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Top 10 Sports Stories of 2023: No. 9 -- TC United, Bay Reps highlight new area prep teams

james cook, the record-eagle, traverse city, mich.
·4 min read

Dec. 23—TRAVERSE CITY — New teams for a new year.

Northern Michigan added several new high school sports teams, perhaps most notably with the Traverse City United girls lacrosse team and the Bay Reps girls hockey squad.

The Reps skated to a 4-2 season start and are ranked No. 3 in the state out of 19 girls varsity teams. The other farthest north team is the Saginaw-based Mid-Michigan Alliance.

"It feels so good," Bay Reps player Megan Coleman said. "I remember my brother playing and how much I looked up to him. But there was nowhere really for me to go. To have a high school team now and to have younger girls have that opportunity is really cool. It's amazing to be a part of the team that started it."

The Reps are a varsity co-op with players from seven area schools with a roster drawing 16 student-athletes from Traverse City Central, Traverse City West, Traverse City St. Francis, Cadillac and Elk Rapids. The two other schools involved in the program are Kalkaska and Mancelona.

TC Central provides a large chunk of the Reps roster, with six of the 16 players. They include seniors Addie Feeley and Bailey Reister, and sophomores Taryn Beamish, Sienna Cobb, Harper Moore and Regan Feeley.

TC West's contributions to the team include senior Megan Coleman, junior Adrianna Delcore and sophomores Sarah Budd and Gillian Hysell. Junior Kate Classens, sophomores Paisleigh Upshaw and Adeline King and freshman Piper Wilson come from TC St. Francis, joined by Cadillac sophmore Brooklyn Cooper and Elk Rapids senior Ella Peck.

Head coach Taylor Lundberg played for the AAA Lansing Spartans during high school, later playing for Colby College in Maine before returning to the Great Lakes State to join the University of Michigan's club team.

"When they asked me to be a part of it, I knew it was a big commitment," Lundberg said. "I really wanted to be a part of the group that sets the foundation, and I'm honored that I have the opportunity to be the head coach."

The Reps resume the season on the road Jan. 5, returning home for a Jan. 12-13 series with Cranbrook Kingswood at Howe Arena. The team hosts a three-day showcase tournament Jan. 19-21 at Centre Ice Arena.

The TC United lacrosse team brings girls lacrosse to the northern Michigan's varsity landscape.

The co-op of Central, West and Elk Rapids starts play next spring under the tutelage of one of Michigan's top coaches, Rich Axtell. Axtell has an extensive background coaching girls lacrosse, winning six state championships as head coach at East Grand Rapids and appearing in the state finals three other times, two as an assistant coach at Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern.

The United currently have close to 20 players signed up for the inaugural team, including one from Elk Rapids. The rest is almost evenly split between Central and West, Traverse City Central Athletic Director Justin Thorington said.

"It's very exciting," said Axtell, 68. "I've been coaching lacrosse since 2002. I've been involved in the early parts of a program, but this is brand new. It's going to be a lot of fun to build it from the ground up."

News also came down this year that the TC United boys lacrosse team would be split up into TC Central and TC West after the MHSAA deemed the previous co-op of the two had become too large. That development could allow one of those teams to co-op with TC St. Francis, which hasn't had enough players the last several years to field a full squad.

Traverse City is also getting a new summer collegiate baseball team. The Traverse City Osprey will be coached by former Manistee Saints player/coach Roddy MacNeil and feature many college players, most with local ties.

Players committed to the team, which hopes to play its home games at Traverse City Central's athletic complex, include former TCC standouts JJ Dutmers, Dominic Palamara, Alex Schmitt, Luke Linder and Marty McDonald, TC West's Tristan Simrau, TC St. Francis players Aidan Schmuckal and Jack Hitchens, Charlevoix's Caleb Stuck, Boyne City's Aaron Bess, Glen Lake's Jon Popp, East Jordan's Thomas Reid and Benzie Central's Dylan Bates.

As 2023 ends, it seems 2024 is flush with new opportunities from new teams.

Follow @Jamescook14 on Twitter.