ludington and manistee winter sports 2015-2016

Sports

Your guide to the upcoming sports season, featuring stories, team photos and schedules

Ludington Daily NewsmonDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2015

INSIDE:LUDINGTON AND

MANISTEE

Your guide to the upcoming sports season, featuring stories, team photos and schedules

1

2 | Ludington daiLy newS/SPoRtS taB | Monday, deCeMBeR 7, 2015

By DAVID BOSSICKdaiLy newS SPoRtS editoR

Ludington’s girls basket-ball team is loaded with ex-perience and has the aim to bring the Lakes 8 Activi-ties Conference title back to Hawley Gymnasium.

“We had a four year streak going there, which is a great accomplishment,” Lud-ington coach Thad Shank said. “Last year, we watched Spring Lake cut the nets down and it’s something I know I remember. Hopeful-ly, it’s ingrained their minds as well.”

The Orioles return sev-en players from last year’s team, three of whom are ju-niors. Three were also start-ing players. Ludington is not short on experience.

“When you talk about Kristen (Reidenbach), Claire (Flewelling), Ali (Plamondon) and Jenna (Keson), those are four girls who have been playing varsity basketball since they were freshmen,” Shank said. “You look at it, and you have Kaci Kuster and Mikayla Mesyar as well with their experience. Hav-ing three girls who have played varsity basketball since they were freshmen and four girls since they were sophomores, we’ve got a lot of experience.”

Flewelling, Reidenbach, Mesyar and Kuster are all seniors with all that experi-ence while Plamondon and Keson are juniors.

Ludington’s roster:

SeniorS: Claire Flewelling, Kaci Kuster, Anna Martinelli, Mikayla Mesyar and Kristen Reiden-bach.JuniorS: Courtney Edwards,

Jenna Keson, Ali Plamondon, Olivia Sekenske and Bethany Shay.Sophomore: Mackenzie Luce.

Because of the experience that Ludington has, they en-tered the winter practices already knowing much of what’s expected and what to do.

“I think the relationship aspect is important. You’re ahead of the game early, when you have kids who have been executing your system for a multiple num-ber of years,” Shank said. “It gives you an ability to do a number of things.”

Ludington lost two start-ers from last year’s team, and both played signifi-cant roles for the Orioles. Four-year varsity player Kalli Wahr graduated as did Brandy Thomas. Wahr’s ball-handing skills and leader-ship will be missed while Thomas, who is now at Illi-nois State on the Redbirds’ track teams, was a post pres-ence.

The Orioles will look to a few incoming players to fill in, juniors Courtney Ed-wards and Bethany Shay as well as Mackenzie Luce.

Ludington also added se-nior Anna Martinelli, a for-eign exchange student.

Shank loves the roster he has.

“I think one through 10, this is as physically athlet-ic a team as I’ve had with the girls. We don’t have the same size that we’ve had in the past,” Shank said. “From the pure athleticism to play quickly and explosively, these 10 have overall more quickness and speed than I’ve had since I’ve coached the girls. Hopefully, this group will be able to pres-sure people as well as any team as I’ve coached.

“I think we have the abili-ty to make perimeter shots. We have good depth. It’ll be huge for us to hit the perim-

eter shots on the consistent basis. We weren’t always as consistent as I’d like us to be with our shooting. We lack that go-to post player, with their back to the basket.”

If there is a twist to the season, it’s that Shank will be coaching both the girls and boys varsity basketball teams. If the weather isn’t a factor with cancellations, he should be able to coach

nearly all 40 regular season games without issues.

Ludington began its sea-son last Tuesday in a non-conference game against Shelby, a 54-37 Ludington victory. The Orioles opened Lakes 8 Activities Confer-ence play Friday at Fremont.

One portion of the sched-ule that draws attention is Ludington’s trip to Detroit over the Christmas holidays.

The Orioles are participating in the Motor City Roundball Classic for a pair of noncon-ference games. Shank said the team was scheduled to play Farmington Hills Har-rison and Mona Shores on successive nights at Detroit Edison, but the final sched-ule has not been formally an-nounced by the tournament.

The goal, in the end, is still a Lakes 8 title. Shank said

getting the championship back from Spring Lake is key, but the Orioles will need to focus on themselves first and foremost.

“It gives us an opportu-nity,” he said. “Obviously, Spring Lake and Fruitport are probably top contenders for that title along with us. Fruitport returns everybody, and Spring Lake returns large portion (of its team).”

Ludington girls basketball

Orioles want to recapture Lakes 8

ruSS mIller phOtOMembers of the Ludington varsity girls basketball team are, front row, from left, Kaci Kuster, Jenna Keson, Olivia Sekenske, Mack-enzie Luce, Courtney Edwards and Anna Martinelli; back row, manager Sabrina Grubb, Claire Flewelling, Kristen Reidenbach, Ali Plamondon, Mikayla Mesyar and Bethany Shay.

2

Monday, deCeMBeR 7, 2015 | Ludington daiLy newS/SPoRtS taB | 3

Ludington wrestling

Dozens of matches await wrestlersBy DAVID BOSSICKdaiLy newS SPoRtS editoR

Ludington’s wrestling team will get plenty of op-portunities to get wins and pins as individuals this win-ter.

But the team success might not be where coach Dan Fulton would like to see.

“We’re giving up proba-bly 18 to 24 points (in each dual),” he said, with a forfeit loss costing six team points. “We’re going to be real solid from 130 (pounds) to right on through. We’re missing the lighter kids.”

Ludington returns a hand-ful of kids who reached the MHSAA Division 3 region-al tournament last season. Juniors Martin Torres and Ethan Tucker both did that last year.

“We had a handful of kids who were really close to making it out (of the indi-vidual district),” Fulton said. “(Spencer) Tenney and (Bri-an) Hansberger came close.”

The preseason practic-es have shown Fulton that Keenan Hays and Lucas Ca-tron have done well so far. Fulton was really thrilled with Hays’ work.


SeniorS: Lucas Catron, Ari Hoekstra and Antonio Ramirez

JuniorS: Troy Althaus, Andrew Althouse, Evan Cooper, Keenan Hays, Jakob Rowe, Martin Tor-res, Zachary Swartzendruber, and Ethan Tucker.SophomoreS: Anthony Go-

mez, Brian Hansberger, Gabe Lopez, Jonathan Smeltzer, An-thony Tenney and Josh Torres.FreShman: Jaden Nickelson.

The Orioles didn’t quite

get the numbers, though, that Fulton was looking for. He was aiming to see 30 kids on the mat this year, but that won’t be the case unless someone comes along soon.

Ludington’s wrestling team added a pair of as-sistants, Fulton said, mak-ing for three wrestlers per

coach. And, the schedule has been bulked up, too.

“Unfortunately, we have a really tough schedule this year,” Fulton said. “Af-ter winning 26 matches last year, we are an average school and a little above av-erage. We were able to get into these tournaments and

get these guys matches. They will be wrestling 47 times before the conference tournament. We can’t add one more match.

