Rally Champs 'Survive' Fun-Filled Forest
August 19, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As one of Michigan’s top high school swimming sprinters, Fenton senior Gabbi Haaraoja no doubt was in strong shape to start this summer.
But she and her Tigers teammates made sure to prepare for this month’s preseason “survival trip” with plenty of miles running and yards swimming a local lake.
All that training paid off during three days and two nights at Pigeon River Country State Forest near Vanderbilt as the team prepared for last week’s first day of practice and a run at a 10th-consecutive league championship.
And the Tigers have kicked off the title effort by being named winners of the MHSAA’s inaugural Prep Rally, a contest that was part of the MHSAA’s PLAY (Preparation Lasts All Year) initiative to encourage athletes to remain active during the offseason so they are prepared physically and acclimated to warm weather when practice begins in the fall.
“Being out in nature, it’s really pretty there. You appreciate it more,” Haaraoja said, then adding some tongue-in-cheek. “It definitely was fun. But it was a lot more work than what we were used to. I think I’m actually glad I’m a senior.”
Athletes from Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and Beal City also were finalists. Participating athletes from Fenton’s girls swimming and diving team will receive tickets to an MHSAA Final of their choice, where they will be recognized for their achievement.
Fenton has taken similar training trips heading into all 14 seasons under coach Brad Jones. Others have included activities like canoeing and dune climbing, The last four years, the team journeyed to El Cortez Beach Resort in Oscoda for some time on Lake Huron together before practice began.
This season’s seniors asked to do something new. And it was a new experience for many in more ways than one.
The team left Aug. 11 and returned home two days later in time for the first day of practice. Jones took north 24 athletes, and some had never camped or slept outside. Six seniors made their fourth preseason trip with the team – but for 12 freshmen, this was their first experience as high schoolers.
That team demographic made this summer’s trip especially important for bonding. But it also had a desired effect physically – both heading into this fall and in setting preparation expectations for the future.
Pigeon River Country has 67 miles of trails, and the team hiked four or more miles between camp sites each day – making this the most physically taxing of the trips any of the Tigers had been on to start swimming and diving season.
“We were very up front that in August we’re taking this trip, and you need to be able to go 6-7 miles walking. We put that out there early on,” Jones said. “We have pretty good girls doing what they’re needing to do outside of (swimming) training. (But) we were pretty up front that you don’t put your backpack on and your hiking shoes on for the first time in August.”
Haaraoja said the hikes made it obvious quickly who had prepped during the summer and who needed to catch up. Seniors rotated throughout the line of teammates, so those who began a hike leading the group finished at the back with those working harder to keep in step.
Once in the woods, Jones split his athletes into four teams for a series of challenges that included building their own fires, cooking their own meals (they didn’t receive food until the fire was started) and breaking camp the next day. One trail ran past a small lake, and the athletes swam across it in a relay to earn more points. Another relay-type event involved filling buckets with water.
The challenge champions received ice cream.
“By the time we get home, everybody knows everybody else,” Jones said. “Once we get into training, the top girls are in one lane and the beginners are in another. So there’s not a lot of interaction. But this gives the whole team a chance to get to know each other.”
That’s the part Haaraoja said she’ll remember most fondly, while also appreciating the edge the added physical activity of the summer prep and trip should give the team this fall and in years to come.
“For the underclassmen, they realized where they should be at the beginning of the season next year so they don’t come into it completely out of shape,” Haaraoja said. “It helped our underclassmen learn what our goals were. They know what they’re working for.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Fenton's girls swimming and diving athletes take a moment for a photo during their three-day "survival trip." (Middle) The Tigers take a quick lunch break during a hike at Pigeon River Country State Forest. (Below) The Fenton athletes pose for one more photo wearing their "survivor" T-shirts. (Photos courtesy of Fenton coach Brad Jones.)
Council Approves Regional Seeding-Based 11-Player Football Playoffs During Spring Meeting
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 6, 2026
A change to the process for pairing 11-player football teams for the District and Regional rounds of the Michigan High School Athletic Association Playoffs was among the most noteworthy to emerge from the Spring Meeting of the MHSAA Representative Council, May 3-4 in Gaylord.
The Spring Meeting of the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA’s more than 1,500 member schools is generally the busiest of its sessions each year. The Council considered 20 committee proposals and dealt with a variety of eligibility rule, postseason tournament and operational issues.
The change to designating football playoff pairings using a Regional seeding model was a recommendation from the MHSAA Football Committee. Beginning with this fall’s postseason, the playoff field in each of eight 11-player divisions will first be organized into eight-team Regionals. The eight teams in each Regional will then be seeded based on playoff-point average, with seeds 1, 4, 5 and 8 comprising one District and seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 comprising the other. The winners of those Districts will play in the Regional Final.
As part of its continuing conversation on transfer matters, the Council approved the use of a “Transfer Tracker” system as the tool for entering student information when a student is transferring between schools, with the use of that tool becoming required with the start of the 2027-28 school year. The “Transfer Tracker” system allows schools to track movements by students between schools and is expected to assist administrators as they confirm students are eligible before participation at a new school.
