Today in the MHSAA: 10/9/17
October 9, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.
Today's Top 10
1. Cross Country: The top-ranked Ann Arbor Pioneer boys and No. 2 Rockford girls won Division 1 championships at the Portage Invitational, which again drew many of the state’s top teams from all four Lower Peninsula divisions. Also winning boys championships were LPD2 No. 8 Lansing Catholic, LPD3 No. 2 Hanover-Horton and LPD4 No. 1 Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, while the top-ranked Sacred Heart girls, LPD3 No. 1 Hart girls and LPD2 No. 4 Dearborn Divine Child girls won meets as well – Athletic.net
2. Volleyball: Class B No. 5 Kingsley avenged its only losses of this season, downing Class D No. 2 Leland and then Class C No. 9 Calumet to claim the championship at the Suttons Bay Invitational – Traverse City Record-Eagle
3. Cross Country: Reigning LPD1 champion and current No. 4 White Lake Lakeland won the boys race, and No. 4-ranked Troy won the girls at the Oakland County Championship – Oakland Press
4. Cross Country: Saginaw Heritage swept the races at its 30th annual Heritage Invitational, Heritage’s boys are ranked No. 7 in LPD1 and finished just ahead of LPD3 top-ranked Caro – Athletic.net
5. Girls Swimming & Diving: LPD1 honorable mention Utica Eisenhower claimed a fourth straight Macomb County championship led by standouts Abigail Desmet and Bianca Licari – Macomb Daily
6. Boys Soccer: Division 1 No. 13 Saline scored late to hold on to a 1-1 tie with No. 5 Novi – Saline Post
7. Volleyball: Cheboygan downed Class D No. 8 Rudyard and then Engadine to win the Escanaba Elks Invitational – Escanaba Daily Press
8. Cross Country: The Erie-Mason boys, No. 5 in LPD3, were the only in-state team among four champions at the Hudson Invitational, which featured a number of schools from the southeastern border and Ohio – Athletic.net
9. Volleyball: Zeeland East emerged from third place in pool play to win the Best of the West Invitational at Muskegon Mona Shores – Holland Sentinel
10. Volleyball: Onsted avenged a pool play loss to Centreville to win the Sturgis Invitational – JoeInsider.com
Did you see that? (June 3-9)
June 10, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The second of three weeks of spring MHSAA Finals came to a close with four more champions from lacrosse – plus 16 teams still alive in both baseball and softball, eight in girls soccer and 60 in Lower Peninsula boys golf.
See below for some of the biggest headlines from the week that was June 3-9.
Girls lacrosse
Champions of the west: A pair of Grand Rapids-area teams claimed the girls championships Saturday. Rockford defeated Bloomfield Hills United 16-7 in Division 1, while East Grand Rapids repeated in Division 2 with a 16-6 victory over Livonia Ladywood. (Second Half D1) (Second Half D2)
Boys Lacrosse
East-side excellence: Birmingham Brother Rice came back from an early deficit in the Division 1 Final to win its ninth-straight title by beating Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern 14-10. In Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood scored with 20.2 seconds to play to edge reigning champion Forest Hills Central 10-9. (Second Half D1) (Second Half D2)
Girls Soccer
Defensive standoff: Top-ranked Plymouth and No. 3 Novi needed a shootout to decide Friday’s Division 1 Regional Final. But Novi won that final round 2-1 to earn a 1-0 win and hand Plymouth its first and only loss this season. (MLive Detroit)
Powers survives comeback: Up 3-0 at halftime, reigning Division 3 runner-up Flint Powers Catholic advanced to within one win of returning to the Finals with a 3-2 Regional Final win over Lake Fenton. (Flint Journal)
Baseball
Oilers upend No. 1: Mount Pleasant, ranked No. 4 in Division 2, beat top-ranked Bay City John Glenn on the way to winning their Regional on Saturday. (Mount Pleasant Morning Sun)
MCC wins big: Muskegon Catholic Central moved on in Division 4 with a 9-0 Regional win over No. 2 Gobles in another of the weekend’s biggest baseball matchups. MCC entered the postseason ranked No. 5. (Muskegon Chronicle)
Softball
Dundee gets its chance: The Vikings won their first Regional championship and defeated two-time reigning Division 3 champion Clinton in the process Saturday at Blissfield. Dundee entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in the division. (Monroe Evening News)
Romeo prevails in pair of nail-biters: The No. 10-ranked Bulldogs were down to their final out before defeating Troy in a Regional Semifinal and then beat Hartland 3-0 in the championship game. Both Troy and Hartland were honorable mentions in the final Division 1 coaches poll. (Oakland Press)
Escanaba headed downstate: The Eskymos will face reigning MHSAA Division 2 runner-up Saginaw Swan Valley in a Quarterfinal for the second straight season thanks to a walk-off home run by sophomore Michelle LaFave in a 5-4 Regional Final win over Remus Chippewa Hills. (Escanaba Daily Press)
Boys Golf
SMAC East dominates: Top-ranked Battle Creek Lakeview in Division 1 and Marshall and Battle Creek Harper Creek in Division 2 all qualified for LP Finals, giving the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference East three teams in this weekend’s championship tournaments. (Battle Creek Enquirer)
DeWitt outshoots No. 1: Previously unranked DeWitt shot a 313 to edge top-ranked East Lansing by a stroke at their Division 2 Regional at Gull Lake View. (Lansing State Journal)
Boys Basketball
CMU star takes over GRCC: Former Central Michigan University captain T.J. Meerman has taken over the Grand Rapids Catholic Central program after serving as an assistant coach last season at Grand Valley State University. Previously, Meerman coached the varsity at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills. (Grand Rapids Press)