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The Kucharczyk twins from Lakeview are among the Enquirer’s co-male athletes of the year

VaselineJuly 3, 2024

0 5 minutes read

The Kucharczyk twins from Lakeview are among the Enquirer’s co-male athletes of the year

The annual Athlete of the Year award is selected by the Enquirer sports staff and chosen from student-athletes from the city’s top schools in Battle Creek

BATTLE CREEK — Growing up, Lakeview’s Jacob and Zach Kucharczyk shared everything. They shared successes, shared victories, and always had the same team colors as members of the same roster (almost always, that is . . . but more on that later). It was normal, because they’re twins.

So it makes sense that they now share the ultimate honor for a high school athlete in this city. Jacob and Zach Kucharczyk are our picks as the 2024 Battle Creek Enquirer Co-Male Athletes of the Year. They’re joined in the honor by Female Athlete of the Year Mimi Hibbard of St. Philip.

It’s the first time in decades that the Male Athlete of the Year award has been shared, but the two Lakeview standouts gave us a good reason to make the decision this year: They’re among the best all-around athletes to compete in the city in recent years.

A sentiment shared by their baseball coach Kyle Kracht, who saw them achieve their greatest successes during their four years at Lakeview.

MORE: Kucharczyk twins ‘among the best kids ever’ on Lakeview baseball program

“No disrespect to anybody else I’ve coached over the last 19 years, and there’s been some really good ones, but these two are the best guys I’ve coached in terms of talent and desire and readiness right away, when they came in as freshmen,” Kracht said. “There’s been some that were ready as freshmen, like the Bivens brothers, the Jones brothers. But these two were more ready to compete right from the start than anybody we’ve had here.

“And over their careers, four years from now, they’re going to be up there with the best kids I’ve ever coached. They’re going to be up there with the best we’ve ever had.”

The Kucharczyk twins are both top players in three sports: thanks to their extraordinary athletic skills, they have competed in football, basketball and baseball.

But it was in baseball that both went to the next level, both having been honored as four-year selections on the Enquirer All-City team.

“Baseball is our favorite sport, the sport we care about the most, the sport we spend the most time on,” Zach said. “Growing up as freshmen in college, it was important to be a part of the program. Being a part of that tradition of Lakeview baseball was awesome.”

They both earned all-state honors in baseball and were key players on state-ranked teams throughout their high school careers. They helped Lakeview reach the state semifinals as sophomores and the state quarterfinals last year as juniors. This year, the duo helped the Spartans win their fourth consecutive district crown.

“It was huge for us to keep the program and the tradition of winning going here in Lakeview,” Jacob said. “We really wanted to keep it at that level throughout our four years in Lakeview.”

As seniors, they were both again selected to the All-State Division 1, with Jacob being named to the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Dream Team as an outfielder and Zach receiving the same honor as a catcher.

They all finished in the top 10 of the school record books in various all-time and season categories for the Lakeview baseball team.

MORE: Lakeview defeats BCC to claim first division title since 2011

They both also posted strong numbers on the Lakeview football team, dominating the Spartans’ defense for four years.

The two helped Lakeview reach the football playoffs in their freshman and sophomore campaigns. They were both four-year starters, but Zach missed one season due to injury. As a senior, Jacob was All-City for the second time at quarterback for Lakeview. Zach was a two-time All-City pick at running back.

MORE: Enquirer’s Top 8 (of 9) High School Football Players for 2023

Another highlight of their Athlete of the Year campaign this season was being key players in Lakeview’s first district boys basketball championship since 1993. The group also won the school’s first league title since 2011.

“I love being a three-sport athlete,” Jacob said. “It’s like in the summer there’s soccer camp, and then basketball or baseball, always something to look forward to. If we didn’t have all the spots, I think I’d be bored. I always like having somewhere to go, a practice or a workout to go to.

“And there’s nothing better than winning, having team success. We both seemed to have pretty good individual success, good individual stats, but it was always better when the teams did well too.”