“If a kid goes to state, he’s going to wrestle 60 times. We did everything we could to improve. We’ve got the coaches, the matches and

the tough schools as we’re going south for a lot of our tournaments.

“By the end of the year, we’ll be on track for individ-uals. I expect to see nine go to regionals this year. That’s a good goal. I think that’s achievable if these kids con-tinue to work hard.”

ruSS mIller phOtOMembers of the Ludington wrestling team are, front row, from left, Joshua Torres, Anthony Tenney, Ethan Tucker, Keenan Hays, Brian Hansberger, Martin Torres, Jakob Rowe, Ari Hoekstra and Tony Gomez; coach Dan Fulton, assistant Antonio Gonzalez III, Evan Cooper, Lucas Catron, Troy Althaus, Zachary Swartzendruber, Jonathan Smeltzer, Tony Ramirez, Jaden Nickelson, manager Christian Smeltzer and coach Jerome Nickelson.

202 E. Ludington Ave. • 231-843-4040

3

AutoValueParts Stores

3909 W. US 10, Ludington

845-9045

The PartsYou Want,The Value

You ExpectDomestic & Import

Auto Parts5135 W. Rasmussen Rd.Ludington

(231) 843-1750LUDINGTON AVE.

1 Block West of Jebavy Dr.

845-5178414 W. US-10 • Scottville

757-3356

2601 W. US-10 Ludington

843-4455

PADNOSPERE MARQUETTE

heating & coolingheating & cooling

skoog

1102 S. MadisonLudington

845-6302

Home Medical Equipment & Supply

5750 West U.S. 10, Ludington843-1063

84 Division St., Manistee231-723-5897

231-757-4761On U.S. 10 & 31, between Ludington & Scottville

GREAT TIRES • GREAT SERVICE • GREAT PEOPLEFAMILY OWNED & OPERATED SINCE 1977



Ludington’s boys bowling team has a full roster, and coach Bill Huether looks for-ward to what the team can do this season.

Dillon Ely, Ian Nash, Quinn Phelps and Brian Shangle all return for the Orioles this season.

“Phelps and Ely will prob-ably be our top bowlers this year,” Huether said.

There’s experienced bowl-ers back, and a few fresh fac-es, but the Orioles are miss-ing one key bowler from the past four years, Jeff Medina.

Medina graduated last spring, but he reached the MHSAA state individu-al tournament’s knockout rounds a couple of times in his career. Ludington also graduated Anthony Pianto and Jordan Gilbert.

Beyond the returning bowlers, of which just Brian Shangle is a senior, the re-mainder are juniors.

Huether adds Brian’s younger brother, Bryce, to the team. He’s a freshman.

“Bryce is doing really well,” Huether said. “We have a left-hander, Tanner Hart-man, who is doing well. Rich-ard Kraft is coming along pretty well.”

Bryce Shangle, as well as Hartman, Kraft and Tristan McJimsey are all freshmen who will be factoring into the lineup this season.

Ludington’s boys roster:

Senior: Brian Shangle.JuniorS: Dillon Ely, Nathaniel

Long, Ian Nash and Quinn Phelps.Sophomore: Tyler Babe.FreShmen: Tanner Hartman,

Richard Kraft, Tristan McJimsey and Bryce Shangle.

Fremont was a state pow-

erhouse the past couple of seasons, but the Packers graduated several of their bowlers from their team last year. That opens the door for perhaps the Orioles this season in the Lakes 8 Activi-ties Conference.

Huether said he really wasn’t sure what school could rise up in the league race. “We were the second-best team in the conference (last

year). We didn’t lose a lot of our experience,” he said.

Ludington starts its sea-son tonight against Orchard View, a bit of a change when it comes to the bowling season in general for the Orioles.

“Last year, we started in the middle of December. Two years before that, we didn’t start until after the new year,” Huether said. “It puts a little bit of pressure

on to get the kids ready.”

GIrlS BOwlInGThe Ludington girls bowl-

ing team will be somewhat young, with no seniors, but with a handful of experi-enced bowlers from last year’s team.

The two leading returning bowlers are Ashley Shriver and Bianca Kirk, with Shriv-er a sophomore and Kirk a

junior. Last year, at the MH-SAA individual regional, the pair finished in the top 60 of the individuals at the tour-nament. Ludington also re-turns juniors Seaira Williams and Amber Spence.

Ludington’s girls roster:

JuniorS: Bianca Kirk, Amber Spence and Seaira Williams.SophomoreS: Cheyanne Hall

and Ashley Shriver.

FreShmen: Paighton Bentz and Jodi Harrison.

Ludington’s girls bowling team brings aboard sopho-more Cheyanne Hall as well as freshmen Paighton Bentz and Jodi Harrison. Bentz was involved in the youth bowling leagues last year at Country Lanes.

The girls team is coached by Mary Gonzalez.

ruSS mIller phOtOMembers of the Ludington bowling teams are, front row, from left, Jodi Harrison, Bianca Kirk, Amber Spence, Seaira Williams, Ashley Shriver, Paighton Bentz and Cheyanne Hall; back row, coach Mary Gonzalez, Nathaniel Long, Brian Shangle, Ian Nash, Quinn Phelps, Dillon Ely, Bryce Shangle, Tristan McJimsey, RJ Kraft, Tanner Hartman and coach Bill Huether.

Ludington bowling

Season starts earlier than normal



Ludington’s boys basket-ball team figured to have a solid team for the 2015-16 season considering four re-turning players earned all-Lakes 8 Activities Confer-ence honors last year.

The question since the season concluded was who was going to coach?

Jamie Bandstra resigned from the position near the end of the season, and coached the Orioles to the conclusion of its year. Dina Hackert was hired to guide the boys, but she, too, re-signed after working with the team over the summer. Thad Shank returns to coach the boys this season.

“The thing that’s impressed me most is they’re hungry,” Shank said, who also is coach-ing the varsity girls team for Ludington. “A lot of things went wrong last year with in-jury and illness and things like that went. I think that’s left these kids pretty hungry to be successful this year.

“That’s always a good sign.”

The Orioles return se-niors Andrew Jones and Zac Schoon as well as juniors Cameron Bandstra and Noah Laman. All four were named either first team or second team all-Lakes 8.

“There’s no secret that you win with players. Obvious-ly, it’s good to have talent-ed players on the team. The big factor will be how well those kids talents mesh to-gether and how well they can play together,” Shank said. “There’s no doubt that we definitely have some talent.”

Ludington also returns se-niors Cameron Doan, Noah Dodson and Eric Friese to this year’s team.


SeniorS: Cameron Doan, Noah Dodson, Eric Friese, Zachariah Gerovac, Andrew Jones and Zac Schoon.JuniorS: Kenneth Ambrose,

Cameron Bandstra, Jared Col-lins, Josh Cooney, Sam LaDuke and Noah Laman.FreShman: Josh Laman.

