Beginning Another Tourney Journey
August 8, 2016
Below is the introductory commentary to the MHSAA's spring issue of benchmarks. Histories of MHSAA tournaments published in that issue have been appearing on Second Half every Tuesday and Friday.
By Jack Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
Concussions and cutbacks. Participation fees and part-time employment. Student safety and specialization. International students and interstate travel. Transfers and trials.
Through a myriad of issues which periodically cloud our mission, the foundation on which the MHSAA was built still shines brightest three times each year: Tournament Time!
It can be daunting and overwhelming to make a living at this business of interscholastic athletics these days, not to mention a tad confusing. Do we need legal degrees? Medical degrees? Business degrees? Marketing degrees? There seems to be no escape from threat of legislative mandates which continually change the landscape of our product and how it’s delivered. Demands pile up, resources dwindle.
Add the daily challenges of scheduling issues, inclement weather and pleasing teenagers and their parents on a daily basis, and it’s easy to lose focus of the primary missions for the MHSAA and its member schools.
And then, scenes like this happen:
• Holly Bullough, a senior cross country runner from Traverse City St. Francis takes her second straight Division 3 championship, winning by 36.4 seconds ... with a stress fracture in her left foot.
• Detroit Martin Luther King QB Armani Posey directs a game-winning drive to give his school the Division 2 football championship ... a drive which started on his own 3-yard line with 37 seconds left and ended with a 40-yard heave to receiver Donnie Corley on the final play of the game.
• Leland sweeps the Class D volleyball title match 3-0 over Battle Creek St. Philip ... ending a string of nine straight titles for St. Phil, the 10th longest national streak in history.
• Davison’s Taylor Davis becomes only the fourth person in MHSAA Girls Bowling history to roll a 300 game in the Singles portion of the tournament ... and the first ever in the championship match.
• The Upper Peninsula’s Hancock HS wins the Division 3 ice hockey title in its first trip to the Final since 2000 ... a trip funded in part from a “Go Fund Me” web page that raised $6,620 from 99 donors in two days.
• Junior Kierra Fletcher of Warren Cousino carries her team to the Class A girls basketball championship with 27 points in the Final ... after scoring 37 of her team’s 60 points in the Semifinals and totaling 198 during eight tournament games.
That’s just a sampling of the magic from last fall and winter.
These moments shine through the current challenges and the unseen future that awaits us as they always have. The uniforms and faces are different, but the tournaments have always yielded the fruits of our labors, and the memories for our mental scrapbooks.
PHOTO: Leland's volleyball team hoists its Class D championship trophy last fall at Kellogg Arena.
Clarenceville's Johnson Overcomes Blistered Thumb to Roll Clinching 234
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 2, 2024
WATERFORD — It was hard to tell where Livonia Clarenceville junior Caitlyn Johnson spent more time during the Division 2 Singles Bowling Finals on Saturday – on the lanes or in another part of the building getting treatment.
Last week during the Regional tournament, Johnson said she started to get a blister on the thumb of her throwing hand, which is pretty much bowling’s equivalent to a sprinter in track getting a lame hamstring.
Johnson managed to qualify out of the Regional. But needless to say, the preparation for the Final wasn’t what she’d hoped it would be.
“I’ve been putting Neosporin and Band-Aids on all week,” Johnson said. “I haven’t practiced the last two days either in the hopes it would get better. Just trying to keep it covered.”
Those watching Johnson bowl throughout the day certainly couldn’t tell she was in pain, as she was on top of her game in winning her first career individual title.
Johnson topped Grand Rapids Northview senior Kelly Hartman in the Final, winning the first game 179-170 before rolling a 234 in the second game to earn a 413-332 victory.
“I just had to keep my head in the game,” said Johnson, whose previous best finish was a Quarterfinal appearance two years ago as a freshman. “Make my spares and make good shots. If it was a bad break or bad shot, reset, come back and get it back the next time. That was my mindset all day.”
Clarenceville head coach John Makar said Johnson has been consistent all year, sporting an average of more than 200.
“She placed seventh in the qualifying round, and after she had the next application (on her thumb), she just took off and just kept on going, Makar said. “She has a good hook that she throws, down and in and out and in. She adapted to the lanes really well.”
Johnson defeated Fenton senior Jena Fijolek in the round of 16 (363-338), Charlotte junior Lori Jackson in the Quarterfinals (428-395) and then New Boston Huron junior Olivia Demick (381-335) in the Semifinals to set up the championship match against Hartman, who was the 16th and final seed out of the qualifying block.
Hartman defeated No. 1 seed and New Boston Huron junior Addison Dolencic in the round of 16 (332-283), Hudsonville Unity Christian senior Jennifer Mohr in the Quarterfinals (390-330) and Flint Kearsley senior Ava Boggs in the Semifinals (344-293).
Now, Johnson will get plenty of time to heal and celebrate in hopes she’ll be back in the tournament next year in a position to repeat.
“It’s been a battle all day,” she said.