Introducing the 2023 Big 8 fall sports All-Conference honorees
HILLSDALE COUNTY — The Big 8 fall prep sports season has concluded. These are the final results for each prep sports season and the list of All-Conference athletes for each Big 8 program.
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Hillsdale County athletes are listed in bold. Congratulations to each program and the list of all-conference athletes for the 2023 Fall sports season.
Prep Football Final Standings
Union City rolled to the conference title with a 6-3 overall record. They were the only Big 8 team to make it to the MHSAA postseason. They ended their season with a 6-4 overall record and a pre-district loss to D7 semifinalist North Muskegon.
Bronson and Springport both finished the year with 3-6 records. Reading and Quincy were tied for the bottom of the conference standings with 2-7 overall records.
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In J.V. standings, Springport ended the season with a 7-2 overall record. Quincy had a 6-3 record. Reading finished the 2023 season with a 3-3-1 record. Bronson finished the year with a 2-5-1 record. Union City ended their year with a final record of 0-7.
Football All-Conference 1st and 2nd Team Offense
Congratulations to the prep football All-Conference First Team honorees for 2023: QB - Eli Payne - Union City; RB - Tayshawn Bester - Reading; RB - Dylan MacDonald - Union City; RB - Lukas Strine - Reading; WR - Ryan Kempter - Quincy; WR - Rick Autin - Union City; OL - Brayden Foley - Reading; OL - Max Barve - Quincy; OL - Gavin Kelly - Union City; OL - Austin Neely - Reading; OL - Caleb Wendt - Springport and K - Jason Shoop - Union City.
Congratulations to the prep football All-Conference second team honorees: QB - Brennan Allman - Quincy; RB - Noah Pearson - Quincy; RB - Seth Withington - Bronson; WR - Gabe Rainey - Springport; WR - Joey Smith - Quincy; WR - Dawson Soergel - Bronson; OL - Jace Hoard - Bronson; OL - Myles Losinski - Bronson; OL - Lincoln Sims - Quincy and K - Eli Dryer - Springport.
Football All-Conference 1st and 2nd Team Defense
Congratulations to the prep football All-Conference First Team Defense honorees for 2023: DL - Caden Hughes - Union City; DL - Hunter Gillies - Union City; DL - Myles Losinski - Bronson; LB - Rylinn Hale - Springport; LB - Owen Jakson - Union City (MVP); LB - Lukas Strine - Reading; LB - Ryan Zweng - Union City; DB - Landyn Crance - Union City; DB - Brady Kling - Reading; DB - Riley Laird - Union City; DB - Gabe Rainey - Springport and P - Cormack Price - Reading.
Congratulations to the prep football All-Conference Second Team honorees for 2023: DL - Ethan Copas - Quincy; DL - Dylan Lilly - Bronson; DL - Nick Nowery - Springport; DL - Caleb Wendt - Springport; LB - Tayshawn Bester - Reading; LB - Aiden Decker - Union City; LB - Nash Fitton - Quincy; LB - Grant Holroyd - Quincy; LB - Carson Norton - Bronson; LB - Colin York - Bronson; DB - Skyler Charters - Reading and DB - Ryan Kempter - Quincy.
Honorable Mention
Spencer Losinski - Bronson
Patrick Culbreth - Springport
Gavin Lightner - Springport
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Prep Volleyball Final Standings
The Bronson Vikings ended the year as both the conference tournament champions and the undisputed league champions. They finished the conference season with a perfect 6-0 record. Reading finished third in the tournament and second in the final league standings with a 4-2 record. Union City took fourth in the conference tournament and third in the standings with a 4-2 record.
Quincy took second in the conference tourney and sixth overall in the standings with a final record of 1-5. Springport took fifth in the conference tournament and fourth overall in the final standings with a 3-3 record. Concord took sixth overall in the conference tourney and fifth in the final standings with a 3-3 record. Maple Valley took seventh in the tournament and last in the league standings with a final record of 0-6.
For J.V. teams, Bronson finished the year with a 6-0 overall record. Concord, Reading, Springport and Union City all had a final record of 3-3. Quincy had a final record of 2-4. Maple Valley finished the season with a 1-5 record.
