Today in the MHSAA: 11/6/15

November 6, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Volleyball teams hoisted MHSAA District title trophies all over Michigan on Thursday. Here are 10 championship stories that stuck out a little from the rest we came across.

Volleyball

Class A top-ranked Novi swept honorable mention Northville to move on to next week’s Regional – Oakland Press

Honorable mention Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central won its Class A District in four sets over Grand Rapids Northview, the Ottawa-Kent Conference Bronze champion – Grand Rapids Press

No. 8 North Branch swept No. 2 Mount Morris to claim an 11th straight Class B District championship – Flint Journal

Class B honorable mention Saginaw Swan Valley pushed its school-record win total to 57 with a District Final sweep of Freeland – Saginaw News

Another Class B honorable mention, Grant, won its fifth straight District title with a sweep of Fremont – Muskegon Chronicle

Class C No. 8 Brown City won its fourth straight District title with a sweep of Sandusky – Port Huron Times-Herald

Montague, No. 3 in Class C, won its first District title since 1997 with a sweep of Shelby – Muskegon Chronicle

Unranked Hemlock won the final two sets to claim a 3-2 win over honorable mention St. Louis in Class C – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Honorable mention Marcellus took No. 8 Mendon to five sets before the Hornets prevailed in a Class D District Final – Sturgis Journal

Unionville-Sebewaing needed five sets and an extra point in the final to down Cass City for a fifth straight Class D District title – Huron Daily Tribune

Today in the MHSAA: 8/31/15

August 31, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The final weekend of August was a giant weekend for MHSAA volleyball contenders, with some of the top regular-season events this fall providing opportunities for the best to see how they might match up when playoffs begin in two months.

Below are headlines for some of the key high school reports from across the state; the weekend’s football round-up will publish later this afternoon.  

Cross Country

Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Maryssa Depies set a course record of 18:11.3 to win the Big Red Invitational at McGraft Park – Muskegon Chronicle

Flint Powers Catholic’s top individual finisher came in ninth, but the Chargers girls as a team were first at the Lansing Catholic Invitational – Flint Journal

The reigning Lower Peninsula Division 2 champion Grand Rapids Christian boys repeated as winner of the prestigious Benzie Central Invitational, finishing ahead of Traverse City West and Central, while Central senior Anthony Berry won individually in 15:24 – Grand Rapids Press

Boys Soccer

Tawas, a Division 3 semifinalist last season, finished first from an Elk Rapids Invitational field that included Berkley and Saginaw Nouvel – Bay City Times

Volleyball

Lake Odessa Lakewood, last season’s Class B runner-up and the second-ranked team in that class this week, eliminated Class A No. 6 Grand Rapids Christian to win the West Michigan Volleyball Officials Association tournament for the first time in a decade – Grand Rapids Press

Class A No. 4 Grand Haven continued its perfect run at its outdoor Battle of the Boardwalk tournament, sweeping three opponents to remain undefeated through the event's third year – Grand Haven Tribune

Battle Creek Harper Creek, No. 9 in Class B, improved to 17-0 by winning the Cereal City Tournament at Pennfield with a 2-1 championship match win over Temperance Bedford, an MHSAA semifinalist last season in Class A – Battle Creek Enquirer

Good Reads

The Holland Sentinel introduced its top female athletes in that area’s history Sunday, and highlighted nationally-known softball star Kathy Arendsen and her successes during one of the MHSAA’s first Softball Finals – Holland Sentinel

Anyone who follows high school football history will enjoy going through the Muskegon Chronicle’s sampling of top-20 moments from that area’s football past – Muskegon Chronicle

More than 60 former Shepherd High School players from the last 25 seasons returned for an alumni doubleheader Sunday to honor coach Jack Nartker, who will retire after this spring – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun