The Sun and News

09/27/2025

Thornapple Kellogg junior Peyton Hardy figured she would rather have some pain on a Saturday morning than a Sunday through Friday full of frustration.

After not having the race she wanted at the OK Gold Conference jamboree Wednesday in Wayland, Hardy rebounded to turn in her best time of the season and lead the TK varsity girls cross country team at the Otsego Bulldog Invitational Saturday.

Hardy placed 60th in 20 minutes 42.93 seconds and the TK girls’ team was 15th in a field of 25 teams in the Division 2 competition.

TK freshman Owen Bremer cut about 50 seconds from his PR to lead the TK boys’ team. He placed 51st in 17:08.86, and said he wished he’d known before rounding the final turn and seeing the clock just how close he was to that 17 minute mark.

He will get another chance to chase another PR when the Trojans go to the Portage Invitational next Saturday, Oct. 4.

The TK boys were 18th as a team.

Bremer was one of five TK guys to set a new PR and five TK ladies ran their fastest rave ever.

TK junior Carmen Reynolds continued her steady time drops to place 89th in 21:06.50. Freshman Brielle Miller was right behind in 90th with a PR of 21:31.30. The other PR for the TK ladies came from sophomore Karstyn Boersma who was 143rd in 23:55.79.

The TK girls’ team also had senior Madison Kietzman 76th in 21:06.50 and sophomore Amya Gater 107th in 22:11.86.

Sophomore Garrett Holzhausen was the number two for the TK boys placing 84th with a PR of 18:09.90. Freshman Parker Robinette ticked his PR under 19 minutes placing 119th in 18:58.80.

The Trojan boys also got PRs from senior Benjamin Postma who was 123rd in 19:08.54 and sophomore Wyatt Richardson who was 136th in 19:27.10.

The seven for the Trojans also included junior Grady Galaviz 84th in 18:39.76 and senior Noah Donker 149th in 20:47.48.

09/27/2025

The Fighting Scots won a state championship in 1996. They finished as the Division 1 State Runner-up a couple times in the past half decade.

They’ve never been faster than they were Saturday.

The Caledonia varsity boys’ cross country team had two guys finish in less than 16 minutes, a third right at 16-flat and there were seven Fighting Scots among the top-40 medalists in the Division 1 boys’ race at the annual Otsego Bulldog Invitational. It all added up to a second-place finish behind a powerhouse Kalamazoo Central squad.

The Maroons bested the Scots 55-82 at the top of the standings in the 13-team race. Woodhaven Brownstown was third with 97 points ahead of West Ottawa 101 and Battle Creek Lakeview 143 in the top five.

Fighting Scot senior Noah Johnston moved into second place all time on the Caledonia boys’ record board with his sixth-place time of 15 minutes 35.82 seconds. He trails only Caledonia All-American Tim Ross who won the Division 2 state championship in 2001.

Sophomore Bennett Snapper was one of the only guys not to set a PR for the Scots, but he was just off his recent record pace and was the team’s number two with a time of 15:58.07 in 11th overall. Fellow sophomore Sean Tompson continued his mammoth leap forward in recent days. He placed 13th in 16:00.08 and has shaved more than 75 seconds off his previous PR in the past week.

The Caledonia team had sophomore Bentley Nichols 21st in 16:20.70, sophomore Jake Potgeter 31st in 16:31.68, freshman Isaac Dinah 32nd in 16:32.72 and senior Luke Smith 41st in 16:41.3. The CHS program also had senior Eli Velting lead a Caledonia ‘B’ team with a medal winning time of 16:26.08 that put him in 26th. A ninth CHS guy, junior Grant Feldpausch running for the ‘B’ team also broke the 17-minute mark.

The Caledonia girls were fast Saturday too. The seven Fighting Scots turned in five new personal records and every one had her best time of the season.

Junior Akaela Daman led the way for the CHS girls with a 16-place time of 18:40.70 that moves her into 13th place all-time in the Caledonia record book on the girls side. Junior Anna VanderWal earned a medal too placing 36th in 19:57.74. Daman cut more than 50 seconds off her previous PR and VanderWal dropped more than a minute and a half.

The Caledonia girls’ team also had senior Hannah Bennett 45th in 20:15.20, sophomore Charlie Bont 50th in 20:29.88 and sophomore Elise Clarin 56th in 20:47.44 in the top five. The seven scores for the Scots also included freshman Kendall Van Ryn’s 64th-place time of 21:18.14 and junior Madison Thompson’s 79th-place time of 22:15.59.

