𝗔𝗡𝗡 𝗔𝗥𝗕𝗢𝗥, 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵. – As the fall season enters its final stretch, Father Gabriel Richard Athletics saw Boys Tennis compete at the MHSAA State Finals, Football secure its fourth consecutive playoff berth and Bridget Fidkowski break her own school record in Girls Cross Country for the second straight week. 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 The Girls Cross Country team competed in the Larry Steeb XC Invitational at Whitmore Lake High School on Saturday (Oct. 24), finishing third out of 14 teams. Just one week after setting the FGR Girls Cross Country 5K record, 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗱𝗸𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗸𝗶 ’𝟮𝟳 broke her own mark with a time of 18:29.8, finishing second overall. Fidkowski previously set the record at the Father Gabriel Richard XC Invitational on Oct. 17 with a time of 18:31.2. 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘆 ’𝟯𝟬 continued her strong freshman season, placing fifth with a time of 19:22.4. Hickey improved her own freshman school record by 14 seconds after setting the previous mark just one week earlier. 𝗔𝘃𝗮 𝗣𝗳𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗵 ’𝟮𝟳 earned a medal with a season-best performance, while 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗮 ’𝟮𝟳 and 𝗟𝗲𝘅𝗶 𝗔𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗺𝗮𝗻 ’𝟮𝟳 recorded personal-best times to round out FGR's scoring five. 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘆 FGR fell 2-1 to Ann Arbor Greenhills in the MHSAA Regional Quarterfinal on Tuesday (Oct. 20). The Irish concluded their season with a 10-3-1 record. 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 Football closed out its regular season with a 33-0 home loss to Detroit Country Day on Friday (Oct. 23). Despite the setback, FGR secured its fourth consecutive MHSAA playoff berth, continuing a streak that began in 2023. The Irish will open postseason play on Friday (Oct. 30), traveling to Romulus to face Summit Academy. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm. 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗿 Boys Soccer saw its season come to an end in the MHSAA District Semifinals on Tuesday (Oct. 20), falling 4-1 to Detroit Frontier International. The Irish finished the season with a 12-6-3 overall record. 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲 Girls Swim and Dive earned a 126.5-44.5 victory over Regina last week, with several swimmers recording personal-best performances. 𝗘𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 ’𝟮𝟵 set personal bests in the 200 free and 100 fly, while 𝗜𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝘁𝘇𝗮 ’𝟮𝟳 and 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗢'𝗡𝗲𝗶𝗹 ’𝟮𝟵 each recorded personal bests in the 200 IM. 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗻 ’𝟮𝟳 and 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗱𝘆 𝗘𝗴𝗮𝗻 also achieved personal-best times in the 50 free. Additional personal-best performances came from 𝗭𝗼𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗺 ’𝟮𝟵 in the 100 fly, 𝗖𝗲𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗺𝗮𝗻 ’𝟯𝟬 in the 500 free, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗢𝗯𝘂𝗱𝘇𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗸𝗶 ’𝟮𝟵 in the 100 back and 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 ’𝟮𝟵 in the 100 breast. The Irish will close out their dual-meet schedule this week, facing Cranbrook Kingswood on Tuesday (Oct. 27) at 5:30 pm before taking on Greenhills United at Whitmore Lake on Thursday (Oct. 29) at 6 pm. 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘀 Boys Tennis concluded its season at the MHSAA State Finals on Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 21-22) at the Midland Tennis Center, finishing 18th out of 22 teams. At No. 1 singles, 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗵 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 ’𝟮𝟵 earned a three-set victory over Portland in one of his strongest performances of the season. The No. 3 doubles pairing of 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗵 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀 ’𝟯𝟬 and 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗸 ’𝟯𝟬 advanced to the quarterfinals following an opening-round bye and a victory over Essexville Garber. The Irish also turned in a pair of competitive three-set matches, with 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝘂𝘁 ’𝟮𝟵 at No. 2 singles and the No. 2 doubles team of 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 ’𝟮𝟵 and 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗿 ’𝟮𝟴 narrowly falling in their respective matches. 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 Girls Volleyball opened the week with a straight-set road victory over Clarkston Everest Collegiate (25-19, 25-17, 25-12) on Thursday (Oct. 22). 𝗠𝗶𝗮 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿 ’𝟯𝟬 paced FGR offensively with 15 kills on a 65.2 hitting percentage without committing an attacking error. 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗗𝘆𝗲𝗿 ’𝟮𝟳 and 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗟𝘆𝗻𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁 ’𝟮𝟵 each added six kills. 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗢𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 ’𝟯𝟬 directed the offense with 31 assists and collected six digs. 𝗥𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗸𝗲 ’𝟮𝟴 led the Irish defensively with 20 digs, while 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘇𝗸𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗰𝘇 ’𝟯𝟬 contributed nine. On Saturday (Oct. 24), FGR competed in the Grand Blanc Tournament, finishing with a 3-2 record. The Irish earned straight-set victories over North Oakland (25-16, 25-18), Flint Powers Catholic (25-21, 25-13) and Haslett (25-20, 25-19). FGR's two losses came against Davison, falling in the opening match (23-25, 24-26) and again in the final match of the day (25-23, 14-25, 10-15). Keefer led the Irish offensively throughout the tournament with 44 kills across five matches. Oleszkowicz added 24 kills and a team-high 38 digs, while Dyer contributed 21 kills. Osness dished out 107 assists to go along with 32 digs, while Burke added 33 digs. FGR enters the final week of the regular season with a 31-6-2 overall record and the top seed in MHSAA Division 2 District 5 at Dundee High School. The Irish will close out the regular season on Tuesday (Oct. 27), traveling to Adrian High School for a 7 pm match. FGR will then open MHSAA postseason play on Wednesday (Nov. 4) at 5:30 pm against the winner of Dundee and Milan, who are scheduled to meet Monday (Nov. 2). 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 19-25; 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 26-𝘕𝘰𝘷. 1.