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57 Flint Metro League Winter Athletes Achieve Triple League Honors

3/31/2015

57 varsity winter sports athletes achieved all three honor awards given by the league: 1) Each sport has an all-league team selected on the basis of the high quality of play in that sport; 2) athletes who earn varsity letters while maintaining grade point averages of 3.5 or higher are named league scholar-athletes; and 3) every varsity coach selects an opponent that showed the best sportsmanship in league play.This winter's Flint Metro League athletes who were all-league, scholar-athletes AND a member of a "best sportsmanship" team are:

Brandon: Kiana Goltz, Basketball, Katelyn Hendershott, Basketball, Brendan Ladd, Wrestling, Bryan LaVearn, Wrestling, Jacob Phelps, Wrestling, Thor Waddell, Wrestling

Clio: Hannah Bodnar, Basketball, Mackenzie Clontz, Competitive Cheer, Karis Conner, Competitive Cheer, Alexandrea Corwin, Bowling, Brandon Davis, Basketball, Mikayla Dewar, Basketball, Morgan Ferweda, Competitive Cheer, Madison Hankins, Basketball, Savannah Holland, Competitive Cheer, Kolton Langdon, Basketball, Lindsey Payne, Competitive Cheer, James Ziobro, Basketball

Fenton: Sarah Cummings, Basketball, Rosario Ebert, Basketball, Emma Evo, Basketball, Carly Granger, Basketball, Hannah Kirshman, Competitive Cheer

Flushing: Andrew Basinger, Swim/Dive, James Napier, Swim/Dive, Tanner Porter, Hockey, Trevor Sauve, Hockey, Gavin Williams, Hockey

Holly: Trever Hatfield, Wrestling, Brooke Jackman, Basketball, Albert Lewellen, Bowling, Michaela Luchow, Basketball, Paige Reid, Basketball, Kaitlyn Smith, Basketball

Kearsley: Hailey Baltosser, Compettitive Cheer, Karmen Bishoff, Basketball, Diane Bond, Basketball, Brendan Evenson, Swim/Dive, Alexxa Flood, Bowling, Trent Kehoe, Swim/Dive, Teagan MacDonald, Bowling, Hannah Ploof, Bowling, Sadie Saunders, Competitive Cheer, Ryan Walker, Swim/Dive, Travis Wildfong, Wrestling

Linden: Tyler Bourassa, Hockey, Bryce Davis, Wrestling, Austin McNeill, Wrestling

Swartz Creek: D'Asia Beard, Competitive, Daniel Cole, Bowling, Diamond Cummings, Bowling, Valerie Garcia, Competitive Cheer, Gabrielle Gocha, Competitive Cheer, Jacob Hutcheson, Bowling, Alyssa Juratich, Competitive Cheer, Chase Kaufman, Bowling, Stephanie Waddell, Bowling

Winter Scholar-Athletes Named

3/27/2015

Varsity athletes who achieved Scholar-Athlete status for the recently completed winter sports season have been named by Flint Metro League schools. Varsity letter winners in 10th, 11th and 12th grades who played an official league sport and have maintained a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade point average achieve Flint Metro League Scholar-Athlete awards. Award winners for each school are linked below; in addition, each sport's all-league team list has been updated to show which all-league athletes also achieved Scholar-Athlete status.

Brandon Winter Scholar-Athletes

Clio Winter Scholar-Athletes

Fenton Winter Scholar-Athletes

Flushing Winter Scholar-Athletes

Holly Winter Scholar-Athletes

Kearsley Winter Scholar-Athletes

Linden Winter Scholar-Athletes

Swartz Creek Winter Scholar-Athletes

State AD Association Honors Holly and Fenton AD's

3/25/2015

At its recent annual conference, the Michigan Interscholastic Administrators Association awarded its Athletic Director of the Year Award to Holly athletic director Deb VanKuiken. Ms. VanKuiken has served in numerous leadership roles for the MHSAA and MIAAA, including a year as the athletic directors' association president in 2007-08.
At the same conference Fenton AD Mike Bakker was installed as this year's association president after serving as its recording secretary, 2nd vice president and 1st vice president the past three years. Mr. Bakker, like Ms. VanKuiken, holds certification through the National Association of Athletic Administrators as a Certified Master Athletic Administrator.
In addition, Brandon AD Don Watchowski joined Mike Bakker in presenting a well-attended breakout session for athletic directors on the subject of evaluating coaches; Ms. VanKuiken facilitated a forum session for female AD's; Kearsley AD Paul Gaudard presided over the best-attended breakout session at the conference on the subject of social media; Clio AD Lisa Taylor presided over a session on web-based scheduling; and Swartz Creek AD Sue Calvo worked with Linden AD Cathy North as liaisons with the 130 vendors attending the conference.

