Casting Lines for Future Tournaments
August 12, 2016
By Jack Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
The MHSAA is best known to the public for the tournaments it conducts to conclude the fall, winter and spring seasons each school year.
These tournaments, the first and largest program of the MHSAA, have survived the Vietnam War, the Korean conflict and two World Wars. They have survived the technology bubble, the housing collapse, the energy crisis and the Great Depression.
MHSAA tournaments existed at the dawn of aviation and at the time of our nation’s lunar landing. Popes, presidents and governors have changed and changed again and again, and MHSAA tournaments roll on year after year.
But the sense of tradition and permanence and inevitability of MHSAA tournaments doesn’t dissuade us from asking questions about our tournaments, even some of the most basic questions. Here are two.
Question #1
I have long been and will always be an advocate for a Ryder Cup format for the MHSAA Golf Finals, and a team tennis approach to the MHSAA Tennis Finals; but 90 years of tradition is hard to overcome. Might this be a more exciting format? Could it be co-ed? Could it reverse the decline in boys tennis participation, and increase girls golf participation? Wouldn’t it be fun to try?
Periodically, the International Olympic Committee requires each of the designated Olympic sports to defend its status, to state its case why the sport should remain a part of the Olympic program. Then, after a series or votes that retain one sport at a time, the IOC drops the sport that makes the weakest case. It does so to make room for one of the previously unlisted sports that makes the best case for inclusion.
This would appear to keep the existing Olympic sports on their toes, and to keep the Olympic movement fresh and reflective of modern trends in sports.
While I would not enjoy the controversy, I can see the potential for some positive results if the MHSAA were to invoke the same policy for determining the 14 tournaments it will provide for girls and the 14 for boys.
This might cause us to consider more deeply what a high school sport should look like, or at least what an MHSAA tournament sport should stand for.
On the one hand, we might be inclined to drop tournaments for those sports that involve mostly non-faculty coaches and non-school venues, or require cooperative programs to generate enough participants to support a team, or resort almost entirely to non-school funding, or cater to individuals more than teams.
Or perhaps this process would cause policymakers to forget traditional thinking and ask: “In this day and age, should we shake off traditional notions of sport and consider more where modern kids are coming from?” That might mean fewer team sports and more individual sports, more “extreme” sports like snowboarding and skateboarding, and more lifetime sports, meaning not just golf and tennis and running sports, but also fishing and even shooting sports.
Currently, MHSAA policy states that the MHSAA will consider sponsorship of a tournament series for any sport which 64 member schools conduct on an interscholastic basis as a result of action by the governing boards of those schools.
Should the only question be how many schools sponsor a sport, or must an activity also have certain qualities and/or avoid certain “defects?” What should an MHSAA tournament sport look like and stand for?
Question #2
Bristling from criticism that his association is a money-grabbing exploiter of children, my counterpart in another state said, “If we were running our programs just to make money, we would do very many things very differently.” I knew exactly what he meant.
Because we care about the health and welfare of students, because we mean what we say that the athletic program needs to maximize the ways it enhances the school experience while minimizing academic conflicts, and because we try to model our claim that no sport is a minor sport when it comes to its potential to teach young people life lessons, we operate our programs in ways that make promoters, marketers and business entrepreneurs laugh, cry or cringe.
If money were the only object, we would seed and select sites to assure the teams that attracted the most spectators had the best chance to advance in our tournaments, regardless of the travel for any team or its fan base. If money were the only object, we would never schedule two tournaments to overlap and compete for public attention, much less tolerate three or four overlapping events. If money were the only object, we would allow signage like NASCAR events and promotions like minor league baseball games.
Those approaches to event sponsorship may not be all wrong; they’re just not all right for us. And we will live with the consequences of our belief system.
During a typical school year, more than 20 percent of the MHSAA’s 2,097 District, Regional and Final tournaments lose money. Not a single site in golf, skiing or tennis makes a single penny. In no sport did every District, Regional and Final site have revenue in excess of direct expenses.
In fact, in only three sports – boys and girls basketball and football – is revenue so much greater than direct expenses overall that it helps to pay for all the other tournaments in which the MHSAA invests.
That’s right: invests. When we present our budget to our board, we talk about the MHSAA’s investment in providing tournament opportunities in all those sports and all those places that cannot sustain the cost of those events on their own. How much is this investment worth to students, schools and society?
These two are core questions that require our focus far in advance of talk about scheduling, site selection, seeding and the myriad matters that too often hijack our time and attention.
Preview: Girls Lacrosse Finals to Match Reigning Champs Vs. Record Holders
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 4, 2026
Rockford and East Grand Rapids will add to their shared record of 10 MHSAA Girls Lacrosse Finals appearances Friday at Howell Parker, and could also add to their Division-leading championship counts as well.
But a pair of teams moving up the historical charts are eager to continue making their own names among the all-time elite.
Reigning Division 1 champion South Lyon United hasn’t lost in two years and will try to extend that streak against the Rams. Reigning Division 2 champion Detroit Country Day will play in its fifth-straight Final to move into a tie for most championship game appearances in MHSAA girls lacrosse history.
Below is a glance at all four teams playing for titles. Rankings as part of “best wins” are based on the Michigan Power Rating formula. Tickets cost $11 and are good for both games, and may be purchased online only at GoFan.
Both games will be broadcast and available with subscription from MHSAA.tv.
Division 1
ROCKFORD
Record/MPR: 11-8, No. 10
League finish: Third in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Mark Neumen, fifth season (65-35-1)
Championship history: Nine Division 1 titles (most recent 2021), runner-up in 2024.
