Today in the MHSAA: 11/12/15

November 12, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

We include today a couple additional notable stories from Tuesday’s Volleyball Regional Semifinals, plus a look at one of the top coaches in that sport.

Volleyball

Class C honorable mention Calumet handed Manistique its first and only loss this season in Tuesday’s Regional Semifinal – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Laingsburg came back after losing the first set to Delton Kellogg on Tuesday to advance in Class C; the Wolfpack has won a school-record 42 matches and will play for its first Regional title – Lansing State Journal

Good Read

Bronson is the top-ranked team in Class C – and although she’s the first to give all of the credit to her players, it’s hard to look past the impact of longtime coach Jean LaClair, who won her 1,000th match this fall and is a past MHSAA Women in Sports Leadership Award winner – Battle Creek Enquirer

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