The Sun and News (2025)

23/07/2025

Area music fans really showed up to support the Caledonia Concert Series as the band Time Sawyer performed at the Caledonia Community Green Amphitheater Tuesday for the final show of July.

It was as if the crowd, one of the largest yet this summer, was taking the band’s advice even before hearing guitarist and lead singer Sam Tayloe sing “you best get down to livin’ before livin’ gets you down” on a warm, sunny evening.

Time Sawyer is a four-pice band based out of Charlotte, NC. Jordan Nelson on drums, Court Wynter on bass and Justin Clyde Williams on electric guitar took the stage with Tayloe Tuesday, after a quick little acoustic set by Williams.

Honoring Irish traditional music, On the Lash opened the show. That foursome released its first album, “Fireside” in April, and drew glowing reviews from Tuesday’s emcee Josh Rose …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Sun and News …

23/07/2025

The honking fire engine drew cheers as it came along Bender Road in front of the Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library towards the south parking lot at the high school.

The kids already knew what was coming.

The library hosted its annual summer Water Fun Spray Day with the Thornapple Township Fire Department Tuesday, with firefighter Zack Cronk spraying down a group of young readers. Those youngsters did their best to dodge the spray from the fire hose at times and did their best to draw his fire at others.

Youngsters cooled off in the spray, jumped in mud puddles and capped off the half-hour session with freezer pops passed out by the library staff.

The library will host an ice cream social Tuesday, July 29 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., in the middle of its prize week for summer readers.

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Sun and News …

27/06/2025

With alfalfa all around, corn more than waist high across the street and horses and cows on the horizon, the young Thornapple Kellogg Future Farmers of America (FFA) Chapter broke ground on a new barn off of Bender Road in Middleville Friday morning.

The chapter has raised more than $150,000 in donations and grants for the barn project, and the FFA advisory board fundraising committee also raised nearly $40,000 to contribute.

The Thornapple Kellogg FFA Chapter was reborn during the 2022-23 school year after shutting down in the mid-1960s.

The barn will be used for FFA activities, events and there will be classroom space. Plans are for the main structure to be ready thjs fall and for TKHS technology classes to spend time helping finish off the interior of the barn.

FFA Advisor Alyssa Hamlin and FFA Chapter President Erika Wolowicz ,a TKHS student, addressed the gathered crowd down the drive from the TK Schools bus garage. They thanked sponsors and looked forward to opportunities the space will provide …

Read more in the July 5 edition of The Sun and News …

25/06/2025

A couple of box fans propped up on the monitors in the front of the Caledonia Community Green Amphitheater weren’t nearly as effective as a big gray cloud or two and a welcome breeze that arrived just in time for the headliners Tuesday.

Chain Station performed for a handful of local celebrities that host Josh Rose pointed out before the show, Clifford the dog (not the big red one) and dozens and dozens of other area music fans on a steamy evening at the second Caledonia Concert Series show of the summer. The string quartet out of Denver, Colo. played their form of bluegrass “mountain music” with Alex Thoele on acoustic guitar, Jon Pickett on a stand-up bass, Jarett Mason on mandolin and Jeremy Koch on banjo.

Youngsters were doing cartwheels and mule kicks in the grass before the show ever really even got started, and by the end Chain Station had everyone singing along on “Never Goin’ Back” from their 2013 album “Dancin’ With the Law.”

The group put a bluegrass spin on Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s “American Girl,” but mostly played from their own catalog which they’ve been building since Thoele and Pickett met in Estes Park, Colo. in 2006. For those that need another dose of Chain Station, the band will be in Casey, Ill. Friday, at The Livery in Benton Harbor Saturday, and then at Chicago Winery in Chicago Sunday.

Luke Lehnart and Bernie Steffes opened the evening of music, which was offered up free to the public with the sponsorship of Serve Pro of Southeast Grand Rapids.

The Caledonia Concert Series continues throughout the summer. Sentimental Gentlemen from East Nashville will headline the July 8 show. When they aren’t performing their own music, the Sentimental Gentlemen are the regular backing band for Sierra Ferell. The band played on her recent Grammy winning album “Trail of Flowers.”

31/05/2025

Hannah Dupuis likes to find a pack with a good pace and hang out at the back and let it pull her around the track.

If the 3200-meter run at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track and Field Finals hadn’t been her last varsity race, she might have started running out of folks to chase soon.

Dupuis shattered per personal record in the 3200 dropping more than 15 seconds to finish with a time of 10 minutes 54.52 seconds and a 13-place result in her first ever track and field finals race Saturday at East Kentwood High School.

