Eight Extraordinary High School Athletes to Watch in 2024-25

These teen superstars are smashing records, taking trophies, and looking ahead to college competition

By Craig Manning | Sept. 7, 2024

If you’ve kept tabs on local high school sports over the past few years, you’ve probably noticed a few trends. A lot of school records are getting broken, for one thing, some of them after having stood for decades. The area has also produced a whole slew of state championship winners lately, both in team and individual sports.

Who’s northern Michigan’s next big success story? We submit the following list of eight extraordinary high school athletes to watch over the course of the 2024-25 school year.

OLIVIA FLYNN

School: Harbor Springs High School
Sports: Basketball and Track
Graduation Year: 2025

Proudest accomplishment: Flynn is already the all-time leading scorer in the annals of Harbor Springs girls basketball, with 1,758 points to her name. She’s also proud to have netted first-team all-state Division 3 honors three seasons in a row.

Goal for the year: Flynn has an ambitious to-do list for the upcoming basketball season. Top goals include exceeding 2,000 career points, winning “as many regular season games as possible,” and securing conference, district, and regional titles for the Rams. “A far run in state tournament play” is also on the wish list.

Next steps: After garnering scholarship offers from a slew of schools, Flynn committed to Western Michigan University, where she’ll play basketball and major in business.

Why we’re watching: Thanks to the phenomenally fun to watch Caitlin Clark, women’s basketball is more popular right now than it’s been in many years—maybe ever. In a lot of ways, Flynn is the Caitlin Clark of northern Michigan: a dynamite point guard who consistently puts up big scoring numbers, delivers deadly accuracy from the three-point line, and checks the “team player” box with a ton of assists. (In fact, Flynn also holds the record at Harbor Springs High for most all-time assists.)

Flynn has been incredible since her freshman year, hence her three straight all-state honors and the fact that she broke the previous Harbor Springs scoring record—1,641 career points, set in 2000 by Christa Shibata—in her junior season. But she’s also gotten better each year, jumping from impressive sophomore stats (25.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists) to near-best-in-state numbers as a junior (26.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game). If the trend continues—and we expect it will—Flynn will almost certainly cross the 2,000-point milestone, becoming just the 34th girls basketball player in MHSAA history to do so.

ABBY HICKS

School: Leland Public School
Sports: Volleyball and Track
Graduation year: 2025

Proudest accomplishment: Hicks points to her Division 4 all-state first-team honors, which she earned last season after a whizz-bang year that saw the Leland volleyball team make it all the way to the D4 state championship match.

Goal for the year: It’s nose to the grindstone time for Hicks, who says she’s working hard “to adapt and excel at new roles I need to play” to help the Comets pull off an even better volleyball season this fall.

Next steps: Hicks says she fully intends to continue her athletic career by playing volleyball in college. Where that will be is yet to be decided.

Why we’re watching: It’s the start of a new era for Leland volleyball, following the retirement of 29-year coach Laurie Glass at the end of last season. Hicks, who is one of just two returning seniors on the team, will be key in helping new coach Travis Baker start a new dynasty.

Then again, Hicks is key to pretty much everything that happens on the volleyball court when Leland plays. Throughout last season, the setter recorded 1,293 assists. In the state championship game alone, which Leland ultimately lost to Clarkston two sets to three, Hicks put up 45 assists, landing in MHSAA record books as one of the players with the most assists in a championship match.

While Hicks also delivered 100 aces last season, it’s her assist record that makes her Leland’s secret weapon. Working with a young squad this year—six of last year’s standouts graduated, and the 2024 team is mostly underclassmen—Hicks will try to use that skill to take the Comets back to the state finals.

OWEN JACKSON

School: Traverse City St. Francis
Sports: Tennis and Golf
Graduation year: 2025

Proudest accomplishment: “My biggest athletic accomplishment so far isn’t based off of wins or losses, but the growth I’ve achieved as a high school student throughout these last four years,” Jackson says. “Between the four state titles I’ve been a part of in two different varsity sports, I’ve accomplished so much as a person that I’m proud of—whether that’s helping a teammate or personally persevering through adversity.”

Goal for the year: Jackson plans to “leave everything out there” during his senior year, both academically and athletically. In the classroom, he’s shooting for a 4.0 GPA. In sports, he’s definitely interested in clinching another state title or two—especially if that means a team title for the tennis squad, which he says features five seniors in the lineup this year. “I’d love to be able to celebrate one last championship with this group of guys,” he says. 

Next steps: “I plan to, God willing, play tennis at the next level,” Jackson says. “I have places I could go, without a doubt, but still haven’t made my mind up on where exactly I see myself in the future.” 

Why we’re watching: Jackson is kind of the state championship king. On the tennis court, he clinched back-to-back Division 4 state titles, first at No. 3 singles, then at No. 2 singles, during his freshman and sophomore seasons. The Gladiators also won their first-ever team state championship in tennis in 2023, thanks in part to Jackson’s strong performance. On the golf course, meanwhile, Jackson shared in another team title this past spring when St. Francis won the Division 3 state championship.

While Jackson didn’t win another title during his junior tennis season, he came mighty close: After moving up to No. 1 singles, Jackson made it all the way to the state semifinals before losing to the eventual state champ. (He earned all-state first-team honors as a consolation prize.) Jackson enters his senior season with more than 100 career wins to his name, and we know he’d like a No. 1 singles title to go along with his wins at No. 2 and No. 3.

AUBREY JONES

School: Gaylord High School
Sports: Softball and volleyball
Graduation year: 2025

Proudest accomplishment: While she’s won a lot of games, put up some incredible numbers, and been honored with a slew of “best player” awards and recognitions, Jones says her favorite accomplishment is a forward-looking one: “It’s having the opportunity to pick my college of choice for my future softball career,” she tells the Express.

Goal for the year: Jones has already led Gaylord to two state titles in softball, so it’s no big surprise that her big goal for the forthcoming season is to make it a three-peat.

Next steps: “I plan to continue pursuing my sport after high school by playing for Oklahoma State University and chasing after a Women’s College World Series,” Jones says.

Why we’re watching: Who doesn’t love a family dynasty in the sports world? For the past few years, Gaylord High School has had one in the form of the Jones sisters. The two—Aubrey and her older sister Jayden—made school history while playing together, leading the Blue Devils to two consecutive Division 2 state titles in volleyball in 2023 and 2024. It’s the first time Gaylord has won consecutive state championships in any sport, girls or boys, and it wouldn’t have happened without these sisters. 

So far, the two have shared the glory. This past spring, for instance, Jayden was named “Miss Softball” in Michigan—the title bestowed upon the state’s best senior player—while Aubrey won Michigan player of the year honors from both Gatorade and MaxPreps. Both also finished the 2024 season ranked in the top 25 nationally for their respective college recruiting classes. 

Now, though, with Jayden off to Virginia Tech for her first year of college, Aubrey is the only Jones left on the Blue Devils. She’s also one of the only members remaining from last season’s championship team, most of whom graduated along with her sister. It’ll be a different kind of season for Jones, but we’ve no doubt that she’ll make it another special one. After all, her 2024 stats put her at the top of the national leaderboard for both home runs (26) and RBIs (84), according to MaxPreps, and she’s also a terrific pitcher, striking out 122 batters last season.

SETH MAREK

School: Petoskey High School
Sports: Football and Track
Graduation Year: 2025

Proudest accomplishment: For Marek, who plays as a wide receiver on the Petoskey football team, the crowning achievement of high school so far was helping the Northmen past the first round of playoffs for the first time in years. Well, that, and breaking every single receiving record in Petoskey football history.

Goal for the year: Having already made a fair amount of school history, Marek says his goal for the 2024 football season is making even more school history—whether that’s breaking a few more records or helping the team to an even deeper playoff run.

Next steps: Marek hasn’t yet decided what his post-high-school plans will look like.

Why we’re watching: Marek recently got some ink from Sports Illustrated in an article about the “top pass catchers” in Michigan high school football this year. All we can say is, the senior wide receiver has certainly earned the coverage.

Last season alone, Marek made 45 catches for 859 yards, 13 of them resulting in touchdowns. All of those numbers were new single-season receiving records for Petoskey’s football program. He also owns school records for longest touchdown reception (98 yards), career yards (1,294), career receptions (72), career touchdowns (17), single-game yards (209), single-game receptions (10), and single-game touchdowns (3).

Those numbers make it clear that Marek is a dynamic and talented athlete and a fun person to watch any time he’s on the field. But while the individual accomplishments are one thing, Marek makes it clear to the Express that he’s most focused on pushing for team accomplishments in 2024, and that’s what we’ll be watching for. Last year, the Northmen went 6-5, including a 26-7 win over Marquette in the first playoff round. If there’s anyone who can help Petoskey notch a few more playoff wins, it’s Marek.

AIDAN ORTH

School: Traverse City West Senior High
Sports: Soccer
Graduation year: 2025

Proudest accomplishment: “I would say that my greatest accomplishment so far is making the 2023-24 Olympic Development Program national camp, where I was able to travel to Costa Rica with kids from all over the country and compete against professional academy teams from Costa Rica,” Orth says.

