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.)
In Memoriam: Vic Michaels (1954-2025)
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 30, 2025
The hearts of the MHSAA and countless others in the school sports community are heavy after the unexpected death Monday of Catholic High School League director Vic Michaels, also a longtime and devoted member of the MHSAA’s Representative Council. He was 71.
Michaels was inducted into the CHSL Hall of Fame in 2024 as a “Legend” – a title carrying prestige that certainly described his contributions to school sports on a statewide level as well.
After a decorated 17-year career as a coach, teacher and administrator at Center Line St. Clement, Michaels joined the CHSL office as associate director in 1995, and then assumed the role as leader of the league in 2003 when then-director Tom Rashid left to become associate director at the MHSAA.
Michaels also joined the Representative Council in 2003, representing non-public schools and serving as the Council’s secretary-treasurer. But his impact was much more far-reaching than titles could explain. As MHSAA executive director Mark Uyl told the Detroit Free Press in coverage of Michaels’ 2024 CHSL recognition, “I’m not sure there’s been anyone who’s been more important to the MHSAA over the last 40 years than Vic Michaels,” and called him one of the key builders of the MHSAA over its first 100 years as that milestone was celebrated in 2024-25.
Especially over the last decade, as numerous Council and MHSAA staff members have retired or move on from school sports, Michaels has supplied vital context and institutional knowledge especially as a long-serving member of the Executive Committee, which considers eligibility decision appeals and other issues that must be addressed on a frequent basis. He provided a calm voice of reason and advocacy, not only for students he represented from nonpublic schools but for athletes, coaches and administrators from all 1,500+ high schools and junior high/middle schools that make up the MHSAA membership. And serving as treasurer, he filled another crucial role in making sure the MHSAA stood on solid ground financially even amid the challenge of COVID-19 and while expanding its numbers of sponsored tournament sports and students served.
Michaels attended Detroit St. Phillip High School, and after St. Phillip closed, was part of the final graduating class at Detroit St. Ambrose in 1972. He attended and played college basketball at Detroit Institute of Technology and earned his teaching certificate from University of Detroit Mercy.
He coached junior varsity at Dearborn St. Alphonsus and Redford St. Mary before beginning a tenure in 1978 at St. Clement where he taught, served as athletic director and assistant principal and won more than 300 games as the school’s boys and girls varsity basketball coach, earning statewide “Coach of the Year” awards leading both programs during the 1980s.
Michaels and his wife Linda were married 46 years, and he also is survived by his sons Marc and Brad, their wives and grandchildren.
As the CHSL noted in its memorial to Michaels, “Vic dedicated his life to Catholic education, interscholastic athletics, and the young people entrusted to his care. His leadership of the CHSL was marked by integrity, vision, humility, and an unwavering belief that athletics are an extension of the classroom — meant to form the whole person in faith, character, discipline, and service. … His decisions were thoughtful, his counsel wise, and his love for the educational athletics unmistakable.”
PHOTO MHSAA Representative Council member Vic Michaels, far right, with the assistance of MHSAA Student Advisory Council member M'Khi Guy from Muskegon, presents Warren De La Salle Collegiate coach Dan Rohn the finalist trophy after the 2023 11-Player Football Final at Ford Field. (Photo by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)