The 2019/20 school year is one that I am excited for. For the first time since 1973, Whitmore Lake is no longer a member of the Tri-County Conference. This year, our student-athletes will compete in the Michigan Independent Athletic Conference (MIAC). The MIAC is comprised of 13 schools separated into divisions. This new year in a new league is filled with opportunity.
Our cross country team is coming off a 2018 TCC league championship and have similar expectations for this fall. The loss of graduating seniors Kevin LaMont and Jordan Craven have certainly left big shoes to fill, but coach Livingston has a very talented returning group led by senior Clay Rinna, sophomores Lauren Price and Cole Rinna and freshman Brooke Craven. The first goal of the season is the win the league title; then they will set their sights on the state regional meet. The boys placed first and the girls placed third at the first MIAC jamboree WLHS hosted in late September. Their next key meets take place on October 19th when we host the annual Larry Steeb Invitational and on October 26th when the teams compete in the Division 4 Regional at DeWitt high school.
JV football is back! After months of deliberation, we entered into an athletic cooperative agreement with Charyl Stockwell Prep Academy in order to ensure the ability to field a JV team. The JV team will play a 6-game schedule that includes Bedford (0-38 loss), Gabriel Richard, Clarenceville (twice), Marshall and the Washtenaw Saints. We are looking forward to watching players like Nathan Francis, Thomas Riel, Isaac Brady, and Carter Bradburn develop this year.
The varsity football team is coming off a 4-5 season and looking to make a playoff run for the first time since 2013. We have a very experienced team led by seniors Alex Williams, Evan Romeo and sophomore Alex Tanner. Through six games, the varsity football team sits at 4-2 (4-0 in conference play). The Trojans defeated Lutheran Westland 44-13, defeated Parkway Christian 64-3, fell to Father Gabriel Richard 20-22 and defeated Oakland Christian 62-33. In those four games, we rushed for 1,670 yards and scored 25 touchdowns.
We have made some changes to volleyball this year. We decided to add more opportunities for middle school students. A new 5th/6th-grade team is competing this year! In doing that, our numbers at the middle school level (grades 5-8) jumped from 16 players to 28. Coaches LaNew, Rickard and Ormerod are doing a great job working with our young student-athletes.
The varsity volleyball team lost a few key players to graduation. However, a couple of new players (Kristina and Kaylin Peach) and our returning core (Linsay Hula, Bella Tetreau, Delaney Peters, Paige Everard, and Catherine Romine) have come together and are playing terrific team volleyball right now. Coach Coleman really has the team working well together and the varsity volleyball team sits in first place in the red division with a record of 6-1. The only loss in the conference came on the road at Huron Valley Lutheran. In order to clinch the division title, they will need to defeat Novi Christian (home), Inter-City Baptist (away) and Roeper (away).
New Websites: For Trojan pictures, schedules, scores and more, visit www.WhitmoreLakeAthletics.com. For league information, visit www.MIACsports.net. You can also follow athletics on social media at @WL_Athletics (Twitter), @wl_athletics (Instagram), @Whitmorelakeathletics (Facebook).
We are looking forward to a successful fall athletic season! Go Trojans!
