Every year there are athletes who go beyond the call of duty and live up to the hype of the previous year.

This year is no exception.

These four athletes, chosen to represent the Sports Scene brand, exceeded expectations on their fields of play and in the classroom, as well.

They are mentors, brothers, and sisters and ideal candidates to be honored as Sports Scenes Male and Female Athletes of the Year. Because of our broad coverage area, we have introduced the Large and Small School categories to help with bringing more coverage to the student-athletes we cover on a daily basis. Here are their stories. 

Sports Scene’s Male Athlete of the Year

Swan Valley’s Alex Grace, senior

Alex Grace will go down as one of the most decorated athletes in the history of the MHSAA. He finished in the Final Five of the 2014 Michigan High School Football Player of the Year voting for two consecutive years.

Grace set the state single-season rushing record as a junior, with 2,962 yards. He finished with 7,551 yards in his career, the third most in state history, but the most for a three-year varsity player.

The 6’1″, 210-pound tailback also owns the state record with eight consecutive 200-yard games. He also finished with 23 consecutive 100-yard games.

He averaged 209.75 yards and 2.75 touchdowns per game.

Grace, who finished third in the Division 2 200-meter dash at the state track and field finals in 2013, hopes to follow in the footsteps of Tim Shaw of Clarenceville, who is second in the state in career rushing with 7,813 yards.

Sports Scene’s Female Athlete of the Year

St. Johns’ Karrigan Smith, senior

For Karrigan Smith, hard work definitely pays off.

Smith worked hard to to make herself one of Michigan’s top distance runners during a career at St. Johns in which she captured individual state championships in cross country and track. She capped her career by leading St. Johns to its first girls’ track team state championship in program history in May.

Pulling a team together, Smith leaves it all on the track every time she runs. She is a perfect candidate for Sports Scene’s Female Athlete of the Year.

Smith, who will run at Michigan State University this fall, had plenty of incredible moments during a career that was the most successful of any runner in St. Johns history. She was a four-time all-stater in cross country and was twice the Division 2 1,600-meter run champion at the state track meet.

Smith’s sophomore year was significant in her rise to become an elite runner. After dual-sporting in track and softball as a freshman, the focus shifted to the oval the following year, and Smith capped that season by finishing second in the 1,600- and 800-meter runs at the state track meet, behind Chippewa Hills standout Megan O’Neil, who now runs at the University of Wisconsin.

That was when St. Johns track coach Neil Feldpausch knew that he had a runner capable of accomplishing big things beyond high school. And that was when Smith realized her potential and felt more motivated than at any other time in her prep running career.

Large School Male Athlete of the Year

Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher, senior

Repeating as national champion by extending his unbeaten streak to two years surely left Grand Blanc High School senior Grant Fisher with the expectation that he would claim Gatorade National Runner of the Year honors for a second time. But the humility and awe he displayed when that news became official suggested otherwise.

The 5’10”, 135-pound Fisher, who also won the award as a junior, raced to his second straight national title this past season with a time of 15:03 at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. He also won the Division 1 state title, clocking a 14:52.5 and concluding his cross county prep career undefeated for two consecutive years. Three-time U.S. Olympian and Michigan native Dathan Ritzenhein presented the teen with the award.

Fisher remains the only boys’ cross country talent from Michigan to win national Gatorade honors. He is one of eight past national winners from the state across all sports throughout the award’s 30-year history, including former NBA star Chris Webber (Detroit Country Day), who won in 1991; former NFL quarterback and MLB infielder Drew Henson (Brighton), the 1998 winner in baseball; and MLS midfielder Eric Alexander (Portage Central), who won in 2006.

Fisher has made national headlines by running the mile in under four minutes and has shattered MHSAA records, so it would only be appropriate for him to claim Sports Scene’s Large School Male Athlete of the Year.

Fisher claimed first place in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs and set state records in the 1,600 (4:00.28) and mile (4:01.66) at the Division 1 state meet in late May.

He finished his prep career with three straight individual state titles in the 3,200 and two in the 1,600. Also, Fisher won his second straight championship at the Adidas Dream Mile in New York.

Small School Female Athlete of Year

Taryn Taugher, Freeland High School, senior

Taryn Taugher can score with the best of them.

An all-state guard in basketball, the Freeland star is heading to Northern Kentucky University to play Division I women’s basketball, after averaging 19.8 points per game. She’s not too bad on the soccer field, either, as she helped lead the Falcons to the Division 3 semifinal round the last two years.

As a junior, she scored a team-high 24 goals for the Falcons.

On the basketball court, she scored her 1,000th point in a 66-60 loss to Nouvel Catholic Central and further cemented her status as one of the best players in the program’s history.

She was also a standout volleyball player for the Falcons for four seasons. 

Taugher is a perfect representative to be named Sports Scene’s Small School Female Athlete of the Year.