Today in the MHSAA: 10/26/15

October 26, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

There was much more than football playoff pairings to discuss this weekend – most notably, MHSAA Boys Soccer Districts and the Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals.

Cross Country

All three Upper Peninsula girls team champions repeated, and Marquette standout senior Lindsey Rudden capped her career with a first individual title – Second Half

Two Upper Peninsula boys team champions repeated, but Negaunee stole the show with its first title since 1983 – Second Half

Boys Soccer

Tecumseh won its first District title since 2010 with a Division 2 shootout victory over Milan, improving to 10-1-3 over its last 14 games – Adrian Daily Telegram

Reigning Division 2 Final champion East Lansing, ranked No. 5, won its fourth straight District title, this time 3-2 over Haslett – Lansing State Journal

Eighth-ranked Mason finished a shutout of its Division 2 District, downing Chelsea 3-0 to win its three games by a combined 13-0 – Lansing State Journal

Gladwin, No. 10 in Division 3, won its first District title with a 1-0 victory over West Branch Ogemaw Heights – Midland Daily News

Grand Haven, No. 19 in Division 1, won its fifth straight District title with a 1-0 victory over Grandville – Grand Haven Tribune

Bloomfield Hills scored its only goal on a penalty kick in downing Birmingham Seaholm in Division 1 for its third straight District title – Oakland Press

Volleyball

Buchanan, an honorable mention in Class B, won the St. Joseph Invitational with a three-set victory over Class A honorable mention Niles in the final – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

Today in the MHSAA: 1/15/16

January 15, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Thursday provided a substantial appetizer for another big weekend with key basketball games, noteworthy swimming and diving finishes and a milestone wrestling victory.

Boys Basketball

Clarkston earned a key Oakland Activities Association Red edge with a win over similarly state-ranked North Farmington, 60-47 – Oakland Press

Frankfort earned a similarly important win in Northwest Conference play, winning a matchup of Class D ranked teams 65-55 over Buckley – Traverse City Record-Eagle

For the second straight day, a basketball team made an incredible comeback; this time, it was East Jackson building off a 21-2 deficit at the end of the first quarter to beat Napoleon 42-39 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Olivet junior Delbert Redfield made nine of 11 3-point tries and scored 33 points total to lead the Eagles to a 73-55 win over Lansing Christian – MLive Lansing

Girls Basketball

Warren Cousino handed Grosse Pointe North the latter’s first loss this season, 64-58, to move to 9-1 overall – Macomb Daily

Boys Swimming & Diving

Lower Peninsula Division 3 honorable mention Spring Lake downed No. 4 Hamilton, No. 5 Grand Rapids Christian and Division 2 honorable mention Holland in its best meet of a strong run so far – Grand Haven Tribune

Wrestling

Leslie defeated Olivet (and also lost to Lake Odessa Lakewood) on Thursday, giving Blackhawks coach Todd Stern his 400th career win since taking over as head coach in 1987 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Good Reads

Battle of the Fans V kicks off tonight with our first visit to Yale, a finalist as well in 2015 – Port Huron Times-Herald

Grand Haven’s basketball teams will return to their former gym now part of Lakeshore Middle School – Pirates Pit – on Feb. 6 and for the first time since 2007 as the high school gym will be used for the league wrestling meet – Grand Haven Tribune

Vanderbilt’s boys basketball team has one win this season, but it was the first in nearly two years and a testament to the rebuilding of the program under first-year coach Darren Conn and assistant Amie Byelich – Petoskey News