Sch-mock, Nina Neuhaus and Madda Pung from last year’s team, and Kudwa said he’s going to miss the trio that played last spring. The doz-en that are out for tennis, though, he’s looking forward to how they work together.

“This group has great se-nior leadership with Gabe and Samantha, but it takes even more. It takes 12 girls all supporting one another, be-lieving in themselves and the coaching process and a group of supportive parents, and we have all that,” Kudwa said. “These are wonderful young ladies and the parent support group is outstanding.”


SENIORS: Gabrielle Kelly and Samantha MacDonnell.JUNIORS: Stephanie Kelly, Ol-

ivia Laman, Lauren Markham, Brooke Schneider and Kayela Wallace.SOPHOMORES: Claire Flewel-

ling, Ashley Harrie, Julia Malt-bie, Megan Scott and Kelsey Wallace.FRESHMEN: Kennedi Killips.

Kudwa picked Spring Lake as the Coastal Conference champions. The Lakers are the three-time defending league titlists.

“Until they give it up, they are the favorites. Along with North Muskegon, who took second last year, Ludington should be the two next in line,” he said. “We all have good talent returning with a few new pieces. Whoever de-velops the young additions the best will take control of the conference. “

Ludington girls tennis

Experienced Orioles young, too

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Ludington tennis team are, from left, front row, Kelsey Wallace, Sam MacDonnell, Gabrielle Kelly and Stephanie Kelly; second row, Brooke Schneider, Ashley Harrie, Juleah Harms, Kennedi Killips, Claire Flewelling; third row: coach Tom Kudwa, Skylar Korendyke, Megan Scott, Julia Maltbie, Lauren Markham and assistant Wayne Kelly. Not pictured: Olivia Laman and Kayela Wallace.


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JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Ludington girls track and field team are, from left, first row, Kayla Gottwald, Allie Bous, Demika Garcia, Andrea Scarfone, Kim Taylor, Emily Edel, Lauren Biggs, Makenna Schwass and Mikala Jewett; second row, Ashley Bates, Bridgette Barnett, Kelsey Koss, Sammie Gould, Mariah Fulton, Madalyn Flewelling, Katie Biggs, AmyGrace Shoup and Naomi Billings; third row, Emma Taranko, Marissa Stickney, Mackenzie Brown, Carson Middlebrook, Breanne Dalm, Kelvina Dorcas Dei-Tumi, Laure-anne Jaillet and Amya Sikon; fourth row, Moira O’Brien, Asia Patterson, Savannah Pokl, Samantha White, Erica Winters, Katherine Day, Brandi Turnbull, Brandi Thomas, Madison Sroka and Marissa Hansen; sixth row, coach Brian Dotson.


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JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Ludington boys track and field team are, from left, first row, Matthew Ritter, Randall Johnson, Eric Janowiak, Luke Schwass, Christopher Snow, Spencer Kovar, Ethan Tucker and Duran Navarro; second row, Connor Lipski, Austin Ernst, Caleb Shillinger, Zebadiah Jones, Troy Althaus, Nolan Stark, Austin Sniegowski and Keenan Hays; third row, Oscar Monterde, Alessandro Foglietta, Jarod Cobb, Zach Swartzendruber and Gabe Sanborn; fourth row, Ian Nash, Bennett Wojcicki, Ari Hoekstra, Trenton Dalm, Jacob Lesinski and David Ritter; fifth row, Austin Morris, Jakob Kuhn, Allen Keffer and Aidan Brown; sixth row, Taylor Follrath, Zac Schoon, Chase Rohrer, Nick Richert, Remington Rohrer, Benjamin Jensen, coach Mark Willis.


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Ludington’s girls track and field team made a state-ment about where it was headed last season when it challenged Spring Lake for the Lakes 8 Activities Con-ference title.

And the Orioles did a great job of getting several girls down to the MHSAA state track meet, too.

That’s essentially the ex-act same goal this year for the Orioles, and they’ll do it with depth in all sorts of dis-ciplines.

“We’re definitely strong all over the place,” Luding-ton coach Brian Dotson said.

Maybe tops in that list is the trio of returning throw-ers for Ludington — Brandi Thomas, Annah Prys and Kayla Gottwald.

“Those three were 1-2-3 in the conference,” Dotson said. “They’re already look-ing strong.”

Thomas led the way for the Orioles in both the shot put and the discus last sea-son, including going unbeat-en in the shot put in Lakes 8 competition. She qualified for the state meet in both and finished fifth in both events in her sophomore campaign.

Prys also qualified for the state finals in the shot put.

Also returning is AmyGrace Shoop. The se-nior pole vaulter qualified for the state meet a year ago and finished 10th overall. It’s only helped her to focus in on the event this spring for a chance to return to the state meet. Dotson, though, is glad that she’s also there for her teammates away

from her stellar event as well.

“AmyGrace has been working like crazy in the off-season. She is a phenomenal girl, a great leader, (and) I think she is going to make a great coach (one day),” Dot-son said. “She works so hard and she focuses on the little things.

“We have quite a few new freshmen and sophomores on the girls side. I’m so glad AmyGrace is around to groom them and raise them.”

The Orioles did lose two state qualifiers from last season, hurdler Mekayla Steckel and distance run-ner Devon Sutton. Steckel reached the state meet in the 300-meter hurdles. Sut-ton ran in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Mariah Fulton will take on the hurdles. Madalyn Flewel-ling, who was an under-study to Steckel last season, will move over to the middle distance events.

“She really came on strong at the end of the year last year,” Dotson said. “She was really close. She’s looking strong in the 400 and the 800.”

Ludington, though, keeps nearly intact a 1,600-me-ter relay team that reached the state meet last season. Flewelling and Fulton each fill one of those spots, and also back is Emily Edel and Katie Biggs.

Overall, the team has 40 members. The team’s ros-ter:

SENIORS: Sara Briceno, Bre-anne Dalm, Katherine Day, Kelvina Dei-Tuma, Demika Garcia, Laure-anne Jaillet and

AmyGrace Shoop.JUNIORS: Corinne Anderson,

Ashley Bates, Katie Biggs, Natalie Britz, Alexandra Butts, Courtney Clark, Emily Edel, Madalyn Flewelling, Kayla Gottwald, Anela Kettler, Jordyn Luft, Annah Prys, Andrea Scar-fone, Brandi Thomas, Brandi Turnbull, Kalli Wahr, Bryana Weber and Logan Wood.SOPHOMORES: Bridgette Bar-

nett, Mackenzie Brown, Mariah Fulton, Samantha Gould, Marissa Hansen, Kelsey Koss, Carson Middlebrook, Madison Sroka and Erica Winters.FRESHMEN: Grace Allen,

Lauren Biggs, Naomi Billings, Heather Gentry, Mikala Jewett, Moira O’Brien, Asia Patterson, Savannah Pohl, Makenna Schwass, Amya Sikon, Marissa Stickney, Emma Taranko, Kim-berly Taylor, Samantha White, Mallory Wietrzykowski and Olivia Wilcox.

