Jespersen: Take a final look at Gaylord's best sports moments in 2024 – Petoskey News-Review

GAYLORD ― Thanks for another fantastic year of sports, Gaylord.
It’s been more than two years since I took over as the sports editor and I have been treated to a couple of fantastic years to follow high school sports around Otsego County. Us sports fans up north have been treated to some top-notch teams and elite athletic performances throughout 2024; let’s relive the best of the best from the Gaylord area:
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The rivalry between Gaylord St. Mary and Johannesburg-Lewiston is part of what makes covering Otsego County sports so unique. Unfortunately, with GSM moving to 8-player football and some noticeable gaps in the programs left competing against each other, it had been a few years since you could call any of these matchups a true rivalry experience.
That was, until last basketball season, because with the Cardinals’ faithful sensing a chance to make a statement in the rivalry, JoBurg showed up in full force on back-to-back nights in late February, both on the court and in the crowd.
Fueled by packed student sections, JoBurg bested St. Mary in a boys basketball matchup on Thursday, Feb. 22 before a critical girls basketball win the following night that helped JoBurg leap GSM in the SKi Valley Conference and finish second in the final standings.
Maybe most importantly, the win reinvigorated the passion for a rivalry matchup that had been pretty docile in recent years.
It is always a treat to be a part of a state finals coverage, no matter the sport. Being the sports editor from Gaylord has given me the opportunity to be a part of quite a few of those coverage days throughout the past few years, with the early March trip to Ford Field for the MHSAA Wrestling State Championships quickly becoming a staple of the job.
This past year, however, it came with some real fireworks at the end.
With legendary head coach Jerry LaJoie retiring after the 2023-24 season, the March 2 trip to Detroit was the last for the storied GHS program under the fourth-winningest head coach in MHSAA history as the Blue Devils head man, and they sent him out in style with three more state champions.
Zane Willobee won the Division 2 157-pound state title, Ty Bensinger won the D2 190-pound state title and Sunni LaFond won the girls 115-pound state title, giving GHS three individual state champions on Coach LaJoie’s final day as head coach.
Gaylord St. Mary is used to being a small school amongst a sea of Northern Michigan small schools, continuously proving to be an athletic program that maxes out the potential of its low enrollment.
Still, nobody expected a group of sophomores and freshmen to do what they did in last year’s MHSAA D4 girls basketball playoffs.
Matched up with one of the best freshmen in MHSAA history, Mio’s Mia McGregor, GSM put together one of its best performances of the season as they earned a 61-56 victory despite 46 points from the freshman phenom, sending a roster of nearly all underclassmen to the D4 regional finals.
Boiling the greatness of Gaylord softball down to one moment isn’t as easy as it sounds; with three conference titles, three district titles, two regional titles and two state titles in the past three season, the Blue Devils have made a habit of serving up memorable moments on the softball diamond.
Still, not much can compare to last year’s state championship victory, a one-run victory in an extra-inning thriller in the D2 state title matchup with Vicksburg that gave Blue Devils their second-straight state championship and cemented their legacy among the greatest teams in state history.
Hopefully, a new-look Blue Devils team will be back at Secchia Stadium this spring.
Gaylord has been a hotbed for college recruiting, lately
Just this past year, 17 GHS athletes signed to play college sports out of the Class of 2024, with two headed to NCAA Division I programs. This past fall, perhaps the best of the bunch inked her name to join that illustrious D1 group.
Reigning Gatorade Softball Player of the Year Aubrey Jones made her college choice official on Early National Signing Day, signing with Oklahoma State University on Wednesday, Oct. 13.
“As I got to know their program and their coaches, I think their coaching staff is the best in the country, and I just think my personality fits in really well with what I believe in,” said Jones.
Jones led the entire country with 26 home runs and 84 runs batted in while going 15-0 with 122 strikeouts from the circle. She was a major factor in Gaylord’s second-straight D2 state title victory and hopes to capture a third this coming spring.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

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