Cedar Springs Varsity volleyball fell to the Knights of Kenowa Hills on Tuesday, October 20, in the second round of the OK Gold Conference Tournament. The Lady Red Hawks battled in the four-set match, losing 17-25; 25-27; 25-20; and 14-25, sending them in search of a sixth place finish in the final round of play at a home match on Tuesday, October 26 against Ottawa Hills. 

The Red Hawks also competed in the 9th Annual Hesperia Volley against Violence tournament on Saturday, October 24, at Fremont High School. In first round play, the Red Hawks lost to Kent City 18-25; 23-25; and 20-25. Second round play resulted in a 1-2 loss to Fremont (20-25; 20-25; 25-23). The final match of the tournament delivered a 3-0 victory versus Reed City (25-16; 25-16; 25-18). Two Cedar Springs athletes earned All Tournament Team recognition: middle hitter Arianna Rau and setter Makenna Outwin. 

“The girls played hard together to build great momentum heading into our last week of play and districts,” stated Varsity Coach Ashley Lowing. 

Senior middle hitter Arianna Rau led in weekly stats with 21 kills, 12 blocks,4 aces and 19 service points. Aaliyah Calkins added 18 kills and 24 digs. Setter Makenna Outwin had 93 assists, 5 blocks, and 7 aces, with a team high 33 service points. Kennedi Jager tallied 12 kills and 4 blocks, while Cassidy Canfield registered 16 kills and 7 blocks. Libero Elizabeth Fettig owned the defense, recording 45 digs and 117 serve receptions. Alyssa Detweiller contributed 16 kills and 6 blocks, while defensive specialist Isis Polczsk had 25 digs and 43 serve receptions.    

The JV team lost to Kenowa Hills on October 20th 12-25; 25-19; and 12-15, while freshmen earned the win over the Knights 25-21;12-25; 15-7.

Volleyball played at home Tuesday evening against Ottawa Hills. Varsity then travels to Kent City on Saturday, October 31 to compete in a Quad with host Kent City, Fremont and Comstock Park. Competition begins at 9 a.m. Volleyball Districts begin for the Lady Red Hawks on November 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Northview High School against the winner of the Northview/Rockford first round match.      

The Lady Red Hawks took to their home course one last time this season for pre-regional action on Saturday, October 24.  “Words cannot express how proud I am of the ladies who ran at pre-regionals. We were in one of the toughest regions out there and it was our goal to have the team at least get fourth and slide into regionals,” said Coach Melinda Stressman. The team ended up finishing sixth out of eight teams. 

Danika Fessenden finished first for the Red Hawks in a time of 20:05 (18^th overall) followed closely by Annalise Elliott (20:10, 21^st).  Molly Bentley and Ally Ladd were next to cross the finish line for the Red Hawks finishing 25^th and 26^th at 20:53.00 and 20:53.30 respectively.  Isabel VanDusen ran a breakthrough race running her lifetime best of 21:30 (36^th). Addyson Brown and Laina Payne did a great job of moving up throughout the race and keeping the gaps small finishing 21:44 (39^th) and 21:50 (41^st). 

Danika Fessenden and Annalise Elliott qualified to advance to run at regionals which will be held at Benzie Central High School on October 31.  Bentley and Ladd were only two spots away from qualifying. 

“This team has come a long way and has put in the work all summer and fall and to tell them we didn’t make it in as a whole was tough,” said Coach Stressman.  “I thought we ran so good and I couldn’t have asked for anyone to run better than they did. They have done so well working together and improving individually.” 

While the varsity girls ran at home, the JV girls teams traveled to Benzie Central High School for the Go Out On Top Invite on Saturday, October 24. It was a day of lifetime personal and seasonal bests for many of them.  Cedar Springs took second out of six teams with each of the Cedar Springs girls medaling. 

Some highlights include Larissa McGrath, who had a lifetime personal best of 21:05, finished 6^th; Hannah Reed, with a PR of 21:36, was 9th; Paige Marsman with a season record of 22:45 (21st), Haylie Terrien with a PR of 22:54 (23rd), and Madison Golliver who ran her lifetime best of 23:17 (26th).

“Across the board our ladies ran huge lifetime and seasonal PRs. I wish we could have been there, but I want to give a huge thanks to Coach Jeff Brazier for volunteering his time on a Saturday to coach the cross country team,” said Coach Melinda Stressman.