Helping to couch the loss of Sutton is Lauren Biggs and Asia Patterson, both of whom are outstanding dis-tance runners.

“(Biggs) has a lot of talent. If we keep her healthy, she’ll be good at the 800, mile and two mile. Patterson looks strong in her distance work-outs,” Dotson said.

Because the Orioles have only competed in one in-door event at Grand Valley State University and, like all the other schools in the area, have had a hard time seeing the track for the snow and ice, Dotson said it’s been hard to get a gauge on exactly how things will unfold.

But, he tabs his team as one of the schools that will

SEE TRACK, 10


Mark Willis is exactly where he wants to be and doing exactly what he likes.

The Ludington advanced placement environment teacher is taking over the Orioles’ boys track team this spring, and it’s some-thing he’s really looked for-ward to.

“I get to see these kids on a daily basis,” Willis said. “It’s all about relation-ships. That’s what you need to build a team, a school, a community. . . I get to see these kids every day. I teach what I love to teach and I’m coaching what I love to coach.”

Willis ran track for his high school in Napierville, Ill., and competed for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, a Division 3 university. He earned his degree from the school’s college of natural resourc-es and began to work as a fish and wildlife biologist. He then moved back to Na-pierville and began coach-ing football and track as well as teach biology. He met his wife, who is origi-nally from here, and he went on to teach for six years in Hart. Two years ago, former Ludington superintendent Cal DeKuiper brought Willis on board to teach. Now, he’s back to coaching.

He also recognizes that Lipa left him in great shape when it comes to the ath-letes who will be compet-ing this spring for the Ori-oles. The strongest core will come from the distance run-ners, most of whom quali-fied for the MHSAA state

cross country meet in the fall. Back are Chris Snow, Ben Jensen, Lucas Schwass, Jarod Cobb, Luke Riley and Matt Ritter from last year’s track team that were a part of that team.

The Orioles lost a major runner in Luke Johnson, now running for Michigan State, but Ludington does have a major contributor in Ritter. He signed to run for Oakland University late this winter.

The hurdles and throws should be in decent shape this year. Both Remington and Chase Rohrer return for their final years. Remington will primarily focus on the throws while Chase Rohrer will primarily focus on the hurdles.


SENIORS: Caleb Eastway, Cesar Gamez, Deven Garcia, Zeb Jones, Jakob Kuhn, Darrick Lilleberg, Aaron Luurtsema, Oscar Monterde, Luke Riley, Matthew Ritter, Chase Rohrer, Remington Rohrer, Christo-pher Snow.JUNIORS: Jarod Cobb, Taylor

Follrath, Adrian Hammerle III, Eric Janowiak, Benjamin Jensen, Allen Keffer, Alexander Pohl, Nicholas Richert, Lucas Schwass, Caleb Schillinger, Austin Sniegowski, Bennett Wojcicki.SOPHOMORES: Aidan Brown,

Trenton Dalm, Daniel Fugere, Kylar Hendrickson, Ari Hoek-stra, Spencer Kovar, Jacob Lesinski, Connor Lipski, Nolan Stark, Marc Yeck.FRESHMEN: Troy Althaus,

Logan Anders, Austin Ernst, Keenan Hays, Randall Johnson, Austin Morris, Ian Nash, David Ritter, Luke Snyder, Zach Swartzendruber, Ethan Tucker,

Devon Yantis.

Willis likes what he’s hear-ing and seeing with the field events, too. Where Luding-ton could be in trouble is the sprints. While he’s getting to know students at Luding-ton, he’s also out recruiting those kids in the hallways to compete on and around the track.

“I’ll take anybody cut from another team,” he said. “I want them to be a part of a team. I want to welcome anybody. You never know when they’re going to come into their prime.”

Like any other team this spring, the Orioles spent a great deal of time indoors preparing, including run-ning an indoor meet at Grand Valley State Univer-sity. Still, it’s was hard to gauge how the team would perform after the weather breaks.

“The kids haven’t com-plained, but we’ve had to work on shin splints,” he said. “The other side of it, it has been nice. Instead of going out on the track, it’s been nice to discipline them on their form. In other ways, it’s been a blessing.”

Willis was an assistant within the track program last spring, so he has an in-kling of how the conference competition will be.

“As I look at this con-ference, Fruitport looked strong at the indoor meet (at Grand Valley), and Spring Lake, (too),” he said. “(Once we) get out on the track and we’ll go like gangbusters. I think we’ll be ready to go.”

Ludington girls track and field

Orioles haveathletes to compete

Ludington boys track and field

LHS relying ondistance strength


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Ludington’s boys golf team will have a Big Three when it hits the links this spring.

And those big three will be looked upon to have the Orioles challenging Spring Lake for the Lakes 8 Activi-ties Conference.

Chase Lakari, Ethan Leavitt and Race Andersen are those Big Three and each brings great experiences and great scores. Leavitt qualified for the state tournament as an

individual last spring and Andersen was on the state-qualifying team from 2012.

“Even though we have three guys who are good, we are building up our depth. It will be tough competition from No. 4 through 8,” Lud-ington coach Andrew Wood said.

That competition will come from some returning golfers such as Mason Chap-man and Jacobb Juska while a newcomer like Jacob Har-rie will be shooting his way into the lineup. Wood said several of his players urged

Harrie to play and he is now out on the team.

“Indoors, it’s something you can see in his swing that he’s played before,” Wood said.


JUNIORS: Race Andersen, Mason Chapman and Jacob Harrie.SOPHOMORES: Joshua

Johnson, Jacobb Juska, Chase Lakari, Ethan Leavitt and Ryan Schrader.FRESHMEN: Ryan Foley and

Ryan Ruba.

Wood said that with its 10-player group, the practic-es should prove to be com-petitive for those five spots in the lineup during tour-naments. And the competi-tion should produce more consistent scores out of the back end of the lineup for each tournament.

“We’ve got a lot of good guys out,” he said. “We just have to get out and hit the ball and we’ll see (how it un-folds).”

Spring Lake has won the past two Lakes 8 titles and the Lakers still remain the

team to beat in the league, Wood said. But Ludington should pose a challenge to the Lakers for the league ti-tle.

Beyond that, Wood feels as though this team has a chance to do some great things in the post-season, too.

“We have a good chance to win the district. And if every-one plays well, we won’t just reach the regional, but we can win the regional. Then we can play golf with the best at state,” he said.

‘We have a good chance to win the district. And if everyone plays well, we won’t just reach the regional, but we can win the regional.’

Andrew WoodLudington boys

golf coach

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Ludington boys golf team are, from left, Ryan Foley, Jacobb Juska, Josh Johnson, Mason Chapman, Race Andersen, Jacob Harrie, Ethan Leavitt, Ryan Scrader, Chase Lakari and coach Andrew Wood. Not pictured: Ryan Ruba.

Ludington boys golf

Big Three gives Orioles high hopes


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Ludington’s softball team is in a rebuilding mode this season as only three girls re-turn from last year’s team.

