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Boys Tennis Rallies for their 16th State Championship, Plus More Championship Action
Boys Tennis Rallies for their 16th State Championship, Plus More Championship Action
Updated on 10/24/2024

In real time, it would have been difficult to identify the moment that would eventually propel Greenhills Boys Tennis to their 16th state championship. To start Saturday’s MHSAA Finals, Greenhills found themselves with an uphill battle. Six Gryphon flights were alive to start the day and every match would play a crucial role in earning points towards the state title. The margin of error was razor thin with #1 ranked Cranbrook and #2 ranked Detroit Country Day represented in the semifinals in each flight Saturday.

 

After semifinals completed in the morning, Greenhills found itself needing to all-but-sweep the five flights where they were still alive. One-singles Teddy Staebler advanced to Saturday’s semifinals, along with all four doubles flights.

 

The improbable feat looked unlikely within the first 20 minutes of Championship Round Play. One-doubles tandem of Kabir R ‘25 and Will P ‘27 found themselves down to top-seeded Detroit Country Day five games to zero. Greenhills would have to win six straight games to stay alive in the first set, a feat as unlikely as the 5-0 start DCD was able to earn. However, any coach or experienced competitor will say, you can’t win five straight without winning the first. With four other championship Greenhills championship matches taking place concurrently, Kabir and Will quietly, calmly stayed alive and took the next game. Then the next. And next. Eventually they would win seven straight games, taking the first set and turning around a championship quest that 30-minutes prior was on life support. Kabir and Will would go on to finish the job over an hour later, winning the second set and match. Meanwhile, Greenhills tandems of Charlie R ‘26 and Ajay P ‘26 (two-doubles) and Kirtan P ‘27 and Richard W ‘26 (three-doubles) won flight championships, along with finalists Deven P ‘27 and Lander W ‘27 (four-doubles). The stage was set, then, for Teddy Staebler to shut the door and propel Greenhills to an improbable state title. After dropping the first set, Teddy stoically took care of business, winning the one singles state championship 1-6 / 6-1 / 6-2 and Greenhills found itself atop the leaderboard once again, by the slimmest of margins. Read more from the MHSAA here.

 

Golf Finishes with a top-5 place at States; Senior Mia M ‘25 earns a final top-3 Finish

Varsity golf traveled to Michigan State University and Forest Akers West golf course for the MHSAA State Championship. For senior golf star Mia M ‘25, it was a chance to win a historic fourth individual state title. As a team, Greenhills, led by Mia and fellow senior captain Hannah L ‘25, played admirably and earned a top-5 finish. Mia’s quest for four, however, came up just short thanks to some incredible play by one of Mia’s frequent challengers. Mia finished third overall with a 2-round score of 156. The top-3 finish caps an unprecedented four year career from Mia that included not only three individual state championships, but also, along with Hannah, three team Regional Championships and two team conference championships. You can watch more on Mia and the team’s journey via this short film produced by MLive.

 

Varsity Soccer on to the Elite Eight! 

Drama wasn’t limited to last weekend. This past Tuesday, fresh off a fourth-straight district championship, competed in the first round of regionals against Eaton Rapids. After 80 minutes of scoreless soccer, plus another 20 minutes of overtime without a goal, a ticket to today’s Regional Championship came down to a shootout. Cool and collected, Greenhills put away all four of their attempts while senior captain Etienne R ‘25 came up with the critical save to advance Greenhills to tonight’s Regional Championship. Greenhills will face host Williamston with a trip to the state semi-finals on the line.

 

Cross Country Rides Top-3 Conference Finishes onto State Regionals

The post-season gets underway this weekend for Cross Country. The Gryphons travel to Algonac for this year’s MHSAA Regional meet. Last weekend, Greenhills girls finished third overall at the Catholic High School League Championship. 9th grader Addi G led the pack, finishing first with a time of 20:02.5. On the boys side, the Gryphons finished second overall, a staggering 59 points ahead of third place Riverview Gabriel Richard and only 10 points behind champion Royal Oak Shrine.

 

Next week we’ll check in on our varsity swim and dive and varsity volleyball teams as they prepare for their post-season runs. 

 

Go Hills,

Tom Ward

Director of Athletics

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