My annual plumbing of my year in sports quotes produced a lot of quality material that ended up on the cutting room floor. That's probably a testament to the quality of communicators we have in the White Lake area, but it also made the exercise of publishing some of my favorite quotes of the year very challenging.
As always, I have no objective rubric or scale by which I pick the quotes I run here. I just choose ones that stand out to me for one reason or another. As we close in on the first day of practices for the 2026-27 academic year, I hope you enjoy this look back at 2025-26.
"The strategy was to stick with the pack for two miles and then start ramping it up the last mile and picking it up down the hill. My dad and coaches said, whoever's with you once you get into the stadium , that's your main contenders for the title. There was only one kid with me when I got into the stadium, so I knew it was going to be a battle." - No single athlete in the area had more success this year than Bobby Jazwinski, who won individual state titles in cross-country and track and rewrote the Vikings' distance-running record book. After winning the cross-country title in November, he outlined the strategy he put together for the race along with his family and coaches.
"I actually gave (Shelby coach Brian Wright) a hug...If I'm going to lose, (I'd want) to lose to a coach that's going out (like he is). I'm glad he's still going on and that he didn't have to end his (career) today. I'm rooting those guys on at this point." - It was supposed to be a special postseason run for Montague baseball this spring, but anything can happen in the playoffs, and Shelby upset the Wildcats in the district finals. Montague coach Jeff Moss took solace in the fact that Wright, who capped a 45-year career as Tigers' coach this year, got to go out a winner.
"They're a very athletic team. They're very fit. I think we're a deeper team; they barely subbed, but they still had more energy than us, so props to them on their fitness." - Depth usually wins in the postseason, but Reeths-Puffer girls soccer coach Kody Harrell found himself impressed by the stamina of a tough Gaylord team in the regional semifinals, which knocked out the Rockets, 3-1. However, R-P's district title was its first since 2014, making this year a success by any measure.
"It's nice because we don't send our guys to JV tournaments. We send them so they can wrestle other A teams. We essentially have A team one and A team two. That's how I like to look at it." - Former Whitehall wrestler Jarrean Sargent is now part of the Vikings' coaching staff and helmed the B team, or as he likes to view it, A team No. 2, on several occasions this year, including at the Montague Tri in January. The B team consisted in part of the teams' girls wrestlers, including state champion Kassie Sapp, as well as some future stars.
"I think everyone knows without saying it out loud what we're capable of. It's just a matter of putting in the work and seeing where the chips fall." - Before the 2025 season, Montague girls golf coach Phil Kerr said, without saying it, that he and his team each felt a state championship was on the table. Montague didn't quite achieve that goal, but it did grab a regional championship, and its fourth-place finish in the finals was its highest since its consecutive state titles in 2020 and '21. With all but one player set to return this fall, the Wildcats will be dreaming big again.
"I'm a representative of 14 years of service, and a lot of people putting a lot of sweat in the bucket. There's so many countless players that have done so many wonderful things for us. There are so many memories. There are so many kids that we still keep in touch with and how many guys are still coaching football with us now? That's the legacy." - Like any good football coach, Whitehall's Tony Sigmon is well aware that even though the wins go on his record, many more people contribute to the Vikings' success. When he became the program's all-time winningest coach thanks to last fall's win over rival Montague, he reflected on what they've done to help put him in the record books.
"My outlook has changed since when I coached my daughter. I told our athletic director the same thing when i interviewed for the job, that if they wanted someone who's all about winning, they need to hire somebody else." - Most high school coaches know it's about more than winning, but few are as frank about it as Montague softball coach Jeff Balon was upon taking over the position this spring. Conceding he focused on winning more when his daughter Maddison pitched for North Muskegon, Balon focused on the team, the game and improvement more so than the scoreboard this spring as the Wildcats try to build their program into a contender.
"She's the leader on the team for that because everybody expects the big girls to be hitting that ball around. She's also nearly six foot tall and she plays back row. She has a wingspan like a frickin' condor, so she's chasing Gentry (Knop) with digs because she's such a big presence." - I'm confident in very little in this world, but I think I can safely say Montague volleyball coach Gretchen Schneider is the first and last coach I will ever hear use the phrase "a frickin' condor" as a comparison for a player, as she did about the tall, athletic Reagan Cederquist after the Wildcats' season came to an end in last fall's district tournament.
"Bringing all these people together, all these female athletes that paved the way for us to be athletes at Whitehall. Deb Zylstra, she only had two female sports she could play in her time. Us getting able to do all these things, it means so much to us." - Whitehall's girls basketball team has taken pains the past couple of years to honor the school's female athletes past, never more obviously than when it hosted a reunion of the school's past Beausang Female Athlete of the Year award winners at its alumni game in December. Nearly half of the school's 50 all-time winners of the award were part of the event. Mayson Milliron, a team manager and daughter of coach Brian Milliron, noted how many more opportunities she and her fellow Viking girls have now in part because of people like Zylstra paving the way.
"You worry about trap games, and Montague is never a trap game. If you can't get up for the crosstown rivalry, what can you get up for?" - Montague may not have had the success it wanted in girls basketball this past season, but a rivalry is a rivalry, and Whitehall coach Brian Milliron and his team weren't going to look past the Wildcats. They won both matchups between the teams this year.
"They needed a day off, and I'm okay once in a season, or twice, depending on how the schedule works out, to give them a day, but it was also encouraging to see that a lot of them are going to the assistant coaches, and (saying), 'Hey, are you available? Will you do some stuff with me tomorrow?'" - Amid a tough stretch of the season that featured a bunch of games in a short time frame, Montague boys soccer coach Brandon Mahoney said he was giving his team the next day off following a loss to Fremont last fall. However, he was encouraged that several players sought out assistant coaches to get in extra work anyway.
"The only reason I wouldn't play (next year) is because of me." - Whitehall alum and new Oakland University basketball player Camden Thompson takes a confident, but healthy outlook heading into his first season there this winter following his fall 2025 run at Western Michigan. He believes he has the tools to contribute immediately, but he also knows it will be down to him to get the work done to make it happen.