The No. 2 ranked Grand Rapids Catholic Central Cougars earned a home 25-9, 25-9, 25-6 sweep of the Cedar Springs Red Hawks on Tuesday, October 13 on the first night of the OK Gold Varsity Conference Tournament.  

Makenna Outwin handed out 12 assists and added five digs and three kills in the loss for Cedar Springs. Cassidy Canfield had 4 kills and three blocks, Elizabeth Fettig 11 digs, Gracie Garchow four kills and 3 digs, Brandy Singleton 12 serve receives.

Junior Varsity and Freshman both fell in 0-2 matches to Catholic Central on the opening night of the Conference Tournament.  

The teams traveled to Greenville on Thursday, October 15 where Varsity suffered a 0-3 non conference loss to the Yellow Jackets 17-25; 21-25; 13-25.  JV took a 21-25; 17-25 loss, and Freshman were defeated 15-25; 17-25.  

Varsity leaders include: Libero Elizabeth Fettig with 11 digs and 24 Serve Receptions, Arianna Rau tallied 3 kills and 2 blocks, Cassidy Canfield recorded 3 kills and block, Aaliyah Caulkins with 2 kills, Kennedi Jager 2 kills, Makenna Outwin 12 assists and 4 digs, Chloe Fish with 2 digs, Brandy Singleton 10 serve recieves and Avery Peterson with 5 serve receives.

The Lady Red Hawks are 2-13 overall and 1-7 in conference as of Monday. All teams were scheduled to play second round matches of the OK Gold Tournament on Tuesday, October 20, with Cedar Springs hosting Kenowa Hills.  

On what was a very hilly and challenging course hosted by Wayland Union on September 29, the Lady Red Hawks managed themselves very well in OK Gold conference action with an overall fifth place finish missing out on fourth place by just three points.

Junior Ally Ladd led the Red Hawks on the course, keeping herself close to some of the top groups and maintaining a good position the entire race. Ladd finished 12th in a time of 21:12.Danika Fessenden was not far behind running strong herself finishing at 21:42 in the 16th spot.

Sophomore Molly Bentley ran a great race (21:58, 20th) by starting out in a good position at the beginning of the race and moving up as the race went on. Holding off the field behind her was Kelsi Green (22:08, 28th) with Annalise Elliott (22:34, 34th) helping out the team greatly. Isabel VanDusen (22:42, 41st) ran a solid race helping her teammates Addyson Brown who finished just behind VanDusen (22:57, 43rd) and Laina Payne (23:29, 49th) who ran strong to round out the varsity group.

The JV squad looked strong with Larissa McGrath who started out in the top 10 but moved her way up to the 3rd spot finishing in 22:56. Running with some fire under her shoes was Hannah Reed finishing 9th at 23:25. Next up and competing well was Reagan Viau (24:03, 15th) and maintaining a good pace not far behind was Kaitlynn Brown (24:34, 24th). Paige

Marsman finished 27th at 25:01 as she kept pushing herself to maintain a good pace and stayclose to some packs ahead. Madison Golliver ran a great race and finished 38th in 26:17. Also running well for the JV squad were Isabella Smith (27:01, 41st), Haylie Terrien (27:29, 43rd), and Mikayla Caruthers (27:38, 44th).

“Our girls have been improving every time and it is so fun to watch them go out and have fun,” said Coach Melinda Stressman.

The girls are currently 3rd in the OK Gold conference standings and will compete in their third and final OK Gold Jamboree on October 20th at Thornapple Kellogg High School.

Cedar Springs Varsity Volleyball competed in two matches this week, suffering a 0-3 (25-27,12-25,20-25) loss to South Christian at home on Tuesday, September 29 and earning an away 3-0 (25-12; 25-7, 25-23) victory at Ottawa Hills on Thursday, October 1. The Lady Red Hawks are 2-10 overall and 1-5 in conference.

