West Michigan All Star » Grand Rapids Press

WMA takes attendance: Carli Capestany remains perfect on tennis court

Heather Smith — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:38:33 +0000

A look around the wide world of high school sports and the web that covers it. Well, not the whole world, mostly just the distance between Lake Michigan and somewhere-in-the-vicinity-of-Lansing, give or take about 50-miles. In an order wholly indecipherable to the naked eye. So look closely:

Hudsonville’s Carli Capestany stays perfect –and nice– on tennis court -The Grand Rapids Press
Otsego’s boys golf team one painful shot short of state tournament birth -Kalamazoo Gazette
Rosters set for annual East-West All-star football game at Spartan Stadium -The Grand Rapids Press
Jordan Wolf, Elle Humphries lead Portage Central girls soccer team to rout of Kalamazoo Central -Kalamazoo Gazette
Devin Bond’s early goal propels Gull Lake to girls soccer district semifinal win over Thornapple Kellogg -Kalamazoo Gazette
Forest Hills Central will have shot to defend boys golf state title after winning tiebreaker -The Grand Rapids Press
Northview’s Casey Tull just misses out on medalist honors at Division 2 boys golf regional -The Grad Rapids Press
Three Rivers tops St. Joseph in Division 2 girls soccer district semifinal -Kalamazoo Gazette
East Grand Rapids wins Division 2 boys golf regional -The Grand Rapids Press
Vicksburg clicking at the right time, defeats Marshall in Division 2 girls soccer semifinal -Kalamazoo Gazette
Liz Ruimveld scores 5 goals a Kalamazoo Christian girls soccer team routs Kalamazoo Heritage Christian -Kalamazoo Gazette
Pushint the limits: Autism doesn’t stop Loy Norrix discus thrower Cer Bolton’s rise to state meet -Kalamazoo Gazette
Jon Christ, Jack Rider lead Hackett boys golf team to regional title -Kalamazoo Gazette
Scott Manski helps send Vicksburg golf back to state tournament -Kalamazoo Gazette

Keep up with the latest action and analysis by becoming a WMA fan on Facebook, or join the conversation by following WMA on Twitter. Heck, even start your own topic over at Allstars Among Us.

LAX is coming for you

ryan vaughn — Fri, 14 May 2010 10:40:13 +0000

Traditionally, much of the media attention goes to a few “major” sports. WMA is no exception; much of our attention goes to football/baseball/basketball, for no reason other than those are the sports that the fanbase has shown the most interest in. For better or for worse, that’s the same reasoning behind the traditional news media’s gravitation toward the same sports (plus or minus hockey, depending on who you talk with).

This status quo has been in place since long, long ago. Might have well been the beginning of time, though I can’t verify that. But now, in 2010, another sport is poised to make a run at transitioning into the realm of the “major.” At least in West Michigan.

From Steve Ungrey of the Grand Rapids Press:

Since the inception of boys lacrosse as a Michigan High School Athletic Association-sponsored varsity sport in the spring of 2005, both boys and girls programs have experienced growth in participation numbers and popularity.

A total of 65 boys teams involving 88 schools took part in lacrosse in the spring of 2006. That number has swelled to 89 teams involving 105 schools.

The girls numbers have risen from 39 teams in 2005 to 55 in 2010.

“It’s been a long explosion of growth,” said Tom Rashid, the MHSAA’s associate director for boys lacrosse. “It’s going to stay largely with the larger and more suburban schools, but it is growing from the youth up.”

If you’re not already there, it may not necessarily be time to jump with both feet firmly on the lacrosse bandwagon. Test the stability of the platform first. For context, there are 248 schools active in football according to michigan-football.com. Lacrosse as a sport has a long way to go to reach that level of popularity, but then again football in Michigan has been around since 1955. 248 schools in 55 years for football, versus 105 schools in 5 years for lacrosse; there’s no doubt about the rapidity of the sport’s popularity spike. And it’s happening right here in West Michigan.

For a sport that in all respects is still a baby, this kind of rapid growth gives us tremendous hope about it’s potential. Which is awesome news for organizations like WMA, who are just itching to talk about our other favorite sports.

Lacrosse fans, your time is here, and your place is West Michigan. Let’s take advantage of this. Email me at westmiallstar@gmail.com to join the coverage movement.

Keep up with the latest action and analysis by becoming a WMA fan on Facebook, or join the conversation by following WMA on Twitter.

WMHS Baseball Top-10 Rankings comparison (7th edition)

ryan vaughn — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:23:56 +0000

The guy you want to listen to when it comes to sports is the guy who dedicates an abnormal amount of his time to each piece of the minutia involved. The guy who sacrifices eating and shaving to follow ERA’s and comparative batting average when facing righties versus lefties.

I like to think of myself as one of those guys, which would put me squarely in the company of WestMichiganHighSchoolBaseball.com (bookmark the URL so your fingers don’t cramp typing it). Now there’s a group of sports nerds in the best sense of the term. We should all be so lucky.

After the jump, we’ll discuss WMHSB’s Top-10 teams in West Michigan, and compare them to the Grand Rapids Press’s Top-10 teams. The goal here is to paint a clear, yet perhaps dividedly so, picture of the high school baseball landscape in the greater Grand Rapids area.

