Today in the MHSAA: 2/15/17

February 15, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Girls basketball action was full of highlights Tuesday as teams won league titles, advanced with big wins in conference tournaments and celebrated individual milestones.

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. 

Girls Basketball

Grand Rapids Catholic Central senior Sophia Karasinski went over 1,000 career points in her team’s 64-23 win over Grand Rapids West Catholic – Grand Rapids Press

Brighton came back from 11 down to defeat Walled Lake Western in a first-round Kensington Lakes Activities Association tournament game – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Bath downed Class C No. 4 Laingsburg 53-34 after falling by two in the teams’ first meeting – Lansing State Journal

Port Huron Northern snapped Utica Ford’s 16-game winning streak with a 67-51 victory in Macomb Area Conference tournament play – Macomb Daily

Brethren moved into a first-place tie in the West Michigan D League with a 39-35 win over Bear Lake – Manistee News Advocate

Bloomfield Hills won its 15th straight game, downing Clarkston 52-51 – Oakland Press

Gaylord St. Mary claimed the Ski Valley Conference championship with a big win over Pellston – Gaylord Herald Times

Fruitport Calvary Christian won its fifth straight Alliance League title with a win over Byron Center Zion Christian – Grand Haven Tribune

Boys Basketball

Kalamazoo Central downed Battle Creek Central 57-48 to clinch the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference East title – Kalamazoo Gazette

Marcus Gibbs hit four 3-pointers including the game-winning shot to lead Detroit Cass Tech past East English 73-71 in the Detroit Public School League semifinals – MLive-Detroit

Hockey

In their third meeting this winter, Division 3 No. 3 Calumet earned a 2-1 season advantage on No. 7 Houghton by scoring the final three goals in a 3-2 win over the Gremlins – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Today in the MHSAA: 8/24/15

August 24, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

All MHSAA fall sports but football kicked off competition last week, with cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving and volleyball starting Saturday.

Below are some notable headlines from the first weekend of this season, plus links to coverage.

Cross Country

St. Johns hosted its second “Under the Lights” meets Friday; Ithaca’s girls and Saugatuck’s boys bested fields loaded with much larger opponents – Lansing State Journal

The St. Joseph girls and Bridgman boys won championships at the Niles Stampede – the St. Joseph girls, who finished fourth in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season, by a large margin – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

Girls Golf

Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox, last season’s LP Division 4 individual champion, came back to defeat Brighton freshman Annie Pietila at the two-day Lober Invitational at Grand Traverse Resort – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Boys Soccer

Two of the state’s powers met in the championship game of the Detroit Country Day Tournament on Saturday – with 2013 Division 1 runner-up Bloomfield Hills downing the host Yellowjackets 1-0 in a shootout – Oakland Press

Girls Swimming & Diving

Howell won its Kenzie Klassic, which honors swimmer Mackenize Watts, who died in 2005 at age 15. The school also raised enough money to award three scholarships and begin funding cardiac-related causes – Livingston Daily

Volleyball

Novi won the Lakeshore Classic by coming back after losing the first two games to beat Grand Haven 3-2 in a rematch of a 2014 Class A Semifinal – Muskegon Chronicle

Battle Creek Harper Creek, for the first time, won the gold championship at the long-running Carrie Adams Memorial Tournament hosted by reigning Class D champion Battle Creek St. Philip – Battle Creek Enquirer

Good Read

Mike Steele, a Midland Dow grad and now pitching coach at Long Beach State in California, argues that parents need to raise their athletes to compete instead of providing specific training in one sport – Midland Daily News