Ludington adds several players up from its junior var-sity team, as well as a school in the Saginaw Valley League. Juniors Kenny Ambrose, Jar-ed Collins and Josh Cooney — all guards — will be added to the mix of Orioles for this up-coming season.

Junior Sam LaDuke played at Midland High and moved back to Ludington after tus-sling in the tough Saginaw Valley League’s junior varsi-ty ranks.

“He’s really good with the ball in his hands. He’s go-ing to add another perime-ter threat to our basketball team,” Shank said of former Chemic. “He’s definitely a great addition. A real savvy kid who is going to make a big impact with us.”

Ludington also will add freshman Josh Laman to the roster.

Shank said he’s molding his offense around the abilities.

“(We need to) develop an inside-out attack, and bring (our foes’) post players out to guard (us). At the same time, we’ll need to physically step and guard down in the post. We’ll have to have kids like Andrew Jones, Noah Dodson and Jared Collins put pressure on the ball out front. It’s going to have to be great pressure team de-fense,” Shank said.

One of the keys for Luding-ton will be hitting perimeter shots within the offense, he said. If those shots fall, play-ers who have a knack for

driving to the basket will have paths to the hoop.

The Lakes 8 title race will likely go through the de-fending champions at Mus-kegon Catholic or Spring Lake, Shank said.

“Catholic returns a lot of kids from a conference championship team. Spring Lake made a run to the (Class B) quarterfinals last year. You have to say those two teams are the two teams to beat in the conference,” he said. “I would hope that we’re there battling it out right with them.”

Ludington opens the regu-lar season at Traverse City Central Tuesday. The Lakes 8 race gets underway Friday when the Orioles head to Mus-kegon to face the Crusaders.

Ludington boys basketball

Shank takes on ‘hungry’ Orioles

ruSS mIller phOtOMembers of the Ludington varsity boys basketball team are, front row, from left, Cris Lopez, Zach Gerovac, Josh Cooney, Drew Jones, Cameron Bandstra, Noah Dodson and Kenny Ambrose; back row, Zac Schoon, Jared Collins, Noah Laman, Eric Friese, Joshua Laman, Sam LaDuke and Cameron Doan.

ruSS mIller phOtOMembers of the Ludington varsity cheerleading team, from left, Christina Lopez, Kasey Eckstein, Erin Maltbie, Madelyn Shamel, Abby Shamel, Hannah Schmuhl, Kendra Schmuhl, Brooke Nash and coach Jennifer Shamel.

5



Ludington’s boys swim-ming team is under new guidance this winter as Kris Anderson, the girls varsity soccer and boys junior varsi-ty soccer coach, takes on his third season of the calendar.

Anderson decided to pur-sue the coaching position af-ter it became clear that Gor-don Brown wouldn’t be able to coach the boys season after a very successful girls season wrapped last month.

Brown would have taken over for Jacob Cook, who coached the previous two seasons before moving to Spring Lake.

“I talked to Kelley Hatch, who has been the middle school coach for years. She’s got good swim expe-rience. She is the assistant coach. We decided togeth-er we can coach this team,” Anderson said. “I have the head coaching experience and she has the swimming coaching experience. And I have one boy who has been on the team, another son will be a diver. I’ve got two sons involved in the pro-gram. I would hate to see someone not step in and commit to the job.”

On paper, it seems Luding-ton might be just as green as the coach when it comes to the pool. Ludington’s line-up is heavy with freshman, 13 in all, that are taking on the challenge of high school swimming.

They, though, are not new to swimming.

“Actually, of the freshmen and sophomores, they are experienced swimmers,” An-derson said. “They’ve been swimming (recreation) and middle school for quite a few years... They’re experi-enced in the pool.”

The Orioles return a good group of seniors and juniors to the pool. That includes se-niors Nathan Anderson and Trenton Dalm and juniors Ryan Ruba and Luke Snyder.

As he has done with the girls soccer program, he in-formed his upperclassmen of their unique roles on the team this season.

“The varsity team I’ve coached, I’ve leaned on my seniors a lot because of ma-turity. I tell them, ‘This is your season and your team and you need to lead the others. In order for your se-nior year to be successful,

you have to set the example for how to work and setting expectations and eventu-ally they will be in the same spot.’

“I will lean on Trenton Dam, Nathan Anderson, Luke Snyder and Ryan Ruba who are very strong return-ing juniors and contributed quite a bit to the team (last season).”


SeniorS: Nathan Anderson, Trenton Dalm, Cyrano de Sainte Fare, Evan Smith and Ethan Huber.JuniorS: Austin Ernst, Ryan

Ruba and Luke Snyder.SophomoreS: Jacob An-

derson, Caleb Duran, David Hatch, Kaleb Hatch, Diego Ruiz, Caleb Schoon, Trey Scott, John Siegert, Trent Thompson and Adam Tutak.FreShmen: Luke Fountain, Jack

Glanville, Patrick Gwiazdowski, Allen Maile, Christian Manier, Luke Middlebrook, Noah Peter-son, Noah Petzak, Luke Reilly, Jared Ruba, Thomas Ryan, Con-nor Schummer, Quinn Sargent and Nathan Wietrzykowski.The large number of fresh-

men are talented, Anderson said, and some could have breakout seasons in their

first year in the high school sport.

“Luke Middlebrook, I think you’ll probably see him contribute,” he said. “He was pretty strong as a mid-dle schooler. (Patrick) Gwi-azdowski comes from good strong pedigree. I believe his dad is on the (record) board. Patrick, I could see as having some good times this year and contributing as well.

“Luke Reilly is one we could see strong in the first little bit of practice. Jared Ruba has some swimming seasoning in him. They may take off next year and be-

yond. There’s some good strong freshmen that are out.”

Anderson knows Spring Lake will again be tough and Manistee has been build-ing a solid team for the last few seasons, too. Both are circled as teams to look out for this season in the Coastal Conference.

“I would think with the depth that we have, we should be pretty competi-tive with both Manistee and Spring Lake. A lot of it de-pends on our divers. We have three first-year divers,” Anderson said.

Ludington boys swimming

Anderson to guide Orioles in pool

ruSS mIller phOtOMembers of the Ludington boys swimming team are, first row, from left, Quinn Sargent, Jack Glanville, Noah Peterson, Nathan Wietrzykowski, Ethan Huber, Diego Ruiz and David Hatch; second row, manager Meredith Filter, Noah Petzak, Jacob Anderson, Allen Maile, Luke Reilly, Jared Ruba, Patrick Gwiazdowski and Connor Schummer; third row, coach Kris Anderson, Luke Fountain, Kaleb Hatch, Trey Scott, Adam Tutak, Caleb Schoon, Evan Smith and Luke Middlebrook; back row, assistant Kelley Hatch, Caleb Duran, Ryan Ruba, Luke Snyder, Austin Ernst, Cyrano de Sainte Faire, Nathan Anderson, Trenton Dalm and Trent Thompson.

