Hawks Sports Wrap Up

Courtesy of Hawks Athletics

Henry Ford College is home to six varsity sports with the addition of Hawks Volleyball this past fall. Here are some highlights from the past year.

**Volleyball ** Hawks Volleyball returned this fall after a couple years of being inactive. The team is coached by Rosemary Motamedi. The team finished with a record of 2-16, but the team was young with 9 of the 10 players being freshmen. The team was led by Zaria Walker, Cheyenne Lacinski, Torianna Allen-Cook, and Victoria Konan. All four of the players were freshmen this year, and are due to be back this coming season.

Men’s Basketball The basketball team improved from last year’s record and finished with a 9 and 17 record and lost in the first round of the playoffs. The team was led by Diangelo Carlton who was the captain of the team. The team had big wins over St. Clair County and Alpena. The Hawks will now turn to Chris Shepard to help right the ship this coming season. Shepard was on the coaching staff at Macomb Community College. Macomb advanced to the NJCAA national championship this past season and Hawks Athletic Director, Rochelle Taylor said, “we are excited to have the new coach come in and look forward to competing at a Regional and National level.”

Women’s Basketball The Lady Hawks will return to the hardwood in 2018 under the new leadership of coach Gwen Burton. Coach Burton brings NCAA experience, according to Taylor, as she served as an assistant on the staff of both Eastern Illinois, and Chicago State University. Burton has also had experience at Marygrove College and next door at University of Michigan-Dearborn. Burton also has coached at Bishop Borgess and Martin Luther King, Jr. high schools.

Baseball The baseball team experienced rain outs early in the season and is 4-8 in the NJCAA Division II conference and 11-16 overall. The club has been led by pitcher Tyler Kelly who has an ERA of 1.25 in 28 innings this season.

Softball The season has not been kind to Hawks Softball as the team is still looking for its first win after starting 0-10 on the season to date. Readers are encouraged to go to a game to help cheer them on.

Golf Golf is also a two-semester sport with the conference season in the fall and tournaments in the spring. The team finished 4th out of 8 teams in the fall. These tournaments will lead the team to the state tournament and then hopefully to regional, and depending on how the team or individual does, to the national tournament. The state tournament will be May 8 and 9, with the regional being May 15 and 16.

Wrestling Starting in the fall, Hawks Wrestling will make the jump from a club sport to the varsity ranks at HFC. The school will keep on Grant Mackenzie as the head coach. Taylor said of Mckenzie, “He started the program here four years ago and they have had a lot of success.”
Five of the wrestlers advanced to the national stage this year with one of the members coming back as an all-American finishing 8th in the 125-weight class. The team finished 18th out of about 40 schools which includes 4-year and 2-year club teams. Next season, with the change to varsity, they will only match up with other 2-year schools.

Roller Hockey Starting in the fall, HFC will start a roller hockey team. The roller hockey team will be a club team and will play at Canfield Skating Arena here in Dearborn. Roller hockey will run from October to March and is a two-semester sport.
The roller hockey team will be headed up by Coach Fenwick.

Henry Ford College has a growing sports catalog and the next few years will be exciting to see what happens at the school. With eight sports this fall, Hawks athletics will be fun to watch.