Runners from the Flint Metro League had many excellent performances on Saturday with 7 complete teams and 14 individuals qualifying for the MHSAA State Finals.  

Fenton won the boys' Division 1 championship held at Delta College with a team score of 55, an impressive 29 points ahead of second place Davision.  Leading the way for the Tigers was the overall individual champion Adam Jesse with a time of 16:01.36.  Also scoring for Fenton were Logan Canada, Samuel Cox, Micah Dekraker and Remington Stapp.

Goodrich won the boys's Division 2 championship held at Linden with a team score of 44, edging out second place Linden with a score of 52.  Scoring for Goodrich were Gabe Trudeau, Lucas Oberle, Carter Lauinger, Drew Himmelspach and Charlie Ballmer.  Tyler Buchanan from Linden was the overall individual champion, with a time of 16:14.29.  Also scoring for Linden were River Meckstroth, Kyle Eberhard, Liam Sack and Jacob Monaghan.  Lake Fenton came in 3rd to qualify with scoring from Joe Gilbert, Brenden Schroeder, Colton Dietrich, Logan Whittecar and Kevin Lewis.  At Delta College in the D2 race, Corunna took third place to qualify the Caviliers for the state finals. Scoring for Corunna were Evan Roka, Mason Warner, Drew Nickels, Calvin Cody and Dillion Baumchen.

In the girls' division, Alexa Keiser from Fenton won the individual championship in the D1 race at Delta College with a time of 18:13.31.  The Fenton team took 3rd place overall and will compete as a team at the state meet behind scoring from Emily Grob, Taylor Huntoon, Kaitlin Bayer and Jessica Adams.

In Division 2, Linden girl's finished in 2nd place with a team score of 62, a mere three points behind champion Marion.  Zoe Brown, Melanea Strauss, Kathryn Walterhouse, Alyson Kelly and Hannah Wabel scored for the Eagles and will lead their team to the state finals.  

To qualify as an individual, runners must finish in the top 15.  Metro runners qualifying in D1 include:
Dallas Ruelan and Jordan Buckner from Flushing, Andrea Ruiz from Holly and Cameron Smith from Swartz Creek.  In D2, Metro runners include:  Bella Hearns, Mallory Moore and River Jannette from Brandon; Bryan Jackson from Clio; Lily Evans and Evie Wright from Corunna; Raegan Lauinger from Goodrich; Claire Hunt rom Lake Fenton; and Jorden Sowash and Mason Collanrd from Owosso.

Fenton continued their dominance in cross-country with both the girls and boys teams repeating as Flint Metro League Champions--for the past FOUR years.  

The Fenton girls team took first place in all three jamborees this season to capture their 4th straight title.  Alexa Keiser won her 4th straight individual championship to join Holly's Jackie Bucholz (93-96) and Linden's Rachel Gutierrez (01-03) as the only 4 year champions in the history of the Flint Metro League.  Also scoring for the Tigers were Emily Grob in 6th, Taylor Huntoon in 9th, Kaitlin Bayer in 10th and Jessica Adams in 12th.  Flushing came in as runner-ups to Fenton.

The Fenton boys team also took first place in all three jamborees this season and also captured their 4th league championship in a row.  Scoring for Fenton were:  Logan Canada in 3rd, Adam Jesse in 5th, Sam Cox in 8th,  Remington Stapp in 16th, and Josh Maier in 17th.  Linden's Tyler Buchanan won the individual title, his third straight Metro championship.  He now joins Donnie Richmond from Holly (01-03), Mike Goodfellow from Oxford (86-88) and Don Keswick from Fenton (68-70) as the only three-time individual champions for the boys.
Linden finished in second place overall in the team competition.

Linden's Ben Cox was named the Coach of the Year for the girls.  Swartz Creek earned the most nominations for demonstrating the best sportsmanship during the season with 3 votes followed by Corunna, Flushing, Lake Fenton, Linden and Owosso with one vote each.

Jesse Anderson repeats as the boys Coach of the Year.  Clio was nominated by 4 opponents for showing the best sportsmanship with Creek receiving two votes, and Brandon and Kearsley each receiving one.

All Metro teams will now set their focus on the MHSAA Regional Championship next weekend at the sites listed below:
  D1 at Delta College:  Fenton, Flushing, Swartz Creek
  D1 at Springfield Oaks:  Holly
  D2 at Delta College:  Clio, Corunna, Kearsley, Owosso
  D2 at Linden MS:  Goodrich, Lake Fenton, Linden, Brandon

Corunna's Elizabeth Norris and Goodrich's Drew Himmelspach have been named the Stars Division of the Flint Metro League October Athletes of the Month.

Elizabeth Norris is a multi-sport All State athlete with numerous accolades in both volleyball and track for the Cavaliers.  A current Miss Volleyball finalist, Elizabeth was selected as a sophomore and junior as First Team All Conference, as well as All Region.  As a sophomore, Norris earned Honorable Mention All State and last year was named to the States' First Team.  She was also named to the Lansing Journal Dream Team, The Argus Press All Area Team and was a MaxPrep AVCA Player of the Week.  Elizabeth has also been a three time state qualifier in track and a State champion last year in the 4x100 relay.  She has been an All-Area, All Regional competitor three times and All State 2 times.  A 4.267 Scholar-Athlete, Elizabeth will continue her playing career with a volleyball scholarship at the University of North Dakota where she will study pre-medicine.

​Goodrich's Drew Himmelspach is a two-sport athlete excelling in cross country and track in all four years for the Martians.  Drew earned All-Region honors in cross country as a junior and is following that  up with another great effort this season.  He recently placed 5th in his division at the competitive Kayla O'Mara Invitational with a time of 17:04.3.  Drew has twice been named to the All-Region track and field team in the 4x800 Relay team.  Also excelling in the classroom, the Academic All Stater has maintained a 3.5 gpa.  Drew plans to continue to run cross-country and track at the collegiate level while pursuing a degree in physical therapy.

Ben Gramer and Kate Brown, both from Holly HS, have been selected as the Stripes Division Athletes of the Month.

Ben Gramer is a rare 4 sport athlete having earned letters in soccer, football, baseball and basketball for Holly.  He has been a 3 year starter on both the basketball and baseball team but soccer is clearly his best sport.  Ben has been a four year starter and 2 time captain.  An Honorable Mention All-League and All-District player as a sophomore, Ben has been named both his junior and senior seasons as a First Team All Metro player.  A 3.22 scholar athlete, Ben will continue his education as a business major next year at Northwood University where he hopes to also play soccer.

Kate Brown has been a standout golfer for the Holly Bronchos for all 4 years in HS.  Kate fired an 86 in the Metro league tournament to place 2nd individually and earn First Team All Metro honors for the second straight year.  Brown also earned letters in basketball and tennis.  The #4 singles player for Holly, Kate competed at the State Finals and also earned a spot on the Second Team All Conference team.  A 3.922 scholar athlete, Kate plans to major in elementary education at a 4 year university in the fall.
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Flushing captured the D2 MHSAA Regional Tennis title yesterday at Holly HS with a narrow 2 point victory over runner-up Fenton.  The # 4 doubles team of Nick Nasser/Ben Wagner were the lone flight champions for the Raiders.  In runner-up positions were Scott Mignery in #2 singles, Ryan Mignery in #4 singles and Jake Morrison/Landon Young at #3 doubles.  Also qualifying for Flushing were Matt Birchmeier at #1 singles, Cameron Gray at #3 singles, Reid Plamondon/Ethan Dudek at #1 doubles, Logan Schuler/Ethan Saleh at #2 doubles.

Fenton boasted the #1 singles champion in Gabe Hand and champions at #1 doubles Jack Gundry/Bradley Trecha.  Also moving on to the state finals for the Tigers will be Sheldon Hand at #2 singles, Jordon Conn at #2 singles, Remy Book at #4 singles, Trevor Bloss/Mitchell Scheer at #2 doubles, Garrett Bloss/Tom Lockwood at #3 doubles and Josh Brott/nate Dymond at #4 doubles.

Despite not qualfying for the final tourney, Holly had two Regional  champions in Brendon Kreft/Wyatt Caldwell at #2 doubles and Garrett Reid/Drew Hignite at #3 doubles.

