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

Today in the MHSAA: 12/17/18

December 17, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.

The Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League/Kensington Lakes Activities Association Challenge and county championships in cheer and wrestling headlined the weekend, but most important was the performance at the end of last week by one of our state’s boys basketball coaches – scroll to the bottom of this list to learn more.

1. Hockey: Division 1 top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central won a rematch of last season’s Division 1 Semifinal loss to Brighton, this time emerging 4-1 over the reigning champion and current No. 5 Bulldogs – Observer & Eccentric

2. Cheer: Rochester Hills Stoney Creek scored 781.760 to win the Division 1 Oakland County Championship title and score the meet’s highest score regardless of division – Oakland Press

3. Wrestling: Division 2 top-ranked Lowell finished first and Rockford second at the Kent County Championships – Grand Rapids Press

4. Wrestling: Bay City Western clinched the 32nd Bay City Championship with a pin in the final match – Bay City Times

5. Hockey: Owen Pietila scored a hat trick to lead Division 2 top-ranked Hartland to a 5-1 win over No. 3 Birmingham Brother Rice – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

6. Hockey: A tie is nearly a win when it comes against a reigning MHSAA champion, and Division 3 No. 8 Alpena earned an impressive one against last season’s title winner and current No. 4 Detroit Country Day with a last-second goal – Alpena News

7. Hockey: Division 2 No. 4 Livonia Stevenson edged Division 1 No. 4 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 3-2 in its MIHL-KLAA Challenge matchup – Observer & Eccentric

8. Cheer: Gibraltar Carlson scored 768.100 to win the Division 2 portion of the Flat Rock Invitational with the highest score of the meet regardless of division – Southgate News-Herald

9. Hockey: Division 3 No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood improved to 8-3 with a 5-1 win over Division 2 No. 5 Plymouth – Observer & Eccentric

10. Girls Basketball: Emily Coveyou had a triple-double in leading St. Ignace past Pickford – MI Sports Now

Also of note …

Boys Basketball: From Thursday, Fruitport Calvary Christian coach Jeff Zehr employed CPR and AED procedures to save the life of one of his players Thursday – Grand Haven Tribune

Boys Basketball: Brady Swinehart became the ninth player in Ionia history to score 1,000 points, hitting the milestone Friday against Charlotte – Greenville Daily News