“We always wanted to do all the sports, all the seasons,” Zach added. “Baseball was always easy because we always won, so it was fun. Football, it got hard sometimes to keep up because we didn’t always win. But we always wanted to be a part of the team.”

The twins hope to keep winning as they join a successful program at the next level as members of the Kellogg Community College baseball team. Both players were recruited to play baseball at larger schools during their careers at Lakeview, but going to KCC was the best choice.

“We’re excited to go to KCC,” Zach said. “(KCC) Coach (Eric) Laskovy has wanted us since we were freshmen in high school. Excited to be a part of another successful program like we were at Lakeview.”

“We feel like Coach can take us somewhere bigger where we can play, deserve to play,” Jacob said. “Everybody has their own path and this is our path. Go JUCO, trust the process and go somewhere bigger after KCC.”

They will still play on the same teams since they were little, but that is not the reason why they go to KCC together.

“We’ve always been on the same team, always been teammates. Except one time, when we were kids playing Upward basketball for a year. They put us on different teams because we were too good to be on the same team or something,” Jacob said. “But it won’t bother us if we have to go to different schools after KCC. It depends on if a school needs a catcher or maybe an outfielder and we each fit in a different way in a different spot.”

The brothers follow in the footsteps of their older sister Karlie Kucharczyk, who was named the Enquirer’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2019. After an impressive high school career, the twins have plenty of fond memories to look back on before starting a new chapter.

“I think we both have some emotions about leaving Lakeview. A lot of fond memories of our time at Lakeview. But I think we’re also very excited about what’s going to happen next,” Zach said.

“I feel a little sad that our days at Lakeview are over,” Jacob added. “It’s sad that you’re leaving everyone, your coaches, your friends. But we can move on and take on some new challenges, and that’s exciting.”

Contact Bill Broderick at [email protected]. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.

Enquirer Athletes of the Year

2023 – Payton Rice of Harper Creek/Andrew Berryhill of Lakeview

2022 – Alex Kersten of St. Philip/Julion McCray of Harper Creek

2021 – Brazyll Watkins of Lakeview/Ryne Petersen of Pennfield

2020 – Alysa Wager of Harper Creek/Conor Gausselin of St. Philip

2019 – Karlie Kucharczyk of Lakeview/Josh Mann of BCC

2018 – Megan Kusler of Harper Creek/Antonio Postell of BCC

2017 – Maggie Farrell of Lakeview/Juan Warren of BCC

2016 – Charlie Andrews of Harper Creek/Brandon Randle of BCC

2015 – Charlie Andrews of Harper Creek/Jake Herbers of Lakeview

2014 – St. Philip’s Sierra Hubbard-Neil/Lakeview’s Donnie Ernsberger

2013 – Bri Burritt of Harper Creek/Josh Bass of Harper Creek

2012 – Lydia Drikakis of Lakeview/Dan Emery of Lakeview

2011 – Emma Fishnick of Pennfield/Clay Youngquist of Lakeview

2010 – St. Philip’s Lena Oliver/Lakeview’s Clay Youngquist

2009 – St. Philip’s Liz Sherzer/BCC’s Larry Caper

2008 – Megan Sliva of Lakeview/Jake Labrecque of Lakeview

2007 – Allyson Doyle of St. Philip/Nate Smith of Harper Creek

2006 – St. Philip’s Allyson Doyle/Lakeview’s Devan Kline

2005 – St. Philip’s Jessica Greene/BCC’s Liam Knapp

2004 – Bre Ballard of Lakeview/Carl Mulder of Lakeview

2003 – St. Philip’s Allyson Riley/St. Philip’s Mike Leifeld

2002 – Amanda Fowler of Pennfield/Aaron Nasers of Pennfield

2001 – Audrey Graham of Lakeview/Ben Reed of BCC

2000 – Julie Dawes of Lakeview/Dan White of BCC

VaselineJuly 3, 2024

0 5 minutes read

The annual Athlete of the Year award is selected by the Enquirer sports staff and chosen from student-athletes from the city’s top schools in Battle Creek

Enquirer Athletes of the Year

Vaseline

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