At the D3 Regional tournament held at Kearsley, Clio earned 2nd place and a trip to the State Fianls as a team.  Clio had four runner-up finishes in Briar Wiskur at #2 singles, Chris Gaffney at #3 singles, Travis Schmieder/Jaxson Tate at #1 doubles and Austin Hicks/Carson Collins at #2 doubles.  Also qualifying for the Mustangs were Sean Culhand at #1 singles, Shaefer Wiskur at #4 singles, Blake Balanowski/Conner Holland at #3 doubles and Braydon Smith/Garrett Fowler at #4 doubles.

Goodrich's Will Nicklas took 2nd place at #1 singles and will also move on to the state tournament.

The D2 State Finals will be held at The University of Michigan and the D3 Finals will be held at Kalamazoo College on October 18-19.  Best of luck to all our Flint Metro League players and coaches.

Congratulations to Fenton HS for qualifying for the MHSAA D2 State Golf Tournament by placing 3rd at the Regional with a team score of 363 at El Dorado Golf Course in Mason.  Leading the way for the Tigers was Brook Herbstreit who fired a 81 to finish 2nd individually.  Also scoring for Fenton were Katelyn Burkett (90), Olivia Herbert (91) and Victoria Carnell (101).  Fenton will now compete at the State Finals on Oct. 18-19 at Forest Acres East in East Lansing.

In D3 action, Clio's Jill Veit shot a 94 at Pine River CC in Alma to earn a spot individually at the State tourney. Amanda Miller from Goodrich also qualified individually in the Regional held at Fieldstone in Auburn Hills. The D3 tournament will also be on Oct 18-19 held at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University.

Fentons' Gabe Hand became only the second player in Flint Metro League history to capture the #1 singles title four straight years.  Hand ties Brandon's Spencer Navarre who won in 2009-12.  Gabe defeated Flushing's Matt Birchmeier 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.  Birchmeier was the only player to take a set from Hand in his four years of competition.  

Flushing repeated as the league champion with an undefeated league record of 8-0 and took five of eight flights in the tournament to also capture the title.  Fenton finished with a 7-1 dual record, took three flights in the tournament, to finish in second.

Flushing's Ian Thomas repeated as the Coach of the Year as selected by fellow Flint Metro League coaches.  Kearsley was selected by three league opponents as the team that demonstrated the best sportsmanship, with Flushing and Owosso each received two votes.

Teams will compete in the MHSAA Regional tournament tomorrow.  Holly will host Fenton and Flushing in  Division 2 competition; Kearsley will host Clio, Goodrich, Brandon and Owosso in Division 3; and Corunna will travel to Portland in Division 4.  Best of luck to all our teams.

Goodrich High School edged Fenton High School by 6 strokes in the Metro League Tournament to win the outright league title for 2019.  Fenton entered the tournament with an undefeated 9-0 dual record and has been the league champion in the past four seasons.  Goodrich posted a 8-1 dual record losing only to Fenton. 

Brook Herbstreit of Fenton was the tournament medalist posting an 84.  Closely behind were Amanda Miller of Goodrich and Kate Brown of Holly each with 86 followed by Victoria Carnell of Fenton with an 87 and Madeline Swett of Fenton with an 89.  Swartz Creek and Holly battled to a tie for 2nd place in the team standings.

Congratulations to Goodrich's Loyd Walter who was named by the league coaches as the Flint Metro League Coach of the Year.  Kearsley HS received three sportsmanship votes by opponents, Fenton received two votes, and Clio, Flushing, Holly and Linden each received one vote.

All teams will now enter MHSAA Regional competition beginning on October 8.  Kearsley, Flushing and Swartz Creek will compete in D2 competition at Currie West GC; Fenton, Holly and Linden will also be in D2 at ElDorado on Oct 10; Clio, Corunna and Owosso are in D3 at Pine River in Alma on Oct 8 ; Brandon and Goodrich will compete at Fieldstone CC in D3 on Oct 10.  Best of luck to all our Metro teams!

2019 Flint Metro League All-League Golf Team
Tournament Results