Audra Sides, Sarah Ed-wards and Justyce Stadler are the trio of returners. Ed-wards and Stadler are se-niors and Sides is a junior. Sides will take over the bulk of the pitching duties for the Orioles. She was 7-4-1 last season.

Edwards will play at sec-ond base and Stadler will catch some and play outfield some.

The Orioles have a young crew, with a handful of soph-omores and freshmen. Four of the sophomores moved up to the varsity team for the playoffs.


SENIORS: Sarah Edwards and Brandelynn JamesJUNIORS: Audra Sides and

Justyce StadlerSOPHOMORES: Megan Bratschi,

Zoe Lange, Stephanie Snie-gowski and Alana YoungFRESHMEN: Rachael Collins,

Breanna Lange and Ryan Makowicki

“I brought them up for the end of the season, they’ve seen some varsity action. They got to see it was a little faster pace. They’re ready to step in full time,” Ludington coach Jim Klug said.

Those sophomores are Megan Bratschi, Zoe Lange, Stephanie Sniegowski and Alana Young. Bratschi will make up the other half of the double play combo with Ed-wards. Lange plays at third base and will catch at times while Sniegowski is a sure-handed southpaw first base-man. Young, who has tons of speed, will patrol center-

field.There are also a hand-

ful of freshmen who will gain experience and play-ing time. Rachael Collins, Brianna Lange and Ryan Makowicki are all girls that are making the jump to the varsity team. Collins and Lange both have played some infield and Macko-wicki is a solid pitcher who can take to the circle when

Sides isn’t there.From the work in the gym,

Klug believes the Orioles will hit and field well, but he does have some concerns.

“My worry right now is throwing. We have to work on our accuracy,” Klug said. “They can hit the ball. They’re athletic kids. They can put the bat on the ball. The offense is going to have to carry us.”

Klug likes that the infield is essentially all set to go and he’s got lots of speed from his players. Luding-ton has a backup for each position, and the flexibility is something that’s a posi-tive, too.

What the Orioles are aim-ing to do is turn late-inning and close defeats into victo-ries for the 2014 season.

“We lost four games

by two runs or less or we would have been in the hunt (for the Lakes 8),” Klug said. “We’re right there. It’s just a matter of winning the close ones. We won the Briggs (tournament) last year, we’re pretty fired up about (possibly) winning that again.”

He believes Grant, Orchard View and Fruitport all could be in the hunt, too, for a con-

ference crown. He just would like the game action to be on the field, rather than a few of the wiffleball games the team has played in the gym as a part of the preparation for the season.

“The walls are starting to close in,” he said. “We had a couple of wiffleball games just to break it up. We can do some situations. They en-joyed it.”

Ludington softball

LHS looks to turn close ones its way

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Ludington softball team are, from left, kneeling, Brandie James, Alana Young, Sarah Edwards, Justyce Stadler and Rachael Collins; standing, coach Jim Klug, Breanna Lange, Ryan Makowicki, Zoe Lange, Megan Bratschi, Stephanie Sniegowski, Audra Sides and assistant Shelby French.


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Enough with practice, Lud-ington baseball coach Rob Killips just wants to get his club out and play.

“It’s a group of kids that wants to be playing base-ball,” the Orioles skipper said. “I hope to get in a lot of games. It’s a team I want to play a lot of games with.”

The Orioles have a wealth of experience returning from last spring back for this year.

“This will be Chad (Large’s) and (Evan) Kroeze’s fourth year, and (Ryan ) Karns’ third year,” Killips said. “We had some positions that will be repeats.”

The Orioles roster:

SENIORS: Andrew Kandalec, Ryan Karns, Hunter Klug, Evan Kroeze, Chad Large.JUNIORS: Ryan Bowen, Taylor

Follrath, Jacob Janowiak, Dylan Karlsen, Sam Ramirez.SOPHOMORES: Eric Friese,

Nolan Stark.

Still, Killips was unsure exactly how things will look because of the snow and ice melt that kept the team in the gym for the better part of three weeks before the spring break week. Several of the players can play mul-tiple positions, and that will help the Orioles’ flexibility in the field.

Just where players fit is the challenge.

“We have a wide open third base competition,” Killips said. “Pitching is hard to de-termine because we’ve been

indoors. It’s nice to know who can be up on a mound and hold a runner.”

The Orioles lost two sol-id players from last year’s team: PJ Lovato and Blake Collins. Collins is playing for Kalamazoo College this spring, the third Oriole in the past three years that is playing collegiately.

Killips believes most prog-nosticators are overlooking the Orioles this spring in the Lakes 8 race, and he’s per-fectly OK with that.

“The top two, if you went

to someone in Muskegon, they’ll say Fremont and Spring Lake will compete for the title. Fremont didn’t lose a starter. And they added a transfer,” Killips said. “Fre-mont will be good. Fruitport will be third … That’s what someone would tell you out of Muskegon.

“We’re going to go out ev-ery game and play hard. I think people are overlooking us and I like that,” he contin-ued. “I think we have a lot better team than a lot of peo-ple are counting on.”

When it comes to the dis-trict, Killips isn’t looking that far ahead. And he has seen instances in which teams tabbed as the favorites are the ones sitting on the side-line when the title is being de-cided.

But what Killips wants more than anything is to play games.

“I just want to play base-ball with them. They’re sim-ilar to the group I had two years ago,” he said. “If we’re playing, they’re just going to get better.”

JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Ludington baseball team are, from left, kneeling, Nolan Meeker, Taylor Follrath, Evan Kroeze, Andrew Kandalec, Connor Tominski, Sam Ramirez and Nolan Stark; standing, Ryan Bowen, Chad Large, Jonathan Pugh, Ryan Karns, Dylan Karlsen, Jacob Janowiak, Eric Friese and Hunter Klug.

Ludington baseball

Killips: Can’t wait to get out, play


10

BASEBALLTuesday, April 15, McBain, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 17, Tri-County, 4 p.m.Tuesday, April 22, at Orchard View, 4 p.m.Tuesday, April 29, Spring Lake, 4 p.m.Saturday, May 3, at Briggs Invitational at Ma-

son County Central, 9 a.m.Monday, May 5, at Newaygo, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 8, Shelby, 4 p.m.Friday, May 9, Grant, 4 p.m.Tuesday, May 13, at Fruitport, 4 p.m.Wednesday, May 14, Benzie Central, 4:30 p.m.Friday, May 16, at Mason Co. Central, 4 p.m.Tuesday, May 20, at Fremont, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 22, at W. Mich. Christian, 4 p.m.

