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UP Swim/Dive Finals to Stream Live

February 13, 2019

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

Six straight weekends of Winter Finals tournament coverage on MHSAA.tv begins this week, with coverage Friday and Saturday (Feb. 15-16) of the Upper Peninsula Swimming & Diving Finals at Marquette High School. 

Coverage of the Diving Finals takes place Friday, beginning at 2:30 p.m. The Swimming Finals will be contested Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. 

Over the remainder of the Winter season, MHSAA.tv will have live coverage of the following:

  • Team Dual Wrestling Quarterfinals-Semifinals-Finals – Feb. 22-23
  • Individual Wrestling Finals – March 1-2
  • Girls Competitive Cheer Finals – March 1-2
  • Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals – March 7-8-9
  • L.P. Boys Swimming & Diving Finals – March 9
  • Boys Basketball Quarterfinals & Semifinals – March 12, 14-15
  • Girls Basketball Quarterfinals & Semifinals – March 19, 21-22 

Fans can purchase a Month Pass to watch on the NFHS Network for $9.95, which allows three log-ons. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country for 30 days. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live.   

In addition to this weekend’s swimming action, there will be coverage of Wrestling Regionals and Girls Competitive Cheer Districts produced by School Broadcast Program participants. 

The Regional phase of the Team Wrestling Tournament takes place Wednesday (Feb. 13), and the Regional round of the Individual Wrestling Tournament is scheduled for Saturday (Feb. 16). Competitive Cheer Districts are Friday and Saturday. 

Here’s the schedule for the Team Wrestling Regional action to be covered: 

Division 1 

Grandville
5:30 p.m. – Hudsonville v. Grandville; Rockford v. Traverse City West
6:45 p.m. – Final

Division 2 

Cedar Springs
5:30 p.m. – Muskegon Reeths-Puffer v. Cedar Springs; Ada Forest Hills Eastern v. Allendale
6:45 p.m. – Final

Here’s the schedule for the Individual Wrestling Regional action to be covered:

Division 1

Saline – 10 a.m.

Division 2

Fremont – 10 a.m.

Here’s the schedule for the Girls Competitive Cheer Districts to be covered:

Division 1

Rockford – Saturday – 10 a.m.
Lake Orion – Saturday – 10 a.m.
Novi – Saturday – 11 a.m.

Division 2

St. Clair Shores Lake Shore – Saturday – 10 a.m.
Linden – Saturday – 10 a.m.
Mt. Pleasant – Saturday – 11 a.m.

Division 3

Comstock Park – Friday – 6 p.m.

Here’s the remainder of week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members. Check the online schedule throughout the week for late changes. 

Tuesday - Feb. 12

Wednesday - Feb. 13

Montrose SBP

Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 7, 2021

DETROIT – An hour before kickoff of the first game of 11-Player Football Finals weekend – the Division 8 championship decider between Hudson and Beal City – Bally Sports Detroit announcers Evan Stockton and Rob Rubick were busy preparing to call the action from the television booth on the third level of Ford Field.

Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.

Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.

Mount Pleasant SBP“With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”

Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.

“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”  

And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.

PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)