Did you see that?
June 11, 2012
Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The second weekend of this spring's MHSAA Finals is behind us, with four more champions awarded in girls and boys lacrosse.
Below is our sampling of what struck us most from last week's many highlights as we kick off the final week of the 2011-12 school year.
Girls lacrosse
Birmingham wins thriller: Birmingham United scored the last three goals in Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 Final to edge Hartland 12-11 in overtime. (Grand Rapids Press)
East Grand Rapids ends perfectly: The Pioneers won their first girls lacrosse championship –17-6 over Okemos in Division 2 – and finished this spring 28-0. (Grand Rapids Press)
Boys lacrosse
Again, it’s Brother Rice: The Warriors continued their hold on the MHSAA Division 1 championship and handed Ann Arbor Pioneer its only loss this season with a 14-8 win Saturday. (Detroit Free Press)
Rangers come back for more: Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central scored the final four goals of the Division 2 Final to edge reigning champion Detroit Country Day 7-6. (Second Half)
Soccer
14 goals, 2 wins: Grandville Calvin Christian eliminated two other top-10 teams in Division 4 during last week’s Regional. The No. 4 Squires first defeated No. 8 St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic 7-0, then No. 2 Kalamazoo Christian 7-2 in the final. (Grand Rapids Press)
DeWitt returns: The No. 4 Panthers earned a Division 2 Semifinal matchup with Plainwell by beating No. 5 Grand Rapids Christian 1-0 in their Regional Final. DeWitt fell to Plainwell in a 2011 Semifinal, but returns a number of players from that team. (Lansing State Journal)
Softball
Decade of dominance: The Gladstone softball team earned its 10th-straight Regional championship with 7-0 and 6-2 wins over Tawas and Traverse City St. Francis, respectively. Gladstone won MHSAA championships in 2009 and 2004, and was ranked No. 7 heading into this postseason. (Escanaba Daily Press)
Fantastic first: Swartz Creek won its first Regional by downing Alpena 2-1 in a Division 1 Final at Saginaw Valley State University. The Dragons are 34-6 and also have set a school record this spring for wins. (Bay City Times)
Baseball
Brighton beat Brother Rice: The unranked Bulldogs downed the top-ranked Warriors 4-1 in the Regional Final at Novi. Brighton rode the arm of pitcher Colin Nash, who moved to 8-0 this season. (Detroit News)
Bears also take out No. 1: The top-ranked team in Division 2 also fell, thanks to No. 10 St. Joseph. The Bears downed Richland Gull Lake 6-5 in eight innings before beating Coldwater for the championship. (St. Joseph Herald-Palladium)
Golf
No 300 here: No. 2-ranked Plymouth and unranked Saline and Canton all broke 300 at the Division 1 Regional at West Shore Golf and Country Club in Grosse Ile. Plymouth won the title with a 296, but Saline was only two behind and Canton came in at 299. Canton’s Donnie Trosper, a freshman, won the individual championship with a 67. Saline had beaten those two teams in the District. (MHSAA)
Performance of the Week: Sault Ste. Marie's Gabe Litzner
September 6, 2024
Gabe Litzner ♦ Sault Ste. Marie
Junior ♦ Cross Country
Litzner entered this season as the back-to-back Upper Peninsula Division 1 champion, and he's extending his dominance to the Lower Peninsula as well. He's run, and won, two races downstate already this fall including the Aug. 28 East Jordan Invitational, when he finished first among Division 1, 2 and 3 competitors with a time of 15:26.7 – only 1.3 seconds off his winning Finals time from a year ago.
That time also was nearly 53 seconds faster than the field at East Jordan as Sault Ste. Marie finished second in the D1-3 race to Traverse City St. Francis. A week earlier, Litzner won the Birch Run Invitational by nearly 34 seconds against a field that included teams from all four Lower Peninsula divisions. He'll be running later this fall to become the ninth three-time UP Finals champion. He's also the reigning UPD1 track & field champion in the 3,200, where he set the meet record of 9:35.63, and was on the winning 3,200 relay as a freshman.
@mhsaasports 🏃♂️➡️POW: Gabe Litzner #crosscountry #SaultSteMarie #invitational #winner #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports 🏃♂️➡️POW: Gabe Litzner #tiktalk #questiontime #part2 #greenbaypackers #jordan #cornhole #butterfinger #emoji #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
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Previous 2024-25 honorees
Aug. 30: Grace Slocum, Traverse City St. Francis golf - Report
PHOTOS courtesy of the Sault Ste. Marie athletic department.