Today in the MHSAA: 2/18/19
February 18, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Wrestling Regionals, Cheer Districts and more than a dozen hockey, basketball and bowling league championships won over the weekend make today’s list of high achievers perhaps the longest so far this 2018-19 school year – and check elsewhere on Second Half for coverage of our first winter Finals in Upper Peninsula swimming & diving.
1. Boys Basketball: Oscoda tied a school record with its 17th win and clinched the North Star League Big Dipper title, its first conference championship since 1991, with a 61-39 victory over Whittemore-Prescott – WBKB
2. Hockey: Division 3 No. 9 Alpena downed Traverse City Central 5-0 to clinch its first Big North Conference title since 2004-05 – Alpena News
3. Girls Basketball: Detroit Mumford repeated as Detroit Public School League Tournament champion with a 59-49 win over Detroit Martin Luther King – State Champs!
4. Wrestling: No. 2 Brighton qualified a Livingston County-record 13 for the Individual Finals from Saturday’s Division 1 Regional – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
5. Boys Basketball: Wyoming Godwin Heights clinched its 10th straight Ottawa-Kent Conference Silver title with a 63-44 win over Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian – FOX 17
6. Boys Basketball: Detroit U-D Jesuit clinched its seventh straight Detroit Catholic League A-B Tournament title with a 63-54 win over Detroit Catholic Central – Detroit News
7. Boys Basketball: Detroit Cass Tech downed Detroit Renaissance 80-56 to win the Detroit PSL Tournament title – Detroit News
8. Boys Basketball: Benton Harbor won a matchup of Division 2 championship contenders, 72-62 over River Rouge – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
9. Basketball: Kinross Maplewood Baptist’s girls and boys basketball teams won Northern Lights Conference Tournament titles, Ellie Bell going over 1,000 career points for the girls during their run – MI Sports Now
10. Competitive Cheer: Reigning Division 2 champion Allen Park won its District, ahead of runner-up Dearborn Divine Child – Southgate News-Herald
Also of note …
Gymnastics: Jackson Area finished first and Coldwater second at the South Central Gymnastics League Championship meet, Coldwater finishing its highest since 1989 – Coldwater Daily Reporter
Boys Bowling: Gaylord put the finishing touches on a second straight Northern Michigan Bowling Conference championship – Gaylord Herald Times
Boys Bowling: Division 4 top-ranked Bronson clinched the Kensington Valley Association championship – Sturgis Journal
Boys Basketball: Josh Palo went over 1,000 career points in Howell’s 57-45 win over Novi – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Boys Basketball: Ovid-Elsie claimed a share of the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference title with a 69-66 double-overtime win over Mount Morris – Owosso Argus-Press
Boys Basketball: Richmond clinched its second straight Blue Water Area Conference title with a 51-41 win over Almont – Port Huron Times-Herald
Bowling: The Rockford girls and Caledonia boys claimed O-K Red championships at the league tournament – Grand Haven Tribune
Boys Basketball: Ionia clinched the outright Capital Area Activities Conference White title with a big win over Lansing Catholic – Greenville Daily News
Girls Basketball: Muskegon clinched the O-K Black championship with a 72-66 win over Jenison – Local Sports Journal
Boys Basketball: Fremont clinched the Central State Activities Association Gold title with a 60-58 overtime win over Grant – Local Sports Journal
Bowling: New Boston Huron’s girls and boys teams swept the Monroe County Invitational titles; the girls are ranked No. 4 and the boys No. 10 in Division 2 – Monroe News
Boys Basketball: Royal Oak Shrine defeated Ann Arbor Greenhills to win the Catholic League C-D title – Oakland Press
Today in the MHSAA: 10/19/16
October 19, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
District soccer continued Tuesday and league champions were crowned in volleyball and cross country all over the Lower Peninsula – but the must-see stories are a pair of “good reads” coming out of the Jackson and Alpena areas.
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.
Cross Country
The Caro boys – No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – and the No. 6 Shepherd girls won championships at the Tri-Valley Conference all-division final – Saginaw News
The Ubly girls and boys teams repeated as East champions at the Greater Thumb Conference championship race (Ubly's girls are No. 9 in LPD4), and the Reese girls and LPD4 honorable mention Cass City boys repeated as West winners – Huron Daily Tribune
Traverse City West swept the final Big North Conference jamborees, the West boys earning the league title and the Central girls finishing as overall league champion for the 14th straight season. The Central girls are No. 4 in LPD1 and the West girls are an honorable mention – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Harbor Springs’ boys (No. 2 LPD4) kept their undefeated season going with a third straight Lake Michigan Conference final championship, and Traverse City St. Francis (No. 2 LPD3) clinched the girls title – Petoskey News-Review
Boys Soccer
Division 1 No. 2 Portage Northern moved on with a 4-1 District win over Lansing Everett thanks to three goals by Ryan Melgar – Kalamazoo Gazette
Adrian Lenawee Christian freshman Zach Riordan set his school’s scoring record of 36 goals in an 8-0 Division 4 win over Clinton – Adrian Daily Telegram
Girls Swimming & Diving
LPD1 No. 2 Saline got past No. 10 Brighton 112-74 in a matchup of top Division 1 teams – Saline Post
Volleyball
Walled Lake Central repeated as Lakes champion in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association with a five-set win over Brighton – Livingston Daily Argus & Press
Class A top-ranked Novi swept Canton to win its fourth straight KLAA Kensington championship – Oakland Press
Marine City improved to 8-1 in the Macomb Area Conference Gold and clinched a share of the league title with a three-set win over Warren Mott – Port Huron Times Herald
Good Reads
The story of Brooklyn Columbia Central standout running back Micah Raby is captivating, if not from this passage alone about how his adopted parents found him: “Inside the missionary’s hut, on an ordinary table lay an ordinary bible box containing an extraordinary sight, and it caught Doug and Sandy Raby’s eyes and hearts immediately. Inside that bible box – no bigger than a size 10 shoebox – was a 1-month-old boy named Joseph, one of two surviving triplets. His brother did not survive the birth and the birth parents decided to keep the other one, believed to be a girl, because it was the biggest and had the greatest chance of surviving.” – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Lincoln Alcona announcer Don Franklin first gave voice to the school’s athletic events in 1967, and will retire at the end of this school year with 50 years on the microphone announcing football and a number of other sports over a half century – Alpena News