Leaders for the week include outside hitters Kennedi Jager (12 kills; 3 aces; 3 digs) and Aaliyah Calkins (13 kills;20 serve receptions). Senior middle Arianna Rau contributed 10 kills and 4 blocks. Setter Makenna Outwin tallied 43 assists and 7 aces with 17 service points.  Libero Elizabeth Fettig was solid at defense registering 18 digs and 40 serve receptions. Alyssa Detweiler logged 4 blocks and 6 aces. Defensive specialists Isis Polczsk (10 digs/17 serve receptions) and Avery Peterson (4 digs/3 serve receptions) held the back line while Chloe Fish rounded it out with a kill, 6 service points and 5 serve receptions. 

“As a team we have set one of our goals to be better today than we were yesterday,” said Coach Ashley Lowing. “The girls are working hard each day, resulting in great success at meeting that goal.” 

The Junior Varsity went 1-1 this week losing to South Christian (17-25;12-25) and beating Ottawa Hills (25-8;25-19). Red Hawk Freshman lost on Tuesday to South Christian (26-28; 25-18;4-15). 

This week, the Volleyball program competes in a home conference match against Kenowa Hills on Tuesday, October 6. This final home match will recognize the five seniors: Cassidy Canfield, Elizabeth Fettig, Avery Peterson, Arianna Rau, Aina Catala. Freshman start at 4pm, followed by JV and Varsity.  Next week has two away matches, the first at Forest Hills Eastern on Tuesday, October 13, then Greenville High School on October 15.  Matches begin at 5pm.

For the second year in a row, the Cedar Springs Varsity Competitive Cheer Team will compete at the Division 2 State Finals at the Delta Plex on Saturday, March 7, after finishing third at the regional finals at Portage Northern on February 29.

Twelve teams arrived at Portage Northern High School with the same goal in mind: to place in the top four and advance to State Finals. They came prepared to battle and ready to capitalize on mistakes made by their opponents to climb towards the top of the scoreboard.  

The Lady Red Hawks executed a solid round one performance and earned 231.7, the third highest score of the round. The ladies performed strongly in round two, but mistakes resulted in the team earning a score of 219.76. The team held onto third place, but only by 1.34 of a point. Determined to not let the score of round two be a source of discouragement, the squad took the mat for round three and gave it all they had and redeemed themselves by earning 314.9, the highest round three score of the competition.

The team leaped to their feet in excitement when they heard their name announced as earning third place with a combined round three score of 766.36, only .9 of a point behind the second-place team. 

An enthusiastic coach Anne Olszewski praised her team. “These girls really rocked out round three! They definitely left that entire gym talking. I have a song in my heart!” 

A special thanks to the Sea of Red—the amazing fans who supported the girls last Saturday. Good luck Team 2020. Hold the rope…row the boat!

On Saturday, February 1, the Lady Red Hawks traveled to Northview High School to compete in the LMCCOA Scholarship Invitational. Many of the best teams in West Michigan were present at this event and each team (32 overall) came prepared to win. Once again, the character of this team was tested by adversity when a teammate injured her wrist during warm-ups the morning of the meet. 

“We had an injury during warm-ups that sent one of our girls to the ER. We had to scramble hard and add someone to round 2 and 3. Last minute changes to detailed rounds are always the most dicey thing to do with our sport,” explained Coach Anne Olszewski. “Competitive Cheer rules require round 1 and 3 to match in the number of athletes on the mat, or suffer a 10 point penalty. We stunted only three groups and the fourth group had to sell it with all the attitude and enthusiasm they had. I am so proud of this team and this program! The parents in the stands that stood up and screamed for their kids to press on taught them that someone has their backs through any adversity we come across!” 

Despite the challenges and anxiety, the Varsity team performed strongly and ended round two in first place by .36 of a point! With a spirit of determination and perseverance, the team gave it all they had for round three and earned a very respectable score of 311.4 and slipped into second place, trailing first place Mona Shores by only 5.84 points. 

Coach Olszewski praised the team. “What to take away from this? A little wisdom about what this sport takes and that these girls are not quitters. They fought hard. I am 1000 percent impressed and proud of these girls and what they accomplished this Saturday…each week they amaze me!”

The JV squad also continues to face adversity and despite challenges placed 2^nd against the teams in the Division 2 JV bracket with a combined round three score of 569.3. “Another week battling illness for our JV program. The remaining girls stepped up and covered positions for their ill teammates and did so without any complaint. I am very proud of the way these girls keep rolling with the punches, week after week,” a proud Coach Katy Hradsky commented.