6


By GreG GIelCZyKdaiLy newS SPoRtS wRiteR

MANISTEE — Now en-tering its third season, the Manistee High competitive cheer team has shown im-provement every year and expects that trend to con-tinue with four athletes returning who have done competitive cheer before working out with the team.

Coach Stacey Andrews isn’t calling it a rebuilding year, but there’s no ques-tion it’s a program that is still under construction and taking its formative steps. Each year brings the Chippewas a little closer to reaching their goal of be-coming a contender for postseason honors.

Andrews points to the fact that a middle school program made its debut

last year, which will in time hopefully start produc-ing recruits for the varsity squad. She’s also cautiously optimistic that there might be a junior varsity program in the not too distant fu-ture.

“We’re getting some depth and skills in our rou-tines, and increased diffi-culty in what we’re able to do,” Andrews said. “Denise Lijewski (the former soft-ball coach) is coaching at the middle school level.

“She’s coached before, was a high school cheer-leader and a college softball player. I’m happy to have her on the staff.”

Despite the experience on the varsity, Andrews has only one varsity cheer-leader returning in Leah Christensen. Two others who have cheered before

are seniors Ashley Peddie and Breanna Fink, as well freshmen who cheered on the middle school team in Lexie Thompson and Ash-ley Walle.

Sophomore Makayla Mill-er has cheered in the past, but not on the competi-tive team. Rounding out the squad are senior Shel-by LaFrance and freshmen Stephanie Grimes and Celia Star Chief.

The only boy on the team, freshman Hunter VanGor-den, isn’t allowed to partici-pate in the varsity competi-tions but is practicing with the team and will perform in the exhibitions that are scheduled and open to the public, as well as be part of the team when they cheer at basketball games.

See Cheer, 11

GreG GIelCZyK | daiLy newSManistee High competitive cheer team, front row sitting left to right, Ashley Walle and Lexie Thompson. Middle row kneeling left to right, Leah Christensen, Hunter VanGorden and Ashley Peddie. Standing in back row left to right, Breanna Fink and Celia Star Chief. Not pictured: Stephanie Grimes, Makayla Miller and Shelby LaFrance.

Manistee competitive cheerleading

Chippewas building

LuDingtOn winter SCheDuLeS |foR the 2015-16 SeaSon, ConCLuded eventS not ShownCOeD BOwlInGDec. 7 Orchard ViewDec. 9 FruitportJan. 11 at Orchard ViewJan. 13 at FremontJan. 18 at FruitportJan. 20 FremontJan. 25 Orchard ViewFeb. 1 FruitportFeb. 3 at FremontFeb. 8 at Lakes 8 individual tourney, FruitportFeb. 10 at Lakes 8 team tourney, Fruitport

GIrlS BASKetBAllDec. 11 at Muskegon CatholicDec. 18 ManisteeDec. 28-29 at Motor City Roundball Classic, DetroitJan. 5 Reeths-PufferJan. 8 Spring LakeJan. 15 at Orchard ViewJan. 19 at CadillacJan. 22 FruitportJan. 25 at ManisteeJan. 29 FremontFeb. 5 Muskegon Catholic

Feb. 9 Big RapidsFeb. 12 at Spring LakeFeb. 15 OakridgeFeb. 19 Orchard ViewFeb. 23 at Mason Co. CentralFeb. 26 at Fruitport

BOyS BASKetBAllDec. 8 at Traverse City CentralDec. 11 at Muskegon CatholicDec. 18 ManisteeJan. 5 Reeths-PufferJan. 8 Spring LakeJan. 11 at ShelbyJan. 15 at Orchard ViewJan. 19 at CadillacJan. 22 FruitportJan. 25 at ManisteeJan. 29 FremontFeb. 2 Muskegon HeightsFeb. 5 Muskegon CatholicFeb. 9 Big RapidsFeb. 12 at Spring LakeFeb. 16 CoopersvilleFeb. 19 Orchard ViewFeb. 23 at Mason Co.CentralFeb. 26 at FruitportMarch 3 at Fremont

BOyS SwImmInGDec. 12 at Northville InviteDec. 17 at Grand HavenJan. 9 at Spring LakeJan. 12 at Holland ChristianJan. 14 at ManisteeFeb. 4 at FremontFeb. 11 Spring LakeFeb. 26-27 at Spring Lake

wreStlInGDec. 9 at ManisteeDec. 12 at Kent CityDec. 16 at Muskegon Catholic Dec. 19 at HartJan. 6 at WhitehallJan. 9 at FruitportJan. 13 Orchard View, Shelby, MontagueJan. 16 at Hudsonville Unity ChristianJan. 20 at MontagueJan. 27 at FruitportJan. 30 at ShelbyFeb. 2 at FrankfortFeb. 6 Lakes 8 tourney, Fruitport

mAniStee winter SCheDuLeS |foR the 2015-16 SeaSon, ConCLuded eventS not ShownBOyS BASKetBAllDec. 8 at MontagueDec. 12 Holland CalvaryDec. 14 at LeRoy Pine RiverDec. 18 at LudingtonJan. 2 ShelbyJan. 5 at OnekamaJan. 8 Reed CityJan. 11 EvartJan. 15 Traverse City ChristianJan. 19 Benzie CentralJan. 26 LudingtonFeb. 1 Traverse City CentralFeb. 5 at BrethrenFeb. 8 at MantonFeb. 10 at Benzie CentralFeb. 12 at CadillacFeb. 17 at FrankfortFeb. 23 Maple City Glen LakeMarch 1 Big Rapids CrossroadsMarch 3 at Mason County Central

GIrlS BASKetBAllDec. 8 Big RapidsDec. 14 CadillacDec. 15 Reed CityDec. 18 at LudingtonDec. 28-29 at Motor City Roundball Classic, DetroitJan. 2 ShelbyJan. 5 MantonJan. 20 at Benzie CentralJan. 26 LudingtonJan. 28 at Maple City Glen Lake

Feb. 2 at Lake CityFeb. 5 at CadillacFeb. 9 at Traverse City CentralFeb. 11 Traverse City WestFeb. 20 Benzie CentralFeb. 23 at FremontFeb. 25 at Frankfort

CO-Op hOCKeyDec. 9 at Holland West OttawaDec. 11 CaledoniaDec. 12 GR West CatholicDec. 18-19 at JenisonJan. 2 at RockfordJan. 6 GladwinJan. 8 CadillacJan. 9 Kalamazoo EaglesJan. 15 Holland West OttawaJan. 16 PetoskeyJan. 30 at CheboyganFeb. 6 GR Kenowa HillsFeb. 10 Traverse Bay Area RepsFeb. 13 at GR NorthviewFeb. 19-20 NMHL TournamentFeb. 26 Grand HavenFeb. 27 GR Northview

