Did you see that? (9/3-9/9)
September 10, 2012
School is back in session, and MHSAA teams should be hitting their best strides as league competition gets underway in most sports.
Here's a look at some of the highlights from the first full week of September, with links to additional coverage.
Volleyball
Spikes under the sun: Muskegon Mona Shores finished 3-0 in its home invitational Wednesday against a strong field of Grand Haven, Fruitport and Spring Lake. That's reason to celebrate on its own. But the best part of this story is where the Sailors did their damage -- on two portable courts stretched across the school's football field. (Muskegon Chronicle)
St. Philip takes Cereal City: Despite being one of the smallest schools in the state, it's rare that Battle Creek St. Philip doesn't leave a tournament as champion -- especially in its home town. But the Tigers hadn't won the Cereal City Invitational since 2007, until it did so with a two-set win over Class A honorable mention Temperance-Bedford this weekend. (Battle Creek Enquirer)
FHE is No. 1: Ada Forest Hills Eastern more than justified its ranking as best in the state in Class B by besting many of the best from the Grand Rapids area at the East Kentwood Invitational. Among others in the field were Class A No. 8 East Grand Rapids and reigning MHSAA Class A champion Rockford. (Grand Rapids Press)
Put them in the book: Johannesburg-Lewiston swept Gaylord St. Mary on Tuesday, thanks in part to 10 aces by junior Brittany Cherwinski, a total which will qualify for the MHSAA record book once documentation is submitted. In the team's previous match, junior Julia Nieman qualified for most assists in a match. (Gaylord Herald Times)
Cross Country
Harbor Springs rules the mud: Both the Harbor Springs boys and girls teams won their Charlevoix Classic Mud Runs on Saturday on a course that featured standing water and hay bales among other obstacles. It was the 21st year of the race. (Charlevoix Courier)
Running to records: Sault Ste. Marie has a freshman to watch in Parker Scott, who won his school's Bill Lynn Trails race Saturday in a time of 16:36 -- at least 26 seconds faster than any of the three first-place times from last season's MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals. The time was a school record. (Soo Evening News)
Swimming and Diving
West Ottawa wins West Michigan: Facing many of the biggest and best from that side of the state, Holland West Ottawa won the West Michigan Relays after finishing third in the event each of the last three seasons. Among those also in the field was reigning MHSAA Division 2 champion Holland. (Holland Sentinel)
Tennis
Dow rises again: The Division 2 top-ranked Midland Dow tennis team remained perfect this season by winning its third tournament of the fall, at Grosse Pointe North. Among others in the field were No. 2-ranked Portage Central and No. 3 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (Midland Daily News)
Record Win Streak Setters Meet in Opener
September 4, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Friday’s varsity football season opener between Ithaca and Hudson at Alma College was the first time the teams had met on the field.
But the programs have been mentioned in the same conversations concerning record success frequently over the last decade. They are the only programs statewide that have won more than 44 consecutive games during the state’s long history of the sport.
The Hudson teams from 1968-1975 put together a 72-game winning streak that remains the MHSAA record and fourth longest in national high school football history. The Tigers’ streak ended at the first MHSAA Finals with a loss to Ishpeming in the inaugural Class C championship game.
Beginning on opening night 2010 and until a loss in the 2014 Division 6 Final, Ithaca mounted a serious challenge to Hudson’s accomplishment, winning 69 straight games to rank second in Michigan and tie for seventh on the national winning streak list. The Yellowjackets’ run included four straight Division 6 championships. Coincidentally, both teams won their first MHSAA Finals titles in 2010 – Hudson won Division 7 that fall.
Ithaca won Friday’s first matchup against Hudson, 38-24, and the teams came together after for this photo below (and partially above).
Journalist’s Schools to Remember Him
Southwestern Michigan is mourning the loss of Sturgis Journal sports editor Corky Emrick, who died unexpectedly Aug. 19.
The high schools he covered for two decades also will be honoring the memory of their ardent supporter.
Bronson, Burr Oak, Centreville, Constantine, Colon, Mendon, Sturgis, Three Rivers and White Pigeon all will be wearing helmet stickers and uniform patches with “CE” in green and yellow during this 2019-20 school year.
Emrick joined the Journal staff fulltime in 1999 and took over as sports editor in 2008, according to the paper’s report after his death. Click to read that Sturgis Journal piece in full.