SOFTBALLTuesday, April 15, McBain, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 17, Tri-County, 4 p.m.Saturday, April 19, at Holton, 9 a.m.Tuesday, April 22, at Orchard View, 4 p.m.Saturday, April 26, Ludington Invite, 9 a.m.Tuesday, April 29, Spring Lake, 4 p.m.Saturday, May 3, at Briggs Invitational at Ma-

son County Central, 9 a.m.Monday, May 5, at Newaygo, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 8, Shelby, 4 p.m.Friday, May 9, Grant, 4 p.m.Tuesday, May 13, at Fruitport, 4 p.m.Wednesday, May 14, Benzie Central, 4:30 p.m.Saturday, May 17, at WhitehallTuesday, May 20, at Fremont, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 22, at W.Mich. Christian, 4 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCERThursday, April 10, at MCC, 4:30 p.m.Monday, April 14, at Orchard View, 5:30 p.m.Wednesday, April 16, Fremont, 6:30 p.m.Thursday, April 17, at Manistee, 5 p.m.Monday, April 21, at Spring Lake, 6:30 p.m.Wednesday, April 23, GrantSaturday, April 26, Ludington Invite, 10 a.m.Monday, April 28, Fruitport, 6:30 p.m.Thursday, May 1, at Shelby, 4:30 p.m.Friday, May 2, Whitehall, 6:30 p.m.Monday, May 5, at Tri-County, 5:45 p.m.Friday, May 9, at Lakeview, 4:30 p.m.Monday, May 12, at Lakes 8 tournamentFriday, May 16, Oakridge, 5 p.m.Saturday, May 17, at Manistee, 5 p.m.Wednesday, May 21, at Big Rapids, 6 p.m.Thursday, May 22, Reed City, 6:30 p.m.

BOYS GOLF

Tuesday, April 15, Manistee, 3:30 p.m.Wednesday, April 16, at Lakes 8 jamboree at

Tri-County, 3:30 p.m.Thursday, April 17, Ludington Invite, 9;30 a.m.Wednesday, April 23, at Lakes 8 jamboree at

University Park, 3:30 p.m.Tuesday, April 29, Lakes 8 jamboree, 3:30

p.m.Saturday, May 3, at Ranger Invite, 8:30 a.m.Wednesday, May 7, at Lakes 8 jamboree at

Spring Lake, 3:30 p.m.Monday, May 12, at Tullymore Invitational,

Big Rapids, 8:30 a.m.Tuesday, May 13, at Lakes 8 jamboree at

Oakridge, 3:30 p.m.Friday, May 16, at Montague Invite, 9:30 a.m.Saturday, May 17, at Rockford Invite, 9 a.m.Monday, May 19, at Mona Shores Invite, 9

a.m.Wednesday, May 21, at Lakes 8 jamboree at

Waters Edge, 3:30 p.m.

GIRLS TENNISFriday, April 11, Traverse City ChristianMonday, April 14, Fruitport, 4 p.m.Wednesday, April 16, Fremont, 4 p.m.Saturday, April 19, at PortlandMonday, April 21, at W. Mich.Christian, 4 p.m.Wednesday, April 23, N. Muskegon, 4 p.m.Saturday, April 26, at Allegan tri., 9 a.m.Monday, April 28, at Spring Lake, 4 p.m.Wednesday, April 30, Whitehall, 4 p.m.Saturday, May 3, Ludington Invite, 9 a.m.Monday, May 5, at Grant, 4 p.m.Tuesday, May 6, Ludington quad, 11 a.m.Saturday, May 10, at Coastal Conference

tournament, FruitportTuesday, May 13, Ludington triangular, 4 p.m.

COED TRACKTuesday, April 15, at Grant, 3:45 p.m.Thursday, April 17, at Benzie Central Invite,

4 p.m.Friday, April 18, at Reeths-Puffer Invite, 3 p.m.Tuesday, April 22, Tri-County, 3:45 p.m.Thursday, April 24, at Orchard view, 3:45 p.m.Friday, April 25, at Scottville Optimist Invite,

Mason County Central, 2:30 p.m.Tuesday, April 29, at Fremont, 3:45 p.m.Thursday, May 1, Spring Lake, 3:45 p.m.Saturday, May 3, at Holland West Ottawa In-

vite, 8:30 a.m.Tuesday, May 6, Fruitport, 3:45 p.m.Friday, May 9, at Lakes 8 Meet, Fruitport

COED TRACKFriday, April 11, at Cadillac Invite, 4 p.m.Saturday, April 12, at Kinglsey, 10 a.m.Tuesday, April 15, at Manton, 4:30 p.m.Thursday, April 17, at Benzie Central Invite,

4 p.m.Friday, April 25, at Scottville Optimist Invita-

tional at Mason County Central, 2:30 p.m.Friday, May 2, at Shepherd, 2:30 p.m.Wednesday, May 7, at Suttons Bay, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALLFriday, April 11, at Leroy Pine River, 4:30 p.m.Saturday, April 12, at Benzie Central, 11 a.m.Tuesday, April 15, at Manton, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 17, Pentwater, 4 p.m.Monday, April 21, at T.C. West, 4:30 p.m.Wednesday, April 23, Hart, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 24, at Mesick, 4:30 p.mMonday, April 28, at Shelby, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 1, at Mason Co. Central, 4 p.m.Saturday, May 3, at Manton, 9 a.m.Tuesday, May 6, Cadillac, 4 p.m.Friday, May 16, Frankfort, 4:30 p.m.Saturday, May 17, Manistee tournamentMonday, May 19, Big Rapids, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 22, at Kingsley, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCERWednesday, April 9, Maple City Glen Lake, 5

p.m.Friday, April 11, Pentwater, 5 p.m.Saturday, April 12, at Benzie Central, 10 a.m.Thursday, April 17, Ludington, 5 p.m.Monday, April 21, at Whitehall, 5 p.m.Thursday, April 24, at Kingsley, 5 p.m.Saturday, April 26, at Ludington invite, 10

a.m.Wednesday, April 30, at Big Rapids, 6 p.m.Thursday, May 1, at Cadillac (JV only), 5 p.m.Friday, May 2, North Muskegon, 5 p.m.Monday, May 5, at Mason Co. Central, 5 p.m.Wednesday, May 7, Hart, 5 p.m.Friday, May 16, Kingsley, 5 p.m.Saturday, May 17, Ludington, 5 p.m.Monday, May 19, at Pentwater, 5 p.m.Tuesday, May 20, Mason Co. Central, 5 p.m.Friday, May 23, at Fremont, 5:30 p.m.

SOFTBALLFriday, April 11, at Leroy Pine River, 4:30 p.m.Saturday, April 12, at Benzie Central, 11 a.m.Tuesday, April 15, at Manton, 4 p.m.Saturday, April 19, at Morley-Stanwood, 10

a.m.Monday, April 21, at T.C. West, 4:30 p.m.Wednesday, April 23, Hart, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 24, at Mesick, 4:30 p.m.Monday, April 28, at Shelby, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 1, at Mason Co. Central, 4 p.m.Saturday, May 3, at Briggs True Value Invita-

tional at Mason County Central, 9 a.m.Tuesday, May 6, Cadillac, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 8, at Mason County Eastern,

4:30 p.m.Friday, May 16, Kingsley, 5 p.m.Saturday, May 17, at North Muskegon Invite,

10 a.m.Monday, May 19, Big Rapids, 4 p.m.Thursday, May 22, at Kingsley, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS GOLFThursday, April 10, at Mason County Eastern

with McBain Northern Michigan Christian, 4:30 p.m.

