DAYNE BEHNING With her many school awards

MARQUETTE — A pair from Munising High School were among just a half-dozen students from all over the state’s Class C schools to be honored with a Scholar-Athlete Award from the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

The Mustangs’ Dayne Behning and Trevor Nolan represent the only school statewide that has multiple winners of this award in either classes C or D, the divisions that were announced earlier this week.

Class B school winners will be announced next week and Class A the following week. The four letter classes in the past had been used to separate varying sizes of schools for almost every MHSAA tournament, but the organization has moved to now using division numbers for these tourneys.

However, it’s still true that the MHSAA divides all its high school members into the four classes, A being the largest 25% of schools, B the second 25%, C the third 25% and D the smallest 25%. Usually each of these classes has around 150 to 200 schools each.

Since there are many more students in the large schools, among its 32 Scholar-Athlete Awards, the MHSAA and its cosponsor, Farm Bureau Insurance, name 12 in Class A, eight in Class B, six in Class C and four in Class D. With that adding up to 30, the other two recipients are at-large honorees that can come from any class.

TREVOR NOLAN Part of ‘23 Mustangs’ state basketball champions

Farm Bureau is in its 36th year sponsoring the award, according to an MHSAA news release, and gives $2,000 college scholarships to each winner.

To be eligible for the award, a student must carry at least a 3.5 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, have previously won a letter in a varsity sport that the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament, be active in other school or community activities and write an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.

All 32 scholarship recipients will be recognized on March 15 during the MHSAA boys basketball finals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center in East Lansing.

Joining Behning and Nolan in winning Class C Scholar-Athlete Awards are four students from the Lower Peninsula — Summer Pomaville of Pinconning, Kelcie Jo Pung of Fowler, Isaiah Kabban of Harbor Beach and Wheatley Rodammer of Saginaw Valley Lutheran.

Among the four honorees in Class D is one Upper Peninsula student, Joshua Grant of Dollar Bay. The others are Sarah Bradley of Clarkston Everest Collegiate, Ella Knudsen of Leland and Dakota Malek of Fulton.

In addition, two more Munising HS students were finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award — Kate Mattson and Carson Kienitz.

The only other U.P. finalist in Class C was Lucas Hall of Bark River-Harris, while U.P. finalists in Class D were Keira Jean Graham of Bessemer and Ella Grace Gasperich of Forest Park.

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In the MHSAA news release, Behning is noted for playing four seasons of varsity tennis and three of varsity volleyball, and is currently playing her fourth of varsity basketball and will compete in her fourth year of track and field this spring.

She has earned all-state honors in cross country, All-Upper Peninsula in tennis and all-conference in volleyball and basketball. Behning has also earned academic all-state team and individual honors in cross country, and has served as team captain of her tennis and volleyball varsity teams.

Behning is in her second year on student council at Munising High School, with leadership roles as council vice president and also class vice president. She is participating in fourth year of Key Club and is its vice president, while she is also in her second year on the National Honor Society, third year in Youth in Government, third year on the yearbook staff and first year in the WNMU-TV High School Bowl.

Behning is considering attending Baker College to study veterinary technology.

The MHSAA cited this as part of her essay on sportsmanship:

“The reality of high school athletics in the Upper Peninsula often means long bus rides and hours of travel for away games. This distance creates a unique dynamic among athletes, especially when you spend years competing against the same opponents.

“Over time, the girls on opposing teams become familiar faces — people you’ve grown up playing with. Through countless games and practices, rivalries evolve, and competition becomes a shared language. We end up being each other’s biggest cheerleaders.”

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According to the MHSAA release, Nolan has run four years of varsity cross country, is playing his fourth season of varsity basketball and will compete in his fourth year in track and field this spring. He also played varsity football for the first time last fall.

He was a player on the Mustangs’ varsity basketball team that won the 2023 MHAA Division 4 state championship and has earned all-state and academic all-state recognition in the sport.

Nolan has won multiple league championships in cross country and earned All-U.P. honors, and was a U.P. Finals relay champion in track.

While also earning all-conference honorable mention in football, he served as cross country and basketball team captain.

Nolan has participated in two years in the National Honor Society and Key Club, and has served on student council as a freshman class president.

He is undecided on the college he will attend, but intends to study physical therapy or kinesiology.

The MHSAA cites his sportsmanship essay:

“A coach once told me that the reason why high school sports are so successful is that they are great at teaching young kids how to mature into adults. There is no better way to teach kids how to develop great character than by teaching them the importance of sportsmanship.

“Growing up, I was not always a good sport, but as I got older I learned the importance of sportsmanship through many important lessons.”

Story contents based on a Michigan High School Athletic Association news release about the awards. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.