Today in the MHSAA: 11/9/15

November 9, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Cross Country and Boys Soccer Finals, plus a few remaining Volleyball District championship games and girls swimming and diving league meets made this the most eventful weekend of the school year to date.

Cross Country

Rockford’s boys repeated in Lower Peninsula Division 1, while Birmingham Seaholm’s girls won their third title in four seasons – Second Half Girls | Boys

The Otsego girls and Hamilton’s Erika Freyhof both were first-time champions in LP Division 2, while Algonac senior Morgan Beadlescomb repeated as individual boys champion and Fremont dominated to claim that team title – Second Half Girls | Boys

Lansing Catholic’s boys and Grandville Calvin Christian’s Abe Visser claimed the first team and individual titles in their programs’ respective histories, while Traverse City St. Francis’ Holly Bullough repeated as LP Division 3 champion in helping the Gladiators win the team title as well – Second Half Girls | Boys

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart turned in arguably the most dominating Finals performance in Division 4 history, while Saugatuck’s boys moved up from runners-up in 2014 to champions – Second Half Girls | Boys

Boys Soccer

Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central capped an undefeated season with a Division 1 championship win over reigning champion Canton – Second Half

Mason won its first MHSAA title since 1997 with a comeback win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern – Second Half

Grand Rapids South Christian is Division 3 champion once again thanks to a shootout victory over Williamston – Second Half

Burton Genesee Christian completed a perfect season by winning the Division 4 title – Second Half

Girls Swimming and Diving

LP Division 3 No. 4 St. Clair broke four school records in winning the Macomb Area Conference White championship meet – Port Huron Times-Herald

LP Division 3 honorable mention Spring Lake set six school records in winning the Coastal Conference meet with 67 personal-best times – Grand Haven Tribune

Midland Dow won its 10th straight Saginaw Valley League championship, edging Saginaw Heritage by 18 points – Midland Daily News

LP Division 1 No. 6 Brighton won its second straight Kensington Lakes Activities Association Lakes championship meet with three meet records – Livingston Daily

Volleyball

Class B honorable mention Tecumseh swept Brooklyn Columbia Central to win their District and improve to 45-4-1 – Adrian Daily Telegram

Class B No. 5 Cadillac swept Kingsley to win its 10th straight District championship – Cadillac News

Also in Class B, Sault Ste. Marie needed five sets to get past Kalkaska and win the District title – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News

From Thursday, Fulton beat Fowler to win its first District title since 2001 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Crystal Falls Forest Park, honorable mention in Class D, won its District for an incredible 16th straight season – Iron Mountain Daily News

Good Read

The Benton Harbor football program got plenty of excellent coverage heading into the weekend’s District Final against Zeeland West – but here’s a story about what's next now that the Tigers’ season is done – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

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