Today in the MHSAA: 10/21/15

October 21, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

League cross country finals and the second day of the Lower Peninsula boys soccer tournament dominated headlines as teams celebrated and continued to push toward next month’s MHSAA Finals.

Cross Country

The unranked Quincy girls won the Big 8 Conference final ahead of Lower Peninsula Division 4 No. 8 Concord. Concord’s boys won their race – Coldwater Daily Reporter

The Traverse City Central girls, No. 6 in LPD1, and the West boys who are No. 12, won the Big North Conference championships races – Traverse City Record-Eagle

The Otsego girls, No. 2 in LPD2, won their third straight Wolverine Conference championship while the No. 10-ranked boys also won – Kalamazoo Gazette

The Shepherd boys, No. 4 in LPD3, and the No. 5 girls swept the Tri-Valley Conference titles – the girls ahead of No. 3 Ithaca – Saginaw News

Boys Soccer

Two of the best from the Grand Rapids area met in a Division 1 opener, with No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central outlasting No. 12 East Kentwood 3-2 – Grand Rapids Press

Warren DeLaSalle scored in the final seconds of overtime to edge St. Clair Shores Lakeview 2-1 in a Division 1 game – Oakland Press

Midland Dow avenged its only Saginaw Valley League North loss by downing champion Saginaw Heritage 3-0 in a Division 1 opener – Midland Daily News

Division 1 No. 16 Grand Haven headed home the winning goal in overtime to survive Jenison in their opener – Muskegon Chronicle

Unranked Birmingham Seaholm won its first district game since 2011, and did so against No. 18 Birmingham Brother Rice, 2-1 – Oakland Press

Today in the MHSAA: 10/20/15

October 20, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

MHSAA Boys Soccer District play kicked off Monday across the Lower Peninsula, and we also catch up with a pair of big Saturday events, one from each side of the bridge.

Cross Country

From Saturday, the East Lansing girls and Corunna boys won the annual Greater Lansing Invitational against fields loaded with ranked teams; Corunna’s boys were No. 3 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last week and East Lansing’s girls were unranked – Lansing State Journal

Boys Soccer

Detroit Catholic Central, No. 5 in Division 1, opened district play with a 1-0 win over No. 14 Novi – Oakland Press

Muskegon Orchard View continued a five-game winning streak that’s pushed it past .500 by downing Grant 2-1 in a Division 3 opener – Muskegon Chronicle

Hartland scored to tie Howell with less than two minutes to play in regulation, then won their Division 1 opener in overtime – Livingston Daily

Midland scored just more than a minute into its Division 1 game against Bay City Western and hung on for the 1-0 district victory – Bay City Times

Volleyball

Also from Saturday: Host Houghton defeated Class C honorable mention Calumet in three sets to win the Houghton Invitational, which featured 10 teams from the western half of the Upper Peninsula – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Girls Basketball

Ann Arbor Pioneer is mourning the loss of girls coach Crystal Westfield, who died Monday after a fight with cancer and only four months after her father, legendary cross country and track and field coach Bryan Westfield, died after fighting another form of the disease. Westfield had coached the basketball team at her alma mater since 1994 and also coached field events under her dad – AnnArbor.com