Today in the MHSAA: 2/2/16
February 2, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Statewide sports action Monday was light, so we’ll focus on a series of stories published today that should pull at your heart strings and put life’s little obstacles in proper perspective.
Good Reads
Mason’s Brendan Brown is fighting for his life, against a form of cancer that has led to the amputation of a leg and soon will mean the removal of parts of his lungs. The Bulldogs junior is fighting, and also continuing a high school bowling career that is inspiring opponents and those in his community – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Also at Mason, Storm Miller might be the strongest athlete at his high school and finished third in a national weight-lifting competition last summer. He’s relying on strength now to fight a rare form of cancer that also initially was found in a leg – Lansing State Journal
Molly Holmes hasn't joined her siblings on the Leroy Pine River wrestling team yet – wait until next year – but she plays junior varsity basketball and is one of 13 kids in a family that loves sports – a family that adopted her after five foster placements and a fight to survive no child should experience – Cadillac News
Today in the MHSAA: 10/20/15
October 20, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MHSAA Boys Soccer District play kicked off Monday across the Lower Peninsula, and we also catch up with a pair of big Saturday events, one from each side of the bridge.
Cross Country
From Saturday, the East Lansing girls and Corunna boys won the annual Greater Lansing Invitational against fields loaded with ranked teams; Corunna’s boys were No. 3 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last week and East Lansing’s girls were unranked – Lansing State Journal
Boys Soccer
Detroit Catholic Central, No. 5 in Division 1, opened district play with a 1-0 win over No. 14 Novi – Oakland Press
Muskegon Orchard View continued a five-game winning streak that’s pushed it past .500 by downing Grant 2-1 in a Division 3 opener – Muskegon Chronicle
Hartland scored to tie Howell with less than two minutes to play in regulation, then won their Division 1 opener in overtime – Livingston Daily
Midland scored just more than a minute into its Division 1 game against Bay City Western and hung on for the 1-0 district victory – Bay City Times
Volleyball
Also from Saturday: Host Houghton defeated Class C honorable mention Calumet in three sets to win the Houghton Invitational, which featured 10 teams from the western half of the Upper Peninsula – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
Girls Basketball
Ann Arbor Pioneer is mourning the loss of girls coach Crystal Westfield, who died Monday after a fight with cancer and only four months after her father, legendary cross country and track and field coach Bryan Westfield, died after fighting another form of the disease. Westfield had coached the basketball team at her alma mater since 1994 and also coached field events under her dad – AnnArbor.com