The Cedar Springs High School Competitive Cheer program celebrates another successful week after sweeping the second OK White Conference meet at Forest Hills Northern on January 20^th and the West Catholic Invitational on January 24^th.  

The resilient JV squad earned the top spot at the West Catholic Invitational by earning a combined round three score of 602.6. Coach Katy Hradsky praised the hard work of her team. “This week CSJV Cheer had half the team out due to illness or injury. Monday wasn’t our best performance, but we survived, knew our limits and pushed through them. The rest of the week was spent preparing for Friday and prayed that we could put 10 girls on the mat to avoid a 10-point penalty. The seven girls who stepped up and competed in all three rounds are superstars! They knew they had to have clean, near perfect rounds to win, and that is just what they delivered. I am so proud of them!”

The Varsity team continue to dominate the OK White by earning a combined round three score of 764.62 at their second conference meet hosted by Forest Hills Northern and continued the winning streak by earning a combined round three score of 761.46 at the West Catholic Invitational.

 Coach Anne Olszewski is very proud of her team. “I have to share with you that each week I am amazed at what this group does,” she remarked. “They are different ages and come from various levels of experience and yet they succeed. I watch them face adversity and overcome. We faced some good teams at West Catholic, some that we have not seen before, and were able to overcome and get the win. February is a difficult month for the sport, as the girls are confronted with illness, injury and fatigue. We have a big competition every single week. We are going in with our eyes wide open and are prepared to just put it all out there. I am sure that both teams have what it takes to succeed.”

The Lady Red Hawks will compete in the final OK White conference meet of the season at CSHS on February 5^th at 6 p.m. Let’s pack the stands and cheer on these two talented teams! 

Perseverance. Dedication. Determination. Despite major setbacks to their program, the Cedar Springs Competitive Cheer program pushed through obstacles and swept its first OK White Conference meet on January 8 at Lowell High School. 

Coach Anne Olszewski is very proud of this team. “They have had some pretty significant adversaries this year and they are still battling through and coming out on top. We have had some members leave the team, for personal reasons, and this requires us to rewrite, rework and relearn the rounds in a very short amount of time. Our rounds are difficult, intricate and highlight certain skills that require many skills that require many repetitions in order to perfect.”

The Lady Red Hawks arrived at Lowell High School feeling anxious about their losses but determined to do what was needed to finish first at the meet. Despite trailing Forest Hills Northern by .5 at the end of round one, the Lady Red Hawks secured the top spot by executing three solid performances, earning a combined round three score of 734.4 and outscoring the second-place team by 18.3 points. 

Coach O affirmed the hard work of the team. “Wednesday night was our best round three score of the season and it was due to the grit and determination of 19 young women that know they can take on anything that is handed to them and never quit. What coach wouldn’t be proud?”

The JV Lady Red Hawks finished first at the junior varsity level with a combined round three score of 553.2. Coach Katy Hradsky commented, “We started 2020 off with a win at our first Conference Meet January 8th at Lowell High School. It was definitely not our best day, but it was a learning experience, and the girls really have made big goals for the rest of our season. I am excited to see them fulfill those goals over the next few weeks!”

Next Saturday, both levels will compete against some of the highest ranked teams in the state of Michigan at the prestigious Stoney Creek High School Invitational in Rochester Hills. On Monday, January 20, the ladies will travel to Forest Hills Northern to compete in their second OK White Conference Meet. Good luck girls! 

Cedar Springs Girls Basketball is off to their best start in recent memory. The team, off to a 4-0 start has outscored their opponents by an average of 19 points. Passing their first real test of the season, the team came from behind to defeat a scrappy Newaygo team 49-39.

Another strong start saw Cedar jump out to a 13-7 first quarter lead. Five different players scored during the first eight minutes of play.

Newaygo clawed all night and rallied in the 2nd period to tie the score 21-21 at halftime. The Lions jumped ahead by 8 points early in the third period before the Red Hawks got back on track. A pair of baskets by Junior Maggie Prins and a three-point bucket by classmate Avery Sparling helped spur a comeback in the third for a Cedar one point lead at the end of the quarter, 31-30.  

Junior Kaelyn Colclasure and Sparling each knocked down a three-pointer and the team hit 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to secure their fourth win in the opening two weeks of the season.

