Today in the MHSAA: 10/16/15

October 16, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

First-time champions are always worth noting, and we found a few in checking out today’s media reports of Thursday action statewide.

Cross Country

The Calumet girls, ranked No. 4 in Upper Peninsula Division 1, and the unranked Houghton boys won the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference finals at Chassell – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Boys Soccer

Grand Rapids Union clinched its first league title since moving from the Grand Rapids City League to the Ottawa-Kent Conference, downing Muskegon 3-0 – Grand Rapids Press

Manchester edged Hillsdale Academy 2-1 to claim its first Independent Soccer League championship after winning only one league game in 2014 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Volleyball

Class B honorable mention Buchanan downed Class C’s top-ranked team, Bronson, in five sets, and also Class D No. 6 Mendon in five – Niles Daily Star

Class B No. 6 Mount Morris avenged a five-set loss to No. 5 Goodrich in September by sweeping the Martians to improve to 55-5-1 – Flint Journal

Zeeland West claimed its first conference title in this sport, defeating Holland Christian in five sets to claim a share of the O-K Green championship – Holland Sentinel

Good Reads

Longtime Burton Atherton leader Mary Down will become the third volleyball coach inducted into the Greater Flint Area Hall of Fame, having impacted a generation of players and more as a number of former players went on to coach as well – Flint Journal

Today in the MHSAA: 5/27/16

May 27, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A set of incredible golf scores by the Plymouth boys team to win its District were among heroics on what generally is tune-up day for most sports heading into Memorial Day weekend and then the busiest championship week of the year. 

Baseball

Division 1 formerly-ranked Battle Creek Lakeview swept Division 2 top-ranked Coldwater 13-8 and 7-5 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Holt one-hit St. Johns and emerged 3-2 winners in nine innings in the quarterfinals of the Capital Area Diamond Classic – Lansing State Journal

Remus Chippewa Hills claimed a nine-inning 6-5 win over Big Rapids and with it the outright Central State Activities Association title – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Birmingham Brother Rice won its fifth straight Catholic League A-B title with a 5-1 win over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s – Oakland Press

Golf

Plymouth won its Division 1 Regional at Fox Hills Golf Course with a 283, led by junior Jack Boczar’s 64 – MLive-Detroit

Pentwater 8th-grader Gannon McDonough won a two-hole playoff to claim the individual Division 4 Regional title at Stonegate Golf Club as North Muskegon won the team title (eighth graders are allowed to compete on high school teams at schools with enrollments of fewer than 100) – Muskegon Chronicle

Softball

Edwardsburg set a school record for wins by moving to 30-5 with a sweet of Niles, 3-0 and 4-1 – Niles Daily Star

Track & Field

From Wednesday, the Adrian Madison girls won the Tri-County Conference for the 10th straight season, while the boys made it three consecutive titles – Adrian Daily Telegram

From Tuesday, Hanover-Horton swept Cascades Conference boys and girls titles for the first time – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Good Read

Incredibly, Lake City three-sport athlete Laraiah Schichtel finished her academic career this spring as her class valedictorian – after working against dyslexia that wasn’t discovered until she was well into her 4.0 career – Detroit Free Press