Jenelle Miller wins for the Rams at number three singles.

The Rockford varsity girls tennis team played their last conference game against Grandville last week. Rockford defeated Grandville 8-3, with wins at number two singles (Marjeanne Bothma), number three singles (Jenelle Miller), number four singles (Alyssa Bowman), number three doubles (Paula Downs, Brittney Raisch), and number four doubles (Mellisa Bors, Morgan Vermeulen) to go into the conference competition with a 5-1 record. On May 10 they played Northview to prepare for conference and ended up with a draw, but were ready for conference.

Competing for Rockford at number one singles is Lauren Korlewitz.

On May 12 the girls went to Jenison and Baldwin tennis courts to compete for conference against Grandville, East Kentwood, Hudsonville, West Ottawa, Jenison and Grand Haven. With only a few matches to be played, all games were stopped due to rain and postponed until 4 p.m., Monday, May 14.

Marjeanne Bothma wins for Rockford at number two singles.

Coupled with a Hudsonville loss to Grand Haven on Thursday, May 10, the Rockford baseball team took sole possession of first place in the OK Red by sweeping a pair of games from the West Ottawa Panthers last week. Rockford topped the Panthers 9-2 on Tuesday, May 8 at home before rallying late to take a 4-2 decision in Holland on Thursday. With four games left in conference play the Rams now stand at 9-1 (19-4 overall) while Hudsonville follows closely behind at 8-2.

“There is still a lot of baseball to be played,” said Rockford Coach Ian Hearn. “We have four very tough games left with Jenison and Grandville, and Hudsonville still has to play West Ottawa and East Kentwood. West Ottawa was a pretty solid team and we missed some opportunities to get out to a lead on Thursday. But we managed to win both games and that is what good teams do.”

In Tuesday’s tilt, Brent Showers went the distance on the mound for Rockford to garner the win. Showers allowed eight hits and only one earned run while whiffing eight and issuing a pair of bases on balls. Showers also helped himself at the plate with a pair of hits. Kory Young added a pair of doubles and Drew Farmer chipped in with a pair of hits including a double.

Not to be outdone, Ian Stankus twirled a gem in Thursday’s contest. Stankus allowed four hits while fanning seven and walking a trio of Panthers. Rockford amassed 12 hits as a team but it took some late heroics from Young and Steven Powell to claim the vastly important conference win. With the score tied at 2-2 in the seventh inning, Young blasted a home run and Powell later added an equally important run-scoring single. Just like Showers, Stankus also helped himself with the stick by getting a pair of hits. Tony Dileo led the way for Rockford with three hits and Young also added another base knock.

The Rams concluded the week by sweeping a pair of games from Caledonia at Rockford on Friday, May 11. The Rams blasted the Fighting Scots in the opener 13-1 before taking the nightcap by a margin of 6-3. Reid Kelley tossed the first four innings of the opener to get the win with relief help from Max Crimp in the mercy-rule shortened contest. Brandon Nostrant, Powell and Dileo all had a pair of hits to pace the Ram offense. One of Dileo’s hits was his third homer of the year and Stankus added a double.

Nick Street tossed the first five innings of the second contest and allowed three unearned runs while striking out six and issuing only one walk. Young got the save and struck out four over the final two innings. Farmer was the only Ram with multiple hits (two) including a double.

Rockford hosts Jenison on Tuesday, May 15 (too late for press) before returning the favor with a trip to Wildcat country on Thursday, May 17. The Rams will close out the week by hosting the Rockford Baseball Tournament on Saturday, May 19. The other teams participating include Troy, Portland and Hamilton.

“The regular season is starting to wind down,” said Hearn. “We have only eight games left and we host six of them. We need to continue to work and improve as a team both for our conference and to try and achieve the goals we set for ourselves earlier this year.”

The Rockford Rams girls track team displays their much-deserved first-place trophy after trailing East Kentwood most of the night.

