Today in the MHSAA: 11/3/15
November 3, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Monday saw the first games of this season’s MHSAA Volleyball Tournament – and with those, a number of key matches including a few that came down to the final set.
Volleyball
Class A No. 4 Lake Orion swept honorable mention Clarkston, guaranteeing an end to the Wolves’ string of eight straight District championships – Oakland Press
Portage Central won a matchup of Class A honorable mentions, sweeping Niles 3-0 in their opener – Kalamazoo Gazette
Class B top-ranked Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard started what it hopes will be a title run with a sweep of No. 10 Chelsea – AnnArbor.com
Class B honorable mentions Coopersville and Fruitport also met in an opener, with Coopersville coming away with a sweep – Grand Rapids Press
Also in Class B, Essexville Garber won a battle of Tri-Valley Conference teams, claiming the fifth game 15-12 to win the match 3-2 – Saginaw News
Concord lost the first two sets to Hanover-Horton in their Class C opener, but came back to win 3-2 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Good Read
We’ve heard a few stories like this in the past, but they never get old. Algonac’s Morgan Beadlescomb is one of the top cross country runners in Michigan and won the Lower Peninsula Division 2 title last season – and last week, pulled St. Clair’s Jack Keais to the latter's first sub-16 minute finish – Port Huron Times-Herald
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