Best wins: 9-4 over No. 7 Hartland in Semifinal, 16-6 over No. 9 Hudsonville in Regional Final, 18-11 over Division 2 No. 8 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 9-7 over Division 2 No. 2 East Grand Rapids, 7-6 over Division 2 No. 6 Spring Lake.
Players to watch: Ella Larva, sr. M (33 goals, 9 assists); Kiah Kruisenga, jr. M (26 goals, 8 assists); Brooke Gordon, sr. M (39 goals, 22 assists); Ava Wekenman, soph. A (41 goals, 29 assists).
Outlook: After a year away from the Finals, Rockford is back in a familiar spot and riding a five-game winning streak that began by avenging a mid-April loss to Spring Lake. The Rams also avenged their March defeat to East Grand Rapids a month later. Larva made the all-state first team last season, Kruisenga the third team and junior defender Lyla Vogt earned an honorable mention. Seven players total had scored at least 15 goals entering this week, including as well sophomores Avery Maag (25) and Jordyn Coretti (15, 18 assists) and senior Ella Wagenmaker (18/12).
SOUTH LYON UNITED
Record/MPR: 27-0, No. 2
League finish: First in Lakes Valley Conference
Coach: Deanna Radcliffe, 10th season (168-26)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2025, runner-up 2008.
Best wins: 9-8 and 14-11 (Regional Final) over No. 1 Brighton, 23-8 over No. 8 Bloomfield Hills in Semifinal, 17-10 over No. 3 Lake Orion, 15-2 and 14-5 over No. 6 White Lake Lakeland, 17-3 over No. 5 Grosse Pointe South, 19-5 over No. 4 Birmingham United, 20-5 over Division 2 No. 5 Haslett/Williamston.
Players to watch: Shaelyn Perry, sr. M (78 goals, 23 assists); Cate Cumberland, jr. M/D (33 goals, 20 assists); Gabriela Lucchesi, sr. A (36 goals, 41 assists); Reagan Shields, jr. A (87 goals, 61 assists).
Outlook: South Lyon United has won 48 straight games as it seeks to finish a second-straight perfect season. United also has defeated the other seven top-eight teams in Division 1 by MPR at the end of the regular season, and done so giving up double-digit goals only twice and with an offense that has reached 20 goals eight times. Shields, Perry and Cumberland are returning all-state first teamers, and Lucchesi earned an honorable mention last year. Seniors Alyssa Jakubiec (52 goals/15 assists) and Gianna Lucchesi (51/26) and junior Madison Lukas (49/9) also are among leading offensive contributors.
Division 2
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/MPR: 14-5, No. 4
League finish: Does not compete in a conference.
Coach: Liz Nussbaum, third season (48-12-1)
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2023 and 2025, runner-up 2005, 2022 and 2024.
Best wins: 23-3 over No. 3 Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard in Semifinal, 13-9 over No. 7 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in Regional Final, 16-2 over No. 11 Rochester Hills Stoney Creek in Regional Semifinal, 11-10 over No. 9 Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 9-3 and 18-8 over Division 1 No. 7 Hartland.
Players to watch: Campbell Lindner, sr. G (126 saves, .490 save %); Charlotte Cook, soph. M (74 goals, 22 assists); Adriana Zuk, sr. M (46 goals, 17 assists); Jackie Calso, jr. M (47 goals, 14 assists).
Outlook: This will be Country Day’s fifth-straight Finals appearance, and the Yellowjackets return with a pair of 2025 all-state second-teamers in Lindner and Cook and honorable mentions in Zuk and Calso. The only in-state losses this season were twice to East Grand Rapids and once to Brighton, and Country Day won its first four postseason games by a combined 70-14. They also have notable victories over Carmel (Ind.) and Chicago St. Ignatius College Prep. Junior Bridget Kenney had added another 21 goals entering the week, and sophomore Maggie Stoller had 15.
EAST GRAND RAPIDS
Record/MPR: 19-2, No. 2
League finish: First in O-K Tier 1
Coach: Kira Schoonveld, first year (19-2)
Championship history: Eight Division 2 titles (most recent 2022), runner-up in 2017 and 2023.
Best wins: 20-6 over No. 5 Haslett/Williamston in Semifinal, 11-2 (Regional Final), 12-7 and 13-8 over No. 6 Spring Lake; 17-5 (Regional Semifinal) and 12-5 over No. 9 Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 9-7 (Regional Quarterfinal), 7-4 and 11-4 over No. 8 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central; 11-9 and 12-5 over No. 4 Detroit Country Day, 12-5 over Division 1 No. 4 Birmingham United, 11-10 (OT) over Division 1 No. 7 Hartland, 12-10 (OT) over Division 1 No. 10 Rockford.
Players to watch: Avery Albers, jr. G (7.2 goals-against average, 112 saves); Jane Weaver, jr. A (49 goals, 18 assists); Livia Burgess, jr. M (32 goals, 23 assists); Rylee Renker, sr. A (37 goals, 3 assists).
Outlook: Aside from a couple of late losses to Grand Rapids Catholic Central and Rockford by a combined five goals, EGR has been pretty much unstoppable on the way to its first championship game appearance in three years. The Pioneers did end up avenging that CC loss in the Regional Semifinal to finish that season series with a 2-1 edge, and they haven’t given up more than 10 goals in a game – and allowed 10 only twice, both in overtime wins. Albers made the all-state first team last season, Weaver made the second and Burgess and senior Ellen Cross earned honorable mentions. Junior Nora Williams (25 goals/8 assists) and sophomores Ciarra Burns (21/8) and Sarah Cross (15/17) also are among leading scorers this spring.
PHOTO Detroit Country Day’s Charlotte Cook (18) attempts to get past a Grand Rapids Catholic Central defender during last season’s Division 2 Final.