Top five contenders for the 2018-19 Class D title

When the defending champion has just one senior it will lose to graduation — and one who averaged less than a point per game in an offense that posted 55 points per night — there probably isn’t a whole lot of question who the favorite for next season will be.

Especially when the two stars of the team are going into their sophomore and junior years.
Until further notice, Michigan’s Class D belongs to Adrian Lenawee Christian and the Salenbien sisters, rising junior Dani and 6-foot-2 sophomore-to-be Bree.

Granted, things happen, people get hurt, people have off games or off years, so the results of the next two seasons can’t be entered into the record books just yet. As a rhetorical exercise, if nothing else, we should take a look at who might be the strongest challengers for the next few Class D titles, along with the Cougars themselves.

Adrian Lenawee Christian (26-1)
The Cougars averaged 54.6 points in a regular season that saw them lose just once — by one point to Class A Monroe — then 58.4 points per game through an unbeaten playoff run to win the program’s first state title. And the Cougars were oh so young, with three juniors to go along with six sophomores and the freshman superstar in the making. Four of their five top scorers were sophomores or freshmen.
“When you get younger kids to buy into being fearless in a silly game, it’s working,” first-year head coach Jamie Salenbien said. “I just think they’re competitive, and they have great parents who instill that sort of competitive nature in them. All year long, they’ve been gamers. We had one heck of a schedule this year, and it prepared them for this moment. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was grueling, and tonight it showed how much it helped us.”

In all likelihood, Jamie Salenbien will keep scheduling tough to allow the Cougars to keep their edge, meaning their record may not be spotless headed into next postseason. But they’re still going to be a tough out, as long as Bree Salenbien (21.3 points per game, 9.8 rebounds) and Dani Salenbein (13.3 points, 6.5 rebounds) are still in uniform.

Fruitport Calvary Christian (20-4)
The Eagles have won six straight Alliance League titles, but have also lost to Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart five straight years in regionals. With the Irish likely headed for a bit of a rebuild — only all-stater Scout Nelson returns from this year’s senior-laden semifinals team — and the Eagles returning everyone from a 20-4 squad, it may be a changing of the guard. High-scoring rising junior Kelsey Richards is the latest of a line of sisters to star for the Eagles, while Brionna Johnson and Lizzie Cammenga provide plenty of supplementary offense.

Munising (22-2)
Ranked No. 2 in Class D in the final AP poll of the regular season, the Mustangs were knocked off in the regional semifinals by a little team called Chassell, that merely ended up going to the finals. The Mustangs do lose a significant amount from this year’s team, including the Skyline Central Conference’s player of the year in Kianne Wendt, and follow seniors Nykole Fitzgibbon and Kelsey and Marissa Ackerman, but do return rising seniors Daryn Johnson and Michaela Werner.

Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (20-5)
Every year, the Lakers come into the tournament with a far less spectacular-looking record than some of the shiny undefeated marks, and every year, when the dust settles, they’ve managed to play their way into the final four — this year was the ninth regional title in 10 seasons for WOLL. Coach Steve Robak loses quite a bit from a team that started 1-3 (with losses to Class C finalist Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, Class B regional finalist Harper Woods Chandler Park and Class B champ Detroit Country Day), but still has a solid nucleus that will make noise in 2018-19. The Lakers graduate five seniors, including perpetual all-stater Tiffany Senerius, but still return rising juniors Macy Senerius and Isabelle Kline, and rising senior Sophia Hadash, along with this year’s freshman starter, Brooklyn Robak.

Kingston (23-1)
Ranked fifth in the final AP poll, this year’s junior-laden Cardinals team rolled to a North Central Thumb League title and an unbeaten regular season, before running up against the program’s postseason nemesis, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes. The Cardinals have lost to the Lakers in quarterfinals three of the last four years. Kingston loses just two seniors off this year’s squad, with everybody else back. Either the Cardinals get lucky enough to go separate ways from the Lakers, or maybe they’ll figure out a way to go through them.

Honorable mentions:
Rogers City, Athens, St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran, Gaylord St. Mary, Bark River-Harris, Bellevue