1. Paige Westra makes history as all-state football player
It was a historical school year in many ways for Zeeland East senior Paige Westra.
One of the top female athletes in the history of the area, Westra reached new levels of historic performances in her final year with the Chix. The most groundbreaking came in the fall when she became the first female athlete to earn first-team all-state honors in football.
She was the first-team kicker, voted by the Associated Press statewide media committee, something no female had done before this season. Westra then went on to earn all-state honors in two more sports. She was a second-team all-state performer in soccer after tying her own school record for goals in a season with 26 and totaling a career school record of 65, which happened in just three seasons since the pandemic wiped out her sophomore season.
If all of that wasn't impressive enough, and it of course is, Westra's best sport was track and field, where she finished state runner-up in the shot put and was the top discus thrower in the area as well to earn all-state honors. All of that while competing in soccer in the same season. It was an incredible cap to an incredible career for Westra.
2. Girls wrestling has its own season, state finals
لأول مرة في تاريخ مصارعة فتيات ميشيغان ، ينتهي الطريق إلى لقب الولاية في حقل فورد في ديترويت.
تصارعت الفتيات لعقود في الولاية ، لكن العام الدراسي 2021-22 هو أول مرة تعقد فيها MHSAA بطولة منفصلة على مستوى الولاية للفتيات. في الماضي ، أُجبرت المصارعات على التنافس كعضو في فريق النادي أو كجزء من فرقة مختلطة.
غرب أوتاوا لديها تقليد طويل من المصارعات الفتيات طوال تاريخ البرنامج. قال المدرب رايان لانكستر إنه سعيد للغاية لأن الدولة أدركت أخيرًا أن الفتيات لديهن نفس الحق في لقب الدولة مثل المصارعين الأولاد في الولاية.