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)
#TBT: 1st UP Regional Sends Vulcan Star
June 21, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A runner who starred 90 years ago for a western Upper Peninsula high school that closed long ago surely won’t jog many memories these days.
But Lawrence Pedo’s accomplishments in 1928 were noteworthy and remain memorable as we turn the page on another spring of track & field championships.
The MHSAA began sponsoring statewide track & field finals meets in 1927, drawing qualifiers from a series of Regionals. The first Upper Peninsula Regional was added to the lineup a year later, and on May 19, 1928, Michigan College of Mining and Technology – better known as Michigan Tech – hosted hopefuls from 23 schools who competed in Class B, C and D for the opportunity to travel downstate and face Michigan’s best at Michigan State College in East Lansing.
While this program from that first Regional meet survives, results for the Class C and D portions are not easily available (although the Class B winners were found in the archives of the Escanaba Daily Press and show nine first places across 14 events for the “Escanabans,” as referred to by the home paper.)
It’s a fair guess that Vulcan’s Pedo had a good day in the Class D Regional portion as well. The following week at MSC – now MSU – Pedo won the 880-yard race in 2:08.1 and took second in the javelin throw. His 880 time remained a Class D Finals record until 1940, which, coincidentally, also was the first season with separate championship meets for the Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
Vulcan, meanwhile, remains a small community just east of Norway along U.S. 2 and the Michigan/Wisconsin border. Vulcan schools consolidated with Norway in 1964, with high school students attending Norway High School.
The Regional program includes a page listing the meets officials and order of events, but also a list of all competing athletes, pages to write in event-by-event results, and an advertisement for Michigan Tech.