Read on, gentle reader. Read on.

West Michigan High School Baseball (dot) com (May 10)

Portage Northern – 21-0-1 and ranked #1 in the D1 Coaches Poll and #10 in the Midwest by USA Today
Portage Central – 17-1 and now ranked #2 in the D1 Coaches Poll
Forest Hills Central – 15-1 and a sure bet to wrap up the OK Black
Grand Ledge – 19-0 and likely to be unchallenged until the Diamond Classic
Hamilton – 15-2 and sitting alone atop the OK Green standings
Forest Hills Eastern – 15-2 and control their own destiny in the OK Gold
Hudsonville – 11-4 after beating Grandville twice
St. Joseph – 13-5 with two losses to Mattawan last week
East Grand Rapids – 9-6, probably the best 6-loss team in the state
Grand Rapids Christian – 10-3, lost 2 of 3 to East Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids Press (May 6)

Forest Hills Central
Hudsonville
Forest Hills Eastern
Hamilton
Rockford
Grand Rapids Christian
Jenison
Kenowa Hills
East Grand Rapids
Forest Hills Northern

WMA’s take:

As it has been all season, it’s Forest Hills Central at one level, and everyone else in the greater Grand Rapids area at various points of another level. These guys are sick at every position. Thing is, in baseball all it takes is one not-quite-excellent day and you can lose to anyone. As good as they are, don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that they are immune to this fact.

In their most challenging week of the season to date, Grand Rapids Christian met with a buzzsaw in East Grand Rapids. The Pioneers uncorked their bats during the three-day doubleheader, but the Eagles managed to stave off the sweep in game-3. Either way, WMHSB is right about East Grand Rapids — their record is incredibly deceiving. These guys are as good as most anyone. The scary thing is that they’re young, and steadily getting better.

Forest Hills Northern makes an appearance on the GRPress list, and rightfully so. They’ll have a big test in front of them this Thursday, when they take on West Catholic in the high school baseball equivalent of a mid-major, heavyweight bout. WMA bloggess HeatherASmith will be there to make sure everyone is on their best behavior.

Also, if you live in Portage, you’re one lucky sonofagun. Two of the top teams in the state, right in your backyard. Good stuff there.

Keep up with the latest action and analysis by becoming a WMA fan on Facebook, or join the conversation by following WMA on Twitter.

WMA takes attendance, as read by volleyball closers

ryan vaughn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:05:28 +0000

Round-2 football playoff predictions — MichiganPreps.com
Eastsider’s predictions for divisions 1-3 — Prepseer
Super-32 top teams for playoff round-2 — Searn’s Board
Live chat with the Venerable One tonight — Who’s the Bos?
Great cross country perseverance story — Kalamazoo Gazette
So far so good for 2-time volleyball champ Jenison — Grand Rapids Press
Kalamazoo Central beats Loy-Norrix for district opener — Kalamazoo Gazette
Portage Central rolls past Niles for district opener — Kalamazoo Gazette
Week-8 cross country boys/girls rankings — MichiganCrossCountry.com
GR Christian squeaks past FHC volleyball — Grand Rapids Press
Sweet story about former Lowell receiver doing well — Grand Rapids Press

Keep up with the latest football action and analysis by becoming a WMAS fan on Facebook, or join the conversation by following WMAS on Twitter. Heck, even start your own topic over at Allstars Among Us. The opportunities to connect with rabid high school sports fans are endless!

WMA takes attendance, as read by upcoming bicycles

ryan vaughn — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:38:59 +0000

Updated football playoff brackets — Mlive.com
Muskegon teams must be road warriors — Muskegon Chronicle
Plainwell’s Farris is killing it this year — Kalamaz00 Gazette
Seen this picture before, oh about 15 times — Rockford Independent
K Hackett boys & Schoolcraft girls are good runners — Kalamazoo Gazette
Pershing the only Michigan school in top-25 preseason basketball — PrepNation.com
Plainwell serves their way past Comstock in districts — Kalamazoo Gazette
Rockford drops Lowell in districts (volleyball) — Grand Rapids Press
South Haven’s Gruber doesn’t like offensive people — Kalamazoo Gazette
There’s something in the water at Holland high — Grand Rapids Press

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WMA takes attendance, as read by playoff rally monkeys

ryan vaughn — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:02:55 +0000

Grand Rapids area football roundup — Grand Rapids Press
The Venerable One’s top-10 teams for Round-2 — Who’s the Bos?
West Catholic football ousts Catholic Central — Grand Rapids Press
Grand Haven water polo claims Regionals — Grand Rapids Press
East Kentwood cross country snags two Regionals — Grand Rapids Press
Playoffs, same story for Mendon football — Kalamazoo Gazette
Hudsonville wins O-K Red volleyball — Grand Rapids Press
Muskegon Catholic is better than their record — Muskegon Chronicle
Rockford rallies to beat East Kentwood, take 2 — Grand Rapids Press
Portage Central Munsons Ottawa Hills — Kalamazoo Gazette