The Council also took a formal step in ongoing discussions about MHSAA championships, approving a Classification Committee recommendation to create a “study group” made up of representatives from member schools to analyze school demographics, championship data at all levels of MHSAA tournaments and success factors – with those findings then used to assist in future classification processes.
Here is a summary of other notable Spring Meeting actions taken by the Representative Council, which will take effect during the 2026-27 school year:
Regulations
• The Council considered current game suspension guidance when activities are affected by inclement weather and approved an addition to current guidance to state a contest must be suspended if an independently validated lightning-detection device or mobile weather application indicates a lighting strike without 10 miles of the event location. The same devices or applications also may be used to eliminate uncertainty if no thunder can be heard but lightning flashes are observed low on the horizon and possibly farther than 10 miles away.
• The Council also approved a regulation that a student enrolled at an MHSAA member school may not participate as an unattached or non-school participant in any regular-season school contest.
Junior High/Middle School
• Following the creation of similar events in other individual sports, the Council approved a Wrestling Committee recommendation to have the MHSAA act as a presenting sponsor for junior high/middle school Individual Wrestling Regionals to be competed at the conclusions of the Winter 1 and 2 seasons. These Regionals will be conducted by the wrestling coaches association. Junior high/middle school participants may compete in only one Regional, and this event will not count as one of the 10 allowed during the junior high/middle school season.
Officials
• The Council approved an Officials Review Committee recommendation related to officials who make aggressive and/or intentional physical contact with a student or coach. Officials who do so will be suspended for a minimum of 14 days and excluded from postseason assignments.
Sport Matters
• BASKETBALL The Council approved a change in the point differential rule. Once a team trails by 40 points during the first half or 30 during the second, even if the margin becomes smaller than those standards, point-differential timing continues.
• COMPETITIVE CHEER The council approved Competitive Cheer Committee recommendations for new allowances for inversions at the high school level only.
• FIELD HOCKEY On the cusp of the first season of field hockey as an MHSAA-sponsored sport concluding in the fall, the Council approved a pair of Field Hockey Committee recommendations dealing with overtime and conclusion of games. The Council approved a 10-minute reduced player overtime procedure for all regular-season varsity games so that they align with postseason overtime procedures. Unless part of a regular-season bracketed tournament, a game still tied at the end of the 10-minute overtime would be declared a tie.
The Council also approved an inclement weather rule specific to field hockey for games that cannot be resumed after a delay. Any game with a goal differential of three or more at any time after the completion of the second quarter would be considered a complete game.
• FOOTBALL The Council approved a Football Committee recommendation allowing a team to participate in no more than one game of interscholastic football over five consecutive calendar days, and in no more than four interscholastic scrimmages and no more than nine games in one season (exclusive of the MHSAA Playoffs). A student also shall not participate in more than one game or four quarters in one day, and in no more than five quarters during one football week. For the purposes of this regulation, a “football week” is defined as Wednesday to Tuesday.
• GOLF The council approved a Golf Committee recommendation requiring a student to participate in at least eight dates of school team competition to be eligible to compete in the MHSAA Golf Tournament. If a school’s varsity team plays fewer than 16 regular-season dates of competition, a student must instead participate in at least 50 percent of the varsity’s regular-season dates to be eligible for the postseason.
• SOCCER The Council approved a Soccer Committee recommendation to expand the Limited Team Membership allowance for college ID camps to permit unlimited participation during the girls season, as these camps are scheduled during the spring.
The Council also approved a committee recommendation to move Boys Soccer Semifinals to Tuesday during years when Halloween falls on the usual Semifinal day of Wednesday. This is set to occur next in 2029, 2035 and 2040.
• VOLLEYBALL The Council approved a pair of Volleyball Committee recommendations regarding the MHSAA Tournament. The first requires a team receiving a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a Girls Volleyball District to have a minimum of 15 varsity match results.
The second will allow a textured volleyball to used for the boys volleyball postseason beginning with the 2026-27 school year. Teams may continue to use a smooth or textured ball during regular-season play.
• WRESTLING The Council approved a Wrestling Committee recommendation that will allow, at dual-meet tournaments with an odd number of teams, for eligible individual wrestlers from separate participating teams to assemble as one team and compete in the event.
The Council also reviewed reports on membership, with 756 senior high schools and 773 junior high/middle schools in 2025-26 plus 61 elementary schools with 6th-grader participation; cooperative programs, with 425 high school programs for 807 teams during 2025-26; eligibility advancement applications, which totaled one; the use of Educational Transfer Forms, of which there were 162; travel forms for out-of-state practice, school violations, attendance at athletic director in-service workshops and Coaches Advancement Program sessions; officials’ registrations (which were up for the fifth-consecutive school year), and officials reports submitted for the past three sports seasons. The Association’s $16.8 million budget for the 2026-27 school year also was approved.
The Representative Council is the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.