Monday, April 14, at Kingsley, 4:30 p.m.Tuesday, April 15, at Ludington, 3:30 p.m.Tuesday, April 22, Frankfort and Fremont, 4

p.m.Wednesday, April 23, at Cadillac, 9 a.m.Friday, April 25, at Traverse City Central, 9

a.m.Saturday, April 26, at Traverse City Central, 9

a.m.Monday, April 28, Benzie Central, Muskegon

Catholic and Manton, 4:30 p.m.Friday, May 2, at Lake City, 9 a.m.Tuesday, May 6, Big Rapids, 4 p.m.Friday, May 9, at Easy Living Flooring Invita-

tional at Mason County Central, 9 a.m.Saturday, May 17, at Rockford Invitational, 9

a.m.Tuesday, May 20, at Brethren, 4 p.m.

GIRLS TENNISTuesday, April 15, Traverse City West, 4 p.m.Thursday, April 17, Travers City Central, 4 p.m.Saturday, April 19, at Grant, 9 a.m.Tuesday, April 22, at Big Rapids, 4 p.m.Friday, April 25, at Fremont, 4 p.m.Tuesday, April 29, at Traverse City Christian,

4:30 p.m.Thursday, May 1, at Traverse City Central, 4

p.m.Tuesday, May 6, at Ludington quad, 11 a.m.Wednesday, May 7, at Muskegon Catholic, 4

p.m.Tuesday, May 13, Big Rapids, 4 p.m.

Ludington schedules Manistee schedule

TRACKFROM PAGE 6

challenge Spring Lake for the league title. Fruitport,

too, will be a team that could potentially work its way to be a challenger.

“We have the depth this year and I’m very pleased with it,” Dotson said. “The question marks will get

filled once we get on a track. (Ludington) and Spring Lake are the teams to beat. I think we can get it. It’s not going to be easy by all means.”

As for the regional, the Ori-oles are headed south this

year to one hosted by Coo-persville and it will include several Lakes 8 foes as well as both Zeeland schools. Last year, the team went to Cadillac and finished as the runner-up. He’d love to see

the Orioles win the regional.“I don’t know if last year,

we were even thinking of winning a regional,” he said. “If we win regionals, we get invited to the team state meet (ran by the state’s track

coaches association),” Dot-son said. “I’m not saying it’s not possible. When it comes down to it, we have top standouts as well. I’m feeling very good about the season.”


11

BY GREG GIELCZYKDAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

MANISTEE — Michael Mc-Guire had been thinking about offering his services as a coach for the Manistee High boys track and field team for a couple of years now, but never dreamed that he’d be handed the head coaching position where he finds himself now with Craig Fuller stepping down to be an assistant coach.

A physical education teacher, McGuire gives the Chippewas two coach-es who work in the school system. Fuller’s experience having coached the varsity for the last few years will be a welcome addition to the staff.

His first season will be a challenging one, too, since the boys’ numbers are down a little bit. Prior to spring break, McGuire had spent some time trying to recruit more athletes to come out for the team.

“We have a couple of kids who are running for the first time this year,” McGuire added. “A couple of them did pretty well at the meet over at (Central Michigan University). We’re just trying to get more athletes.”

McGuire went to CMU, but did not compete in track and field there. He compet-ed in high school, and quali-fied for state every year and placed a couple of times.

The Chippewas boys lost several outstanding athletes, including Andrew Solberg, Nick Williams and Jarret Deisch — three of the four runners who formed the state qualifying 1600 meter relay team.

But the Chippewas have a pretty good freshmen group, but the inexperience will set them back at the start.

“Our form has not been

really good, just coming out of the blocks and that stuff,” McGuire remarked. “So, we have to work on that.”

Carter Eckhardt is the only returning veteran and will be looked upon to be a lead-er, especially on the track in taking some of the young-sters under his wing and teaching them how to han-dle competing in pressure situations.

Manistee should be fairly strong in the distance events with Nick Veine, Bryce Cam-eron and Colin Bachinski who competed in some of the bigger meets for the Chippewas last year. For-

eign exchange student Alex-sander Bredal-Olsen has shown decent speed in the sprints.

Logan Guenthardt is a freshman who has never run before but raised the eyebrows of the coaching staff by clocking 58 seconds in his first ever 400-meter dash. McGuire counts on him cutting that time down as the season wears on.

Manistee’s roster:

SENIORS: Colin Bachinski, Alexsander Bredal-Olsen and Nick Veine.JUNIORS: Cody Gutowski, Jake

Williams and Bryce Cameron.SOPHOMORES: Carter Eck-

hardt, Mitchell Jordan and Mark Cole.FRESHMEN: Corbin Miller, Lo-

gan Guenthardt, Tai Allen, A.J. Reau, Kyle Schaubroeck, Noah Cameron and Tyler Peck.

“We’ll just try to fill the events as best we can,” Mc-Guire said.

Because of the lingering winter weather, all of the spring sports teams have been confined to practicing indoors, which presents the problem of organizing time to be in the gym at the same time with five other teams.

The Chippewas are fortu-nate because they do have the track above to get in

their running. It’s not ideal, because it can cause shin splints and the type of in-juries associated with run-ning on a hard surface rather than the track outside.

“Field events are going to be behind for everyone the first few weeks,” McGuire says. “You have to be pretty tough to be out there high jumping or pole vaulting right now.”

As far as the field events go, Eckhardt did some high jumping last year, while freshman Tai Allen is slated to do long jumping. Since the Chippewas don’t have a pole vaulting pit, it’s dif-ficult to develop anyone for

pole vaulting.In terms of throwing, Cody

Gutowski returns to be the team’s leader in the discus and shot put. McGuire said that Gutowski had a nice showing at the Central Mich-igan indoor meet. Another freshman, Alexander Rowe, will also be throwing for the Chippewas.

Manistee boys track

McGuire starts with inexperienced team

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee boys track team are, from left, kneeling, Mitchell Jordan, Mark Cole, Nick Bauman, A.J. Reau, Jake Williams, Malachi Hildebrand and Kyle Schaubroeck; standing, Corbin Miller, Logan Guenthardt, Colin Bachinski, Cody Gutowski, Alexsander Bredal-Olsen, Carter Eckhardt, Tai Allen and Nick Veine. Not pictured: Bryce Cameron, Noah Cameron and Tyler Peck.

‘We’ll just try to fillthe events as bestas we can.’

Michael McGuireManistee High boys track coach


12


MANISTEE — Loaded is the word for the Manistee High girls track and field team this season as the Chippe-was basically return every-one from last year, with the lone exception of senior Courtney Stefanski.

The Chippewas actual-ly lost Stefanski halfway through last season when she tore her anterior cruci-ate ligament and did not re-turn. Every athlete who qual-ified for the MHSAA state meet a year ago and led the Chippewas to a regional title is back.

Additionally, there are some outstanding freshmen moving up from the middle school ranks who should make the Chippewas not only a stronger team, but a deeper one capable of pick-ing up more points in each event.

