Looking ahead: Some early thoughts on the 2024 Cheboygan area springs sports season
CHEBOYGAN – I’m not sure when games are going to start, but I sure as heck can’t wait to get rolling again.
After having a few weeks to recover following a long but entertaining winter sports season, I look forward to returning outside and covering baseball, softball, soccer, track and field and other spring sports in this area.
We’ve seen quality teams, great athletes and countless championships won throughout the last several springs, but what am I looking forward to most? Here’s a few early thoughts as we enter the short but always fun spring sports season.
All-SVC GIRLS HOOPS: Inland Lakes’ LaBrecque, Robinson, Onaway’s George make All-Ski Valley girls first team
ALL-SVC BOYS HOOPS: Onaway’s Veal named Ski Valley Conference’s boys basketball player of the year
Can Inland Lakes solve the Rudyard riddle?
I was there in Harbor Springs last June when Inland Lakes was knocked out by Rudyard in the baseball regional semifinals for a second consecutive season. It was a tough pill to swallow for an Inland Lakes team that was ranked No. 1 in Division 4 and had dreams of reaching East Lansing.
The good news for Inland Lakes is it returns most of its team from last spring and has enough firepower to win a third consecutive Ski Valley title. Led by senior all-state pitcher Connor Wallace and many others, Inland Lakes will be a force again. But coach Josh Vieau and his Bulldogs, if they get the chance, will be looking to solve the Rudyard problem, especially when those Bulldogs also return a great portion of last season’s state semifinalist squad.
Will Cheboygan soccer maintain its success?
In its final season as a member of the Northern Michigan Soccer League, the Cheboygan girls soccer team will be aiming to defend a title it won impressively last season.
This is going to be a tough task for coach Tom Markham’s Chiefs, who graduated several key players from the 2023 squad, including stars Kenzie Burt and Cassidy Jewell. However, Cheboygan still has plenty of talent at its disposal, including senior Taylor Bent, a superb talent, along with Autumn Gingrich, Ava Baldwin, Addy Baldwin, Jaelyn Wheelock and many, many more.
It’ll be fascinating to see if the Chiefs can maintain their success. Knowing Markham and the talent his program has produced over the years, Cheboygan will certainly be a NMSL title contender.
ALL-SAC GIRLS HOOPS: Thanks to impressive freshman campaign, Cheboygan’s Rupp makes All-SAC girls first team
ALL-SAC BOYS HOOPS: Cheboygan’s Goodrich, Smith, Thater earn spots on All-SAC boys basketball team
Softball excitement
Softball is one of my favorite sports to cover, mainly because I’m fortunate enough that multiple area schools consistently churn out quality teams year after year. That’ll be the case again this spring with Cheboygan and Inland Lakes likely yielding strong squads more than capable of winning conference titles and perhaps more.
The Chiefs feature an absurdly talented senior class led by two-time Straits Area Conference Player of the Year Libby VanFleet, Amelia Johnson, Emerson Eustice and so many others, while the Bulldogs bring back Maggie Grant, Brooklyn LaBrecque Lexi Kovtun and more. And don’t forget Mackinaw City, Onaway and Pellston, who each have teams that can challenge for district crowns.
Softball season is always an exciting time of year and hopefully a few of these teams will take us on memorable postseason rides. Let’s see what happens.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Examining key storylines going into the 2024 Cheboygan area spring sports season