After running the table (7-0) in the dual meet portion of the regular season, the girls track team from Rockford knew things could get a little dicier at the OK Red conference meet at West Ottawa on Friday, May 11. That was precisely what happened as the Rams managed to overcome a disappointing effort in the field events to top the field with 162 points. East Kentwood, as they had done during the regular season, finished second with 148 points.

“We put ourselves behind the eight ball in the field events,” said Rockford Coach Randy VanderVeen. “We were probably about forty points in the hole early on. It took everybody chipping in and digging deep to get us out of that early hole. You could take an All Star team from this conference and go to the state meet and the rest of the state couldn’t touch them. There were events where six or seven girls ran state-qualifying times. To come back against this level of competition is outstanding and speaks to the effort and determination of our athletes.”

The unquestioned star of the night for Rockford was senior distance runner Taylor Manett. Of the 162 points accumulated by the Rams, Manett had a hand in 38 of them. She won the 1,600 meters in a meet record time of 5:01.01, the 800 meters in 2:14.90 and the 3,200 meters in 11:00.25. She also ran a leg on the second-place finishing 3,200-meter team.

“We knew we needed Taylor to come through for us and boy did she ever,” said VanderVeen. “Taylor is kind of a throwback runner to the early 2000s for Rockford in distance running. At that time we had a lot of depth and a lot of girls with great versatility from 800 to 3,200 meters. She is the first distance runner I can remember in a while who helped account for so many team points.”

Keeping with the theme of last week, another school record fell for the Rams on Friday. This time it was the 800-meter relay quartet of Elise Schierbeek, Sammy Cuneo, Courtney Klaweiter and Katie DeHaan, who ran a blistering 1:42.07 to break a two-year-old mark of 1:42.16. That previous mark was a state championship winning time for the Rams.

DeHaan also set a new personal record in the pole vault at 11 feet to take fourth, while also running a 58.45 in the 400-meter race and anchoring a come-from-behind effort in the 1,600-meter relay race that saw the Rams top the field. Allison Kelley, Olivia Gilbert and Klaweiter were the other three members of that group.

Freshman speedster Cuneo also claimed a first-place finish in the 200 meters with a sterling time of 25.75 seconds.

Next on the docket for the Rams is the Division I regional meet at Houseman Field in Grand Rapids on Saturday, May 19. The Rams will be the overwhelming favorite from a team perspective, but the real point of this meet will be qualifying as many individuals as possible for the state finals two weeks later at East Kentwood.

“We always kind of refer to the regional meet as setting the table for dinner,” said VanderVeen. “It really lets you know how much you are going to enjoy your upcoming dinner. We will be back to being physically prepared, but we need to be mentally prepared as well. We have got to be mentally ready and qualify as many girls as possible for the state meet.”

Drew Woznick edges out Austin Benoit for first place in the 1,600-meter finals of the OK Red conference meet held at West Ottawa on Friday, May 11.

Beating East Kentwood was going to be a nigh unto impossible task for the boys track team from Rockford at the OK Red conference meet at West Ottawa on Friday, May 11. Things played out pretty much as expected as the Falcons rang up 190.5 points to the Rams’ 130.5. The two top teams in the conference meet ended up just as the regular season played out with East Kentwood first, Rockford second and everyone else an indistinct blur.

“I thought the kids showed up real well,” said Rockford Coach Andy Martin. “We had three kids in the 100-meter finals for the first time I can remember at Rockford and our 4×100 relay team did some damage. Chris Eggenberger, Drew Woznick and Austin Benoit all had great days as individuals, but we dropped the baton in the 4×800 relay and that really cost us. Overall, though, it was a good day for us as a team.”

Woznick took first in both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs. His winning time in the 800 was 1:59.92 and in the 1,600 it was 4:24.43.

Chris Eggenberger and Brandon Lubenow finish second and third in the 100-meter finals of the OK Red conference meet held Friday, May 11 at West Ottawa.

Eggenberger took the 200-meter in a blistering 22.27 and finished second in the 100-meter dash at 11.22 seconds. He was also part of the Ram 4×100-meter relay team that topped the field with an excellent time of 43.19 seconds. The other three members of that winning contingent were Brandon Lubenow, Nick Simms and Tim Gilbert.

