Spring Lake Rotary Scribes Report:  November 2, 2018

 

               

                Colin McKey was inducted as our newest club member, and is sponsored by our current club President, Dave Stocking.  Colin and his wife life in Grand Haven, however, he works in Spring Lake at Edward Jones as a Financial Advisor, which makes the SLCC a short commute on Fridays.  Colin attended Hope College for undergraduate studies.

 

                Cavin Mohrhardt and several athletes and coaches joined us to give us the update on Spring Lake High School sports for this fall.   

Cavin’s first Spring Lake Rotary Club meeting was as a guest of Tom Hickman back in 1976, so he has a long history with our club.   Coach Morhardt introduced Head Football Coach Dan Start, and Head Girls’ Golf and Boys’ Wrestling coach Alex Leininger. 

 

                Several teams/coaches could not attend the meeting since they were off competing in various regional/state tournaments.  Boys’ Cross Country won the conference and the regional tournaments this year, and are ranked #2 in the state currently.  Girls’ volleyball played in the District finals this year, and has done very well.  The boys’ soccer team set an MHSAA record (we think) with the most ties in a season (5), due to a rules change this year that does not allow shootouts at the end of games anymore.  That team made it out of the district tournament, but lost in the 1^st round of the regional tournament.  Boys’ tennis just barely missed qualifying for the state tournament, but did very well.  The girls’ swim team has 5 swimmers that have qualified and will attend the state meet in a couple weeks to represent Spring Lake. 

 

                Head Football Coach Dan Start introduced his team captains who were all in attendance.  Wyatt Lisman (LB), Gavin Alban (S), Jared Zalinski (OL/DL), Alex Fredrick (RB/LB), and Caleb Montgomery (QB).  This year exceeded Coach Start’s expectations after a winless season in 2017.  The team started this season at 5-0, won homecoming, and then hit some injuries just before the tougher part of the schedule, when they faced two defending state champions (Grand Rapids West Catholic and Grand Rapids Catholic Central).  They lost four straight, but still managed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in four years, losing to GRCC last week in the opening round.  The culture of the program has been changed for the good after the success they saw this year.  The freshman team ended up 9-0 this season, and none of the games were even close, so the future is bright for Spring Lake football.  There are 16 graduating seniors this year, so the 10 juniors will from this years’ team will be counted on in a big way next year to lead the team, along with the younger sophomores that were brought up to varsity this year. 

 

                New Head Girls’ Golf Coach Alec Leininger stood to introduce his two golfers that were in attendance.  Phoebe Saunders (Jr.) and Hannah Kline (Sr.) joined us.  Saunders was the #2 ranked golfer on Spring Lake’s team, and Kline was Spring Lake’s top player.  Hannah received all-state honors for the third year in a row this year for Spring Lake.  Spring Lake finished 2^nd in the conference this year, and then went on to win regionals by 15 strokes, which is a wide margin.  Leininger is also the Spring Lake varsity Wrestling Coach, and will be leading an extremely young squad.  There are 20 freshmen/sophomore boys, and only 4 or 5 juniors/seniors.  Coach says that a few of the younger wrestlers have potential to be all-state by the end of the season, so stay tuned. 

 

50/50 Winner: Lisa Ashcraft!