A balanced scoring attack was key to the Red Hawk victory. Prins led the scoring attack with 13 points and 9 rebounds followed by Colclasure and Sparling with 12 points each and Junior Arianna Rau hauled in a team high 13 rebounds.

The Lady Red Hawks will be back in action on Tuesday, December 17 when they travel to Big Rapids to take on the undefeated Cardinals and again on Friday, December 20 when they play at Northpointe Christian.  

The Cedar Springs Girls Basketball Team has opened the season with three impressive wins against Sparta, Grant and Muskegon Oakridge.

The Lady Red Hawks return 6 players, including 4 starters from last year’s squad that reached the District Final.  Add in five players from last year’s JV team, along with putting in a lot of effort throughout the preseason and the team is focused on competing for an OK White Championship.

On Tuesday, December 3, they opened the season with a 39-26 victory on the road against Sparta. Cedar jumped out quick and led 12-4 after the first quarter. The Red Hawks continued their pressure defense throughout the first three quarters and pushed their lead to 21 points.

Sophomore Darrah Miller led the Red Hawks with 10 points and 9 rebounds followed by Junior Arianna Rau with 9 points and 5 rebounds.

The ladies again hit the road on Friday, December 6, when they traveled to Grant. Avery Sparling scored 7 first quarter points and Maggie Prins added 4 in another fast start by the Red Hawks, who led 12-0 after one.  Balanced scoring in the 2nd period produced similar results as Cedar led 23-6 going into the break.  

The final score on the evening was 44-28 in favor of the Red Hawks. Junior Maggie Prins led the way scoring 11 points and hauling in 5 rebounds, followed by Sparling who added 10 points and 6 rebounds. Junior Kaelyn Colclasure dished out 7 assists on the evening.

In the first home game of the season on December 9, the Red Hawks cruised to victory defeating Muskegon Oakridge 57-20. After scoring on the opening tip, the Red Hawks never looked back—scoring early and often to take a 23-4 lead after the first quarter.  

All 11 girls on the roster scored on the evening and were led by Sparling with 11, Rau with 10, and Prins with 8. Colclasure was again dishing the rock with 5 assists and Junior Rosie Pigorsh hauled down a team high 7 rebounds.

The Red Hawks were back in action Wednesday evening when Newaygo came to Red Flannel town. See results of that game in next week’s paper.

The Cedar Springs Cross Country girls ran in the Kent Ottawa County Meet held at the Calvin College Gainey Athletic Complex on Saturday, October 12, showing that with each race they just keep getting better and better. 

The varsity squad finished 8th overall out of 14 teams.  Coming in first for the ladies and running strong in a time of 21:14 was Danika Fessenden who placed 24th. Izzy VanDusen moved her way up as the race progressed finishing 49th in 22:24. Tonya Tepin ran her season best in an incredibly smart race placing 54th in a time of 22:44 with teammate Molly Bentley finishing four spots behind in 58th place in a time of 22:48, which is her new lifetime best. Finishing next for the Red Hawks in the 70th spot was Alexis Wood who ran yet another personal best of 23:07. Lily Howland ran strong coming in 75th in a time of 23:16. Larissa McGrath was not far behind snagging the 77th spot running a 23:20 with Jade Yowtz placing 80th in a time of 23:39, which is a new lifetime personal best for her. 

The JV squad also had amazing performances and finished 5th of 6 teams missing out on 4th place by just two points. Junior Paige Marsman had her fastest race since her freshman season and the 6th fastest time for the team finishing 8th at 23:08, which is a new personal best. Madison Golliver ran her season best placing 13th in a time of 23:44. Rounding out for the JV team were Cloe Shoffner (32nd, 25:01), Isabella Smith (67th, 27:53), and Rachel Gallup (90th, 30:20).

 “Anyone who has watched our girls compete this season are noticing with every meet they just keep getting better and better. With how the conditions of the course were, and how windy it was, our girls competed with grit and heart no matter what they were up against. Words cannot describe who proud I am of our girls. They have been working so hard and are just an amazing group that I’m blessed to coach,” said Coach Melinda Stressman. 

The team will travel to Chippewa Hills High School to compete in the Late Season Warrior Invitational on Saturday, October 19.