Speaking
of Sports 


by
Alex
Prasad

 
Novi’s Gargantuan
Sporting Footprint

February 21, 2010

The first time I met my co-producer of Overtime and one of my best friends, Peter Saul, he asked where I was from. I said Novi. He said, “Oh, that’s where all the Swedish Red Wings live.” An instant friendship was born. Being from a relatively small town, it’s always a pleasant surprise when a person recognizes the name Novi. It’s something else when a kid from Georgia that’s lived in Michigan less than a week knows of our town.

Of course, Ann Arbor is just 30 minutes away from Novi, but I’ve discovered that Novi’s sporting footprint extends well beyond what one would expect from an average town of 50,000. We’ve been blessed with tremendously successful athletics, in almost every way imaginable. I spend most of my time with runners. Everybody, from in state or out of state that has followed high school running knows of Tim Moore, 2001 Footlocker National Champion. Those in state know of Novi’s nine straight top ten finishes at the state meet from 1998-2006.

Don’t care for running? Well our town has forged a name for itself on the gridiron as well. NHS made the playoffs every year from 1999-2005 and most memorably fell a yard short against Brother Rice in the state-semifinals in the fall of 2003 as time ran out. 

At the time the Novi football program had a baseball star climbing its ladder, Kevin Cislo, who went on to be an All-Big Ten shortstop at UM after turning down a preferred walk-on stop offered by Lloyd Carr to play football.

And don’t forget Catholic Central, which is the 8^th winningest high school football team in the state all-time amongst teams with more than 100 games played. That program has produced one of the best players on UM’s defense: Mike Martin.  

Recently we’ve seen our pom team win both Varsity and JV state titles. The NHS basketball team is 14-3 and cruising through the KLAA tournament.

Don’t think high school sports put our town on the map? How about professional sports? I’m sure the folks in Altach, Austria will be getting to know a little about Novi, as Catholic Central sends its soccer star Josh Gatt right to the pros. 

Or how about Olympic sports? Amongst the all- Michigan contingent of ice dancers was Emily Samuelsson, an NHS grad! We even have a bobsledder amongst us! There are 216 Americans competing in the Olympics, roughly one for every 1.4 million people. Our town has only 50,000 residents and two Olympians!

I know many of us tell people we’re from “Detroit” or “Michigan” when we go out of town. Both are easier and more recognizable names in the grand scheme of things. But if you happen to meet a sports fan far from Novi, don’t underestimate Novi’s reputation. At least in sports, Novi’s reputation travels better than you’d think.

(c) 2010 Novi Information Network
www.novi.org

___________________________________

Alex Prasad is a life-long Michigan resident, a student at the University of Michigan and a 2007 graduate of Novi High School. He was the Novi.org school and sports reporter while he was NHS. Alex was also a captain of the NHS Cross Country Team and Track Team under legendary coach Bob Smith. His passion for running continues to this day, as he trains for a marathon.

Alex is currently Sports Director of WOLV-TV, the student run television station at UM, and produces shows on both the Michigan Football and Michigan Hockey teams. 

You can see more of his work here.