With more than half of the team going to state last year, the Chippewas natu-rally have high expectations of having another successful season. Some of the stand-outs returning include Annie Fuller, Jessica Gustad, Sarah Chandler, Ashley Lindeman, Presley Petzak and Nicole Morski.


SENIORS: Tracy Ban and Sarah Chandler.JUNIORS: Nicole Morski, Joslyn

Cabarrubia, Jessica Gustad and Annie Fuller.SOPHOMORES: Hannah Wag-

ner, Kelsey Harrigan, Presley Petzak, Ashley Lindeman, Ash-ley Peddie, Leah Christianson and Jasmyn Booker.FRESHMEN: Haleigh Cod-

den, Audrey Padilla, Hannah Gutowski, Laura Kane, Morgan Haywood and Emily Rankin.

“Obviously, with the Fuller Forecast behind us, we’re obviously strong in the distance and mid-dis-tance with the combination of Annie and Ashley Linde-man,” girls’ coach Sam Jo-seph said. “But then with the all-around talents of Jessica Gustad we’re able to do sprints, mid-distance and now field events.

“The freshmen are able to give us the depth we haven’t had. We’ve had some fast girls, but we’ve never had those speed de-mons that really get you into regionals.”

The Chippewas look like they have that kind of speed among the freshmen like Emily Rankin, Audrey Pa-

dilla, Haleigh Codden, Laura Kane, Morgan Haywood and Hannah Gutowski. It’s just figuring out where to put them.

Rankin and Padilla showed flashes of their speed at the Central Michigan indoor meet, where the conditions were ideal for running. Jo-seph is anxious to see how they’ll perform once the team gets outside, in the el-ements.

But the Chippewas are looking forward to filling the sprint categories that have been largely vacant the last few years now that they have some speed on the ros-ter, which Joseph hopes just keeps improving.

“We’ve been recruiting

some throwers, so now we’re able to fill in some of those throwing events finally,” Joseph added. “In that re-gard, we will be able to score points where we weren’t able to score points, so we don’t necessarily have to rely on Fuller and Gustad any more.”

The throwers mostly come from the freshmen class, including Gutowski whose brother Cody throws for the boys’ team in addition to Padilla and Codden, who have been working out in those events. Joseph also re-cruited superintendent John Chandler, who was a college thrower himself, to work with the girls four or five times a week.

Stefanski was the Chip-pewas’ only hurdler, and when she was hurt that ef-fectively left them without any hurdlers to pick up the slack. Leah Christianson, a sophomore, would seem to have the perfect physi-cal stature for hurdling at 6 feet tall with long strides. Former boys hurdler and state qualifier Tyler Maiv-ille has been working with the hurdlers.

Sarah Chandler returns in the high jump, and Joseph is looking at a couple of freshmen doing it as well. The problem right now has been getting in prac-tice, especially the take off, with the track buried under snow.

Repeating as regional champions will be a tall or-der for the Chippewas, be-cause they’ve been moved into the Benzie Central re-gional where the field is loaded with talented teams with just as much coming back as Manistee.

“We need our throwers and our field events to up their game a little bit,” Jo-seph remarked. “We need our sprinters and hurdlers to up their game if we want to give Benzie a run for their money.”

Manistee is actually look-ing beyond regionals, and gunning for a state title this year.

Manistee girls track

Chippewas stacked for big spring

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee girls track team are, from left, kneeling, Hannah Wagner, Kelsey Harrigan, Presley Petzak, Ashley Lindeman, Nicole Morski, Joslyn Cabarrubia, Tracy Ban, Haleigh Codden and Audrey Padilla; standing, Leah Christianson, Ashley Peddie, Emily Rankin, Jessica Gustad, Annie Fuller, Sarah Chandler, Laura Kane and Morgan Haywood. Not pictured: Jasmyn Booker and Hannah Gutowski.


13


MANISTEE — Entering his second season as the Manist-ee High girls’ tennis coach, Matt Froncek has a little bet-ter handle on how to orga-nize practice and conduct drills. It’s been a challenge this year with the courts still buried under snow before spring break.

But once the Chippewas are able to start practicing outside, Froncek will have an even better chance to look at some of his younger and less experienced players, evalu-ating where they fit in the mix.

“It’s not a crap shoot like it was last year,” Froncek said. “We definitely know what we need to work on, and when we get outside we’ll be doing some drills to fix the prob-lems as we notice them. I do have some expectations for the girls.”


SENIORS: Colleen Bartell, Hele-na Chroeis, Annika Horstmann and Casey MitteMiller.JUNIORS: Maddy Wilson, Caro-

line Kessler, Mary Meshraky, Lea Hansen and Jane Luu.SOPHOMORES: Nanna Hansen,

Brittany Ponce, Hope Slawinski, Emily Morin, Abby Hornkohl and Fallon Gates.FRESHMEN: Jade Wilson and

Alexis Adway.

Because he’s working with such a young team this year, Froncek is concentrating on teaching the fundamen-tals like ground strokes and serving.

Having been confined to indoor practices, it’ll be a crash course when the Chip-pewas are finally able to go outside. That being said, ev-eryone is pretty much in the same boat and won’t be out-

side too far ahead of the first match.

So far, Froncek has been conducting tennis classes, showing the team videos, go-ing over how to keep score, boundaries, different tech-niques used for doubles and singles.

“We’ve had a little bit of indoor practice with the rackets, a lot of hand-eye coordination,” Froncek re-marked. “They’ve also been doing a lot of conditioning,

and making do with what we have. Tennis is one of those sports where you definitely need the facility to practice in. You can’t just practice serves somewhere.”

Froncek has put together a starting lineup in the even-tuality the Chippewas aren’t able to practice outside be-fore their first match.

But it is subject to change.The singles flights pres-

ently consist of junior Mack-enzie Kaminski at No. 1,

sophomore Emily Morin at No. 2, junior Caroline Kes-sler at No. 3 and junior Mad-dy Wilson at No. 4.

In doubles, sophomores Abby Hornkohl and Fallon Gates are penciled in at No. 1, senior Colleen Bartell and sophomore Hope Slawinski at No. 2, sophomore Nanna Hansen and senior Annika Horstmann at No. 3 and se-nior Casey MitteMiller and junior Maria Nunez.

“Our three and four dou-

bles are going to be alter-nating throughout the sea-son,” Froncek said, “unless we have somebody show up at practice that’s just out of this world. It can change up a lot. We’ve got eight extra players, so a lot can happen.

“It’s really hard right now without having a practice to know what girls to put where. Unfortunately, we live just far enough away from Traverse (City) that going up there to play two

hours of tennis isn’t cost ef-ficient. Of course you know every Traverse City team is taking up that space. We’re just waiting on Mother Na-ture, like everyone else.”

The four singles players and Hornkohl are the return-ing veterans, and Froncek is hoping they can set good examples in practice while helping with the younger players who are just starting to learn the ropes.

