As we count down the final days of July, with football practices right around the corner and all the fun that is the beginning of the fall sports season just one month away, it is time to say goodbye to the 2023-24 season.
We’ve talked extensively about the best of the best from this past year, from athletes to coaches to moments. Now, let’s let some of the best photos of the past year speak for themselves as the top ten photos of 2023-24 have been selected and have been revealed.
If you don’t see a photo you expected to see, head over to @dylanjespersen on Instagram to see the nearly 50 photos that were selected as honorable mentions. It was a great year not just to be a sports fan in Gaylord, but a sports photographer as well:
Last year, I decided to start the top photos countdown before Gaylord softball’s run to a state championship. Big mistake on my part.
So, I needed to include at least one photo from last year’s run in this year’s top ten, and luckily this year I got a shot so similar to my favorite one from last year’s celebration that I made it a dual entry at No. 10.
Mio’s freshman sensation Mia McGregor averaged 41.2 points per game before leading the Bolts to the D4 regional semifinals. There, they met a Gaylord St. Mary’s team led exclusively by underclassmen, hoping to be the ones to outduel one of the best scorers in state history.
That night, it was GSM and Kaylee Jeffers’s night, winning 61-54 despite 46 points from McGregor.
March 2, 2024 will be a day etched into Gaylord wrestling’s history.
The historic program added three more individual state championships in head coach Jerry LaJoie’s final outing, helping cement Gaylord as one of, if not the pinnacle of Northern Michigan wrestling. Junior Zane Willobee led things off with his win in the D2 157-pound bracket, while Sunni LaFond secured the girls 115-pound state title, the first female wrestling state champion in school history.
If Bensinger’s photo doesn’t look like one of a state champion, it probably needs some context; after spending nearly the entire year as the top-ranked 190-pound wrestler, Bensinger won the D2 190-pound bracket after an illegal slam knocked him unconscious, disqualifying his opponent. It wasn’t the way Bensinger wanted to win a state title, but he was a still a fitting champion.
They say photography is all about being in the right place at the right time.
Gaylord senior Makenna McVannel just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and became the subject of this celebratory photo on the other side.
Even with all that Gaylord accomplished in 2023 (Conference champions, district champions, undefeated perfect season), I think some of the best moments still came from their regular season victory over Petoskey, including this moment with Russell Hush holding up the Jaycees Trophy yet again.
Will this trophy be on the move in 2024? Time will tell.
Senior Rylan Matelski went back to the Division 4 state finals this season after another successful year in the long jump pit. While track meet photos can sometimes feel monotonous at times, taking a break to capture some of these moments at the field events can be the best use of my time.
These photos feel like forever ago.
Back in July 2023, then senior Brady Pretzlaff was beginning to cement his name as one of Northern Michigan’s top athletes as he snared these two unbelievable catches at the GHS 7-on-7 tournament in July of 2023. Now, Pretzlaff is entering his first season with the Michigan State Spartans while Gaylord attempts to move on without him for the first time in four years.
Gaylord senior Avery Parker had set herself up for a big final year on the basketball court, leading what she hoped to be a competitive team into a winnable conference. However, fate had other plans as she suffered an ACL tear that would end not just her final basketball season, but her Blue Devil career as a whole.
Still, she was able to get one final moment back on Gaylord’s home court, starting and getting one last bucket against TC Central in a night to honor her efforts for the GHS girls basketball program.
It was a night full of emotions for her and her mom, head coach Kelli Parker, as they shared this moment while AP walked off the court one last time.
Easily the coolest non-sports experience of the year was when Gaylord secured a military helicopter from Camp Grayling to land in the parking lot prior to their military appreciation game on Saturday, Sept. 9.
What I think is easily the best photo of my career comes with a lesson for any sports photographer out there; the best shot is always yet to come.
I could’ve easily set my camera down and stopped shooting this late into a blowout Gaylord victory, but something told me to keep going. Then, on the last play of the game, Isaac Collins pulled in possibly the best catch I’ve ever seen in person, and I was more than happy to show everyone around me that yes, I got the shot.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