Benoit had a pair of runner-up finishes for the Rams. He ran a 9:51.89 3,200-meter and narrowly lost to Woznick with a time of 4:24.73 in the 1,600 meters.

“That was great seeing a pair of Rockford runners out in front of the pack at the finish line in the 1,600,” said Martin. “If Austin [Benoit] had another ten meters he may have passed Drew [Woznick], but they both ran a fantastic race.”

Next up for Rockford is the Division I regional at Houseman Field in Grand Rapids on Saturday, May 19. The Rams will be joined by a host of fellow OK Red members and several other West Michigan schools for the meet that will determine how many Rockford athletes will advance to the state finals two weeks later at East Kentwood.

“We want to go into the meet and win,” said Martin. “We have faced and beaten just about every other team that will be there. This is a meet we have been focusing on, and I think you will see an outstanding effort by everyone in orange and black.”

Men’s Lightweight 8 brings in their boat after their gold medal performance. Photo by CHUCK GINEBAUGH

“Go Rams!” echoed through the Harsha Lake valley east of Cincinnati on Saturday and Sunday, Mother’s Day weekend, as Rockford rowed to first place in the men’s division of the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship (MSRC). The Rams were followed in second and third place by Toledo Central Catholic and Cleveland St. Ignatius, respectively. While there were no fancy Mother’s Day brunches, the Rockford moms and dads who served the rowers in the food tent throughout the regatta were thrilled with the victory. The general feeling was, “They rocked!” referring to the amazing performances by all of the rowers.

The Rockford women rowers earned third-place honors at this regional championship. First place in the women’s division was won by New Trier (Winnetka, Ill.), and second place was taken by Upper Arlington (Columbus).

In the men’s and women’s combined points, Rockford came in second place behind New Trier.

Rockford rowers celebrate their award-winning performance. Photo by CHUCK GINEBAUGH

The warm sunny day of time-trials and semifinal races on Saturday qualified 11 Rockford boats for Sunday’s final races. Of those, 10 earned medals (seven gold, two silver, and one bronze).

Head Coach Timothy Jacobs commented, “As a coach, watching our boats from shore racing in the grand finals is awesome, but to have ten of the eleven boats medal with the majority being first-place finishes is priceless.”

Forty-five schools from six states competed in the MSRC this year.

Rockford’s first-place winning boats were the Men’s Lightweight 4+ winning by 2.27 seconds over Ann Arbor Pioneer (K. Clinthorne, Tristan VanFossen, I. Blenman, D. Itter, coxswain L. Conner); Men’s Lightweight 8+ beating second-place Upper Arlington by six seconds (Clinthorne, VanFossen, T. Maple, J. Nemeth, M. Hendershott, S. Ginebaugh, Blenman, Itter, coxswain Conner); Men’s Varsity 4+ overcoming a tight race to win against Ignatius Chicago by 0.58 seconds (Bryce VanderBerg, A. Carley, C. Fase, M. Hendershott, coxswain R. Featherston); Men’s Varsity 2 besting second-place Upper Arlington by more than 11 seconds (VanderBerg, Carley); Men’s Novice 8+ winning by more than seven seconds over second-place New Trier (M. Crimp, E. Sawicki, J. Ullrey, A. LaBadie, N. Guerra, R. O’Grady, A. Houn, A. Karsten, coxswain J. Villearreal); Women’s Novice 4+ triumphing over second-place Upper Arlington by nine seconds (M. Fix, M. Plekes, H. Twardy, M. Marvin, coxswain I. Waite); and Women’s Junior 4+ defeating second-place Ignatius Chicago by eight seconds (A. Andrews, A. Dew, T. Powers, L. Pratt, coxswain Bri VanderBerg).

Second-place finishes for Rockford were the Women’s Freshman 8+ (S. VanFossen, Plekes, V. Kacsits, A. Kely, C. Wadlow, Marvin, Fix, T. Todd, coxswain S. Doletsky); and Men’s Freshman 8+ (Crimp, Sawicki, Ullrey, LaBadie, Z. Lecceadone, O’Grady, Houn, Karsten, coxswain Villarreal).