The progression: 12:33.75 as a junior season best. Down to 12:22.29 at the first OK Green Conference dual of her senior season this spring. A sub-12 3200 of 11:51.26 at the Hastings Invitational in mid April. Another leap to 11:23.29 at the 2025 Shepherd Bluejay Invite. From there she cut about four seconds off her PR at the OK Green Conference Championships, and then more than nine seconds off at regionals to 11:10.01. Finally, the shocking dip under 11 minutes Saturday.

Her next school races will be for the Michigan Tech University Huskies, and she was excited to get her PR within a second of the young Minnesotan she’ll be rooming with next fall.

Caledonia junior Cody Myers added about 18 feet to his PR in the boys’ discus this spring, and was just a little off his top throws of the season at the state finals Saturday. He unleashed a top throw of 149 feet 6 inches to finish in 21st place in his first state finals appearance Saturday.

Read more in next weekend’s edition of the Sun and News …

31/05/2025

One state medal.

Two school records.

Four girls with a day they won’t ever forget.

Senior Brooklyn Harmon is Thornapple Kellogg’s first-ever Division 1 state medalist. She placed seventh in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles; broke her own school record in the 100-meter hurdles twice; and then teamed with juniors Mia Hilton and Payton Gater and freshman Amya Gater to set a new TK record in the 4x400-meter relay Saturday at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track and Field Finals inside East Kentwood’s Falcon Stadium.

Harmon hit the 300 hurdles’ finish line in 45.32 seconds, her second fastest time in the race ever and just about half a second off the school-record time she set in winning a regional championship two weeks ago.

The Trojans had a couple near misses at the medal stand at the finals. The top eight in each event earn medals. In an earlier heat of the 300 hurdles Hilton dropped her personal record in the race to 45.66 to place ninth - just 14 hundredths of a second behind the last of the state medalists.

Harmon had a ninth-place finish of her own in the 100-meter hurdles to open the day. The TK record holder in that race too, Harmon improved her PR to 14.62 in the preliminaries. She improved it again down to 14.48 in the finals finishing three hundredths of a second behind the last state medalist.

Harmon and Hilton closed out their day competing in the 4x400-meter relay with the Gater sisters and racing to a new school record time of 4 minutes .57 seconds.

Rebecca Wi******er, Kersta Gustafson, Emma Ordway and Chaney Robinson still have their names scattered across the TK girls’ record list in other events, but the 2025 TK foursome in the race at the D1 Finals was about a second faster than the top time turned in by those Trojans who won the 2006 D2 state championship.

A school record in the 4x400 was not something in the minds of Amya, Payton, Hilton and Harmon heading into the state meet, but they shaved an astounding six seconds off the TK team’s previous best time in the race from this spring. They were seeded 25th out of 27 teams at the state finals in the race and wound up in 12th place.

It certainly was a step up in competition, the move from Division 2 to Division 1 this spring. For reference, the Trojans in Kentwood were nine hundredths of a second faster than the Saginaw Swan Valley foursome that won the girls’ 4x400-meter relay at the MHSAA L.P. Division 2 Track and Field Finals at Hamilton High School Saturday afternoon …

Read more in next weekend’s edition of the Sun and News …

31/05/2025

The cavalcade of comebacks finally came to an end for the Fighting Scots at Forest Hills Northern Friday.

The Caledonia varsity boys’ lacrosse team pulled within one of the host Huskies at 7-6 a minute into the second half of their MHSAA Division 2 State Quarterfinal, but a third straight come-from-behind victory in the postseason did not materialize for the Scots. Forest Hills Northern scored six unanswered goals and went on to a 15-7 win over the final 23 minutes.

The Fighting Scots rallied to beat Okemos in overtime in the regional semifinals and then won their second ever regional championship coming from behind in the fourth quarter against Forest Hills Eastern Tuesday.

Sophomore Lincoln Senti scored the last of his team leading four goals with 2:31 remaining in the fourth quarter at FHN Friday.

The pleasantries with the Huskies were through. The last on-field huddle of the season for the Scots broke. The last bits of the sunset started fading. Senti found his way across the tack for handshakes and hugs with the classmates leaning over the bleacher railing with letters spelling out B-I-G-L-I-N-C painted on their chests. He wasn’t the only guy in purple and white there to show appreciation for their supporters.

Senior Brady Hilaski had two goals and junior Samuel Hoag one for the Scots.

Putting the ball in the net is tough when you don’t possess it. FHN junior Benny Hall was nothing short of dominant on the draws winning nearly every (if not every) single one all evening long. He is now over 500 face-off wins for the FHN varsity.

