Did you see that?
June 4, 2012
Saturday annually is the busiest high school sports day on the MHSAA calendar.
The Spring Finals match began with Girls and Boys Track and Field and Girls Tennis Finals at sites all over both peninsulas. There were Regionals for both boys and girls lacrosse, which finish up this weekend. And, of course, there were Districts galore for softball, baseball and girls soccer.
Here's our sampling of some of the highlights:
Girls Track and Field
19 records fall: It was quite day across the seven MHSAA Girls Track and Field Finals, with 19 records broken, and two athletes – Reed City’s Sami Michell and Norway’s Dani Gagne – winning four individual events apiece. (Second Half)
Coast to coast: The Grosse Pointe South 3,200 relay was responsible for one of two all-Finals records, and ran a time of 8:48.29 that also surpassed the national record for that event (but may or may not stand as the national record, depending on what other times were run and will be submitted after this spring.) (Detroit Free Press)
Boys Track and Field
LP filled with first-time champs: Lake Orion in Division 1, Auburn Hills Avondale in Division 2 and Lansing Catholic in Division 3 won their first MHSAA team championships. Also, nine records fell across the state. (Second Half)
Quite a comeback: Marquette trailed Gladstone by 27 points at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final with four events to run. But the Redmen outscored Gladstone 42-0 over those events to win their third straight championship. (Marquette Mining Journal)
Girls Tennis
Southeast sweep: Detroit suburban schools claimed all four MHSAA Lower Peninsula team championships – Grosse Pointe South in Division 1, Birmingham Seaholm in Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood in Division 3 and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in Division 4. (Second Half)
Freshman reigns: Utica freshman Davina Nguyen beat both the first and second seeds on her way to claiming the individual championship at No. 1 singles in Division 1. Nguyen was seeded fifth. (Macomb Daily)
Boys lacrosse
Cranbrook comes out on top: Cranbrook-Kingswood, ranked No. 3 in Division 2, emerged from a Regional that also included No. 4 Haslett/Williamston and No. 5 East Grand Rapids, beating the latter 8-4 in the Final. (Bloomfield Patch)
Girls lacrosse
EGR plays to top ranking, again: Rivals East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Catholic Central met in one of the multiple close Regional Finals, with the top-ranked Pioneers downing No. 2 GRCC one more time, 11-9. (Grand Rapids Press)
Baseball
It’s Holt, again: The Rams claimed their second championship in a week over rival Grand Ledge – both have been ranked in Division 1 this season. Two weeks ago, Holt split with the Comets to win the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue. Standout Justin Alleman gave up two hits and struck out 18 as Holt also won Saturday to claim a District title. (Lansing State Journal)
Softball
In the end, it’s Mattawan: The season-long battle for statewide Division 1 and Kalamazoo-area supremacy was decided in part at Saturday’s District at Portage Central. Reigning MHSAA champion Mattawan emerged as the winner from a field that included top-ranked Portage Central – which was upset by Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in a semifinal. (Kalamazoo Gazette)
Soccer
AAGR moves on: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, No. 8 in Division 3, shut out No. 7 Jackson Lumen Christi 3-0 in the Division 3 District final at Brooklyn Columbia Central (AnnArbor.com)
Running Finals Streak to 9, Lowell Keeps D2 Dominance in 'Family'
By
Jeff Chaney
Special for MHSAA.com
February 26, 2022
KALAMAZOO -- When asked about his team's unprecedented success, Lowell wrestling coach RJ Boudro admits that the recipe for success is not that hard.
It's all about family.
Boudro's Red Arrows won their ninth straight Division 2 championship, and 12th overall, by defeating Goodrich in the 46-16 in Saturday’s Final at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo.
"I have coached these guys since they have been knee-high," Boudro said. "I have been coaching at Lowell for 15 years; some of the guys on this team weren't even born when I started. It just starts getting more personable, and that is what coaching is really about. Making relationships, and relationships grow stronger. I love these kids, and I love their families – they support you a lot."
You could tell the closeness of this year's Lowell team all weekend in Kalamazoo, as the Red Arrows marched through Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice in the Quarterfinal and then Gaylord in the Semifinal to set up a rematch with the Martians in the championship match.
Starting at the 189-pound weight class, Goodrich got on the scoreboard first with Cameron Macklem’s pin in 1 minute, 36 seconds.
Lowell got on the board thanks to one of its senior leaders, as Carter Blough – the top-ranked 215-pounder in Division 2 – won by technical fall, 22-7.
Lowell went on to win six of the next seven matches after Blough's impressive victory, setting the tone for another team title heading back home to Lowell.
"Last year we didn't have the energy, the people here, like we did this year," Blough said. "We didn't have that stage, but this year we had our crowd here, we secured the dual and we are super excited."
Last year, in the middle of the pandemic, Lowell beat Goodrich 59-7 for the championship. This year would be a bit tougher, but the Red Arrows continued to show the dominance in the division they have displayed over the past decade.
"Lowell is a good team. I don't know what else to say," said Goodrich coach Kenneth Sirignano, whose team ended its year with a 31-3 record. "They were better than us today, by quite a bit."
Sirignano said momentum swung on some tight matches throughout the Final.
"We lost three close matches, and we gave up bonus points," Sirignano said. "In those tight duals, you have to win the close ones and you can't give up bonus points."
Those three sway matches came at 112 pounds – an 8-7 win by Lowell's Landon Musgrave – at 125 with a 3-0 win by the Red Arrows’ Owen Segorski, and at 145 with a 3-0 win by Lowell's Jared Boone.
"Even during COVID we found a way to work around it and get better," Blough said. "That's how this team is – we always find a way to get better no matter what's in front of us."
Lowell, which finished this winter with a 23-3 record, will wrestle for a 10th-straight championship next season. No other team in the state, no matter the division, has won more than five consecutive titles.
"This is ridiculous," Boudro said. "It's hard to put into words."
PHOTOS (Top) Lowell celebrates Saturday’s Division 2 championship win over Goodrich, which ran its title streak to nine seasons. (Middle) Lowell and Goodrich wrestlers work to gain control during their match. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)