Ann Arbor Pioneer won the girls’ D1 race with 26 points ahead of West Ottawa 64, Hudsonville 74, Zeeland East 135 and Woodhaven Brownstown 144. The Fighting Scots were sixth with 203 points and were 16 points better than their OK Green Conference rivals from Byron Center who placed eighth …

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

09/13/2025

The Caledonia varsity boys’ tennis ran into the highly ranked Byron Center Bulldogs in the ipening match of the OK Green Conference season Wednesday.

Fighting Scot head coach Scott Bont felt like his line-up was more competitive than it was when the two teams faced off a momth ago to start the season. The Bulldogs’ skill showed through though in an 8-0 winnover the host Scots …

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

09/05/2025

Fighting Scots moving to Middleville tonight.

Tonight’s varsity football game has been moved to Thornapple Kellogg High School

📍 10051 Green Lake Rd, Middleville, MI 49333
🕖 Kickoff: 7:00 PM

We will still be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of our 2005 State Championship Team at the game! 🏆💜💛

Let’s pack the stands and show our Fighting Scots pride! Caledonia Football Caledonia Athletic Boosters

⚠️ Please note: There is construction on M-37 in Middleville, both before and at the Main Street intersection. Allow extra time for travel so you don’t miss the start of the game.

🎟️All CCS passes will be accepted like it is a HOME game.

09/05/2025

There have been splash-ins, ribbon cuttings and practices. Lots and lots of practices.

But finally there is competition to go along with all that.

The Caledonia varsity girls’ swimming and diving team hosted the first-ever varsity meet in the new Cal Community YMCA pool Thursday.

Every winning time was a pool record, but Caledonia senior all-stater Sophie Ga***rd set a new program record in the 200-yard individual medley too with a winning time of 2 minutes 13.43 seconds.

Ga***rd also teamed with junior Mya VanderZwaag, sophomore Amelia McCaan and freshman Caitlyn Morris to win the first-ever varsity event in the pool, the 200-yard medley relay, in 1:54.91.

The co-op team has been rebranded as the Caledonia team, but still includes student-athletes from Lowell and South Christian.

Forest Hills Central managed the first team victory in the pool outscoring the Fighting Scots by seven points, 96-89. It was a spread that had Caledonia head coach Amber Pearson more encouraged than disappointed.

Caledonia swept the relay races. Senior Aliya Van Hofwegen, VanderZwaag, senior Lena Gesing and freshman Kailey Hall won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:46.04. VanHofwegen, Morris, McCaan and Ga***rd won the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:49.31.

Ga***rd was about a second and a half behind the Rangers’ leader as she dive foe the water to start the anchor leg of the 400 free relay and wound up in the pead at the end by nearly two and a half seconds.

The 100-yard breaststroke was one of the top events for the Scots in the end with VanderZwaag winning in 1:12.42 and sophomore teammate Nora DeHaan the runner-up.

The Caledonia/Lowell/South Christian boys’ program held a few practices in the pool in the lead-up to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Boys’ Swimming and Diving Finals last March. It wasn’t quite ready in time for the guys to host the the pool’s inaugural meet though …

Read more in the Sept 13 issue of the Sun and News …

09/03/2025

Caledonia Community Schools showed off renovations to Ralph E. Myers Stadium during a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, Aug. 26, in the lead-up to the Caledonia varsity football team’s opening night win over visiting Windsor Holy Names Catholic Thursday … Read more about the ceremony and the ongoing renovations in a special Gridiron section of the Sept. 6 issue of the Sun and News …

08/29/2025

A holiday weekend is dawning.

The first OK Green Conference jamboree of the season is on the horizon for the Fighting Scots – next Thursday.

Caledonia head coach Ben Thompson wanted to not wear his guys out, but also to see if he could get the gravity from his fastest runners to reel in the rest of the pack a little.

The Fighting Scots still put up a perfect score in their annual Friday morning before Labor Day dual with the Thornapple Kellogg boys. The Scots took a 15-40 win over the Trojans, and had the 12 fastest runners overall in the race.

The CHS pack had instructions to shoot for a six-minute pace the first mile, a 5:50 pace the second mile, and then to get to racing.

A wave of purple followed Thornapple Kellogg freshman Owen Bremer around the course for the majority of those first two miles and then started to overtake him.

Senior Noah Johnston won the race in 17:38.5. For reference, Johnston broke the 16-minute mark for the first time the previous Friday.

CHS had three guys finish in less than 18 minutes. Sophomore Bennett Snapper was second in 17:48.8 and sophomore Bentley Nichols third in 17:59.7.

The top five for the Caledonia boys in the dual also included senior Luke Smith (18:03.9) and sophomore Jake Potgeter (18:06.4).

