Today in the MHSAA: 10/15/15
October 15, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Championship are won on a seemingly daily basis in October, and plenty were earned and celebrated Wednesday – but please also check out some great reads at the bottom of this list, including a look at why specialization is increasing as a nationwide concern.
Cross Country
The Saugatuck girls, ranked No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 4, won their ninth straight Southwestern Athletic Conference title with 12 runners earning all-league honors – Grand Rapids Press
Boys Soccer
LP Division 2 No. 5 East Lansing capped an impressive run through the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Cup by winning the final 3-1 over Grand Ledge – Lansing State Journal
LP Division 1 No. 15 East Kentwood secured its 12th Ottawa-Kent Conference Red title in 13 seasons with a 1-0 win over Grandville, helped in part by a pair of players whose ties the program go back to the early years of the run – Grand Rapids Press
LP Division 1 No. 7 Utica Ford shut out No. 14 Fraser to clinch the Macomb Area Conference Red championship – Macomb Daily
Unranked Birmingham Brother Rice stunned LP Division 1 No. 3 Detroit Catholic Central 2-1 in the championship game of the Detroit Catholic League A-B tournament – Oakland Press
LP Division 4 No. 11 Charlevoix clinched a share of the Lake Michigan Conference title with a 3-0 win over Grayling, thanks to a hat trick by Walker Drost – Charlevoix Courier
Saginaw Heritage scored the first goal Flint Powers Catholic had given up since Sept. 12, but the Chargers emerged with a 2-1 win and the overall Saginaw Valley League championship – Flint Journal
Volleyball
Lansing Catholic won the first volleyball league championship in its long history, beating Fowlerville in three sets to claim a share of the CAAC White title – Lansing State Journal
Good Reads
Single-sport specialization has become a topic of national focus and concern, and MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts was among association directors talked to for this report on why it’s a health-related issue and how states are working to promote multi-sport participation instead – NFHS.org
Vandercook Lake is enjoying its best football season in 45 years and plays for a league title this weekend, and is led by a three-sport athlete who has been on a long road back after Crohn’s disease led to his shedding 90 pounds only two years ago – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
The Christmas tree standing tall in front of the Capitol in Lansing this winter will come from Wakefield thanks to a donation by Florence Daniels in honor of her husband Jim, who coached Wakefield High's boys basketball team to 355 wins, 12 district the five regional titles in 28 seasons. He also was a member of Channing High’s Upper Peninsula championship team in 1944 and coached Al Inkala, who went on to become an MHSAA championship-winning girls tennis coach at Okemos – Lansing State Journal
Today in the MHSAA: 9/20/19
September 20, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Two of the first league championships of the 2019-20 school year were decided Thursday on the tennis courts and soccer pitch, while a number of other contests surely will have title implications later on.
1. Boys Tennis: St. Clair – No. 5 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – downed Port Huron Northern to guarantee a shared Macomb Area Conference Red title with LPD1 No 9 Grosse Pointe South – Port Huron Times-Herald
2. Boys Soccer: South Lyon clinched the Lakes Valley Conference championship with a draw against second-place Walled Lake Western – Oakland Press
3. Volleyball: Traverse City St. Francis emerged with a 15-11 fifth-set win to get past Division 4 No. 6 Leland – Up North Live
4. Volleyball: Division 1 No. 9 Grand Haven picked up a key Ottawa-Kent Conference Red win over honorable mention Grandville – FOX 17
5. Girls Golf: Durand set a program record with its 12th match win, this one by 10 strokes over Owosso – Owosso Argus-Press
6. Cross Country: Rock Mid Peninsula’s Daisy Englund earned her third straight win, this time at the Stephenson Invitational as Marquette’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 top-ranked teams swept – Escanaba Daily Press
7. Girls Golf: Traverse City West won the Harbor Springs Invitational, led by Anci Dy’s medalist performance – Traverse City Record-Eagle
8. Volleyball: Division 1 No. 10 Clarkston started Oakland Activities Association Red play by avenging an earlier loss to honorable mention Oxford – Oakland Press
9. Volleyball: Division 4 top-ranked Southfield Christian swept honorable mention Plymouth Christian Academy to move to 8-1-1 – Oakland Press
10. Boys Soccer: Unranked Ann Arbor Pioneer and Division 1 No. 8 Skyline played to a scoreless draw – We Love Ann Arbor