BOyS SwImmInGDec. 9 at W. Branch Ogemaw HtsDec. 12 at GR NorthviewJan. 7 at Spring LakeJan. 9 at Spring LakeJan. 14 LudingtonJan. 16 at W.Branch Ogemaw Hts

Jan. 21 at Spring LakeJan. 28 at FremontFeb. 6 at GR Ottawa HillsFeb. 9 at Spring LakeFeb. 11 Mona ShoresFeb. 13 at YpsilantiFeb. 26-27 at Coastal meet, Spring Lake

wreStlInGDec. 9 LudingtonDec. 12 at Grandville Calvin Christ.Dec. 16 at Traverse City CentralDec. 19 at HartJan. 2 at Mount PleasantJan. 6 at MantonJan. 9 at GR Forest Hills CentralJan. 13 at Benzie CentralJan. 16 at RavennaJan. 20 LeRoy Pine RiverJan. 23 HollandJan. 27 at Fife Lake Forest AreaFeb. 3 at Muskegon Catholic

COmpetItIVe CheerDec. 19 at Reeths-PuferJan. 9 at BrethrenJan. 16 at ShelbyJan. 20 at MarionFeb. 3 at MarionFeb. 6 at BrethrenFeb. 13 at Hougton LakeFeb. 17 at Mason Co. Central

7



MANISTEE — With a ton of returning defensemen, the Manistee High co-op ice hockey team is solid on that end of the ice. But there were still some questions about the offense after the first four games of the season.

Defensive leaders com-ing back include Manistee seniors Thomas Berentsen and Jacob Stefanski, who ate up a lot of minutes last year. Two other returners, Lud-ington junior Randy John-son and Hart senior Matt Vanderwall got quite a bit of ice time down the stretch as the Chippewas won their first ever Northern Michi-gan Hockey League title and qualified for the playoffs while finishing 13-13.

Foreign exchange student Emil Norta’s addition has further strengthened the defensive rotation. Norta is somewhere around 6-foot-4 or 6-5 on skates, and he can shoot.

“That’s something we’ve been looking for on the pow-er play, is somebody with a heavy shot,” head coach Mike Healy said. “He’s a big body. He’s had no issues (getting comfortable with his teammates). He’s kind of a jokester.

“Ever since day one he’s come in joking with the guys like he already knew them, and never had an issue with that. He fits in well.”

Manistee’s roster is as fol-lows:

SeniorS: Will Shriver (Manist-ee), Jacob Stefanski (Manistee), Joshua Johnson (Ludington), Matt Vanderwall (Hart), Ben Strbich (Ludington), Thomas Berentsen (Manistee), Emil Norta (Manistee);JuniorS: Randy Johnson

(Ludington), Austin McCarthy (Ludington), Ryan Vander-Weele (Manistee), Ryan Foley (Ludington), Noah Gurizzian (Ludington);SophomoreS: Mason Callesen

(Manistee Catholic Central), Miguel Salinas (Manistee), J.T. Walunas (Ludington), James Peterson (Ludington), Andrew Allen (Mason County Central), Jacob Gustafson (Ludington), Raymond Schwass (Manistee), Barry Seymour III (Manistee Catholic Central);FreShmen: Jon Allen (Mason

County Central), Trevor Per-soon (Mason County Central), Josh Fitzgerald (Manistee) and Rocco Staczak (Manistee).

Healy has seen some great potential from some of the younger players, but they’re still finding their way.

“They just need to kind of take advice from the older guys, and get familiar with our system, and the way we do things,” head coach Mike Healy said. “They could get a

lot of ice team, too.”Offensively, the Chippe-

was return their top scorer in Ludington junior Austin McCarthy, who led in both goals and assists, as well as the third leading scorer from last year in Manistee senior Will Shriver.

Shriver and McCarthy played on a line with Lud-ington senior Josh Johnson some of the time last year, and start on the team’s top line this year.

“That’s a line that can play with almost anybody in the state,” Healy added. “But, we graduated a lot of other for-wards last year. That’s where the questions come in, what we’ll have for a second and third line.

“Who can mix and match together, and try to be able to compete with a second line so we aren’t overloaded on the first one. (Shriver and McCarthy) are almost ev-ery day at the rink together, shooting, skating and prac-

ticing when the team’s not there.

“All over the summer, they’re together playing, whether they’re other sum-mer teams they are play-ing on, or the (Meijer) State Games they are out on the ice together. They know where each other are going to be. They’re used to play-ing with each other. They’ve been playing on the varsity for three years now. They’re familiar with each other, and work really well together.

“Johnson is always at the rink with those guys, too, whenever he can. He’s good friends with those two, so he knows where he can be. Josh is a good hockey player. He’s not as flashy as the other two, but knows where to be and when to be there.

“He lets them do all the work, forechecking and dig-ging in the corners. Josh gets to the scoring areas knowing those guys can find him. All three of them know what job

they have, and compliment each other very well.”

The Chippewas coach-ing staff (assistants Kyle Sanders and Dave John-son) are still experiment-ing with combinations to fill the second and third lines four games into the season, which so far have met with mixed results. The Chippe-was’ offensive production has improved, though, with 11 goals in the three games that followed the opening 5-0 loss to Grand Rapids For-est Hills Central.

Goalkeeping should be a strength this season with Manistee sophomore Ray-mond Schwass seeing a good deal of minutes last year, and Manistee freshman Roc-co Staczak looking solid in his two starts this season.

“We knew what we were getting in Schwass, and been pretty impressed with what he did over the summer, too,” Healy said. “Austin and Will really worked on him

hard to get him in the rink, because they always needed someone to shoot at.

“Bubba’s really improved over the summer. You can tell. I’m excited to see him coming back, and he got quite a few minutes last year. As far as Rocco goes, he’s a younger kid and really athletic. He’s a little smaller for a goaltender, but that’s kind of expected as he’s only a freshman.

“He had some injury prob-lems over the summer, so he didn’t get ice time until two weeks into practice when he was cleared to skate. So, he’s still got a lot of rust to knock off. So far, we’ve been happy. Having two goalies who compete each week and make each other better is re-ally exciting.”

Now that the Chippewas have finally broken through the barrier and won a league title, one isn’t enough. They want more, and that is music to Healy’s ears.

Manistee co-op hockey

Chippewas in search of scoring

GreG GIelCZyK | daiLy newSManistee High co-op hockey team, front row, from left, assistant Dave Johnson, assistant Kyle Sanders, Raymond Schwass, Emil Norta, Josh Johnson, Will Shriver, Austin McCarthy, Jacob Stefanski, Thomas Berentsen, Matt VanderWall, Rocco Staszczak, coach Mike Healy and assistant Mark Hamilton; back row, James Petersen, Ryan Foley, Jacob Gustafson, Andrew Allen, Miguel Salinas, Noah Gurizzian, Randy Johnson, J.T. Walunas, Trevor Persoon, Barry Seymour III, Mason Callesen, Josh Fitzgerald and Jon Allen. Not pictured: Ryan VanderWeele, Ben Strbich and manager Gabe Hogenson.

