SPORTS

VARSITY CROSS COUNTRY
Elk trio runs to all-state honors

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Elk seniors Brynne Schulte, Anna Pray and Qwynn Darnell all medaled and earned all-state honors at the Division 3 cross country state finals last Saturday. Courtesy photo
The three Elk Rapids cross country runners who qualified for the state finals meet made the nearly four-hour trip downstate to run in the Division 3 Cross Country State Finals held on Saturday at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, located about an hour southwest of Ann Arbor. This site is the annual location for all four divisions of the cross country state finals.
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The Elk senior trio of Brynne Schulte, Anna Pray and Qwynn Darnell ran strong and finished their high school cross country careers earning all-state honors. “They absolutely crushed it on Saturday. All three made the podiums with career best time and place finishes at the state meet. The trio also qualified for academic all-state as well,” said Elk cross country coach Remmi King.

In the girls race, Schulte finished in ninth place with season record run time of 18:44.10., and Pray came in at number 28, recording a time of 19:23.00. There were over 250 individual runners competing in the Division 3 girls meet. On the boys side, Darnell finished at number 20 with a personal record run of 16:11.30.

The Division 3 boys race had 256 individual runners competing. The top 30 finishers in each race earned all-state honors.

This was the third all-state award earned by Schulte, the first coming as a freshman in 2022 finishing at 27 (19:43.44), then as a sophomore in 2023 coming in at number 26 (19:12.30).

Pray and Darnell were all-state honorees for the first time on Saturday, although both Elk runners were making an impressive fourth trip to the cross country state finals meet this year.

Congratulations to the three Elk seniors and to Coach King and the entire Elk cross country team on a great season! Elk Pride!

VARSITY GOLF
Smith earns golf all-state honors

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Piper Smith made Elk Rapids school sports history after being selected to the Division 4 Girls Golf All-State team last week by the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association (MIGCA). Smith, a freshman at Elk Rapids, was one of 13 golfers chosen for the post-season honor and the first-ever all-state honoree in the four years of the Elk girls golf program.

The Lady Elks golf team made history several times this season, winning a first conference championship and regional title and making a first trip to the state finals where they finished an impressive fourth place.

“I found out about making the all-state team from Coach Mike Newhouse; he called me to let me know I had made the all-state first team,” Smith said. “I had no clue about this all-state team, so it was a big surprise for me. I didn’t even know it existed. At first I wasn’t sure about how big of an accomplishment it was, but once my Dad and a lot of people at school started congratulating me, I knew it was pretty big.” Even more impressive is that Smith has been playing golf for only three years.

“I typically pick things up pretty quickly when trying new things. I’ve been playing golf for three years, but I really started getting into it and competing about a year ago,” Smith said.

Smith will start basketball season in about a week and after that plans on playing soccer, but she will continue with golf and is looking forward to next season.

“I know that next year the team will come back bigger and better. Everyone improved greatly this season, and next season we’ll be ready to dominate,” Smith said.
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Congratulations to Piper Smith as the first Lady Elk all-state golfer!

VARSITY VOLLEYBALL
Wins regular season finale 

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Heidi Straight (2) keeps the ball in play with Coraline Rainey (11) backing her up. Photo by Kim Eardley Photography
The Lady Elks volleyball team closed out the regular season schedule hosting Glen Lake last Thursday and came away with a 3-1 victory, giving the Elks a two-game winning streak heading into post-season competition.

The Thursday night contest celebrated “Senior Night” with the senior foursome of Rhielynn Skrocki, Myah Pescatello, Evelyn Bruso and Heidi Straight playing on the Elk home court for the final time. 

The Elks looked strong claiming the first set 25-17 but then suffered a 21-25 defeat in the second set to even the match. The Elks regrouped and then crushed the Lakers in the next two sets 25-15 and 25-14 to notch the 3-1 win.

The four Elk seniors had a busy last home game, Skrocki finished with 11 kills, three digs, a block and served six aces, Pescatello racked up 33 assists to go with three kills, three digs and a block, Bruso added eight kills with a block and Straight tallied 14 digs with an assist.  

For the night Payton Friess had six kills, 11 digs an assist and ace, Coraline Rainey added nine digs and a kill, Allie Schlicker had three kills, four digs and five aces, Maggie Best chipped in six kills, five digs and a block, Lily Weirema had two assists and a dig, Caris Bush finished with seven digs and Rylie Kaltenbach tallied three kills. The Elks had 41 kills, 57 digs, 37 assists, four blocks and 15 aces.

The Lady Elks (15-22-1) drew a first-round bye in Division 3 districts competition and began the post season with a semifinal matchup against Mancelona (11-18) on Wednesday, played in Glen Lake. The Lady Ironmen had a 3-0 sweep of Grand Traverse Academy in a first-round district contest to advance to the semifinal game against the Elks.

Mancelona and Elk Rapids didn’t play each other on the court this season; the last meeting between the two squads was a 3-0 sweep by the Elks in a district semifinal game last year.
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The Elk and Ironmen semifinal winner advanced to the district championship game, scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday in Glen Lake against the winner of the St. Francis (28-16) and Glen Lake (17-12-2) district semifinal matchup played on Wednesday.
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The Elk varsity volleyball team honored seniors Evelyn Bruso, Myah Pescatello, Heidi Straight and Rhielynn Skrocki at the final home game of the season last Thursday night. Photo by Kim Eardley Photography

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
Elk Athletic Hall of Fame to induct new members

The Elk Rapids High School Athletics Hall of Fame Committee has announced the Class of 2026 inductees, consisting of a trio of Elks selected from three different eras. The inductees selected are Randy Coleman (ERHS 1978), Stephanie Steuer (ERHS 2006) and Finn Husband (ERHS 2019). 

Coleman was a standout player in football, basketball, holding the Elk career rebounds record with 500 boards and baseball, earning all-state recognition. 

Steuer played basketball, skied and was a standout all-state softball player and a member of the Lady Elk 2003 regional champion team.
Husband was standout skier for the Elks, finishing as state champion in the giant slalom and was a two-time state champion in the slalom, while also earning all-state honors playing soccer. 
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The induction ceremony is scheduled for Friday, January 2, 2026, taking place at halftime of the Elk boys varsity basketball game against St. Francis. Congratulations to the three 2026 ERHS Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees!