Ubly wins State Title...AGAIN

Just got back a few minutes ago from the Division Four track finals and let me offer my congratulations to the Ubly girls' on winning their second straight State Title.

It was something to witness, as the Lady Cats set three, that's right three finals records in the 3,200 relay (Kayla Kubacki, Cheklsey Kubacki, Jennifer White & Kylee Kubacki with a time of 9:28.88), Jade Kaufman in the 200 (25.44) and the 1,600 realy team of Kayla Kubacki, Lyndsay White, Andrea Hill & Kaufman (4:04.48).

The 3,200 relay time cut off 13 seconds from the the meet record, which they set last year (9:41.18) and around seven seconds from their time at Regionals.

Let's just add that efforts of the whole team where amazing, especially when you consider the heat. It was 80 degrees on the track at 9:30 a.m. and as the day progressed it was much hotter (you could see steam rising from the track).

Although it has been a twenty hour day so far(started at 5:15 a.m. and am still at it at 1:15 a.m.), it was well worth, and I would do it again if given the chance... not just for Ubly but any area team that was mnaking a post season run.

With that in mind congratulations to USA who swept the baseball/softball Districts atg Reese on Friday, while the Harbor Beach baseball team won in Port Hope.

Congratulations to all area teams in the post-season, those who are left (to keep playing )and those who left their mark today.

Which school(s) will sweep the Districts?

The third poll question of the year has come to an end and with a 63.6 percent of the 11 votes cast USA was the resounding favorite to sweep both the baseball and softball Districts. Two voters (18.2%) thought that no area team would win both titles, while one vote was cast for more than one school winning multiple titles (9.1%) and one vote for Harbor Beach (9.1%) who already had their chances blown when the softball team lost 6-3 to Deckerville on Tuesday.
As for the rest of this week's sports actions I will try and get some updates and pictures up from tonight soccer Districts at EPBP, as well as info and pics throughout the weekend of baseball and softball District winners and look for some photos from the State Finals on Sunday.
What a great week to be a fan of high school sports!

Second poll results are in

At first I had my doubts about the success of this poll, but it got rolling and it got a respectable 10 responses. The question was:
What has been the biggest suprise of the track season so far?
Deckerville's emergence as a power in the GTE 4 votes 40%

The emergence of the North Huron freshmen 3 votes 30%

The number of school records being broken 2 votes 20%

The dominance of EPBP's Chelsea Dubey 1 vote 10%

The competitiveness of seevral teams in the girls' 3,200 relay 0 votes 0%

A new poll will be up soon...

Rest in Peace Owen Hart

Owen Hart May 7, 1965-May 23, 1999

Okay some of you may being say huh? Well, I'm breaking form a little today.

In my conversations with several of the Blog-a-Maniacs out there, I know some of you have followed or still follow wrestling. With that in mind, today is the eight year anniversary of the death of Owen Hart, who tragically died in a rigging accident.

Hart left behind a wife, Martha, and two children.

Owen was heroic in his death, yelling down to several crew members in the ring to get out of the way and in the process saved their lives.

Those who watched on PPV were told that Owen had died, but those in attendance never got the news. The show went on even after Hart's accident, which is still one of the most controversial issues about the accident to this day.

I remember looking on a wrestling website for PPV results that day and seeing "the big box"on the homepage, which was only there when someone died. I realized it, but was stunned as the picture slowly loaded and it was Owen.

So all you wrestling fans out there, share your thoughts on Owen, on continuing the PPV, whatver you wish to.

I just thought we should all remember the "Little Nugget," "The Rocket," probably forget Hart in the New Foundation and in High Energy, but remember "Slammy Award Winning" Owen Hart.

Handicapping the State Finals

After a week full of track, track, track I know there is one thing on minds of track fans. Which local athletes are heading to the finals and what are their chances fo winning?
With that in mind, I've gone through the list on the MHSAA website and modified it so that it includes the person with the top time/distance/height in the event, and then just the athletes from my coverage area that have made it.
The number to the left is how they ranked amongst the ohter qualifiers in their event (ex. Carly Treiber's throw of 111-10 in the dicsus was sixth best, but 15 less than the top thrower).
With that in mind, here is the list:
MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Girls Division 3 Qualifiers
GIRLS DISCUS
1 Lakeview Harrington, Stacey (Sr.) 126'01.00"
6 Unionville-Sebewaing Treiber, Carly (So.) 111'10.00"
15 Unionville-Sebewaing Treiber, Jessica (Sr.) 100'07.00"

GIRLS POLE VAULT
1 Grand Rapids West Catholic Morrissey, Kelly (Fr.) 10'07.00"
16 Unionville-Sebewaing Turschak, Sara (So.) 9'00.00"