Goal for the year: Each year, the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association names an 11-member dream team, which includes the best players from across the entire state, in any division. Orth hopes to see his name on that list when the 2024 version is announced in November.

Next steps: Orth plans to play soccer collegiately, but is still weighing his options on which school he wants to attend.

Why we’re watching: Orth was a key cog in the Titans machine last season, helping the team to a tremendous 18-2-1 overall record and a fifth straight district title. West’s season ended in a nailbiter—a regional semifinal match against Rockford that went to double overtime before the Titans fell behind 2-1. Orth very nearly scored a game-tying shot that would have kept the match going, and potentially West’s season with it. But the standout forward will be back for revenge this year, and we know he’d like to orchestrate a deeper playoff run—especially since 2023 marked the third straight season where West’s playoff hopes ended in the regional semifinals.

Certainly, Orth is a good man to lead the charge. He was one of just three juniors to make the Division 1 all-state first team in 2023, and his full-season stats last year—28 goals and 14 assists—were impressive. He’s the latest in a long line of standout soccer players at West, which will go for a mind-boggling 17th consecutive Big North Conference title this year.

MAX WARD

School: Elk Rapids High School
Sports: Cross-Country, Football, Basketball, Track & Field
Graduation Year: 2025

Proudest accomplishment: Of all his athletic endeavors, Ward is strongest on the track. He points to his junior track season, where he won a Division 3 state title in the 300-meter hurdles, as his proudest moment so far.

Goal for the year: “Next year in track and field, I want to try every event—even shot put,” Ward says.

Next steps: Though he hasn’t committed to a specific school yet, Ward tells Northern Express that he’s hoping to continue his running career “at a college that suits me best.”

Why we’re watching: Ward already has state pedigree, thanks to his championship title in the 300-meter hurdles. He’s one to watch nationally, too: This summer, he competed at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Track Town USA (Eugene, Oregon) finishing fifth in an “Emerging Elite Division” 400-meter hurdles race.

State and national hardware aside, the most exciting thing about Ward might be his renaissance man capabilities. At states, Ward also placed third in the 110-meter high hurdles and participated in a 4x400 relay team that netted Elk Rapids a third-place finish in that race. Beyond those three events, Ward has regularly competed in virtually every sprint or middle-distance event available in track—including the 100-meter dash, the 200 meters, the 400 meters, and the 800 meters—and has even tried his hand (and actually won a few meets) in the high jump.

With so many events in his repertoire, Ward is worth watching for the simple fact that you never know what he might do. His pledge to try all 17 events offered in high school track and field should be a fun journey to follow, especially as he gets into out-of-his-comfort-zone contests like discus and shotput.

LORELAI ZIELINKSI

School: Traverse City Central High School
Sports: Basketball and Track & Field
Graduation year: 2027

Proudest accomplishment: Zielinski was a two-time runner-up at the Division 1 track and field state finals this past season. She’s proud of those strong finishes, and of being named “freshman of the year” in both track and basketball.

Goal for the year: Zielinski has her sights set on breaking Central’s shot put and discus records once track season rolls back around next spring.

Next steps: Unlike all the other athletes featured on this list, Zielinski still has a couple years before she needs to be nailing down post-high-school plans. She’s already thinking about them, though: “I plan to compete at the collegiate level in track and field, and I would like to compete in the 2028 and 2032 Olympic Trials,” she says.

Why we’re watching: Zielinski isn’t just the only sophomore on our list this year; she’s the only underclassman, period. But when you have a potential world-class phenom in your midst, you simply have to have them on your “athletes to watch” list, and Zielinski has so far shown herself to be precisely that kind of athlete.

In May, Zielinski threw 143 feet, 3 inches in the discus at Traverse City Central’s Ken Bell Invitational, a storied track meet that regularly draws tough competition from more than a dozen schools across the state. Zielinski’s throw not only netted the freshman a decisive win in the event, but also obliterated the previous meet record—134 feet, 7.5 inches—which had stood since 2007. Her toss was also just a couple feet shy of Central’s school record—145 feet, 4 inches—which Leah Doezema threw in the spring of 2021 to win a Division 1 state title.

At the Division 1 state finals this past spring, Zielinski was runner-up in both the discus and the shot put, finishing behind Allen Park’s Abigail Russell in both. For perspective, Russell ranked 7th in the nation in discus for the 2024 season, and 17th in shot put.

It’s not just wins that Zielinski is chasing, either. She was a shot put national champion in middle school, and in July, she threw 52 feet in the shot put at the AAU Junior Olympic Games to win the gold medal in the 14-year-old division. With Zielinski already eyeing a potential Olympic pathway, we can’t wait to see what comes next—this season, and beyond.