Owen Ostipow and Cooper Clark had four goals apiece for the Huskies. Dylan Van Skiver scored three times and Eli Macauley twice. Senior Owen Butler opened the scoring for the Huskies, and while the Scots pulled even at 1-1, 3-3 and 5-5 they never held a lead.

FHN will face East Grand Rapids in the MHSAA Division 2 Semifinals in Hudsonville Tuesday, June 3.

30/05/2025

The MHSAA postseason is in full swing in this weekend’s edition of the Sun and News.

The Caledonia varsity boys’ lacrosse team won its second ever regional championship, and plays tonight (May 30) in the MHSAA Division 2 State Quarterfinals at Forest Hills Northern High School against the host Huskieskies (game time is 7:30.)

The Caledonia varsity softball team opened the state postseason with a shutout of Forest Hills Central in an MHSAA Division 1 Pre-District ballgame led by a varsity career high 15 strikeouts from senior pitcher Molly Lieske.

The Thornapple Kellogg varsity girls’ soccer team was downed in a stacked MHSAA Division 2 District Tournament this week. The TK and Caledonia golfers competed in their respective regional tournaments this week. The Trojan and Scot varsity track and field teams competed in some all-star meets in the lead-up to tomorrow’s MHSAA Division 1 Track and Field Finals at East Kentwood High School.

And more …
(Caledonia boys’ lacrosse photos courtesy Chris Robotham)

26/05/2025

From a wreath in the Thornapple River to “Taps” at Mount Hope Cemetery, Middleville honored those who lost their lives in service to their country Monday during the annual Memorial Day observances.

“The heroes that our country honors today are not exclusive to any gender, race or religion,” Air Force veteran Jerry Welsh said during the ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery. “They come from all economic classes and backgrounds. They hail from all 50 states, and some have even migrated from other countries and earned their citizenship through military service. They are a diverse group wedded to the belief that America is a nation worth dying for.

“Middleville and the surrounding area are very supportive of our military, our veterans and our heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice. One is the outpouring of the people lined up on streets today.”

23/05/2025

Mortarboards flew well before graduating senior Rylee Seguin gave her classmates the orders to move their tassels from right to left near the conclusion of the 2025 Thornapple Kellogg High School commencement ceremony inside Bob White Stadium in Middleville Thursday.

Unseasonably cool temperatures and a steady wind had graduates sweeping tassels and hair from their eyes, chasing down rogue mortarboards and/or gripping them to their heads, and spectators bundled up in the stands.

But Abigail Dumond spoke of the warmth she felt in finding her place at TK. Keynote speaker assistant principal Jeff Dock spoke of the warmth he hopes the class of 2025 will take out into the world. And at the very least, a senior like Brody Wiersma seated in the front row could cup his hands around his mouth and blow into them like a pitcher trying to feel his fingers again on an early spring baseball mound.

Thornapple Kellogg High School and the Middleville community celebrated a class of 244 graduates, and the sun broke through the gray sky as the seniors began crossing the stage to accept their diplomas.

“In high school, you discover who and what makes you happy: sports, clubs, music. Everyone has at least one memory that stays with them,” Dumond said to her classmates. “Maybe it was a teacher telling you exactly what you needed to hear in that moment, discovering a lifelong friendship, or achieving something you never even thought possible.”

Senior Cole Novak introduced Dock, a former high school science teacher and current Thornapple Kellogg varsity football coach who has now taken over a position as an assistant principal. Dock had a reminder, a challenge and a hope for the graduates.

The symphonic band performed throughout the event, under the guidance of Jansma, the TKHS alumnus who is finishing up her first year as the high school band director. Senior Choir members sang the star spangled banner and the honors choir and senior members of the concert choir performed “I Will Remember You.”

It was class valedictorian Evan Liu who shared an opening at the start of the ceremony.

“Our class has shown remarkable unity, compassion and resiliency, qualities that will undoubtedly be valuable assets long after we leave this campus,” Liu said. “Class of 2025, congratulations on this remarkable achievement. But remember, crossing the stage today is not our finale. �
“It's merely the opening chapter of our greatness.”

Read more in the May 31 edition of the Sun and News …

17/05/2025

It took four seasons of high school track and field for Caledonia senior Hannah Dupuis to work her way up from someone who could contribute here and there to the 4x800-meter relay team for the Fighting Scots to one of the fastest 3200-meter runners in the state.

Running in a regional race for the first time, Dupuis set a personal record time of 11 minutes 10.01 seconds at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional at Portage Central High School Saturday to place second and earn a spot in the May 31 Division 1 Finals at East Kentwood High School.

