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: 5/1/17

May 1, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A loaded weekend of tournament action all over the state was topped by the best in boys golf and girls tennis facing off as their MHSAA postseasons draw near – Lower Peninsula Regionals for both begin in less than three weeks, and we got a preview of how some of the best might shake out at crunch time.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.

Baseball

Division 3 No. 9 Blissfield downed No. 7 Sand Creek 7-3 in their lone matchup, as the second game was canceled because of bad weather – Adrian Daily Telegram

Boys Golf

Top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central won the Division 1 title and overall, and Division 2 No. 4 Flint Powers Catholic and Division 3 No. 2 Big Rapids also won divisional titles at the Traverse City Tee-Off – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Boys Lacrosse

Battle Creek Lakeview came back from a late four-goal deficit to down reigning champion and Division 2 No. 9 Harper Creek and win the Battle Creek All-City Invitational – Battle Creek Enquirer

Softball

Reed City’s softball team led a combined effort with the baseball team to claim the Osceola Royal Rumble, which took into account both teams' efforts combined – Cadillac News

Unranked New Baltimore Anchor Bay downed Division 2 reigning champion and top-ranked Richmond 13-1 in the final of the Macomb Classic #2 – Macomb Daily

Muskegon Mona Shores’ Taylor Dew had two home runs and six RBI going 6 for 6 over a two-game sweep of Whitehall – Muskegon Chronicle

Vicksburg’s Shaidan Knapp also had two home runs and six RBI, in one game, to lead the Division 2 No. 4 Bulldogs to a 10-1 win over Paw Paw – Kalamazoo Gazette

Sydney Pezzoni’s walk-off single gave Division 1 No. 9 Howell a 5-4 win over No. 4 Walled Lake Northern – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

From last week, longtime Trenton coach John Biedenbach went over 1,000 career wins in a victory over Southgate Anderson – Southgate News Herald

Girls Soccer

Caroline Lewis posted a pair of shutouts to lead Adrian to the first Adrian Lenawee Christian Cougar Cup – Adrian Daily Telegram

Girls Tennis

Division 1 No. 3 Northville, No. 1 Midland Dow and No. 8 Port Huron Northern claimed the top three spots at the 33rd Ann Arbor Huron Invitational – Midland Daily News

Division 4 No. 3 Jackson Lumen Christi downed No. 2 Kalamazoo Hackett 5-3 after Hackett had also beaten No. 8 Traverse City St. Francis and lost to No. 4 Ann Arbor Greenhills earlier in the week – Kalamazoo Gazette

Track & Field

Chesaning swept the boys and girls titles at its first home invitational in more than a decade; the boys team is ranked No. 3 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – Saginaw News

Grand Rapids Christian swept the Grand Rapids Elite Meet titles, while Grand Haven finished runner-up in both competitions; the Eagles boys are No. 5 and the girls No. 6 in LP Division 2 – Grand Haven Tribune

Good Read

Fruitport’s Karson Kriger pitches, hits and plays outfield for his baseball team, also played football and is now giving rodeo a try – and providing inspiration to many doing so without an amputated left forearm – Muskegon Chronicle

Petoskey is mourning the unexpected death of girls tennis coach Dree Lo, a former standout at Okemos, beloved member of her community and longtime contributor to athletics – Petoskey News-Review