GIRLS LONG JUMP
1 Flint Hamady Johnson, Tara (Sr.) 17'09.00"
3 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 17'03.00"

GIRLS 100 METER DASH
1 Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central Bellino, Meg (So.) 12.33
3 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 12.44

GIRLS 100M HURDLES
1 Benzie Central Horvath, Kelsey (Sr.) 15.40
17 Cass City Richards, Jennica (So.) 16.53

GIRLS 200 METER DASH
1 Frankenmuth Ritter, Kelsey (Fr.) 25.52
3 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 26.09

GIRLS 300M LOW HURD
1 Grandville Calvin Christian Holtrop, Kim (SP) 46.30
23 Cass City Richards, Jennica (So.) 49.43

GIRLS 400 METER DASH
1 Albion Chapman, Joranda 58.50
8 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Dubey, Chelsea (So.) 59.85

GIRLS 800 METER RUN
1 Albion Bannister, Amelia 2:19.46
26 Unionville-Sebewaing Valentine, Cami (9 ) 2:30.38

GIRLS 1600 METER RUN
1 Jackson Lumen Christi Snyder, Hilary 5:12.55
30 Unionville-Sebewaing Turschak, Sara (So.) 5:33.98
31 Unionville-Sebewaing Martinez, Mercy (Jr.) 5:41.82

GIRLS 3200 METER RUN
1 Jackson Lumen Christi Snyder, Hilary 11:23.86
35 Unionville-Sebewaing Turschak, Sara (So.) 12:24.63
36 Cass City Loomis, Brittany (So.) 12:34.31

GIRLS 400 METER RELAY
1 Flint Hamady 50.76
22 Bad Axe 52.52

GIRLS 1600 METER RELAY
1 Albion 4:05.54
28 Unionville-Sebewaing 4:22.54

GIRLS 3200 METER RELAY
1 Jackson Lumen Christi 9:43.05
23 Unionville-Sebewaing 10:24.86

MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Boys Division 3 Qualifiers
BOYS DISCUS
1 Williamston Stiffler, Donnie (Jr.) 164'00.00"
15 Bad Axe Grigg, Aeron (Sr.) 137'07.00"

BOYS SHOT PUT
1 Hillsdale English, Nate (Sr.) 57'10.00"
9 Cass City Bowen, Dennis (Sr.) 48'11.50"

BOYS HIGH JUMP
1 Manchester Sawyer, Jarod (Jr.) 6'05.01"
4 Cass City Summersett, Chris (So.) 6'03.10"

BOYS POLE VAULT
1 Williamston Walters, Josh (Sr.) 13'09.01"
19 Cass City Koepf, Mark (Sr.) 12'06.00"

BOYS 200 METER DASH
1 Saginaw Nouvel Shaltry, Kenji (Sr.) 22.01
21 Cass City Babich, Austin (So.) 23.02

BOYS 400 METER DASH
1 Detroit Country Day Rucker, Chris (Sr.) 50.03
16 Unionville-Sebewaing Jackson, Isaiah (Sr.) 51.74

BOYS 800 METER RUN
1 Williamston Ash, David (Sr.) 1:57.02
4 Unionville-Sebewaing Eisengruber, Matt (Sr.) 1:58.38

BOYS 1600 METER RUN
1 Ovid-Elsie Darling, Maverick (Jr.) 4:18.93
25 Cass City Varney, Lukas (So.) 4:38.46

BOYS 3200 METER RUN
1 Ovid-Elsie Darling, Maverick (Jr.) 9:27.44
39 Cass City Varney, Lukas (So.) 10:37.30

BOYS 1600 METER RELAY
1 Saginaw Swan Valley 3:26.48
20 Unionville-Sebewaing 3:34.35
22 Cass City 3:35.96

BOYS 3200 METER RELAY
1 Bangor 8:12.80
23 Unionville-Sebewaing 8:35.01

MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Girls Division 4 Qualifiers
GIRLS SHOT PUT
1 Hillsdale Academy Buchhop, Gwen (Sr.) 38'08.75"
15 Port Hope Abraham, Marci (Sr.) 34'00.00"

GIRLS HIGH JUMP
1 Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest Maccourtney, Sarah (So.) 5'04.00"
3 Kinde North Huron Heffner, Megan(9 ) 5'03.00"
5 Ubly Labuhn, Shelby (Sr.) 5'01.00"
12 Ubly Weber, Shannon (Jr.) 5'00.00"

GIRLS POLE VAULT
1 Pewamo-Westphalia Schafer, Amanda (Sr.) 9'09.00"
3 Harbor Beach Kirsch, Jacqueline (Jr.) 9'09.00"

