Entries for 'West Michigan'

Kelsey Richards is constantly compared to her older sisters, which doesn’t bother her one bit. “They were both amazing players, so I’ll take it,” Kelsey said with her big smile, which is on display seemingly everywhere – except during her ...

Max Perez remembers the despair he and his Hudsonville teammates felt after a disheartening 61-60 loss to East Kentwood in last season’s Division 1 Regional Final. The Eagles stormed back from a 19-point second-half deficit only to watch their season end in the c...

The Lowell volleyball team has earned a trip to the season’s final week for the first time. A beefed-up regular-season schedule helped pave the way toward school history – last week’s program-first Regional title and a spot in Tuesday’s Division...

It was far from love at first sight. When returning Muskegon Orchard View standouts like senior Dayton Rose and junior Owen Swanson first met their new varsity football coach Fred Rademacher back in January, they weren’t so sure what to expect moving forward.

Muskegon Oakridge had an extra reason to celebrate in the rain on Friday night. It was about more than just overcoming sloppy conditions and the never-say-die Montague Wildcats in a matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in The Associated Press’ Division 5 rankings. There wa...

Unity Christian soccer standout Kadin Shaban isn’t accustomed to standing on the sidelines and helplessly watching his teammates compete. Unfortunately, that’s Shaban’s current role after suffering an ankle injury two weeks ago during a game against Z...

Muskegon High School’s offensive line sustained some BIG losses after last season. Four of the starting five offensive linemen from that MHSAA Division 3 runner-up team, totaling 1,245 pounds in weight – and including 6-foot-5, 360-pound right tackle Anthon...

The Jenison girls golf team is playing with heavy hearts this season. Teammates and coaches are mourning the loss of the Wildcats’ No. 1 player, Sydney Carfine, who would have been a senior this fall.

Reyna Johnson and Kendal Hoppa were always forwards growing up playing soccer, scoring goals and enjoying all the high-fives and backslaps that came with it. So, forgive them if they were slightly offended last year when they were asked to move to defense.

The Jenison softball team wrapped up an Ottawa-Kent Conference Black outright title Tuesday night by sweeping Muskegon Reeths-Puffer. The championship shouldn’t come as much of a surprise because the Wildcats have racked up wins at a consistent pace for the past ...

Giovanni Weeks has always been fast, racking up plenty of blue ribbons during his elementary school days in Kent City. But now his coach looks at him and sees something else.

The Caledonia softball team celebrated the program’s first MHSAA championship a year ago with a 6-4 win over Hartland in the MHSAA Division 1 Final. With 11 players from that squad back, there’s a strong belief the Fighting Scots have the potential to make ...

Sam Baustert has never allowed his size to hold him back. Baustert may be only 5-foot-6 and 125 pounds, but the Whitehall senior has come up big over and over again – with one more track season to go.

The Forest Hills Northern girls soccer team made a surprising run to another MHSAA Finals last season with a roster filled with 18 underclassmen. A large majority are back, and it’s created similar aspirations for a program that has blossomed into a formidable st...

As Zara Weber explains it, part of growing up in Kent City is learning how to properly shoot the basketball. So, for Weber, the 3-pointer that she made late in the first quarter on Wednesday was just another shot – but it was also the shot that tied the team stat...

When Jock Ambrose began his coaching career during the mid 1970s, sports options were limited in the community he had recently moved to after college. The construction of a new indoor community pool, however, sent residents flocking to the water.

Whitehall wrestling already had a solid infrastructure in place. But the Vikings hope that the hiring of young, first-year co-coaches and brothers Justin Zeerip and Collin Zeerip – legends from nearby Hesperia who went on to wrestle at the University of Michigan ...

Ryan Ringler’s wrestling journey has spanned nearly 14 years and included countless miles on the road traveling to tournaments, practices and college recruiting visits. These experiences came with costs, both social and monetary, and the Cedar Springs senior stan...

Alli Keyser wore a big smile coming out of the locker room Tuesday night, as if she just had completed a career night. In reality, the Grand Haven senior point guard was coming off one of her worst statistical nights in memory, scoring seven points (on 3-of-16 shooting...

Kenzie Bowers’ mother made sure her daughter wasn’t going to grow up to become just a scorer. An extra incentive did just the trick.