Bremer kept up his pace, leading the TK team with an improved PR of 18:40.3. TK's number two was junior Grady Galaviz, who was much improved from the Trojans' first race of the season to finish right behind Bremer in 18:42.3. Those two were eighth and ninth in the team scoring and 13th and 14th among the overall group of runners.

The TK team also had Garrett Holzhausen 22nd in 19:23.9, sophomore Wyatt Richardson 34th in 19:56.0 and freshman Parker Robinett 27th in 20:00.2.

The Caledonia girls took a 17-41 win over their TK counterparts.

Junior Akaela Daman wasn't holding back. She improved her time from the opening meet of the season by almost 15 seconds and was just over a second off the PR she set as a freshman. She hit the finish line in 20:23.4.

Caledonia had five of the first six finishers. Senior Hannah Bennett was second in 21:37.2 and sophomore Charlie Bont third in 21:58.1.

Thornapple Kellogg's leader, Peyton Hardy, placed fourth overall in 21:58.8.
The Scots' top five also included a time of 22:05.4 from junior Anna VanderWal and a 22:06.2 from sophomore Tiona Sakala who raced stride for stride together for the second meet in a row.

Junior Alaina McCrumb was TK's number two placing seventh in 22:18.4. Amya Gater had a big jump of over 50 seconds from meet one to meet two and was eighth overall in 22:35.0. Trojan freshman Brielle Miller had a similar improvement and was tenth overall in 22:44.8. Trojan senior Madison Kietzman hit the finish line 12th with a time of 22:50.8 to close out TK's top five …

Read more in the Sept. 6 issue of the Sun and News …

08/29/2025

It was the kind of game where all of a sudden the cheer team is leaning over the line where the track meets the turf, backs to the student section, watching the game.

Where dads stand stone faced and moms rock back and forth in their fold-up bleacher seats as the clock fails to tick fast enough.

It was the kind of game where it stings a little extra for the side that did not come out on top.

The Hastings student section, turned from a “white out” to an avalanche coming down the hill on the east side of Bob White Stadium Thursday night. Clad all in white, the Saxons hurried hurried their way to the track and sang the fight song with the Hastings varsity football team near the corner of the end zone at Thornapple Kellogg High School in Middleville. Sophomore kicker Cooper Hokanson booted a 33-yard field goal as time expired to give Hastings a 31-29 victory over Thornapple Kellogg in week one of the 2025 football season.

Each team had just one defensive stop all evening long. The Trojans’ came when the Saxons decided to punt the ball away and run off the final seconds of the first half. The Saxons’ was as little more significant.

With the Trojans driving in for what they hoped to be a game-sealing score in the closing minutes, the Saxons’ Connor Cosme made a step at TK quarterback Micah Dock who was running an option to the left. Cosme darted back outside as Dock let his pitch fly, and swatted it up in the air. The ball bounced on the turf, and Cosme pounced on it with 2:34 to go in the game at the Saxon 12-yard-line.

The Saxons had 88 yards to go to the end zone, trailing 29-28 at the time. With the two-year varsity soccer player Hokanson kicking for the first time this fall, 72 yards proved enough.

Hastings had a one-point lead at 8-7 for a span of about six minutes between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second, but after Zach Edlridge took a pitch nine yards around the right side of the TK line for a touchdown early in the second quarter TK led the ballgame until the clock had passed 0:00.

TK led 21-14 at the half and had the lead to 29-20 early in the fourth quarter.

Eldridge had a six-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter and a two-point run by Jack Smith boosted the TK lead to nine points. Debo Robinson scored the first points of the game for TK on a 19-yard TD run, and the Trojans got an 80-yard kick-off return for a touchdown from Maddox VanEngen for the final points of the first half.

Just up M-37 the Caledonia Fighting Scots had the opposite kind of game shutting out Windsor Holy Names Catholic 36-0 on a night that the program christened the newly renovated Ralph E. Myers Stadium. The Scots also celebrated the 1950 Caledonia football squad which ran to an undefeated season while shutting out all eight of its opponents.

Read more in the Sept. 6 edition of the Sun and News …

08/29/2025

Week 1 High School Football update:
Halftime at Bob White Stadium in Middleville:
Thornapple Kellogg 21
Hastings 14

08/25/2025

The Thornapple Kellogg varsity girls' and boys’ cross country teams had new leaders at the 2025 South Christian Under the Lights Invite Friday night.

Junior Peyton Hardy was one of five TK ladies to earn medals for placing in the top 50. She led the Trojans with a time of 21 minutes 31.2 seconds which put her in 31st overall in the 16-team Midnight Division girls’ race made up of the largest schools at the meet. The invitational this year included 87 different schools with teams running in four different divisions.

