Greenhills Coach Bids Farewell

Greenhills coach bids farewell<br><br>G«ei)Hiu_S'. Scorers<br><br>■ Soccer coach Kurt Loren leaves for Portland, Oregon. Also, several area players make all-state softball squads.<br><br>By JOHN HEUSHR<br><br>NEWS SPORTS REPORTER _________ ' '' '<br><br>Greenhills soccer coach Kurt Loren is leaving, but he won’t soon be forgotten.<br><br>Loren, who coached the boys’ team for seven years and the girls’ team for four, is moving to Portland,<br><br>Ore., where his wife accepted a position teaching law at the Lewis and Clark Law School.<br><br>His record with the boys was 89-44-13, and with the girls his mark stood at 42-28-6. The girls won one district tide, while the boys’ won three districts, three regional, reached the LOREN state semifinals twice and reached the finals in 1992.<br><br>“What I enjoyed the most was the daily interaction with the young men and women,” Loren said. “I looked at it as a reciprocal situation as far as learning. It gave me a chance to learn from them.”<br><br>In Oregon, Loren said he plans to look for another high school coaching job. Green-<br><br>hills athletic director Eric Gajar said the school that ends up hiring Loren “will be very, veiy lucky.”<br><br>“He brought not only a huge understanding of the game, but of the players and students,” Gajar added. “He was more than just a coach. The kids would tell me that it’s nice to have him as a friend.”<br><br>HONORS: The All-State softball list, chosen by the Michigan State High School Softball Coaches Association, was released last week and includes many area players.<br><br>In Class A, Pioneer’s Elissa Brode and Jenni Pieper made the team, as did Brighton’s Lindy Barth. Belleville’s Melissa Pack earned honorable mention status. Chelsea’s Lisa Beard was selected to the Class B squad, while teammates Danielle Longe and Tina Richardson made honorable mention.<br><br>The Class C team included Kim Horton of Clinton, and the honorable mention squad included Lindsey Barr, Jessie Richardson and Allison Jurasek, also of Cinton. In Class D, Somer Bishop of Greenhills earned All-State honors, as did a trio of Gabriel Richard players: Beth Dyer, Mitzi Janukaitis and Ellen O’Brien. Greenhills’ Karen Joynt<br><br>PREP NOTES<br><br>made the honorable mention list.<br><br>In boys’ lacrosse, South Lyon’s Stan Ban-kus earned honorable mention all-state honors and Brighton's Jason Blush made all-conference.<br><br>FIELD HOCKEY AFFAIR: Seven Pio neer field hockey players will represent the Great Lakes Region (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky) at the U.S. Field Hockey Association National Futures Tournament July 4-7 at the University of Maryland.<br><br>Jessie Newman, Jessica Robertson, Daira Tramontin and Katie Turk will compete in the under-19 division, while Eliza Dick, Laura Stinson and Stacy Spenser will play in the under-16 group.<br><br>AVERY UPDATE: Mike Avery, formerly Huron girls’ basketball coach, has accepted the boys’ varsity basketball coaching position at Southfield Lathrup.<br><br>Last year, Avery worked as Lathrup’s boys’ JV coach. He inherits a strong Class A program - the 1996 squad reached the state finals before losing to Saginaw.<br><br>ALL-STAR GAME: Several area football players will be featured in this year’s East-West All Star game.<br><br>Pinckney’s Adam Greenman, Willow Run’s Opio Shaah, Brighton’s Eric Warner,<br><br>and Brandon Call of Saline will represent the West squad. Ian Gold of Belleville, Ron Hunter of Canton, Tom Bish of Plymouth Salem and South Lyon’s Cory Sargent will play for the East.<br><br>The game, to be held at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, will take place on Aug. 3. For interested coaches, the 1996 Michigan High School Football Coaches Association leadership conference will be conducted at MSU on Aug. 2 and 3.<br><br>High school band members can sign up for the All Star band by sending name, address, phone number, school, instrument and T-shirt size to: Don Lessner, 2903 Riverside Drive, Trenton, MI 48183. The band will perform during the football game.<br><br>INKED: Milan’s John Branch, a unanimous All-SEC infielder, recently signed to play baseball at Madonna University. Also, Milan’s Julie Griswold, a swimmer and gymnast, will compete in gymnastics at Radford (Va.) University.<br><br>Former Pioneer basketball star Donell Mitchell has signed a national letter of intent with Iona College. He will be eligible for the 1996-97 season. Mitchell led Coffey-ville (Kan.) Community College to a 26-7 record, the Jayhawk East title and the Kansas Jayhawk Region VI Championship game last year.<br><br>SOFTBALL CAMPS: Ypsilanti High<br><br>School will host four softball camps this summer. The first two four-day sessions will be offered for girls from 7-years-old through the eighth grade, and will run July 1-4 and July 8-11. The third session is for girls from 14-years-old through high school seniors, and will last from July 22-25.<br><br>The final camp is for pitchers and catchers ages 7 through 18. Pat Brower, Gabriel Richard’s assistant coach, will assist during this final week, Aug. 5-8. Each camp costs $100. A $25 non-refundable deposit reserves a spot; the full $100 is due by June 28. For more information call 482-8802.<br><br>COLLEGE UPDATE: A number of local student-athletes who compete in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association earned a grade point average of 3.5 or above for the 1995-96 school year. They are: Erin Bagozzi (Kalamazoo College, Plymouth Salem), Shelly Bilbie (Albion College, Huron), Jeff Comfort (Hope College, Saline), Melissa Cook (Kalamazoo, Plymouth Canton), Dana Homer (Hope, Huron), Marc Kins (Adrian College, Howell), Tracy LaRue (Albion, Manchester), Josh Metzler (Hope, Chelsea), Nicole Piasecki (Adrian, Chelsea), Tom Raven (Albion, Canton), Katy Speer (Albion, Whitmore Lake).<br><br>This is the final Prep Notes of the season. It will resume in September.