Did You See That? (April 15-21)
April 30, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A rough survey of Michigan newspapers over the last week found at least 13 reported on how this spring's rainy (snowy?) weather has affected spring high school sports.
But a few more teams finally made it outside – although all-weather sports like soccer again dominated play during the middle week of April.
Here's a look at some of the highlights, with links to local coverage:
Girls Soccer
Fraser rolls to Ladywood title: After upsetting Division 2 No. 2 and tournament host Livonia Ladywood in a semifinal Saturday, unranked Fraser won the Ladywood Invitational by defeating Division 2 honorable mention Haslett 3-2 in the championship game at Madonna University. (Mlive.com)
Rockford shuts down, shuts out: The Rams shut out all three of its opponents to win Saturday’s Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern Invitational, capping the day with a win over Division 2 No. 3 Forest Hills Northern. Rockford is No. 7 in Division 1. (Grand Rapids Press)
Hawks soar: Unranked Saginaw Heritage, a Division 1 team, edged Division 3 No. 3 Flint Powers Catholic 2-1 on Saturday. (Saginaw News)
Softball
Lakeshore beats Indiana No. 1: Stevensville-Lakeshore, ranked No. 1 in Division 2, beat Indiana Class 3A top-ranked Mishawaka 11-4 on Friday. (St. Joseph Herald-Palladium)
Girls Tennis
FHN takes First: Forest Hills Northern – ranked No. 2 in Division 2 – welcomed co-No. 10s Petoskey and Bloomfield Hills Lahser, plus Mason, on Saturday, and won all four doubles flights to earn the quad championship. (Grand Rapids Press)
Girls Track and Field
Marquette girls Superior: There still was snow in the Upper Peninsula last week, but not inside the Superior Dome as Marquette’s girls won the top division of Tuesday’s Superior Dome Invitational by finishing first in six races at Northern Michigan University. (Marquette Mining Journal)
Boys Track and Field
Raymond keeps running: MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 cross country champion Nick Raymond of Erie Mason won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 to earn Athlete of the Meet honors at Saturday’s Monroe Jefferson Invitational. (Monroe Evening News)
Baseball
Eskymos open with title: Escanaba traveled south and won the Remus Chippewa Hills Invitational, a run that included beating this week's Division 2 No. 10 Chippewa Hills, 12-3, in the championship game. (Escanaba Daily Press)
Football
Waterford Our Lady waves bye to Boyd: Mike Boyd won more than 1,000 varsity games over three sports, and his 361 football wins are third-most for a coach in MHSAA history. He announced his retirement earlier this month. (Oakland Press)
Wrestling
Bronson’s Sosinski retires: Longtime Bronson wrestling coach Al Sosinski has retired after 30 seasons. He coached five MHSAA individual champions and two teams that finished runner-up in MHSAA Team Finals. (Sturgis Journal)
Today in the MHSAA: 2/22/16
February 22, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A loaded weekend included Upper Peninsula Swimming & Diving Finals, Cheer Districts, Wrestling Individual Regionals and title-deciding matchups in girls and boys basketball – plus key contests in just about every MHSAA sport.
Girls Basketball
What’s become one of the top girls basketball rivalries in the state added another incredible chapter as Haslett beat DeWitt 61-59 in triple overtime in a matchup of Class A ranked teams – Lansing State Journal
Despite a nearly new cast this season, Bloomfield Hills Marian completed a Detroit Catholic League A-B championship with a 48-29 win over rival Farmington Hills Mercy in the tournament final – Oakland Press
Detroit Martin Luther King won its fifth straight Detroit Public School League title, just edging Detroit Renaissance 68-66 – Detroit Free Press
Despite a three-point loss to Saginaw, Addyson Tomczak became the second player in Bay City Central girls basketball history to score more than 1,000 career points – Bay City Times
Holt’s Kamrin Reed went over 1,000 career points recently against Okemos, and despite missing her junior season with a torn knee ligament – Lansing State Journal
Boys Basketball
Detroit East English continued to ride the strong play of Jaylin McFaddin and Kamari Newman to its first Detroit Public School League championship with an 86-62 win over Detroit Renaissance – Detroit News
St. Ignace clinched the Straits Area Conference title and Gage Kreski went over 2,000 points for his career in a 84-59 win over Newberry – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
Frankfort finished its first back-to-back league titles since 1961-62, winning the Northwest Conference with a 50-48 win over Buckley – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Bowling
Portage Northern edged Portage Central 17-13 thanks in part to a 499 Baker series that ranks among the state’s best this season – Kalamazoo Gazette
Competitive Cheer
Reigning Division 4 champion Breckenridge took its first step toward a repeat, finishing first at the District at Ithaca – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
Ice Hockey
Division 2 No. 10 Escanaba and Division 3 No. 3 Calumet finished tied in a matchup of two of the highest-ranked teams from the Upper Peninsula – Escanaba Daily Press
Jackson, No. 13 in Division 1, swept rival Jackson Lumen Christi for the first time, winning the second game this season 4-3 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Midland Dow, No. 14 in Division 2, came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat No. 4 Romeo 5-4 – Midland Daily News
Swimming and Diving
The Gladstone girls won their first MHSAA championship, riding a strong finish to stay ahead of Houghton and Marquette – Second Half
The Marquette boys won their third straight MHSAA title with a number of U.P. Finals record performances – Second Half
Wrestling
From a loaded Individual Regional at Byron Center, Lowell sent 11 wrestlers on to the MHSAA Finals and Allegan sent seven – Grand Rapids Press
Saginaw Swan Valley’s K.J. Suitor broke his school’s wins record with his 219th in winning a Division 3 Regional title at Richmond – Saginaw News
Good Read
We’ve gotten to see Yale superintendent Kenneth Nicholl in action as an administrator during the last two Battles of the Fans, and he’s also one of our state’s top high school wrestling officials – Port Huron Times Herald
Former MHSAA Representative Council member Bob Doctor has been selected for the Petoskey Athletic Hall of Fame. Doctor was on the Council during the early 1970s and was the school's longtime principal – Petoskey News