Michigan AD of the Year Deb VanKuiken, Holly

MIAAA President Mike Bakker, Fenton

March Athletes of the Month: Madison Ballard and Brandon Davis

3/17/2015

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The Flint Metro League's Athletes of the Month for March are Madison Ballard from Fenton High School and Brandon Davis from Clio.

Madison Ballard is the only girls' tennis player in league history to win league championships at number one singles three times, and is attempting to become the first girl to win the title all four years of her high school career. Madison was also a semi-finalist at last year's MHSAA state tournament. along with league honors, Madison was also named the Flint Area Female Athlete of the Month for March by the Kiwanis Club of Flint.

Brandon Davis carries a 3.8 grade point average while lettering in three sports for the Mustangs. He was a second team all-league member of Clio's tennis team as a junior, first team all-league in basketball this year, and finished fourth in the MHSAA state track meet in the long jump in 2014. He was also a member of three relay teams from Clio that finished in the top three at last year's regional meet. Brandon will be attending Oakland University and studying criminal justice while participating in track and field for the Golden Grizzlies.

Previous Metro League Athletes of the Month for 2014-15 are:
Carly Granger*, Fenton, and Marshael Ryan*, Linden (September)
Mackenzie Chappell, Kearsley, and Kyle Korman, Linden (October)
Isabella Barrett, Clio, and Nathaniel Frasier, Holly (November)
Alexis Kiefer, Flushing, and Ben Thornton*, Linden (December)
Kayla Emmendorfer*, Kearsley, and Austin Landis*, Fenton (January)
Katelynn Hendershott, Brandon, and Austin McNeill, Linden (February)
* - also Flint Area Athlete of the Month

Madison Ballard, Fenton

Brandon Davis, Clio

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Winter Sports Teams Receive Sportsmanship Accolades

3/16/2015

Continuing one of the longest-running sportsmanship initiatives in the state, Flint Metro League winter varsity coaches have selected the teams that showed the best sportsmanship in league competition this season. Since 1998, every varsity coach has named the league opponent they believe showed the best sportsmanship when they competed.

Special recognition for this past winter season goes to the Swartz Creek/Flushing boys' swim/dive cooperative team for being named by every swim/dive opponent as the best sports; the Clio boys' basketball team for being selected best sportsmanship team by four opponents; the Fenton girls' basketball team for being named by three opponents; and the Kearsley competitive cheer team for receiving three opponents' votes as best sports.

Teams selected for showing the best sportsmanship this winter include:

For wrestling: Flushing (selected by two opponents), Swartz Creek (selected by two opponents), Brandon, Holly, Kearsley and Linden (selected by one opponent each)
Competitive cheer: Kearsley (selected by three opponents), Linden (two opponents), Clio, Fenton and Swartz Creek (selected by one opponent each)
Boys basketball: Clio (selected by four opponents), Linden (two opponents), Brandon and Swartz Creek (one opponent each)
Girls basketball: Fenton (selected by three opponents), Kearsley (two opponents), Brandon, Clio and Holly (one opponent each)
Boys bowling: Clio, Flushing and Holly (selected by two opponents each), Brandon and Linden (one opponent each)
Girls bowling: Clio, Linden and Swartz Creek (selected by two opponents each), Fenton and Kearsley (one opponent each)
Hockey: Fenton/Linden Griffins and Flushing (each selected by two opponents)
Boys swim/dive: Swartz Creek/Flushing (selected by all four opponents), and Kearsley (one opponent).

Clio, Flushing, Linden and Swartz Creek each had ten winter teams receive selections for showing the best sportsmanship.

All League Teams for Basketball and Hockey Announced

3/12/2015

The final three all-league teams for Flint Metro League winter sports have been selected, with league coaches submitting their votes for boys and girls basketball and ice hockey.

