10 to Remember from 2011-12
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 11, 2012
Second Half's mission in this, its first school year, was to tell the best stories behind the scores and highlights of MHSAA competition.
Of course, every score and especially every championship has a story behind it. The MHSAA awarded 127 team and many more individual championships in 2011-12. Obviously we can't reflect on them all. But these 10 performances were loaded with prestige, drama and accomplishment that made them incredible stories for high school sports fans regardless of hometown or allegiance.
10. Grand Ledge gymnasts earn No. 5
The Comets had to fend off a charge by Canton, but won their fifth-straight MHSAA team title by 0.825 of a point with a final score of 149.400. The fifth-straight title tied the record set by Ludington from 1975-79 and extended Grand Ledge's first-place streak to 75 consecutive events. The next day, senior Christine Wilson and junior Sara Peltier swept the Division 1 and 2 individual titles, respectively.
9. West Bloomfield's Erin Finn joins elite
The Lakers junior said after her Division 1 cross country win that she'd dreamt of winning that title since she learned how to walk. She finished fourth as a sophomore before winning the championship by a little more than a second. After establishing herself as one of the top distance runners in the country in competitions over the winter, Finn finished the school year by winning the 3,200-meter run at the Division 1 Track and Field Final.
8. More and more Morley Stanwood
The Mohawks girls pulled off a rare feat this school year -- after winning their second MHSAA volleyball title in the fall, they added a first-ever girls basketball championship. Both efforts were keyed by seniors Alexis Huntey and Bailey Cairnduf, who had the most and second-most kills in the Class C Volleyball Final and then combined for 45 points and 25 rebounds in the basketball championship game.
That argument was made after Lansing Sexton claimed its second-straight Class B boys basketball championship in dominant fashion. The Big Reds finished 27-1, their only loss by a point to Detroit Pershing, and have won 74 games over the last three seasons -- tied for sixth-most in MHSAA history for that long of a stretch. Guards Denzel Valentine (Michigan State), Anthony Clemmons (Iowa) and Bryn Forbes (Cleveland State) all signed to play at Division I colleges this fall, with junior Jalen Hayes and freshman Trevor Manuel likely joining them in a few years.
Coyotes junior Sami Michell established herself as one of the top hurdlers in MHSAA history at the Division 3 Final by becoming the first Lower Peninsula girl to win four events at a championship meet since Mason County Eastern’s Maria Shoup in 1979. She set Division 3 records in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump, and her 300 time also was the best in MHSAA Finals history, regardless of division or class. She also won the 200.
Top-ranked Grand Haven's latest run at an MHSAA championship seemed all but over when Grosse Pointe South led the Class A final by 18 points with just under 10 minutes to play. But Shar'Rae Davis' fullcourt sprint and score that began with 12 seconds to play gave the Buccaneers a 54-53 win and their first title. It was the third-longest comeback in MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals history.
Livonia Ladywood had been a favorite to win its first MHSAA title all season -- with four-year pitcher Briana Combs in the circle. But when Combs couldn't finish the Semifinal because of an injury, rarely-thrown sophomore Lauren Hayes stepped in. All she did was finish that game and throw a three-hitter against Saginaw Swan Valley in the Final, while also getting three hits and driving in two of the team's four runs in the championship win.
St. Johns senior Taylor Massa finished off one of the most celebrated careers in MHSAA wrestling history with his fourth championship and not one loss during his high school career. Massa claimed the title at 171 pounds this year to go with others at 145, 152 and 160. He became the 15th in MHSAA history to win four titles, ranks 20th with 221 wins and seventh in the national record book for consecutive victories.
Grosse Pointe South's girls running teams had arguably the most dominant school year in MHSAA history, first winning the Division 1 cross country title before doing the same this spring in track and field. And the Blue Devils did it with mostly the same nucleus contributing to both -- particularly juniors Hannah and Haley Meier, sophomore Kelsie Schwartz and freshman Ersula Farrow. Those four combined to run a national record time of 8:48.29 in the 3,200 relay at the Division 1 Final this spring.
1. Short walk, championship run
Second Half was created as a place to tell great stories, Cass Tech made it easy on the first day of the Football Finals. The Technicians arrived at Ford Field after a short walk from their school. They had never played in a Final before and were unranked entering the postseason. They arrived with a strong group of seniors, but also a freshman quarterback named Jayru Campbell who ended up throwing five touchdown passes in a 49-13 win over No. 2 and perennial powerhouse Detroit Catholic Central.
PHOTO: The Morley Stanwood girls basketball team prepares to celebrate as the final seconds tick off in the Mohawks' Class C Final win. (Click to see more photos from High School Sports Scene.)
Livingston Claims 1st Title to Lead Whitmore Lake to Championship Sweep
November 2, 2024
BROOKLYN — When Kaylie Livingston finished second to Buckley senior Aiden Harrand at last year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals, the moment she enjoyed Saturday seemed inevitable.
And it very well could be repeated each of the next two years.
After finishing as the Division 4 Final runner-up as a freshman, Livingston dominated the field to take first place in 18 minutes, 6.5 seconds at Michigan International Speedway.
Eliza Keith of Auburn Hills Oakland Christian was second in 18:20.1.
“That motivated me a lot,” Livingston said of her runner-up finish last year. “Aiden was an amazing runner. I got to train with her, and she helped me my first year to know the course, when to speed up and when to kick. I’m just happy I got to accomplish that today.”
Livingston was no stranger to MIS when she arrived in Brooklyn her freshman year, but watching the Finals as a spectator and racing the course are two entirely different experiences.
“I’ve been coming here since I was younger,” she said. “It was my first time racing it. I was just happy to execute my finish today.”
Livingston actually ran a faster time last year, going 17:44.7, but she didn’t need the extra gear Saturday. When she hit the mile mark in 5:39.5, she already had an 8.6-second lead. That lead increased to 21.6 seconds at the two-mile mark.
“It wasn’t my fastest mile of the season,” Livingston said. “It was a little behind. I had to make up for it in the last two miles.”
Livingston is Whitmore Lake’s first individual champion since Betsy Speer won the Class D team race with the fastest time of the day in 1995. The Trojans had winners at the Finals four straight years from 1992-95, with Speer also winning in 1993.
What also could be inevitable for at least the next two years is Whitmore Lake winning team Finals championships.
Whitmore Lake repeated as team champion by a 110-125 margin over Oakland Christian.
The Trojans had only one senior in their lineup, No. 6 runner Isabella Nelson-Daniels.
Whitmore Lake had three all-staters (top 30 in Livingston, 11th-place junior Carina Burchi (19:20.3) and 24th-place junior Elodie Weaver (19:53.0). Also scoring for the Trojans were freshman Malynda Lambros, who was 63rd in 20:57.7, and junior Sofia Robertson, who was 65th in 20:59.5.
“I wanted this state individual championship, but the team is most important to me,” Livingston said. “This program has meant a lot to me. I get to run with my best friends. I’m just so happy we get to accomplish this great thing and show off our hard work.”
Oakland Christian had three all-state finishers in Eliza Keith (second, 18:20.1), Raley Keith (13th, 19:29.5) and Lydia Gleason (19th, 19:41.8), but Whitmore Lake had five runners across 16 team places before Oakland Christian’s final finisher.
PHOTOS (Top) Whitmore Lake’s Kaylie Livingston approaches the finish during her Division 4 championship race Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Elodie Weaver (1538) pushes through the final stretch on the way to crossing the line third for Whitmore Lake. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)