Boys Tennis Concludes Season at State Finals, Football Clinches Fourth Straight Playoff Berth
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – As the fall season enters its final stretch, Father Gabriel Richard Athletics saw Boys Tennis compete at the MHSAA State Finals, Football secure its fourth consecutive playoff berth and Bridget Fidkowski break her own school record in Girls Cross Country for the second straight week.
Cross Country
The Girls Cross Country team competed in the Larry Steeb XC Invitational at Whitmore Lake High School on Saturday (Oct. 24), finishing third out of 14 teams.
Just one week after setting the FGR Girls Cross Country 5K record, Bridget Fidkowski ’27 broke her own mark with a time of 18:29.8, finishing second overall. Fidkowski previously set the record at the Father Gabriel Richard XC Invitational on Oct. 17 with a time of 18:31.2.
Mary Hickey ’30 continued her strong freshman season, placing fifth with a time of 19:22.4. Hickey improved her own freshman school record by 14 seconds after setting the previous mark just one week earlier.
Ava Pfaffenbach ’27 earned a medal with a season-best performance, while Rose Buonerba ’27 and Lexi Adelman ’27 recorded personal-best times to round out FGR’s scoring five.
Girls Field Hockey
FGR fell 2-1 to Ann Arbor Greenhills in the MHSAA Regional Quarterfinal on Tuesday (Oct. 20).
The Irish concluded their season with a 10-3-1 record.
Football
Football closed out its regular season with a 33-0 home loss to Detroit Country Day on Friday (Oct. 23).
Despite the setback, FGR secured its fourth consecutive MHSAA playoff berth, continuing a streak that began in 2023.
The Irish will open postseason play on Friday (Oct. 30), traveling to Romulus to face Summit Academy. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
Boys Soccer
Boys Soccer saw its season come to an end in the MHSAA District Semifinals on Tuesday (Oct. 20), falling 4-1 to Detroit Frontier International.
The Irish finished the season with a 12-6-3 overall record.
Girls Swim and Dive
Girls Swim and Dive earned a 126.5-44.5 victory over Regina last week, with several swimmers recording personal-best performances.
Ellie Robison ’29 set personal bests in the 200 free and 100 fly, while Isabelle Gatza ’27 and Elizabeth O’Neil ’29 each recorded personal bests in the 200 IM. Camilla Mangan ’27 and Cassidy Egan also achieved personal-best times in the 50 free.
Additional personal-best performances came from Zoe Bartram ’29 in the 100 fly, Cece Adelman ’30 in the 500 free, Maria Obudzinski ’29 in the 100 back and Lucy Tribble ’29 in the 100 breast.
The Irish will close out their dual-meet schedule this week, facing Cranbrook Kingswood on Tuesday (Oct. 27) at 5:30 pm before taking on Greenhills United at Whitmore Lake on Thursday (Oct. 29) at 6 pm.
Boys Tennis
Boys Tennis concluded its season at the MHSAA State Finals on Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 21-22) at the Midland Tennis Center, finishing 18th out of 22 teams.
At No. 1 singles, Micah Livingston ’29 earned a three-set victory over Portland in one of his strongest performances of the season. The No. 3 doubles pairing of Joseph Brewis ’30 and Jackson Burak ’30 advanced to the quarterfinals following an opening-round bye and a victory over Essexville Garber.
The Irish also turned in a pair of competitive three-set matches, with Andrew Stout ’29 at No. 2 singles and the No. 2 doubles team of John Miller ’29 and Conor Grohar ’28 narrowly falling in their respective matches.
Girls Volleyball
Girls Volleyball opened the week with a straight-set road victory over Clarkston Everest Collegiate (25-19, 25-17, 25-12) on Thursday (Oct. 22).
Mia Keefer ’30 paced FGR offensively with 15 kills on a 65.2 hitting percentage without committing an attacking error. Courtney Dyer ’27 and Mary Lynn Hendershot ’29 each added six kills.
Janie Osness ’30 directed the offense with 31 assists and collected six digs. Rylee Burke ’28 led the Irish defensively with 20 digs, while Alison Oleszkowicz ’30 contributed nine.
On Saturday (Oct. 24), FGR competed in the Grand Blanc Tournament, finishing with a 3-2 record. The Irish earned straight-set victories over North Oakland (25-16, 25-18), Flint Powers Catholic (25-21, 25-13) and Haslett (25-20, 25-19).
FGR’s two losses came against Davison, falling in the opening match (23-25, 24-26) and again in the final match of the day (25-23, 14-25, 10-15).
Keefer led the Irish offensively throughout the tournament with 44 kills across five matches. Oleszkowicz added 24 kills and a team-high 38 digs, while Dyer contributed 21 kills.
Osness dished out 107 assists to go along with 32 digs, while Burke added 33 digs.
FGR enters the final week of the regular season with a 31-6-2 overall record and the top seed in MHSAA Division 2 District 5 at Dundee High School.
The Irish will close out the regular season on Tuesday (Oct. 27), traveling to Adrian High School for a 7 pm match.
FGR will then open MHSAA postseason play on Wednesday (Nov. 4) at 5:30 pm against the winner of Dundee and Milan, who are scheduled to meet Monday (Nov. 2).
Recaps cover Oct. 19-25; previews cover Oct. 26-Nov. 1.
View all upcoming competitions here.