Swim/dive and wrestling all-league teams are determined by performances at the league championship meet for those sports, with the first three finishers in each event named first, second or third team all-league based on their place in the event. Bowling all-league team members are placed according to their league averages with a minimum of 19 league games bowled, and competitive cheer all-league team positions are selected by coaches with the number per team determined by each team's order of finish in the league season. Basketball and hockey coaches vote on their all-league teams at the conclusion of their league season.

Each sport's all-league team can be found on their sport's page on this website.

2014-15 Flint Metro All-League Boys Basketball Team

2014-15 Flint Metro All-League Girls Basketball Team

2014-15 Flint Metro All-League Hockey Team

Kearsley's Chad Stephens Adds Individual Bowling Crown to Team State Championship

3/7/2015

Kearsley junior Chad Stephens won the 2014-15 MHSAA Individual Bowling Championship in Division 2 by winning four rounds of match play after qualifying for the finals with a 213 six-game average. Stephens had to defeat teammate Anthony Kelly 381-363 in the semifinal match to enter the final match.

MHSAA Second Half Story on Chad Stephens

Kearsley Boys and Girls Bowling Repeat As State Champions

3/7/2015

The Kearsley boys' and girls' bowling teams have repeated as state champions in Division 2 of the MHSAA State Tournament.

You can read about what the Oakland Press calls "beyond comprehension" from three statewide press sources below:

Oakland Press MI Prep Zone coverage

MHSAA Second Half coverage

MLive coverage (girls)

MLive coverage (boys)

Fenton Retains Boys Swim/Dive Title as 4 League Swim Records Are Broken

3/3/2015

Fenton's boys' swim/dive team held off a challenge from the Swartz Creek/Flushing cooperative team to win its fourth consecutive Flint Metro League championship, capping a 4-0 league dual season with a 58-point margin of victory in the league meet. Fenton won 8 out of 12 events on the day, while Swartz Creek/Flushing and Brandon had two event championships apiece.

Four event records were set by Fenton swimmers. Junior Zac Miceli broke the record in the 200 yard individual medley, turning in a time of 2:04.1 and breaking the record held by Holly's Zach Balitzkat since 2009. MIceli later set a new record in the 100 yard freestyle by swimming the lead leg of the 400 free relay in 48.54 seconds, besting a standard set by Brant Cassidy a year ago. Senior Austin Landis swam the 100 yard backstroke in a record 56.38, breaking a league record of 56.40 set by Swartz Creek's Jake White in 2009. Fenton's 400 yard freestyle relay team, made up of Landis, Miceli, junior Michael Fabatz and sophomore Kyle Banner, capped the Tigers' day by breaking the league standard in the event with a time of 3:24.21. The previous relay record was held by Holly, also since 2009.

2014-15 Flint Metro League Swim/Dive Meet Results

Ten League Bowlers Advance to MHSAA Individual State Finals

3/2/2015

Congratulations to the following individual bowlers from Flint Metro League schools who qualified for the state championship tournament as individuals after finishing in the top ten at regional competition:

Girls:

     Hannah Ploof, junior, from Kearsley (regional champion)
     Dani Doolan, senior, from Kearsley
     Alexxa Flood, junior, from Kearsley
     Nicole Kelly, sophomore, from Swartz Creek

Boys:

     Chase Kaufman, junior, from Swartz Creek
     Cole Kaufman, freshman, from Swartz Creek
     Chad Stephen, junior, from Kearsley
     John Cryderman, junior, from Fenton
     Anthony Kelly, senior, from Kearsley
     Nick Udocon, senior, from Brandon

Swartz Creek's bowlers will compete in Division 1 finals at Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights on Saturday March 7, while the others will bowl in Division 2 that day at Century Lanes in Waterford.

Brandon Cheer Team Comes From Behind to Qualify for State Meet

3/2/2015

Brandon High School's competitive cheer team, the Flint Metro League champion, passed two schools in the third round at regional competition to qualify for the MHSAA state championship meet. The top four teams in each regional qualify for the state finals, and Brandon stood in sixth place after the first two rounds at the regional hosted by Holly High School. Brandon then posted the third best score in Round 3 to finish fourth overall with 748 points, edging Bay City Central (741.04) and Trenton (739.06). Clio finished seventh overall with 699.60 points and Kearsley was tenth with 681.02 points.

Brandon will represent the Flint Metro at the state finals on Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7, at the Delta Plex in Grand Rapids.

2014-15 Flint Metro and District Champions and State Qualifier Brandon HS