The Women’s Varsity 4+ earned the bronze medal (K. Bilardello, K. Korson, K. Fraser, A. Galloway, coxswain R. DeKorne), coming in 1.8 seconds behind second-place Chicago Ignatius.

Coach Jacobs summed up the efforts of the Rams, “The rowers have worked to exhaustion preparing for the Midwest Championships, and the results attest to their dedication to training. As coaching staff we are very proud of our team’s accomplishments.”

Many of the winning boats will compete in the National Championship Regatta in Camden, New Jersey over the Memorial Day weekend. In addition, Rockford will be competing in the State Rowing Championship this weekend, Saturday May 19, at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids. Rockford won the state championship last year and hopes to do very well again this year.

Nine players scored for Rockford, including freshman Lexi Chisholm in her debut on the varsity team. Also scoring goals were Adrianna Craft (three), Maddie Levine (three), Abbey Finlayson (two), Morgan Longberg (one), Julia Ceglowski (one), Kara Vandawater (one), Macy Thompson (one), and Heather Ferriby (one). With the win the girls advanced to the district championship game that Saturday night against East Kentwood.

In the championship game, East Kentwood’s Julie Riemersma scored first. However, the stingy Rockford defense held the Falcons to that one goal in the first quarter. Rockford’s Vandawater scored a goal and Craft added two to bring the first period score to 3-1.

Casey Wolfer scored the only goal in the second quarter for Rockford and the score at the half was 4-1.

In the third quarter, Rockford came out with speed and an excellent attacking game. Wolfer, Levine and Craft each scored a goal. The Lady Rams were working hard as a team, and of those seven goals, four were assists from Marie Siegel, Levine, Ceglowski and Wolfer.

Longberg started the fourth quarter with a goal, but the talented East Kentwood team added four goals in the fourth. However, Rockford maintained their lead to win 8-5.

The next game for the Rams will be against Grand Haven at the West Regionals championship tournament at East Grand Rapids High School on Friday, May 18 at 6:30 p.m.

The Rockford varsity softball team struggled to a 0-4 record on the week against a pair of solid opponents. The Rams first dropped a pair of games to West Ottawa on Tuesday, May 8, by scores of 7-2 and 5-3. They then fell twice on Thursday, May 10, to the two-time defending Division II state champions from Stevensville Lakeshore by scores of 10-4 and 4-2. The losses dropped Rockford’s record to 17-12 on the season, but it was a learning experience for a young Ram squad, according to Rockford Coach Troy Brown.

“West Ottawa threw a four-year starter on the mound against us in both games, and Stevensville Lakeshore is a powerhouse program year after year that is ranked first in the state again this year,” said Brown. “Except for some uncharacteristic defensive lapses during the week, we were right there and just couldn’t come up with a key hit to put us over the top. The growth of this team from the beginning of the year up till now is amazing. We will benefit from this and move forward.”

The Panthers of West Ottawa and Rockford both totaled 18 hits in the two contests. The Panthers strung theirs together and the Rams didn’t; it was as simple as that. Ashley Mengyen suffered the loss in the opener in a route-going performance. Mengyen allowed 10 hits and walked three while striking out six. Carmen Zeboor had a double and Hannah Pattok had both runs batted in (RBIs) for Rockford. Zeboor took the loss in the nightcap while allowing eight hits, walking three and fanning two. Megan Port, Isabelle Mudgett and Lexie Brown all had a pair of hits for Rockford. Lexie Brown’s hits were both doubles and she had all three RBIs.

The Rams committed four errors in the first inning of the opening contest against Stevensville Lakeshore to fall into a quick 4-0 hole they couldn’t crawl out of. Mengyen took the loss and gave up 11 hits while walking three and striking out three. Kayla Tykosky had a triple and Mackanzie Vallad and Rachel Feinauer added doubles. Zeboor had six strike-outs while walking three and allowing only seven hits in the back end of Thursday’s twin bill. Mudgett had a perfect three-for-three showing at the plate and Karlee Tykosky chipped in with a pair of base knocks.