8



MANISTEE — First-year varsity boys’ basketball coach Tina Miller, a star player for Manistee High’s girls basketball team dur-ing her prep career, faces a formidable task in rebuild-ing a moribund program with only four seniors on the 14-player roster.

Pluses are many, begin-ning with the numbers as so many came out for the team that she and assistant and husband Tod Miller, who returned the Chippewas to the football playoffs in his third season, had to make cuts to get it down to a man-ageable group. Also assist-ing this year is Tina’s sister, LeeAnn Bialik, who coached girls basketball at Manist-ee Catholic Central for 20 years, mostly at the junior varsity level and brings a vast knowledge of the game.

But on the negative side, what experience there is hasn’t enjoyed a winning sea-son in a number of years, and the Chippewas are coming off an 0-21 campaign a year ago in the only season Mike Pe-terson was coach. Peterson left the program because of travel concerns, since he lives in Traverse City and felt the commute was becoming too much to handle.

Looking at the roster, Tina Miller recognizes that she has a major challenge ahead with plenty of athletes com-ing on board from the foot-ball team — including quar-terback Tai Allen, who has

the speed and quickness to be a threat to drive the ball to the basket and cre-ate havoc on defense — but not much experience playing basketball.

“I have three foreign ex-change students, two that played at other places,” Miller says. “Everyone ei-ther didn’t play last year, or hasn’t played in quite a few years. We haven’t really sat down to do team goals at all.

“My goal is to have them play hard every second of the game. Right now I find them scared to make mis-

takes, and they’re hesitant in what they’re doing. I’m just trying to get them to go 100 percent all of the time, and just play basketball. Every time they’re making a mis-take, they’re putting their heads down.”

Starting from scratch, Miller has been focusing on teaching everyone the ba-sics in practice, from how to dribble the ball, how to pass the ball, where to put their feet on defense, how they want to play and how to force the opponent from one side to the other.

The Chippewas also are spending a lot of time on boxing out drills.

“It’s that they don’t know, and they want to know,” Miller said. “They want to play smart, and they’re a highly intelligent group, so they ask a lot of questions. Which is great. We’re an-swering the questions as we go, trying to get them to just learn the game.

“If I say ‘the paint,’ they’re probably going to look at me and say ‘what do you mean, coach?’ It’s not bashing any coaches who have been here.

I don’t think they’ve ever had a program, and I grew up in a program (with former girls coach Mike Munro) so I don’t know what that’s like.

“I learned when I was in fifth grade all of these things, so I take a lot of that for granted. When I’m coach-ing these guys, I have to step

back and remember, which Tod helps me with, because he doesn’t know basketball.”

Manistee’s roster:

SeniorS: Jakob Nezki, Florian Nowak, Brandon Wick and Spencer Helminski;JuniorS: Liam Manley, Tai

Allen, Tyler Peck, Alejandro Ol-vera, Chase Swidorski, Andrew Pierson, Jayden Seabo, Hui YiMing and Nate Barker.Sophomore: Jacob Gustad.

Besides Allen, who Miller definitely believes will be a contributor, the Chippewas have Wyoming Kellogg ju-nior transfer Jayden Seabo whose size indicates that he’ll be primarily used in the post area.

Mexican foreign exchange student Alejandro Olvera, a junior, like Allen is very quick and has played a lot of basketball so he should contribute. Right now, the Chippewas don’t really have a point guard, but he’ll prob-ably play there some.

“We do a four out, one in offense and they’re rotating throughout the positions,” Miller said. “The less drib-bling we can do, the better. I’m not going to have some-one dribbling out there. We’re passing the ball as much as possible.

Manistee boys basketball

Back to basics for miller, manistee

GreG GIelCZyK | daiLy newSManistee High boys basketball team, kneeling in front row left to right, Liam Manley, Tai Allen, Brandon Wick, Spencer Helminski, Tyler Peck, Alejandro Olvera and Chase Swidorski. Standing in back row left to right, Andrew Pierson, Jayden Seabo, Jacob Gustad, Hui YiMing, Florian Nowak, Nate Barker and Jakob Nezki.

www.edwardjones.com

Brian L Madl, AAMS®Financial Advisor.

202 South James StreetLudington, MI 49431231-845-6892www.edwardjones.com

9

1200 E. Tinkham Ave.Ludington, Michigan 49431

"WE MAKE FLOORING EASY"

5405 W. WallaceLudington • 843-1826

201 E. Court • Ludington845-6279

Member FDIC | Equal Housing Lender


MANISTEE — The numbers are a little down from where they were a year ago, but Manistee High co-ed wres-tling coach Chris Codden is happy with the quality of the 30 kids he has out for the 2015-16 season.

Despite the departure of some big-time contribu-tors over the last couple of years, including Adam Ball and Jake Williams, the Chip-pewas don’t project the feel-ing that they are any less ca-pable of qualifying wrestlers for regionals and states.

Codden points to the re-turn of Ben Chandler, Corbin Miller, Tanner Vadeboncoeur, Evan Erts and Chase Janis as being the core of the team this season, but adds that there are several others who saw time on the mat last year and should be ready to make a heavier impact this season.

Erts is a defending district champion at 130 pounds. Al-though he did not place high enough to qualify for state at the regional tournament, it wasn’t because of a lack of effort or desire.

“I think a lot of it (region-al results) came from inex-perience, just not knowing where he was at and stuff

like that,” Codden said. “He’s about 125, 130 pounds (and) he only benches 250 pounds. He thrives for com-petition. I can’t wait to see what he does.

“But we’ve got a couple of other kids this season that will definitely be search-ing for that possible ticket to districts, regionals and possibly states. I definitely have a very good feeling for a bunch of these kids here.”

Erts has been named one of four captains this sea-son, and Codden expects the

younger wrestlers to feed off his experience. The other captains are Janis, Chandler and Vadeboncoeur. They picked freshman Bryson Jen-sen as a fifth captain.

Codden is quick to cred-it the team’s recent surge to a burgeoning youth pro-gram that has sped up the development process and increased the talent level of the wrestlers entering their freshmen years.

“In our fact, our youth pro-gram hit 71 (wrestlers), so we’re doing pretty well. We

just have to try to get the word out to everybody. It is the toughest sport, actu-ally, that you can do in high school. It takes a lot.”

Emphasizing that last point, Codden mentioned the trash cans positioned out along the mats during a recent practice.

“There’s a reason for that,” Codden said. “These kids want to push themselves. It’s not us (coaches). I mean, these kids push themselves to the brink. They are tough kids.”

One thing the Chippewas don’t have this season is a true standout. Right now, no one has emerged as a vocal team leader.

Everyone prefers to let their performance on the mat speak for them.