Manistee girls tennis

Froncek, Chippewas settling in

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the Manistee girls tennis team are, from left, first row, Hope Slawinski, Jade Wilson, Brittany Ponce and Jane Luu; middle row, Colleen Bartell, Abby Hornkohl, Emily Morin, Maria Nunez, Maddy Wilson and Caroline Kessler; back row coach Matt Froncek, Casey MitteMiller, Mary Meshraky, Annika Horstmann, Helena Chroeis, Lea Hansen, Nanna Hansen, Alexis Adway and assistant Amanda Clemons. Not pictured: Mackenzie Kaminski and Fallon Gates.


14


MANISTEE — Numbers aren’t a problem for the Manistee High girls soccer team this season, except in one area. Goalie. In that par-ticular spot in the lineup the Chippewas are hurting with-out anyone returning, and no one in mind for the job.

The veteran the Chippe-was expected to be coming back transferred to a differ-ent school, leaving the posi-tion vacant.

Although he’s not really keen on the idea of throw-ing an untested freshman in net, where the pressure can be more intense that at any other position, head coach Rudy Guillen may not have a

choice.He doesn’t have any other

options.Otherwise, the Chippe-

was should be a strong unit with seven experienced play-ers coming back from last year with a handful of fresh-men who are really showing some promise during indoor drills.


SENIORS: Ellen Jankwietz, Mor-gan Waitner, Julia Dillan, Hana Hertle and Stephanie Johnson.JUNIORS: Savannah Hiipakka,

Elizabeth Thompson, Lexie Adams, Sophie Shriver, Syriah Dobis and Olivia Vadenbon-coeur.SOPHOMORES: Mallory Stefan-

ski, Kianchanok Siriviragn.FRESHMEN: Alma Binkman, Bri-

ana Larsen, Gabby Applegarth, Erin Coe, Mackenzie Wittlief and Georgia Hiipakka.

“We’ve had some really nice practices even though we’re indoors and you get limited to some things you

can do,” Guillen said. “From what I’ve seen so far, I’ve been pretty pleased.”

The players returning in-clude junior Olivia Vaden-boncouer and sophomore Mallory Stefanski, both of whom were all-district men-

tions. When you add juniors Sophia Shriver and Syriah Dobis into the mix, Manist-ee’s chances of seeing im-provement increase expo-nentially.

Also coming back are ju-nior Lexie Adams and Sa-

vannah Hiipakka to give the Chippewas more depth than they had last year, with expe-rience at every position on the field.

SEE SOCCER, 16

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee girls soccer team soccer team are, from left, sitting, Alma Binkman, Savannah Hiipakka, Mallory Stefanski, Elizabeth Thompson and Ellen Jankwietz; second row, Briana Larsen, Gabby Applegarth, Morgan Waitner, Kianchanok Siriviragn, Julia Dillan and Erin Coe; back row, assistant Lacey Krolczyk, Lexie Adams, Sophie Shriver, Hana Hertle, Mackenzie Wit-tlief, Stephanie Johnson, Syriah Dobis, Georgia Hiipakka, Olivia Vadeboncoeur and coach Rudy Guillen.

Manistee soccerChippewas seek

goalkeeper


MANISTEE — Although he has four starters back from last year’s team, Manistee High golf coach Mike Swanson doesn’t know how much they’ve im-proved their games in the in-terim because the Chippewas haven’t been able to get outside to practice before everyone scat-tered for spring break.

But just based on their expe-rience and a summer out on the course when they weren’t busy with work or other distractions, the Chippewas are expected to continue making big strides this season.

The Chippewas will be trying to replace one senior when ev-eryone gets back from spring break — more time away from school after a winter that was marked by frequent cancella-tions — and Swanson hopes to get the guys outside.

If last year’s performance is any indication, the Chippewas should be pretty good with five of their top six golfers returning from a team that ended the sea-son 12th in the state. But some-times high expectations lead to disappointing letdowns, and Swanson is not making any bold predictions.

He’s being especially cautious this spring because of the partic-

ularly hard winter that dropped a lot of snow that has only begun to melt, and forecasts that call for an unseasonably cold April and May.

The four horses Manistee hopes to ride to a berth in the state championship tournament are sophomores Connor Mrozik and Will Shriver, and co-captains Blake Davis and Matt Simmons, both juniors.

“I think they’re all ready to play,” Swanson says of the four-some. “They practiced quite a bit over the summer, because I saw them out on the course (at Man-istee National). They should be a little bit bigger, a little bit stron-ger and a little bit more experi-

enced.“But that doesn’t always trans-

late into better scores. We’ll have to wait until the weather breaks to see how we’re doing. The more you play, the better you can get. But, you (also) have to practice golf, not just play golf. I know they all worked on their swings over the summer.”

Manistee is going to be young this season, with the rest of the squad made up of as yet untest-ed sophomores and freshmen battling for the fifth spot in the starting lineup. Experience natu-rally gives the Chippewas have hopes.

SEE GOLF, 16

SUBMITTED PHOTOReturning players of Manistee’s golf team in 2014 include, from left, Blake Davis, Will Shriver, Matt Simmons and Connor Mrozik.

Manistee boys golfFive of top 6 — including 4 starters — return


15


MANISTEE — Forgetting about last season’s disap-pointment is the top priority for Manistee High baseball coach Troy Nezki. He’d rath-er look to the future, rather than dwell on the past.

Just a couple of years re-moved from one of their best seasons, the Chippewas endured one of their worst as they managed just seven wins and never really threat-ened in the district tourna-ment.

Although it was a difficult year, the Chippewas are glad to have three experienced seniors coming back to pro-vide leadership and a steady-ing influence on the younger recruits who hope to regain Manistee’s former status as an independent power.

Kreighton Rahn, Seth Pef-ley, Tanner Liston, Levi Zim-merman, Logan Bond and Gabe Bentz give the Chippe-was a solid group of seniors who will be counted on to fill several key positions in the starting lineup.

Zimmerman and Bond didn’t play with the team last year, and it remains to be seen how quickly they can round into shape after tak-ing some time off from base-ball. But their presence is welcome just the same.


SENIORS: Seth Pefley, Gabe Bentz, Kreighton Rahn, Tanner Liston, Levi Zimmerman and Logan Bond.JUNIORS: David Bottrell, Matt

Bauman, Brad Murphy, Brad Madsen, Andy Oleniczak and Nolan Vander Weele.SOPHOMORES: Spencer

Helminski and Brandon Wick.

Pefley has been on the var-sity since he was a sopho-more, and juniors Nolan

Vander Weele and Matthew Bauman both played last year so the Chippewas have five experienced players re-turning.

“Our big weakness, and I talked to the guys about it, is we don’t have a pitcher who is going to go out there and shut out the other team,” coach Troy Nezki said. “So, we’ve been concentrating on doing all the little things to make sure that we limit the runs that they can get, and we’re just going to have to produce some things on of-fense.

“Liston and Rahn both pitched last year, and they’re

both guys who are going to throw strikes. Especially if there’s defense back there, they’re guys who can throw a one-run or two-run game We just need to make sure we can help them out at the plate.”

Toward building a more productive offense, the Chippewas have had a crew of eight or nine players re-ligiously hitting in the bat-ting cage three times a week to improve their presence at the plate.