GIRLS LONG JUMP
1 Jonesville Dow, Sydney (Sr.) 16'11.00"
13 Ubly Kubacki, Kayla (So.) 15'10.75"

GIRLS 100 METER DASH
1 Ann Arbor Greenhills Ajegba, Brittany (Sr.) 12.19
4 Ubly Kaufman, Jade (Sr.) 12.32

GIRLS 100M HURDLES
1 Reading Thorp, Whitney (Jr.) 15.40
4 Kinde North Huron Homrich, Caitlin(9 ) 15.89
5 Ubly Labuhn, Shelby (Sr.) 16.04
8 Ubly Weber, Shannon (Jr.) 16.39
11 Ubly Helewski, Kalyn (So.) 16.53
21 Harbor Beach Kirsch, Jacqueline (Jr.) 16.78
25 Caseville Quinn, Emily (Sr.) 16.90

GIRLS 200 METER DASH
1 Ubly Kaufman, Jade (Sr.) 26.21
13 Kinde North Huron Homrich, Caitlin(9 ) 27.47

GIRLS 300M LOW HURD
1 Saginaw Valley Lutheran Witchger, Christine (Jr.) 47.54
6 Kinde North Huron Heffner, Megan(9 ) 48.74
9 Harbor Beach Kirsch, Jacqueline (Jr.) 49.06
12 Ubly Franzel, Nicole(9 ) 49.44
19 Caseville Quinn, Emily (Sr.) 49.99
22 Ubly Weber, Shannon (Jr.) 50.14

GIRLS 400 METER DASH
1 Ubly Kaufman, Jade (Sr.) 59.86
12 Ubly Kubacki, Kayla (So.) 1:01.82
13 Ubly White, Lyndsay (So.) 1:02.41

GIRLS 800 METER RUN
1 Maple City Glen Lake Treece, Marissa (Sr.) 2:17.06
10 Ubly White, Lyndsay (So.) 2:27.44
11 Ubly Kubacki, Kylee (Sr.) 2:27.89
13 Harbor Beach Buchholz, Holly (So.) 2:28.33
15 Ubly Kubacki, Chelsey (Jr.) 2:29.00
18 Ubly White, Jennifer(9 ) 2:29.36
19 Harbor Beach Woycehoski, Bri (Fr.) 2:29.70

GIRLS 1600 METER RUN
1 Maple City Glen Lake Treece, Marissa (Sr.) 5:01.60
5 Ubly Kubacki, Kylee (Sr.) 5:20.59
14 Harbor Beach Woycehoski, Bri (Fr.) 5:31.00
22 Harbor Beach Wessels, Ali (Fr.) 5:37.04

GIRLS 400 METER RELAY
1 Jonesville 51.50
8 Ubly 53.43

GIRLS 800 METER RELAY
1 Colon 1:49.20
13 Ubly 1:51.87

GIRLS 1600 METER RELAY
1 Ubly 4:10.47
6 Harbor Beach 4:16.28

GIRLS 3200 METER RELAY
1 Ubly 9:37.84
3 Harbor Beach 9:52.71

MHSAA 2007 Track and Field Finals - Boys Division 4 Qualifiers
BOYS POLE VAULT
1 Fulton-Middleton Boulis, Matt (Sr.) 14'00.00"
27 Harbor Beach Seidl, Brian (Jr.) 11'06.00"
28 Kinde North Huron Wisneski, Ed (Jr.) 11'06.00"

BOYS LONG JUMP
1 Eau Claire Patterson, Patrick (Sr.) 21'03.00"
15 Harbor Beach Ginther, Kevin (Sr.) 20'01.00"

BOYS 100 METER DASH
1 Ann Arbor Greenhills Masters, Sean (Sr.) 10.81
31 Ubly David, Cody (Jr.) 11.54
32 Ubly Schroeder, Jason (Fr.) 11.55

BOYS 200 METER DASH
1 Jonesville Falk, Chad (Jr.) 22.50
25 Ubly Schroeder, Jason (Fr.) 24.02

BOYS 300M INTERM. HURDLES
1 Reading Morris, Trent (So.) 40.10
19 Kinde North Huron Lesperance, Jason (Sr.) 43.03


BOYS 800 METER RUN
1 North Muskegon Barker, Glen (Sr.) 1:57.54
7 Harbor Beach Ginther, Kevin (Sr.) 2:03.03

BOYS 400 METER RELAY
1 Ottawa Lake Whiteford 44.09
32 Harbor Beach 47.81

My impressions... looking at the times and how they performed on Saturday, I think Ubly has a great chance to win a second straight State Title, which is unprecedented, at least around here.
My best bets for an individual state title, I'll put my money on a pair of freshmen from North Huron-Megan Heffner and Caitlyn Homrich. When you look at their times, jumps, etc. compared to the top times, jumps, etc. they are so close. With warm weather, some adrenaline and maybe a little luck, an individual State Title is not out of the realm of possibility.
The nice thing for the duo is even if they come up short this time, they will likely have three more opportunities in their high school careers.

