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)
EGR's Bishop, Fremont Earn Places with Elite
November 2, 2019
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN – Evan Bishop of East Grand Rapids had already established himself as one of the elite runners in a state known for producing great distance talent.
But while Bishop had credentials and a reputation that stacked up favorably with anyone’s in Michigan, he didn’t have an individual MHSAA championship on his resume.
That changed Saturday when he won the Lower Peninsula Division 2 meet with a time of 15:12.6.
In the process, he defeated one of the runners who deprived him of getting an MHSAA championship sooner, Dearborn Divine Child senior Anthony Hancock. Hancock was second in 15:18.2.
Bishop was second in cross country last year to Otsego senior Alex Comerford. In the spring, he took second to Hancock in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:08.03. In between those performances, Bishop earned All-America honors at the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship in San Diego by placing ninth.
“Last year I made it to some of the national meets, and it was a big surprise,” Bishop said. “This year coming back, it’s like I know I’m at that level. I’m just trying to improve upon last year. I’ve checked those boxes. I made it to nationals, I was second three times last year. Honestly, this season, my biggest goal was winning this race. I couldn’t be happier.”
Bishop emerged victorious in a race that featured four runners who have broken 15 minutes. It was unlikely anyone would break that barrier Saturday on a muddy course and in windy conditions.
“If the weather would’ve been a little bit better, the extreme level of the field this year is just amazing,” said Bishop, who won 10 of 11 meets and didn’t lose to a runner from Michigan this fall. “Times could have been really fast.”
When Hancock crossed the line, he immediately turned around to watch the battle for third place. He had a vested interest in the outcome because his twin brother, Michael, was battling Fremont’s Nathan Walker. Michael Hancock edged Walker by two tenths of a second with a time of 15:23.7.
“Going into it, we were hoping for one and two,” Anthony Hancock said. “It didn’t end up happening, but we did end up going two and three. I knew Michael and Walker would be battling it out. I had a feeling Michael would beat him, because his kick is so strong. I turned around, and I saw him pass him.”
Walker did come away with the satisfaction of leading his team to a championship, as Fremont dominated the field with a 68-point performance. Otsego was second with 176. It was Fremont’s eighth MHSAA championship, the last coming in 2015.
Fremont put its five scoring runners in the top 28 in the team race. Conor Somers was sixth in 16:01.5, Adam Ward 14th in 16:23.0, Ben Paige 16th in 16:23.9 and Mikko Vesma 28th in 16:40.3.
PHOTOS: (Top) East Grand Rapids’ Evan Bishop pulls a few steps ahead of Dearborn Divine Child’s Anthony Hancock and Fremont’s Nathan Walker. (Middle) Fremont’s Adam Ward (272) leads another pack that includes teammate Joshua Zerfas (273). (Photos by Matt Yacoub/RunMichigan.com.)