Spencer Helminski came up to the varsity last year as a freshman, and Nezki ex-pects more out of him. More

is expected of another soph-omore, Brandon Wick. A cou-ple of the freshmen might pitch some innings for the varsity as well.

The infield should be strong, with Liston moving from second base to short-stop when he’s not pitch-ing. Vander Weele played ev-ery out at first base, and has shown great improvement.

Wick and Helminski both are capable of taking over at second, and may rotate at that spot throughout the season. The only question mark is at third base. Nezki hasn’t seen anyone he’d put there right now.

“Bauman kind of showed he was our day-to-day catch-er last year, so I think that’s going to be a pretty solid spot,” the Chippewas’ coach said.

The outfield looks stout as well.

“Rahn, when he came up, was kind of an infield, out-field guy,” Nezki said. “He’s a fast guy, and has a knack for the ball. I think he’ll hold down centerfield for us quite well. Seth Pefley will be out there as well. It’ll be a mat-ter of finding who’s going to play that other outfield spot.

“A lot of our pre-practice meetings have been talking

about some of the things we did last year that we need to improve upon. A lot of things were mental mis-takes, where we weren’t ag-gressive enough.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time drawing up situ-ations and saying ‘Here’s what we need to be able to do and here’s what we need to be able to defend when we get there.’ My only concern being independent is with this weather, we’re going to be the first team on every-one’s schedule that they say that can’t play.”

That, and pitching.

Manistee baseball

Chippewas aim to turn around program

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee baseball team are, from left, kneeling, Gabe Bentz, Kreighton Rahn, Tanner Liston, Spencer Helminski, David Bottrell and Matt Bau-man; standing, Levi Zimmerman, Logan Bond, Brad Madsen, Brad Murphy, Andy Oleniczak and Nolan Vander Weele. Not pictured: Seth Pefley and Brandon Wick.


16


MANISTEE — Although she only has 10 players on the varsity this season, mak-ing for a very short bench and no depth at all, Manist-ee High girls’ softball coach Denise Lijewski believes the Chippewas will make a good run at their seventh straight district title.

Lijewski clearly has the weapons in the Chippewas’ arsenal to do just that, with five seniors coming back from last year’s crack squad that finished with a 29-4 re-cord, including pitching ace Haley Maser who signed a letter of intent to play for Muskegon Community Col-lege next spring.

Also returning are fel-low seniors Lydia Schimke, Stephanie Smogoleski, Natalie Wilkosz and Lilly Bjorkquist. Lijewski pro-moted junior Frankie Jans as well as sophomores Maken-zie Thompson, Allie Zim-merman and Taylor Wilhoit from the junior varsity.

Smogoleski will form the other half of the Chippewas’ battery as the starting catch-er after gaining valuable ex-perience behind the plate last year, while Bjorkquist is expected to anchor the out-field.

Other key players from last year include Wilkosz who has been a wall at third base, knocking everything down and make all the plays while providing some punch at the plate, and Schimke who displayed a good eye at bat as a patience hitter while showing outstanding glove work on the infield.


SENIORS: Stephanie Smo-goleski, Haley Maser, Natalie Wilkosz, Lilly Bjorkquist and Lydia Schimke.JUNIOR: Frankie Jans.SOPHOMORES: Sydney Kruwell,

Mackenzie Thompson, Allie Zimmerman and Taylor Wilhoit.

“Thompson was a strong pitcher with the junior varsi-ty,” Lijewski added. “She can really bring it, and we’re re-ally pleased with what we’re seeing. I’m excited to see what she can do out there on the varsity level.

“Right now, we’re training all the girls to play multiple positions because we’re not really sure who we’re going to have where, or if they’re going to be stuck in a certain position all year. We like that versatility to place them in multiple positions, and for

them to feel comfortable in multiple positions.”

In addition to being the Chippewas’ top pitcher, Ma-ser was the team’s leadoff hitter and had one of the team’s highest batting aver-ages. Smogoleski also hit the ball well, and as a whole the team had an impressive on-base percentage.

While the veterans com-ing back are going to be key to the team’s success at the plate, Lijewski noted that ev-eryone worked on their hit-ting during the off-season and she expects another sol-id offensive club.

Lijewski likes to force the

issue when the Chippewas are at bat, moving the run-ners up with hit-and-run plays, steals or bunting.

The object of the game is to score in whatever way possible.

“You always want to be aggressive,” the coach says. “You don’t win the game by just defense alone. You have to put some runs on the board. Being 60 feet closer to home is the way to do it.”

Manistee’s goal is to get past the regional tourna-ment this year, and see if it can’t take a run at the state title.

Manistee softballDistrict title goal for Chippewas

GREG GIELCZYK | DAILY NEWSMembers of the 2014 Manistee softball team are, from left, sitting, Stephanie Smogoleski, Haley Maser, Natalie Wilkosz and Lilly Bjorkquist; standing, Sydney Kruwell, Frankie Jans, Mackenzie Thompson, Allie Zimmerman and Taylor Wilhoit. Not pictured: Lydia Schimke.

FROM PAGE 14

“We’re going to work hard at really trying to come together as a team,” Guillen remarked. “We’re trying to get everybody on the same page, and I feel if we can do that it’s going to be a big plus for us.

“Our midfield should be strong with the girls we have coming back. I think offensively we’re going to be a problem for most teams. We have a couple of girls who last year finished with 20-plus goals, and we spread it around last sea-son. If we can do that this year, I think we’re going to be successful.”

Hiipakka and Dobis an-chor the defense, and Guil-len is really high on a cou-ple of freshmen that he expects to step up and fill some roles in the back to help protect the goalie.

Although whoever he

picks to be in goal for the Chippewas, they’ll be in-experienced and that con-cerns Guillen. That said, he is confident that he has a couple of candidates who can do the job.

Manistee’s goals as al-ways is to be ready for the district tournament, and the Chippewas will be test-ed early and late before they head into the postseason.

SOCCER: Needs goalie

FROM PAGE 14

Golf, though, is often an unpredictable game. Even the best players have bad days, and frustration can lead to uncharacteristically high scores. It can also be full of pleasant surprises. Every golfer just strives for consistency.

“We just want to take the season as it comes,” Swanson remarked. “I wonder if all this snow is advantageous to an ex-perienced golf team, or a young golf team? I don’t know. We’re really excited to get out and play, and see what kind of talent we have.

“All four of my starters just rotated being low man last year. We never knew where it was coming from,

and that’s fun. It’s a nice kind of problem when you have a few open spots and you see who is going to fill that spot.

“I honestly don’t know who it’s going to be. I know there are people who want to be there, and I know some people who have worked hard to be in those spots. I don’t want to men-tion any names, because I don’t know who it’s going to be at this point.”

GOLF: Five return

‘We’re trying to get everybody on the same page, and I feel if we can do that it’s going to be a big plus for us.’

Rudy GuillenManistee girls soccer coach

‘All four of my starters just rotated being low man last year.’

Mike SwansonManistee golf coach

spring sports tab #3

Documents

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