Lake Orion Named SBP Best for 2018-19

Highlights

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

May 7, 2019

Lake Orion High School has been named the “Program of the Year” to headline the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2018-19.

The SBP Excellence Awards will award certificates and plaques to the schools which took individual honors, with the presentation dates and times to be announced.

Lake Orion claimed the top spot in three of the five award categories and placed in all five categories, capturing seven individual awards. The program demonstrated a good blend in a variety of sports covered – at home and on the road – and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.

Here is the complete list by category of the schools and students being honored with this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:

Best Multicamera Production

First Place – Cedar Springs – Nathan Draper, Max VanderMeulen, Macie Huntoon, Katia Corwin, Mason Francis, Josh Allen, Jacob Meredith, Jacob Swinehart, Dylan Patterson, Austin Kibby, Tayvon Gardner, Rylee Kinzinger, Riley Smith – Football game v. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.

Second Place – Lake Orion – Sienna Gibson, Kevin McCormick Jr., Teddy Hirschfield, Jacob Johr, Becca Hamilton, Derek Dungan, Amanda Pordon, Eric Maxwell, Hunter Chambers – Boys Basketball game v. Rochester Adams.

TIE - Third Place – Cedar Springs – Nathan Draper, Max VanderMeulen, Macie Huntoon, Katia Corwin, Mason Francis, Josh Allen, Jacob Meredith, Jacob Swinehart, Dylan Patterson, Austin Kibby, Tayvon Gardner, Rylee Kinzinger, Riley Smith – Football game v. Gaylord.

TIE – Third Place – Lake Orion – Sienna Gibson, Teddy Hirschfield, Kevin McCormick Jr., Isabella Larsen, Derek Dungan, Alexandra Hill, Jenna Gaylord, Becca Hamilton, Eric Maxwell, Amanda Pordon, Alex Gustanski – Boys Basketball game v. Clarkston.

Best Student Play-By-Play

First Place – Lake Orion – Kevin McCormick Jr. & Teddy Hirschfield – Boys Basketball game v. Rochester Adams.

Second Place – Lake Orion – Kevin McCormick Jr. & Teddy Hirschfield – Boys Basketball game v. Oxford.

Third Place – Montrose – Daniel Sackrider & Chase Hobson – Boys Basketball game v. Mt. Morris.

Best Produced Commercial/Feature

First Place – Lake Orion – Kalee Kniess & Ryan Hammond – Feature: Beyond The Lights-Kyle Loken

Second Place – Montrose - Molly Dunton, Chase Hobson, Gabe Patterson, Joe Wade, Tansy Cook – Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Commercial.

Third Place – Montrose – David Sackrider – Unsportsmanlike Conduct Podcast Promo.

Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics

First Place – Lake Orion – Hunter Chambers, Kevin McCormick Jr., Emily Penrose, Holden Dholakia, Josh McCaffrey – MHSAA Boys Basketball Quarterfinal game – Detroit U-D Jesuit v. Roseville.

Second Place – Cedar Springs – Clyde Dykhouse, Nathan Draper, Graham Bayink – Football game - Zeeland East v. East Grand Rapids.

Third Place – Montrose - David Sackrider, Daniel Sackrider, Alex Morrow, Libby Scott - Girls Basketball game v. Mt. Morris.

Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software

First Place - Montrose - David Sackrider, Daniel Sackrider, Alex Morrow, Libby Scott - Girls Basketball game v. Mt. Morris.

Second Place – Lake Orion - Kevin McCormick Jr., Teddy Hirschfield, Kalee Kniess, Marc Studier – Boys Basketball game v. Clarkston.

PHOTOS: (Top) From left, Lake Orion's Kaleena Kniess, Jenna Gaylord, Becca Hamilton, Josh McCaffrey, and Derek Dungan broadcast a volleyball match this past fall. (Middle) The football crew of Delaney Rogers, Ryan Hammond and Kniess hit the road for a game. (Photos courtesy of the Lake Orion School Broadcast Program.)

Highlights

MHSAA.tv Live Postseason Views Approach 1 Million for 2020-21

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

July 14, 2021

Live postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv during the 2020-21 school year were viewed nearly 1 million times, with 15 events drawing more than 10,000 live views apiece.

The final championship weekend of the Spring – featuring Girls Soccer Finals and Baseball and Softball Semifinals & Finals, all across four divisions June 17-19 at Michigan State University – saw nearly 70,000 live views on MHSAA.tv despite record attendance of those events at Old College Field.

The Division 2 Softball championship game – which ended with Owosso claiming its first Finals title in any sport, drew a weekend-high 5,677 live views on the network. The previous weekend, the Division 1 Girls Lacrosse Final won by Rockford on June 12 led the way with 4,284 live views.

The total number of live postseason views on MHSAA.tv for 2020-21 was 962,371. The most-viewed live tournament events were the Individual and Team Wrestling Finals, which with all rounds over all four divisions combined drew 244,044 live views. Among individual games broadcast solely by MHSAA.tv, the Division 3 Boys Basketball Semifinal matching Iron Mountain and Schoolcraft (15,393 live views) and the Division 1 Volleyball Semifinal featuring Novi and Lowell (13,484) ranked among the most watched.

MHSAA.tv is a partner of the NFHS Network. Postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv included most sports’ Finals, and Semifinals and Quarterfinals for some – especially sports where multiple concluding rounds were hosted by the same tournament site.

MHSAA.tv also ranked second among NFHS Network contributing states with 18,973 live events (postseason and regular-season combined) streamed during the 2020-21 school year. That total of nearly 19,000 live postseason events was an increase from 7,710 events streamed live during 2019-20 and 3,900 during 2018-19, and placed Michigan behind only Illinois.

The School Broadcast Program is responsible for nearly all production of regular-season events. Having now concluded its 13^th year, the SBP gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Rockford – one of the state’s largest schools with nearly 2,500 students – broadcast 242 events, drawing an SBP-high 74,437 live views and 89,604 total with on-demand replays included. Much smaller Pewamo-Westphalia, a school of 300 students, received the second-most views of SBP members in 2020-21 with 56,009 including live and on-demand. Marquette, Lake Orion, Cedar Springs, Montrose and McBain also were among top SBP providers.

In addition to bringing local events on air nationally, the School Broadcast Program gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions. NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers receive access to all live and on-demand video from across the country. School Broadcast Program participants receive a portion of every subscription sold by a school to benefit its program.

Broadcasts from the majority of Michigan schools – especially those lacking the ability to staff events for production – are streamed using a Pixellot automated camera. Michigan schools have 774 Pixellots in service, third-most in the country behind only Texas and California. Most Michigan schools have one camera at an outdoor stadium and a second at the main indoor gymnasium.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.