First poll results

The first poll has ended and bloggers have decided the team most likely to win a State Title this spring is the USA softball team. Here are the results (19 votes were cast):

USA softball team 8 votes 42.1%

Ubly girls' track team 5 votes 26.3%

EPBP soccer team 3 votes 15.8%

one of Deckerville's track teams, another area team or no area team each received one vote for 5.3%

A new poll will be posted soon.

The picture I ruined my shorts for

Sometimes I think the best posts or columns are the ones involving poking a little fun at ourselves. With that in mind here is the story of the picture I ruined my pants for.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon doing some work, watched Heroes and was surfing the net. I had one real job to get done (besides my everyday stuff like making the bed, doing the dishes, and other things us stay at home moms do), to bring in a treat for my wife's Young Fives class around 2 p.m. and then take their picture for work.

It should have been easy enough, the treats were already bought. I just had to show up on time, but for some reason I was running a few minutes late. Which would have been okay, but I forgot to put the battery back in my camera that I was supposed to use to take the picture (it was on the charger getting ready for a track double-header).

So then I had to get my wife's camera, dig through her purse to find it, etc. and I put her class a little behind schedule.

Now, it was about 84 degrees out and I was enjoying a nice day with the windows open. Sometimes I more of a hermit, so I actually thought my wife would notice and appreciate the fact that I left the windows open on such a nice day. Not really and I'll tell you why.

It turns out it was destined to rain. In fact around 4 p.m. as i was heading out to the GTW meet in Bad Axe, I got a phone call that said it was pouring in Harbor Beach and the meet was delayed.

In most cases, this should have indicated that I needed to turn around and go close the windows. But then my buddy dropped the bomb shell that gas in Bad Axe was $3.49 a gallon and all I could think of was filling up in Ubly while it was still $3.25 (what a bargain).

I headed over to Hatchet Country and by then it started to rain. I saw no sign of life in the parking lot and realized the meet was called or delayed. So I drive around and I'm going to head over to the office when suddenly... What was that? What was that noise? Did someone hit my car with something?

I'm looking around and came to realize it was 3/4 inch hail pelting my car and not some juneville delinquent. The rain starts pouring down and I get drenched dropping off some paper work to the office. As I leave, the tornado siren sounds and I think this could be an interesting night.

I start driving over to the GTE league meet in Harbor Beach. I'm resigned to the fact that at this point the only league meet that is surely going to be on is the NCTL Meet in Peck. So I decide to go there via Harbor Beach in case things settled down their earlier. They didn't (at least at that point) because everyone was huddled in the school in case of a tornado.

I, on the other hand, had my camera and the "big lens" ready in case I saw a twister. Take pictures first, strap myself to something sturdy second I thought. Luckily that showdown never took place.

As I make the ride up M-25, the rain is still following me and as I'm talking to some people at the Peck meet I warn them the storm is coming. They think it is over. I was right.

Eventually, I get to Peck, snap some pictures before the rain starts pouring down. A buddy I met up with and I duck into my car to keep dry and I see my wife called about a half an hour earlier.

She had finally returned one of what seemed like 100 calls trying to find out if her and Feena where okay, since they were in BA during the storm. Well the real storm was about to strike.

Boy did I get an earful and my buddy got one too because my wife was yelling so loud about me leaving the windows open and how I could have ruined our brand new comforter and bed, etc.

Wait! She said could have, because the rain never came in that side of the house. My error caused no damage at all, but I never would have known it by my wife's tone.

Eventually the rain stopped enough to go take more pictures and one of the area's best high jumpers Megan Heffner of North Huron was jumping. I hurried over there and took one picture, which wasn't what I wanted. In between jumps I got to a better spot, but the lighting wasn't too good and the picture was a little blurry.

So I parked my butt on the wet asphalt and shot up to get more light and came up with this doozy. I had black remnants on my hands and all over my tan shorts. BUT I GOT THE SHOT!

Driving home in some of the worst rain I remember between Peck and Sandusky stunk, but it was well worth it to experience North Huron's league title win.

Heck after putting in a 21 hour day at the State Track Finals last year this was easy.

By the way, congratulations to the North Huron girls' track team on their NCTL title win. It should be the first of many more to come.