Dupuis shaved almost nine and a half seconds off her former PR and was more than 90 seconds faster than she was at the 2024 OK Red Conference Championship where she ran the fastest time of her junior season last spring. Before her junior season, Dupuis hadn’t even competed in the 3200 for the CHS girls.

That was in stark contrast to the high school experience so far of the only girl ahead of her Saturday, Portage Northern’s Ainsley Kelm who took the regional title in the 3200 with a time of 11:09.66 to close her freshman season.

The Caledonia varsity track and field teams had two state qualifying performances Saturday. Senior thrower Cody Meyers unleashed a personal record throw of 157 feet 11 inches to place third in the boys’ discus and meet the state qualifying distance. He beat his previous best by an astounding 15 feet.

Overall, the Caledonia boys were ninth and the girls 12th in a field of 16 teams where the East Kentwood boys and girls dominated to win regional championships.

The CHS boys had a couple near misses. Senior Kort Thompson was fifth in the boys’ 3200-meter run with a time of 9:33.24 - .24 off the state qualifying time. Junior distance runner Noah Johnston placed fourth int he boys’ 1600-meter run with a time of 4:22.94 - less than half a second off the state qualifying mark.

The Caledonia boys also had scoring performances thanks to a PR from junior Jonas Howell in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles; a fourth-place finish from the 4x400-meter relay team of senior David Potgeter, junior Jonas Howell, junior Eli Velting and sophomore Aaron Collins; a fifth-place finish from the 4x800-meter relay team of junior Luke Smith, sophomore Grant Feldpausch, senior Ethan Buer and Velting; a fifth-place vault of 12-9 from Potgeter in the pole vault; and a jump of 5-10 by senior Andrew Tava that put him fifth in the high jump.

Junior Jolie King had a strong day for the CHS girls with a fourth-place leap in the long jump. Sophomore Olivia Hawkins placed sixth in the 300-meter low hurdles and was a part of the Scots’ fifth-place 4x400-meter relay team along with senior Avalynn Klapmust, freshman Brynn Ward and sophomore Isla Sheely. Sheely had an eighth-place time in the 400-meter dash. The Caledonia girls also had the 4x100-meter relay team of sophomore Mariah Peterson, senior Alaina Palmer, and freshmen Melanie Genao Grullon and freshman Brynn Ward place seventh …

Read more in the May 24 edition of the Sun and News …

17/05/2025

There was a lot to like about the Trojans first appearance in an MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track and Field Regional.

Even with increased standards for reaching the finals, the Thornapple Kellogg varsity girls’ track and field team had four state qualifying performances at the regional hosted by Portage Central High School Saturday.

Senior Brooklyn Harmon was a part of three of those as they improved her own school records to win regional championships in the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter low hurdles. Harmon won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.65 seconds dropping her PR in that race by more than four tenths of a second and beating her nearest competitor, East Kentwood junior Alana Bracey, by nearly half a second.

Later, Harmon caught a flash of Bracey’s leg in her peripheral vision as they rounded the turn in the 300-meter hurdles. That spurred her on to a winning time of 44.81 in that race. She cut nearly a second from her PR in that race and finished about three quarters of a second ahead of Bracey.

Junior Trojan teammate Mia Hilton also qualified for the MHSAA L.P. D1 Finals in those 300 hurdles with a third-place time of 46.36 seconds.

Harmon and Hilton also teamed with the Gater sisters, Payton and Amya, to place second in the 4x400-meter relay with a season-best time of 4 minutes 7.33 seconds in that one finishing only behind the East Kentwood girls.

Everyone finished behind the EK girls and boys in the overall team standings. The Trojans were the runners-up in the girls’ meet with 66.5 points. The Falcons had 151. In the boys’ meet, the Falcons outscored runner-up Kalamazoo Central 147-118.

The TK girls also got scoring performances from junior Jordyn Fitros in the 200-meter dash; sophomore Isla Sheely in the 400-meter run; senior Ava Crews in the 800-meter run and the 3200-meter run; freshman Amya Gater in the 300-meter hurdles; the 4x100-meter relay team of junior Madison Kietzman, sophomores Estefani Sanchez Vega and Sydney Martin and senior Emma Dykhouse; the 4x200-meter relay team of sophomore Elli Harmon, Kietzman, Sanchez Vega and Fitros; sophomore Lydia Slagel in the pole vault and Dykhouse in both the shot put and the discus.

The TK boys were 13th as a team. Senior Jacob Draaisma had the lone scoring performance for the Trojans with a fifth-place time of 2:02.15 in the 800-meter run.

The MHSAA L.P. D1 State Finals will be held May 31 at East Kentwood High School …

Read more in the May 24 edition of the Sun and News …

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