West trumpeter to perform with all-state band

Lapeer West senior trumpeter Tim Waelde has been selected to perform with the All-State High School Band at the Michigan Music Conference on January 22 at Devos performance hall in Grand Rapids.

All-state band members had to endure a rigorous audition that included required music, scales, and sight reading. A selected panel of judges listened to recordings of all auditions to make the final selections. Students auditioned statewide for this event.

All-State soccer honors for East quartet

Lapeer East AD Sharon Miller will need to expand the school's All State Trophy Case. For the first time ever, the Lapeer East Boys Soccer team advanced to the Final Four. Winning the regional title paid off for he Eagles, who ended the season with the program's highest ranking ever, 6th in the state! http://www.mihisoccer.org/boysrankings.htm.

Individually, Lapeer East also did well. A quartet from the East squad earned All-State Honors.

Those honors were awarded to:

Junior starting midfielder Justin Henderson was second team All-Metro League. He was the lone goal scorer for East in the State Semi-Final game. He earned Honorable Mention All-State.

Junior starting goalie Colin Owen earned second team All-Metro League. He had 12 shutouts this year to raise his career total to 30 shutouts. Owen made 14 saves in the state semi-final game. He earned third team All-State.

Junior starting forward Alex Podolski was named to the first team All-Metro League. He led East in scoring with 19 goals. Alex earned second team All-State.

Senior Starting midfielder Clayton Tomczyk, a 4-year varsity player for East., also earned first team All-Metro League. He was recognized as one of the State's best players, and earned first team All-State. Tomczyk joins elite company as he is the third player in East's history to earn this accomplishment, the highest honor a soccer player can get. Dan Elliott did it in 2007. Niila Arajuuri was the first to do it in 2005.

East Coach Chad Kenny noted, "I am very proud to coach this team. Collectively they are committed to winning with character and class. These four guys are great representatives of our whole program. They were all honored to be selected to the All-State team. They would be the first ones to tell you that soccer is a team sport. These four were recognized at the All-State level, mainly because as a team we did very well. All 17 letter winners on our varsity played an important role in these four being recognized at the highest level."

All-State Athletes from East/West announced

So far four Lapeer high school athletes have been named to All-State athletic teams.

Lapeer West golfer Catherine Benscoter was a Division II First-Team All-State selection.

Lapeer East football player Payton McCallum and Lapeer West football player Preston Haggadone were honorable mention All-State into Division 1-2.

Lapeer East soccer player Ethan Konschuh was an All-State honorable mention player.

We'll keep you posted on additional selections.