The TK ladies took off out of the gate with fireworks blasting behind them at 10:35 p.m. The TK boys got out of the gate in the same fashion at 11:30 p.m. and in the end there were 323 finishers who wound their way across the semi-lit course around the South Christian High School Sports Park.

Freshman Owen Bremer was the front of the pack for the Thornapple Kellogg boys with an 88th-place time of 18:46.6.

The Thornapple Kellogg girls were tenth and the boys were 15th in the Midnight Division team standings.

Madison Kietzman, Alaina McCrumb, Carmen Reynolds and Breanna Schut, who set as new PR, joined Hardy in the top 50 for the TK ladies.

The top five runners on the TK boys’ team also included Grady Galaviz, Garrett Holzhausen, Benjamin Postma and Parker Robinett ...

Read more in next weekend's edition of the Sun and News ...

08/25/2025

One race into his senior season, and Caledonia’s Noah Johnston has bettered the 16-minute mark for the first time.

Johnston shaved more than 20 seconds from his pervious personal record to place fifth with a time of 15 minutes. 57.4 seconds in the Midnight Division Race at the 2025 South Christian Under the Lights Invite.

Johnston helped lead the Caledonia boys to a third-place team finish in the 16-team division of the biggest schools at the meet. In all, 87 schools took part in the invitational across four divisions.

The Caledonia boys’ team had ten guys earn medals for top-50 finishes. Sophomore Bennett Snapper joined Johnston in the top ten with a time of 16:12.9. They both jumped up into the top 15 Caledonia boys’ cross country runners ever with their performance.

The other medalists for the Caledonia boys included Bentley Nichols, Eli Velting, Isaac Dinh, Sean Thompson, Jake Potgeter, Kaden Van Ryn, Levi VanderLaan and Grant Feldpausch.

The Caledonia girls were sixth in their Midnight Division contest led by senior Akaela Daman who placed 19th individually with a time 20:37.7. Hannah Bennett and Charlie Bont also earned medals for their top-50 finishes ...

Read more in next weekend's edition of the Sun and News ...

08/13/2025

It was two concerts for the price of none as Ashes & Arrows played a long-awaited Caledonia Concert Series show Tuesday.

The band’s trio of vocalists and guitar players, Claran McMeeken, Jonathan Calhoun and Justin Roelant, performed an acoustic set underneath the pavilion at the Caledonia Community Green to get the evening started. Close to 100 spectators gathered under the rooftop with more folks, many holding umbrellas overhead, lining the perimeter.

When it became clear the worst of the summer thunderstorms would be rolling across Michigan just south of Caledonia, a full-band set with the addition of drummer Ted Marks and bass player Trevor Stoyer kicked off on the amphitheater stage. Ashes & Arrows shared its stylistic mix of rock, country and whatever else it couldwork in.

McMeeken, Calhoun and Roelant had the crowd singing along with hearty “Yo Ho!”s on “Pirate Song,” performed a cover of Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” and played what they claimed to be an unfinished, unrecorded, unnamed and mostly unrehearsed tune that the band is working on that felt fitting for the evening.

“Roll on my brother like lightning and thunder.
Take on the high road, don’t you ever sink low,
Cause 10,00 lifetimes may not be enough.
So roll on my brother until the stormin’ is done,” sang Calhoun.

Calhoun also promised during the acoustic set that, “if we do have good weather, we’re going to move down to that stage and some of these songs, you’re gonna hear them twice.”

It took an encore spurred on by the crowd and the evening’s emcee, Josh Rose, to get that repeat. The crowd was treated to an acoustic version of the band’s hit “Wild Horses” at the pavilion and then the full-band version at the amphitheater.

“It's in our blood
We are, we are wild horses
Chasing dreams
No one, no one could ever stop us
Try and stop us
You can't tame wild horses,” they sang.

The rain certainly didn’t stop them. The band was unable to perform a scheduled show at the Caledonia Concert Series during the 2024 summer season. Event organizer Adam Stauffer was thrilled to have the opportunity to bring the band to Caledonia for the 2025 season.

Ashes & Arrows gained world-wide acclaim last summer as a part of the television show “America’s Got Talent.” The band released the full-length album “Chapter One (The Long Road North)” in October 2024. McMeeken, Calhoun and then bandmate Benjamin Voigt performed “Wild Horses” during the “America’s Got Talent” quarterfinal round earning a spot in the show’s semifinals with their performance.

The event Tuesday was sponsored by Frontier Heating and Cooling, the last of a long list of sponsors that made the summer concert series possible along with a handful of dedicated volunteers …

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