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: 5/15/17

May 15, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The last weekend of the track & field regular season featured league and invitational titles galore, and we've highlighted some of the most intriguing as well as the best from the rest of competition including a league title game between the top-ranked boys teams in Division 1.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.

Baseball

Battle Creek Harper Creek downed Division 1 No. 12 Lakeview 3-1 to win the Battle Creek All-City championship – Battle Creek Enquirer

A bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning gave Division 2 No. 9 Fowlerville a 6-5 win over Lansing Catholic as the Gladiators clinched the Capital Area Activities Conference White title – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Division 1 No. 8 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett downed Division 3 No. 2 Schoolcraft 3-2 to win its invitational – Detroit News

Boys Golf

James Staab won medalist for the second straight season to lead Lakeview to its 14th straight Battle Creek All-City title – Battle Creek Enquirer

Lower Peninsula Division 2 No. 10 Grosse Ile shot a 295 to win the Marauder Invitational by 13 strokes, led by medalist Mitch Daly’s 69 – Southgate News Herald

Girls Lacrosse

Okemos, No. 4 in Division 2, won its 10th straight Capital Area Activities Conference title with a 17-9 win over Haslett/Williamston in the tournament final – Lansing State Journal

Boys Lacrosse

Division 1 top-ranked Birmingham Brother Rice locked down the Detroit Catholic League title with a 15-10 win over No. 2 Detroit Catholic Central – Oakland Press

Softball

Battle Creek Pennfield hung on to down Harper Creek in the Battle Creek All-City softball final – Battle Creek Enquirer

Warren Regina split with Farmington Hills Mercy, getting the one necessary win to clinch the Detroit Catholic League Central title – Macomb Daily

Girls Tennis

Niles Brandywine won its fifth straight league title and 10th over the last 13 seasons, this time by only a point over Comstock – Niles Daily Star

Track & Field

Bay City Western swept the Bay County titles, the boys for the ninth straight season; the girls are ranked No. 7 in Lower Peninsula Division 1 and the boys are No. 10 – Bay City Times

The Houghton boys and Lake Linden-Hubbell girls won Houghton County Invitational titles, the boys led by a record-setting performance by Clayton Sayen as he bested a school mark from 1991 and a meet record from 1995 – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Manton swept the titles at its invitational, defending the girls' No. 1 ranking and boys' No. 3 in LP Division 4 – Cadillac News

Unranked Novi finished 23.5 points ahead of LP Division 1 No. 3 Salem to claim the boys Kensington Lakes Activities Association Kensington title – Observer & Eccentric

Good Read

Comstock Park retired its first girls soccer number last week – the No. 3 of Kristin Stowie, who died in a snowmobile crash in 2010 – Grand Rapids Press