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Prep Volleyball All-Conference and Honorable Mention
This year's league MVPs include two standout Bronson athletes that helped lead the team to a conference, district and regional finals appearance. The league MVPs were Aubree Calloway and Payton Springstead. Both athletes earned All-Conference First Team honors.
The All-Conference honorees also included Bronson athletes Aleah Brackett and Brealyn Lasky. Concord athletes Bradie Lehman and Iyla Weeks both earned All-Conference honors. Olivia Davenport and Danika Skirka earned All-Conference for Quincy.
Reading Ranger athletes Abby Affholter and Aubree Ervans earned All-Conference honors. Springport's Maddux Locke earned All-Conference along with Union City's Jordan Chard.
Honorable Mention
Ciara Blankenship - Bronson
Emma Burdo - Concord
Madison Koons - Maple Valley
Alyssa McCavite - Quincy
Anna Richer - Quincy
Ariana McDowell - Reading
Zoe McKibbin - Reading
Maggie Santure - Reading
Macie Merrill - Springport
Rylee Seifert - Springport
Hailey Day - Union City
Laynie Elkins - Union City
Addy Rumsey - Union City
Big 8 Girls Cross Country Jamboree Winners and Final Standings
The Concord girls cross country team swept the Jamboree schedule in 2023, winning all four conference meets, earning a final points total of 182. They were crowned the undisputed Conference Champions of 2023.
Taking second in the final conference standings was Quincy. Quincy took third at the Reading Jamboree, second at Maple Valley, second at Concord and second at their home meet for a final total score of 214.
Union City finished third in the conference standings. The Chargers took second at the Reading jamboree, second at maple valley, fourth at Concord and third at Quincy for a final total of 275 points this season.
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Bronson took fourth in the final points standings with 282. Bronson took fourth at Reading, fourth at Maple Valley, third at Concord and fourth at Quincy.
Reading took fifth in the final conference standings with a total score of 559. They finished fifth at every meet this season with the exception of their sixth place finish at Quincy. Maple Valley took sixth with a final score total of 592 and also placed sixth at every conference meet with the exception of their fifth place finish at Quincy. Springport finished seventh in the conference with a final score of 700 and took seventh at every jamboree.
Girls Cross Country All-Conference
This year's All-Conference honorees were led by the MVP from Bronson: Ashlynn Harris. Also earning All-Conference honors for the Vikings was Ava Hathaway.
Riley Adams, Cieara Barrett, Gwen Bulko and Haley Stimer all earned All-Conference honors. Sadie Miller, Kendyl Musielewiez and Brookelyn Parker earned All-Conference for Quincy. Allie Gautsche of Union City also earned All-Conference.
Boys Cross Country Jamboree Winners and Final Standings
Bronson and Union City battled for the boys cross country Big 8 championship in 2023. Union City won three of the four league meets this season, including Reading, Concord and the Quincy jamboree. The Chargers had a final total of 121 points, earning them the league title this season.
Bronson took second place, earning runner-up team finishes at all but one jamboree. They won the Maple Valley jamboree earlier this season. They finished in second with a final points total of 138.
Concord placed third overall in the final standings with a score of 424. They took third at Reading, third at Maple Valley, third at their home jamboree and fourth at Quincy.
Reading battled Concord for third all season. They finished fourth overall with a final score of 446. They took fourth at their home jamboree, fourth at Maple Valley, fifth at Concord and third at Quincy.
Quincy took fifth overall with a final score of 490. Quincy took sixth at Reading, fifth at Maple Valley, fourth at Concord and fifth at Quincy.
Springport took sixth overall with a final score of 553. The Spartans took fifth at Reading, sixth at Maple Valley, sixth at Concord and sixth at Quincy.
Maple Valley took seventh overall with a final total of 701 points. They placed seventh at every league jamboree this season.
Boys Cross County All-Conference
The Bronson Vikings had four total All-Conference honorees this season: Kamron Brackett, Jack Ganton, Domenic Kiomento, Drew Nortan and Tyler Wilber.
Union City had four All-Conference honorees this season: Cohen Burdick, Cullen Decker, Ben Gautsche and Noah June. Gautsche was named the league MVP.
Reading athlete Kutter VanAken also earned All-Conference honors this season.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Introducing the 2023 Big 8 fall sports All-Conference honorees