This week the Rams will host Jenison on Tuesday, May 15 (too late for press) in an OK Red doubleheader before venturing to Ionia for a tournament on Saturday, May 19.

“I really feel that this team is ready to go on a roll now,” said Coach Brown. “We have played some of the absolute best teams in the state over the last few weeks and seen some of the best pitching in the state over that same time frame. We prep all year for the OK Red season and the playoffs. The players and the coaches have learned a lot about each other and it is time for us to take advantage of all that we have learned.”

Kory Young.

Rockford High School (RHS) is pleased to announce that sophomore Kory Young has committed to play baseball at Michigan State University (MSU). Young was recruited to play shortstop for the Spartans.

MSU is regarded as one of the top baseball programs in the Big 10 Conference. MSU won the Big 10 title in 2011 and they are in the hunt again this year.

Young will be joining Kirk Gibson’s son, Cam, on the baseball field at MSU.

Young, who has worked extremely hard over his career, was part of the 2011 Rockford state champions team as a freshman. The very talented sophomore is the top rated sophomore infielder in the state of Michigan, according to MichiganBaseballProspects.org. He is again determined to be a major contributor and a force for the defending state champions, Rockford Rams.

In the summer, Young plays travel baseball for Rockford Team Ram and Elite. Team Ram is coached by RHS varsity assistant coach Steve Fusee.

Young is the son of Brian and Kim Young of Rockford.

Roger Allen, publisher. “Rockford is the Humor Capital of the World”

The side with the most arrows and the best horses wins the war. Nope, wrong century.

New truth: The side with the most guns wins the war.

Better truth: being smart about resolving conflict can avoid the gun solution. The gun solution seems to feed on itself and, more often than not, leads to more unnecessary conflict.

Another new truth: The politician with the most money wins the election. We need to remember this when we vote for our representatives in Congress. Every poll shows they’re currently WAY down on Americans’ approval list.

Sad truth: We elected all of them.

Hopeful truth: In a democracy, voters must GET INFORMED and STAY INFORMED. Leaving the TV on one station all the time? Not enough. We need to expose ourselves to real information, and a variety of it.

Politicians lie to us and they pay others to lie to us. They want to warp our opinions. Let’s prove we aren’t pushovers.

More crooks

Thieves robbed a bank. The chief of police ordered his sergeant to cover all exit points so that none of the robbers could get away.

When the sergeant reported back that all the robbers had escaped, the chief went mad with anger. Pounding on the desk, he yelled, “Didn’t I tell you to cover all the exit points?”

“I did,” defended the sergeant, “but they managed to escape through the entrance.”

And another one

The bank manager was down to two final applicants, one of whom would get the job as cashier.

The first was from a small college in upstate New York. He was a nice young fellow but a bit timid. His interview went okay, but it was nothing special.

Then the bank manager called for the other man: “Jim Johnson!”

Up stepped a burley young man who seemed quite sure of himself. “He looks like he can take care of any situation,” thought the manager, and decided, there and then, to hire him.

Turning to the first applicant, the manager said he could leave and they would let him know.

Turning to Johnson, he said, “Now, Jim, I like the way you carry yourself. That’s an asset for the job as cashier. However, you must also be precise. I noticed you didn’t fill out the part on the application where we asked about your formal education.”

Jim looked a little confused so the manager said, “Where did you get your financial training?”

“Oh,” replied Jim, “Yale.”

“Excellent,” said the manager. “You’re hired! Now that you’re working for us, what do you prefer to be called?”

Jim replied, “I don’t care. Either Yim or Mr. Yonson.”

We found those blondes

Three blondes took a walk in the country and came upon a line of tracks. “Those must be deer tracks,” said the first one.

“No, stupid,” said the second. “Anyone can tell they’re rabbit tracks.”

The third blonde chimed in, “No, you idiots, those are horse tracks!”

They were still arguing ten minutes later when the train hit them.