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.
Finals Experience, Expertise Shine Through as Hudson Extends Title Streak
By
Jeff Chaney
Special for MHSAA.com
February 24, 2024
KALAMAZOO – When searching for adjectives to describe what the Hudson wrestling team has built itself into over the years, wrestling fans in Michigan might say “prepared.”
The mammoth program from the small community south of Jackson comes to the MHSAA Division 4 Team Finals every year ready to go.
That was once again evident this weekend at Wings Event Center, as the Tigers cruised to their third-straight championship, and sixth over the past eight years, with a 41-17 victory over St. Louis in the deciding match Saturday evening.
Hudson has won three straight D4 titles, six of the last eight and 11 overall.
"We are who we are because of family," Hudson coach Scott Marry said. "We break our huddle on 'family' every time, because this is a continuation of what's up there."
Marry then pointed to the stands at all the Hudson fans, parents and Hudson youth wrestlers who made the trek to Kalamazoo to watch their beloved Tigers.
"It's not hard to coach, because all of these guys are awesome," Marry added. "You also have to give all the glory to God, because this is a God-loving community. And every person in these stands feels the same way I do – God first, then family, and then the rest is easy."
Hudson made it look easy all weekend, as the Tigers won 34 of 42 matches they wrestled during the two-day event.
They opened with a 72-3 Quarterfinal win over Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary on Friday, then defeated Manchester 52-13 in Saturday morning's Semifinal before downing the Sharks in the championship match.
In the Final, super sophomore Nicholas Sorrow got things going with a hard-fought 6-5 win over St Louis' Colin Kuhn.
From there, Hudson won five matches in a row and were never threatened the rest of the way.
Sorrow said the wins keep coming because of a simple formula.
"It's just nice to continue the tradition," said Sorrow, who will be going for his second straight individual title next weekend at Ford Field. "This is just one percent of what we do; 99 percent of what we do is working hard in the (practice room), every day, five days a week. We work on technique, work on our grip and just get better."
St Louis coach Kevin Kuhn was impressed with his opponent, but he knew what his team was getting into when it stepped on the mat – a Hudson team that is relentless, a trait he picked up when he wrestled for Coach Marry and Hudson during the mid-1990s.
Kuhn, whose St. Louis team was making its first Finals appearance, hopes his wrestlers took away some lessons from facing a program used to getting to the championship match.
"Our goal was to be wrestling on Saturday night (in the Final) ," said Kuhn, whose team ended with a 26-3 record. "You are not in position to win a state final if you're not winning a Semifinal match (Saturday morning)."
St Louis reached Saturday with a win over Climax-Scotts/Martin in the Quarterfinal, 39-26. The Sharks then beat Benzie Central in their Semifinal match 37-22.
Hudson finished with a 27-4 record.
PHOTOS (Top) Hudson’s Barron Mansfield celebrates his pin at 190 pounds during Saturday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) St. Louis’ Ramon Anguiano, left, and Hudson’s Cameron Miller lock up at 215 pounds. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)