2020 St. Patrick Fall Sports Wrap Up
There have been many unique and unusual things thus far about the 2020-21 school year. One of these unusual items is that I am writing the fall sports wrap up column in the middle of January when we should be approximately halfway through our winter sports season. I could lament this fact, but instead, I choose to do what we have been doing at St. Patrick School this school year and that is to count our blessings at every opportunity we are given to have as much of a normal school year as possible.
Our fall season was successful in the fact that we were able to host all our sports as we have in the past and be able to complete our cross country, volleyball, and football seasons. Sometimes new challenges give us new opportunities. This year, for the first time in a number of years, we fielded a full cheerleading squad. This was not just any cheerleading squad as we had a school record 36 cheerleaders go out and cheer for our football team. This fall season has definitely been one for the ages and truly without comparison.
The cross-country program set the stage for a successful season by coming out of the gate strong. Freshman Laynie Meredith and sophomore Cozette Brown qualified for states. This is the first time our program had two state qualifiers in the same season. The football team followed that up with their third trip to the state finals in four seasons finishing as the 8-Player Division II runner up with a record of 10-1.
We would like to congratulate all our teams and student athletes for their efforts throughout this fall sports season! A lot of time and hard work was put forth in the gym, on the field, and of course in the classroom by our student athletes.
Our cross-country program was unable to field a girls’ or boys’ team, but as previously mentioned, we did have a solid group of runners representing our school’s cross-country program. Individual honors include the following:
● Laynie Meredith: 2nd team CMAC, school record holder, LSJ All DIV Area, and state qualifier
● Cozette (Cozie) Brown: Honorable Mention CMAC, LSJ DIV All Area, and state qualifier
As previously mentioned, the Shamrock football team had a strong season winning a regional championship trophy and advancing to the state finals where they played in a fun and exciting game. Our football coach, Mr. Patrick Russman, was the 8-player Division 2, Region 2, Coach of the Year. Individual honors include the following:
● Connor Cross: All-County, All-Region, and All-State
● Chase Fitzsimmons: All-County, All-Region, All-State Honorable Mention, and Academic All-State
● Brice Cook: Academic All-State
● Brian Kwiecinski: Academic All-State
● Jacobe Hayes-Dunning: Lansing State Journal Student Athlete of the Week
● Derec Fedewa: All-County, All-Region, All-State, and Portland Beacon Athlete of the Month for November
● Shane Cook: All-County and All-Region
● Braxton Teachworth: All-State Honorable Mention
The varsity volleyball team had another solid season finishing in 4th place in the league in a very strong Central Michigan Athletic Conference (CMAC) and received team Academic All-State recognition. Individual awards include the following:
● Karley Beachnau: 2nd team CMAC, Ionia All-County Volleyball Team, Academic All-State
● Aurora Beckhold: Honorable Mention CMAC, All-Region, Academic All-State
● Natalee Teachworth: 2nd team CMAC
● Marlie Bengel: Academic All-State
● Avery Zimmerman: Academic All-State
Our freshman and JV volleyball team also had a successful season showing much growth and improvement throughout the season.
We would like to thank Portland Public Schools and the City of Portland, including the Portland Police Department, Fire Department, and Ambulance Department. Our fall sports season would not have been nearly as successful without their assistance and support.
As a Catholic School, we expect our student athletes to represent our school in a positive manner, bringing Christ to everything they do, and making us proud with their sportsmanship. Without a doubt, they have done so in what turned out to be an extremely successful fall sports season despite all the challenges we faced. Our high school student athletes did an excellent job representing our school mission statement: We Pray! We Learn! We Achieve!
Randy Hodge is the High School Principal at St. Patrick School.
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