The summer 2017 Thunderbirds who played Ontario U18s / Photo: Anne Marie Lemal-Brown
The High School All-Midwest Thunderbirds head south for a third-straight year and will play the Florida High School All-Stars and Florida U20 All-Stars from Feb. 15-18. Head coach Garrett Fisher (Denison University) has assembled a squad that includes 20 athletes from six Midwestern states.
The Thunderbirds last assembled in July, when the all-star team won a three-game series against the Ontario U18s. Thirteen returners are on the 2018 squad, including Girls High School All-American Matja Sarrenheimo-VanderHorst, who led Grandville to a fourth Michigan state championship in the fall; Clara Lemal-Brown (Hudson, Ohio), who travels widely with Atlantis; and Sydney Julich, MVP of the Iowa high school 7s league.
“Regina Baldado … Her game has continued to improve since I first noticed her playing B-side fullback for St. Joe’s,” Fisher highlighted influential veterans. “This past summer she rose to the occasion against Canada and played fearlessly.”
“Samira Colbert has been on all of the Florida trips but missed the Canadian series due to injury,” the coach noted the Hudson, Ohio, stalwart. “We look for her to anchor the scrum at tighthead and provide a big offensive threat as a forward crash option.”
Six players will make their first appearances with the Thunderbirds, which also runs an U24 program.
“I am very excited to see Izzi Gibbon in action,” Fisher singled out the Walnut Hills player. “She will be playing center for us. She was first noticed at the Indianapolis RCT tourney taking hard running lines that resulted in consistently breaking the gain line.
“I’m also excited to see Raina Perciak,” the coach added. “She will be playing lock for us. She was noticed at the Midwest tournament and again at the Indy RCT, where she was playing center. She is a tall, strong player, giving her a great build to be a high-level second row. Her ball skills and athletic ability will make her a very dangerous offensive threat as a lock.”
Thunderbirds graduates do well to stay in the game once they age out of the Midwest program, and a quick scan of the 2017 summer team supports that notion. College freshmen Bethany Gable and Megan Bird at Davenport, which won the DI College Fall Championship, and Emily Becker was our choice for MVP during Winona State’s DII College Fall Championship in December. Tatum Johnson is a first-year at DI Elite Life University, and Emma Conrad and Annie Rolf are at Lindenwood. Mikayla Tatum and Hannah Struzyk are helping quickly rising Queens University of Charlotte, and Maria Bashmakov plays with Indiana University.
We know current Baby Birds like Sophia Haley (Hopkins, Minn.) have committed to top programs like Dartmouth, which finished runner-up at the NIRA national championship, and there are surely more commitments to come out of this promising group.
Stay tuned for post-tour coverage.
HS ALL-MIDWEST THUNDERBIRDS
2018 WINTER TOUR
Regina Baldado – St. Joseph Academy, Ohio *^
Mahina Beates – Brunswick, Ohio
Maia Breeden – Hudson, Ohio ^
Kpenkai Carter – Armstrong, Minn. ^
Samira Colbert – Hudson, Ohio *+
Alle English – unattached, Ohio
Izzi Gibbon – Walnut Hills, Ohio
Sophia Haley – Hopkins, Minn. ^
Saher Hamdan – Lakewood, Ohio *^
Quarille Howard – Hopkins, Minn. ^
Sydney Julich – Ankeny, Iowa
Clara Lemal-Brown – Hudson, Ohio *^
Natalie Locke – Warsaw, Ind. ^
Bella Lubsey – Bruisers, Wisc. ^
Lina Lucas – Avon, Ind. ^
Emily Morris – Pulaski, Wisc. ^
Raina Perciak – Brunswick, Ohio
Areliz Rivera – Bruisers, Wisc. ^
Matja Sarrenheimo-Vanderhorst – Grandville, Mich. *^Haley Taylor – Hamilton United, Ind.
* 2017 Florida tour
^ 2017 tour vs. Ontario U18s
+ 2016 Florida tour