“But, that’s the thing I like about this team,” Codden said. “We’re going to push each other, and we’re go-ing to try to take ourselves where we need to be. They are very dedicated kids.”

Codden expects Pine River to be the class of the field in

the Mid-Michigan Wrestling Conference again, while he feels Benzie Central will be strong and Forest Area bringing back some talented wrestlers.

Manistee finished third in the conference last year. The closest the Chippewas have gotten to winning the title was in 2013, when they fell four points short. Codden thinks this year’s team has the po-tential to grab the brass ring.

It’s just a question of how determined they’ll be to get it.

Manistee wrestling

Codden likes quality over quantity

GreG GIelCZyK | daiLy newSMembers of the Manistee High wrestling team are, front row, from left, coach Chris Codden, Evan Erts, Alvaro Sarabia, Taler Bohannon, Marie Kneidl, Audrey Padilla, Hayleigh Codden, Lindsie Adams, Kelsey Sullivan, Grant Johnson and Isaac Reynolds; back row, assistant James Kubacki, Oliver Leis, Jevan Engstrom, Robert Florian, Thomas Schwartz, Ben Chandler, Corbin Miller, Tanner Vadeboncoeur III, Nathan Florian, Logan Reynolds, assistant Nate Bond, assistant Lowden Perkins and assistant Travis Wiltse. Not pictured: Chase Janis and Bryson Jensen.

See hOOpS, 10

hOOpSfrOm pAGe 9

“(Allen) has a great ver-tical jump. The one thing about Tai is it’s all-out, 100 percent hustle. I don’t have to tell him to go hard. You’ll find him diving on the floor,

hustling to the ball, trying to get a rebound, trying to get a steal.

“We put in our diamond press (recently), and he’s the one who’s batting balls away. Tai is just a natural leader, and he’s an athlete. He is going to lead this team just because that’s what he’s always been able to do on the football field, and I feel he’s going to continue that

on the basketball court.”The Chippewas are used

to playing zone defense, but Miller has been schooling them on going more with a man-to-man. Miller’s belief is that you can’t play a zone if you can’t play a good man-to-man.

Miller revealed that she hasn’t put in any zone de-fenses, and probably won’t until the middle of the sea-

son because she feels they have to play man-to-man first.

“We do have the quick-ness,” the coach said. “A lot of these guys have played football, or other sports, and they have good foot-work, so we’re just teaching them how to position them-selves on the court and not be afraid to go and get that steal.

“Man-to-man for us is go-ing to pick up that tempo, which we’re going to need to do. We’re small. We’re very short. So, we can’t play a half-court game. We’ve got to get some running in there, because we’re going to beat people down the court. That pressure defense is going to give us that.

“We’re going to give it up in the paint. We’re going

to have to do some double-teaming. We don’t have our height. Our tallest player is 6-2, maybe. When we’re play-ing 6-5 guys, we’ve got to pressure the ball out front so they can’t give it in to their post.”

The goal is to get the op-ponent tired and frustrat-ed by pressing and harass-ing on defense, Miller says, and hopefully pick up some

10



MANISTEE — Although there are quite a large num-ber of newcomers on the Man-istee High boys swimming team’s 20-man roster, includ-ing five foreign exchange stu-dents — of whom coach Co-rey Van Fleet jokingly says “some of them can swim” — is a solid core of returning veterans who are expected to be major contributors.

Van Fleet has high hopes for even more success this year from Zac Carter, A.J. Reau, Noah Antal and Weston Frederick. Carter’s experience lies in the free-style events, while Freder-icks can swim the individual medley, backstroke and a lit-tle butterfly.

The Chippewas have two divers this season in Camp-bell Kolk, who was with the team last year, and a new-comer that is still a bit raw but Van Fleet is hopeful that he can work things out be-fore too long.

“If they work hard, we’ll have a reputable group of people toward the end of the season,” Van Fleet says. “I think we’ll be all right. It’s an interesting mix. We’re beat-ing the bushes right now for a few more freshmen to come out.

“We need some guys that are getting started, so that in two years they’ll be ready

to take the place of some of these guys who are going to graduate. We haven’t had that many foreign exchange students before, but we have a couple of them that swim in their home countries, and so they’ll be better.

“One thing is they’re nice, big, tall kids. I like that. You know, you can coach every-thing but height. Every year we get a little better, every year we break a few more re-cords and we get closer to the guys that are on the top.”


SeniorS: A.J. Reau, Zac Carter, Robert Schneider, Kenneth Wilson, Gabriel Dahlquist, Dominik Pfeifer and Jarrod Cameron.JuniorS: Jared Wrzesinski,

Weston Fredericks, Noah Antal, Chase Reid, Logan Schmutzler, Josh Robles and Emil Rahbek.SophomoreS: Campbell Kolk,

Bubba Urban, Abel Salinas and Ben Miller.FreShman: Caden Schmutzler.

Van Fleet is hoping that the success of the girls’ sea-son fills the boys with a re-solve to do just as well.

He doesn’t deny using it as a motivating tool.

“We just came off one of those magical Saturdays at the state meet when ev-erything goes just the way you want it,” Van Fleet said. “Hopefully, we’ve learned the formula and we’ll make it

happen with the boys now.”Spring Lake is leaving the

Coastal Conference at the end of the season, but the Lakers are primed to make a run at the championship in their final year of competi-tion with a team loaded with experienced swimmers.

Although the Chippewas will swim against Muskegon in a relay and dual meets, it has already jumped ship for the Ottawa-Kent Conference in Grand Rapids and moved up to Division 1 after be-coming a co-op team with all three Muskegon schools.

Ludington will be im-proved, and always a chal-lenging opponent.

Manistee finished second in the conference a year ago, and Van Fleet is hoping that the Chippewas are better this year but isn’t counting on them breaking through to take over first place simply because of their numbers.

“I don’t know if we have enough numbers to tackle Spring Lake this year, but our good ones will be as good as their good ones,” Van Fleet said. “So, I’m very pleased with that. It’ll be a

formidable conference.“Ludington will swim bet-

ter, Fremont is swimming a lot better. I have high hopes that it will be pretty well con-tested.”

All three Manistee relay teams qualified for the state meet last year, and Troy Trombley went as an indi-vidual.

Trombley graduated, and the Chippewas will miss him. He’s currently swimming at Albion College, and doing a good job according to Van Fleet, who went down and watched one of their meets.

“You always change a bit because you lose your se-niors,” Van Fleet said. “We won’t have Troy, but certain-ly we have another couple of guys who can step in and get down pretty close to where he was.

“We’ll be even, except for Zac Carter, who’ll be way out in front. The rest of our guys will be even, but they’ll be a good even. They’re not world beaters this year, but they’re the next best thing.

“I think we’ll have a good season. We have our work cut out for us.”

