Chelsea High School (Chelsea, Michigan)

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Chelsea High School is a public institution located in Chelsea, Michigan. Chelsea High School is home of the Bulldogs, and its colors are Blue and Gold. The current enrollment of Chelsea High School is approximately 1,065.

[edit] Athletics

Chelsea High has three main rivals: Dexter High School, Saline High School, and Ann Arbor Pioneer. Chelsea is a member of the Southeastern Conference and the Michigan High School Athletic Association MHSAA SEC. It is a Class B school (one of the largest in the state) and competes in Division 2 in all sports except for ice hockey, football and men's and women's tennis (all are Division 3).

Chelsea has had a lot of success in Athletics, including the Varsity Football team. The football team has won the White Devision five of the past six years and has won the SEC outright in five of those years (dating back to 1999 when the old SEC was around). The Bulldogs have beaten rival Dexter ten years in a row and has gone 10-3 against the Tecumseh Indians in those years. The Bulldog football team, coached by Brad Bush, is 77-34 in the past decade and has won five playoff games since then. Many Bulldog football alumni have graduated to play in college, including David"Sluggo"Kiel(Michigan State University/Rose Bowl Champ '88 ), Richard Slater (Grand Rapids Junior College 84-85), Eastern Michigan University 86-87),Case E. McCalla (Hope College), Stanely Knickerbocker (University of Michigan), Steven Knickerbocker (University of Michigan), Ryan Lindquist AKA "Stinky" (University of Michigan), Joe Tripodi (Northwestern University) and Tony Scheffler (Western Michigan University, second round pick to the Denver Broncos in the 2006 NFL Draft).

Chelsea has also enjoyed success in many other sports. The men's soccer team has won the SEC White in four of the past five years and has also captured two district championships during that span. The women's basketball team dominated the SEC from 2000-2003 thanks to CHS alum Ali Mann, the Mid-American Conference MVP in the 2006 MAC tournament for the Bowling Green State Falcons. Also, the CHS Cross Country teams typically finish within the top ten in Division 2. In 2007, they finished 8th in Division 2, stunning everyone. The Varsity Team is composed of August Pappas (the fastest freshman in any division in Michigan), Nick Hewitt, Mark "Smithems" Smith, Geoffery "Smithwa" Smith-Wollams, Peter Wilke, Jared Gentz, Teddy Eyster and Dominic Coneybeare. The women's swimming program also enjoyed lots of success in 2003, 2004, and 2005, including top ten finishes in '03 and '04 (their success is often overshadowed by the success of rival Dexter, a perennial power in Division 2, and by the success of Pioneer, a team that has won six consecutive Division 1 state championships and is consistently a national powerhouse)

The Chelsea High School hockey team has also emerged from the shadow of Dexter, as it finished 17-7-3 in 2006, and finished second in the SEC to Saline, who was the Division 3 State runner-up. The Volleyball team also returned to the state semifinals in 2006, as they also did in 2004 and 2003.

The CHS Varsity Baseball Team also shows much success having won 2 regional titles the past 2 years.

The Varsity women's volleyball team has been in the final four teams in the states for the past 5 years, excelling in all of their SEC matches. Key players include Matthew Bohl, and Jeff Minzy.

The Varsity softball team has also enjoyed success in the past few years, including back-to-back State Championships in 2002 and 2003 and a return to the State semifinals in 2004.

In addition, Chelsea won Class B State Championships in Softball in 1982 and 1985 and were the State Runner-up in 1984 coached by Charles Waller. Waller returned to coach Girls basketball from 1992-99 with a record of 110-69. The Bulldogs advanced to the Class B District championship five times with three titles (1994, 95, 99). In 1994 and 1995, CHS had back to back 20-4 District championship Regional finalist seasons. Waller had three all-state performers, Courtney Thompson - 1993-94 (Was an All-American at Spring Arbor), Annie Terpstra - 1993, 94, 95 (All-MIAA selection at Adrian) and Kasie Ruhlig - 1996.

[edit] Theatre

Chelsea High School's Theatre Company, the Chelsea Theatre Guild, was founded by former auditorium manager Scott Mancha after the model set by Pioneer High School. It is a primarily student-run and democratic group with a student board consisting of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and clerk/historian. The Guild votes as a body for the production lineup for each year, and the board chooses crewheads and stage managers for each show from student applications. In the past, the Guild produced three shows per year: a full-length musical, a Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA) competition piece, and a full-length play. Since the 2004-2005 season, however, only two shows per year (the musical and competition piece) have been produced due to budget restraints.

In 2006, for the first time in school history, the Chelsea Theatre Guild reached the state level of the MIFA theatre competition. Directed by Pam Cardell, they won the Class B Championship that year with their production of The Insanity of Mary Girard. They qualified for the state level again in 2008 with their production of The Miracle Worker, which was directed by Phil Walker. Both productions featured Ken Faulk as technical director.

[edit] Notable alumni