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: 2/11/16

February 11, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The first MHSAA postseason of 2016 kicked off Wednesday with wrestling Team Districts, and a couple of significant basketball upsets also topped the headlines from the night’s action.

Boys Basketball

Detroit Collegiate Prep upset reigning Class A champion Detroit Western International in the Detroit Public School League Quarterfinals, 64-63, on a basket with less than a second to play – Detroit Free Press

Bridgeport handed rival Frankenmuth the Eagles’ first loss this season, 55-52, after Frankenmuth won their first meeting in double overtime – Saginaw News

Alex Thomas scored 30 points including the 1,000th of his career in Morenci’s 92-56 win over Whitmore Lake – Adrian Daily Telegram

From Tuesday, reigning Class D champ Powers North Central extended its winning streak to 40 with a nail-biting 64-60 win over Menominee – Escanaba Daily Press

Girls Basketball

Katie Spalding grabbed a school-record 25 rebounds to go with 10 points in Quincy’s 49-40 win over Reading – Coldwater Daily Reporter

Ice Hockey

Midland Dow made it two wins over rival Midland this season, adding a 3-1 victory to its previous 5-4 win – Midland Daily News

Swimming & Diving

Also from Tuesday, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s Ryan Mullen broke the school’s diving record that had stood since 1978 with a score of 254.9 against Portage Northern – Kalamazoo Gazette

Wrestling

Greenville finished behind Cedar Springs in their league this season, but won the rematch 35-34 to earn an 11th straight District title – Grand Rapids Press

Allegan extended its District title streak to 13 straight with big wins over Plainwell and Hamilton – Grand Rapids Press

Remus Chippewa Hills won its 12th straight District championship, downing Big Rapids in the Final – Big Rapids News

Vandercook won its first wrestling team District title in 27 years, downing Hanover-Horton in the Final – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Division 2 No. 3 St. Johns downed No. 2 DeWitt 35-27 in arguably the biggest matchup statewide to open the tournament – Lansing State Journal 

The final matchup of rivals Niles and Stevensville Lakeshore this season went to Lakeshore by tie-breaker criteria – Niles Daily Star