Manistee swimming

Chippewas have many newcomers

GreG GIelCZyK | daiLy newSMembers of the Manistee boys swim team are, front row, from left, Campbell Kolk, Jared Wrezesinski, Weston Fredericks, A.J. Reau, Noah Antal, Chase Reid and Robert Schneider; back row, Kenneth Wilson, Gabriel Dahlquist, Jarrod Cameron, Dominik Pfeifer, Ben Miller and Emil Rahbek. Not pictured: Zac Carter, Logan Schmutzler, Caden Schmutzler, Bubba Urban, Josh Roble and Abel Salinas.

CheerfrOm pAGe 7

“We might do something special and different at those times,” Andrews added. “We’re hoping that at some

point we can come to some sort of ruling so that it can be a sport for boys and girls. In the past, there were two com-petitive circuits in Michigan.

“One, which no longer ex-ists, was co-ed and at that time we had up to five boys in Manistee cheering and

competing on our teams.”Following is the Chippe-

was’ roster:

SeniorS: Shelby LaFrance, Breanna Fink, Leah Christensen and Ashley Peddie.Sophomore: Makayla Miller.FreShmen: Celia Star Chief,

Hunter VanGorden, Ashley Walle, Lexie Thompson and Stephanie Grimes.

Much has been accom-plished in the first two years of the team’s existence, she said.

“We’ve been able to buy

new uniforms and mats so that we have a nice practice area, safe for us to use,” An-drews said. “Those are all things that we’ve been able to accomplish in two years.”

Last year’s team of five girls outscored the 2013 squad in difficulty, variety

and skills. Although one of them, a foreign exchange student, did not return and two others failed to come out for the team for a variety of reasons, Andrews expects more of the same this year.

She has been impressed with the team’s progress.

11



MANISTEE — Back at his old stand, Manistee High girls basketball coach Kenn Kott surveys the group of eight players that are on the varsity this season and envi-sions continued success for the program.

Where that success will lead is still to be determined, although most Chippewas’ fans are understandably looking for not only a re-turn to the state quarterfi-nals, but a berth in the state championship game as well given all the talent coming back from a second consecu-tive 20-plus win season.

Kott, the school’s athlet-ic director who was given a choice of keeping his coach-ing job and losing his admin-istrative position by then-su-perintendent John Chandler, obviously has high expec-tations for this group as he takes over for Todd Erick-son, who stepped down after two years at the controls be-cause of health issues.

Yet he knows the unpre-dictable nature of pitfalls that can strike any team dur-ing the course of a long sea-son which can bring all those lofty goals crashing down in an instant, and isn’t making any bold predictions about a run to the finals.

It’s an especially interest-ing situation this year, with four of the eight players on the varsity returning from last year’s state quarterfinal-ist squad and four with little or no varsity experience.

Emilee Kott, a senior who recently signed a nation-al letter of intent to attend Ferris State next year and play for the Bulldogs’ wom-en’s basketball team, gives the Chippewas a veteran point guard with the ability

to shoot from beyond the 3-point arc with great accu-racy.


SeniorS: Emma Burns, Emilee Kott, Emily Thompson;JuniorS: Georgia Hiipakka,

Natalee Kott;SophomoreS: Grace Chandler,

Sara Schaefer; FreShman: Erin Dorn.

Also returning is senior Emma Burns, the team’s leading rebounder last year who is highly proficient at scoring off her teammates’ missed shots or driving in-side and is at about 6-foot now, senior Emily Thomp-son and Emilee’s younger

sister, junior Natalee Kott.Filling out the roster are

junior Georgia Hiipakka, sophomores Grace Chandler and Sara Schaefer, as well as freshman Erin Dorn who are coming up from the junior varsity. Chandler and Schae-fer add some six to the Chip-pewas to give Burns support inside.

Hiipakka was brought up for the tournament last year, and has a little bit of expe-rience playing on the var-sity level. Manistee graduat-ed Annie Fuller and Jessica Gustad, while another vet-eran, Audrey Tomaszewski is not playing basketball this season.

Manistee’s success the

previous two years should serve as a great motivator for this year’s team.

“Once you get that win-ning feeling, you don’t want to let it go,” coach Kott said. “Every new season, the more you win, the more you should be excited about coming back and trying to do the same thing, or maybe a little bit better.

“These girls know they have their work cut out for them. We’re still a pretty raw team right now, so it’ll be in-teresting to see how long it takes for everything to mesh. I see eight kids who are real-ly working hard. These kids are not only working hard, they’re doing extra.

“And they’re also great listeners. When you’ve got great listeners, kids tend to pick up things a lot quick-er. So, we’ve accomplished quite a bit in a couple weeks of practice. We went down to East Lansing and scrim-maged a couple of teams there, and things went real well for us. I thought overall, from what we expected, we were a little bit ahead. The newcomers executed every-thing they were supposed to do, and more.”

One of the biggest strengths Manistee should have this season is leader-ship from the four seniors, taking the younger players under their wing and show-ing them what playing varsi-ty basketball is all about.

The new kids are all anx-ious to learn, Kott says, and are fortunate to be in a posi-tion to learn from such qual-ity experienced players.

“What you want from your younger players, obviously, is to go in and contribute in some way,” Kott said. “At the scrimmage, they all did, and each one was a little differ-ent. I think they’re starting to figure out where their role might be, and what’s expect-

ed out of them.“If they can each do that,

plus just a little bit more, that will put us in a nice po-sition. I think at this point we’re capable of probably putting some points on the board, and that’s what we hope. But, our big focus is going to be defense as well.

“We like to think we can outscore people, but in the game of basketball you’ve really got to play good de-fense these days. So, we’ve been working real hard on that. That’s an area where the younger kids can really contribute. Their offensive end will come. Anybody can play good defense, if you work hard enough.”

After a short, but not un-productive summer, the Chippewas are lagging a lit-tle behind and have some catching up to do, Kott said. It might take a little extra time for things to comet to-gether.

But a competitive schedule is expected to sharpen the Chippewas’ game.

“We’ve got some good games again this year, like we’ve had the last couple of years,” Kott said. “We want to play good competition during the year. We want to be tested every game we can. We don’t want the girls going in thinking ‘Oh, well, this is just another game.’

“Every game counts. I know it doesn’t lead to a conference championship for us, but it definitely pre-pares us for what’s down the road, and that’s that tourna-ment run.

“We’ve got everything in place the way we want it to be, and now we’ve got to fol-low the plan that we’ve set forth. It remains to be seen how well this team gels to-gether, but I think they have a lot of potential.”

Manistee girls basketball

Senior leaders to power manistee

GreG GIelCZyK | daiLy newSMembers of the Manistee High girls basketball team are, front row, from left, Natalee Kott, Erin Dorn and Grace Chandler; back row, Sara Schaefer, Emilee Kott, Georgia Hiipakka, Emily Thompson and Emma Burns.

‘every new season, the more you win, the more you should be excited about coming back and trying to do the same thing, or maybe a little bit better.’

Kenn KottManistee girls basketball coach

12


ludington and manistee winter sports 2015-2016

Documents