Special Spring Sports Edition
Guest Blogger: Brad McCormack
Athletic Director
I can simply sum up the spring season with this: Today, there is a chance of sunshine or clouds, unseasonably hot or maybe freezing temps, a chance of rain and wind, snow possible, or hail, or even something that will fall from the sky that doesn’t have a name yet. But beyond the weather, there is a lot to be proud of in Trojan territory.
Golf
Led by seniors Chris Jennings and Nate Ogden and junior Ezra Dreffs, the golf team is having another successful season. Junior Kyle Majewski has also made significant contributions. In the Tri-County Conference (TCC), we will finish second behind a strong Clinton team. In several invitationals, our team consistently finished in the top three. Whitmore Lake will be hosting the Regional Golf Tournament on May 31 at the Whitmore Lake Golf Links.
Baseball
Baseball entered the spring with a ton of youth. Throughout the season junior Carter Stefanovski (finishing 5-1) and junior Elijah Grit have had strong performances on the mound as demonstrated by Grit’s no-hitter pitched at home against the Patriots of Britton Deerfield this season. Grit also hit the only home run this season for the Trojans resulting in a three-run shot in a 16-6 victory over the Ramblers of Perry.
The boys held serve in their home invitational defeating Southfield Christian 8-6 in game one and Vandercook Lake 8-1 in the championship. On May 23, the boys hosted Greenhills at University of Michigan’s Ray Fisher Stadium. Though the outcome wasn’t in our favor, what an experience. We will continue to play Greenhills at Michigan annually.
Led by captain Drew Pfister, the Trojans finished 6-8 in the TCC and 14-15 overall (with one regular season game remaining). We will host the district tournament on June 2, opening up with Leslie at 1:15 p.m. A win will propel the boys into the championship versus the winner of the Ann Arbor Greenhills vs. Stockbridge game. Regardless of the outcome, this team has a promising future.
Softball
A newly renovated field has provided a new brand of softball for the Trojans. This season the girls doubled their conference win total and hit more home runs (four) than the last three seasons combined (insert muscle flex). Kyle Wilson had two with Karolyn Wager and Alaina Di Dio each hitting one. Sophomore Di Dio has really performed well on the mound including a 16 K performance versus Livonia Clarenceville. Freshman Emma Howell has also performed well, pitching a no-hitter in a win over Canton Prep. The Trojans capped off their regular season with a decisive win over Ann Arbor Greenhills at University of Michigan’s Alumni Field. We will continue to play Greenhills at Michigan annually.
The season record sits at 9-15 with six of those losses coming from opponents with top 10 state ranking. The girls will host the MHSAA district tournament next week starting with Canton Prep on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. With a win, they will advance to play Wixom St. Catherine on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The team is young, hungry and will continue to improve. The future looks bright.
Track and Field
With a newly renovated track and the addition of pole vault, we were ready for the season to start. The updates to the facilities allowed us to increase the number of teams we could host. Trojan Relays went from 8 to 16 teams; our invitational went from 26 to 29 teams. And this season came with plenty of honors. Join me in congratulating the following athletes on their accomplishments.
TCC Champions
- Cole Rinna is the conference champion in the 1 mile.
- Hunter Fanson is the 2-mile conference champion.
State Qualifiers
- Rachel Speck cleared 4’10” in the high jump to advance to the state finals for the second consecutive year.
- Travis Wilson set a personal record (17.44) in the 110 hurdles finishing second to advance to the state meet.
Coach O’Connell is truly looking forward to continuing to coach these athletes. He told me, “We are young with a lot of potential.”
Academics
Our conference recognizes 10th-12th grade student-athletes with a GPA of 3.5 or above. Here are the spring student-athletes being named TCC Scholar Athletes:
GOLF: Ezra Dreffs and Kyle Majewski
BASEBALL: Max Burchi, Elijah Grit, Kevin LaMont, Trenton McCarty, Drew Pfister and Carter Stefanovski
SOFTBALL: Alaina Di Dio, Paige Everard, Abbigail Fraga, Kiara Johnson
Amy Mayo, Karolyn Wagner and Kylie Wilson
TRACK: Jordan Craven, Linsey Hula, Catherine Romine, Hannah Smith, Eveliina Taylor, Hannah Terry, Michael Corrie, Hunter Fanson, Cole Henning, Matthew Schwennesen and Dhane Wald.
Golf Outing
Whitmore Lake Athletics is proud to host the 4th Annual Trojan Open Golf Outing at the Whitmore Lake Golf Links on Saturday, August 4th starting at 9:00 a.m. All proceeds generated from this event go toward the care and updating of our facilities, updating equipment and our strength and conditioning program. To register for the outing, visit www.TrojanOpen.com. Included in the cost of the outing will be 18 holes with a cart, lunch at the turn, on the course contests, silent auction, helicopter golf ball drop and dinner with awards. Also, Michigan basketball’s Austin Hatch will join us as a special guest speaker prior to golf.
I can’t wait to watch our student-athletes develop over the course of the summer and look forward to a successful fall season! It’s a great time to be a Trojan!
