Today in the MHSAA: 4/13/18

April 13, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.

1. Softball: Muskegon Reeths-Puffer held on for an 11-inning win and then came back to sweep Division 2 No. 10 Muskegon Oakridge – Local Sports Journal

2. Girls Soccer: Division 1 No. 6 Bloomfield Hills and No. 14 Rochester Adams tied 1-1 in Oakland Activities Association Red play – Oakland Press

3. Girls Soccer: Also in the OAA Red, Troy Athens upset Division 1 No. 19 Rochester 1-0 – Oakland Press

4. Softball: Division 3 honorable mention Sanford Meridian and Division 4 No. 4 Coleman split a doubleheader, with both winning big – Midland Daily News

5. Girls Soccer: Division 2 No. 4 Holland Christian’s Hannah Luurtsema made good on a second chance with the go-ahead goal in a 2-1 win over Holland – Holland Sentinel

6. Baseball: Grandville finished a three-game sweep of Grand Haven this week with a 10-1 win Thursday; Grand Haven made the Division 1 Semifinals a year ago – Grand Haven Tribune

7. Boys Lacrosse: Division 2 top-ranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central improved to 5-0 with a 17-2 win over Forest Hills Northern – FOX17

8. Softball: Division 4 No. 6 Frankfort hit a combined eight home runs in a sweep of Lake City – Traverse City Record-Eagle

9. Boys Lacrosse: The Traverse City United team made up of players from West and Central played their first game and earned their first win, 16-4 over Petoskey – Traverse City Record-Eagle

10. Track & Field: Deckerville’s girls and boys teams swept quad meets at Kinde-North Huron, the girls placing an individual or relay first in nearly every event – Huron Daily Tribune

Today in the MHSAA: 10/15/15

October 15, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Championship are won on a seemingly daily basis in October, and plenty were earned and celebrated Wednesday – but please also check out some great reads at the bottom of this list, including a look at why specialization is increasing as a nationwide concern.

Cross Country

The Saugatuck girls, ranked No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 4, won their ninth straight Southwestern Athletic Conference title with 12 runners earning all-league honors – Grand Rapids Press

Boys Soccer

LP Division 2 No. 5 East Lansing capped an impressive run through the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Cup by winning the final 3-1 over Grand Ledge – Lansing State Journal

LP Division 1 No. 15 East Kentwood secured its 12th Ottawa-Kent Conference Red title in 13 seasons with a 1-0 win over Grandville, helped in part by a pair of players whose ties the program go back to the early years of the run – Grand Rapids Press

LP Division 1 No. 7 Utica Ford shut out No. 14 Fraser to clinch the Macomb Area Conference Red championship – Macomb Daily

Unranked Birmingham Brother Rice stunned LP Division 1 No. 3 Detroit Catholic Central 2-1 in the championship game of the Detroit Catholic League A-B tournament – Oakland Press

LP Division 4 No. 11 Charlevoix clinched a share of the Lake Michigan Conference title with a 3-0 win over Grayling, thanks to a hat trick by Walker Drost – Charlevoix Courier

Saginaw Heritage scored the first goal Flint Powers Catholic had given up since Sept. 12, but the Chargers emerged with a 2-1 win and the overall Saginaw Valley League championship – Flint Journal

Volleyball

Lansing Catholic won the first volleyball league championship in its long history, beating Fowlerville in three sets to claim a share of the CAAC White title – Lansing State Journal

Good Reads

Single-sport specialization has become a topic of national focus and concern, and MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts was among association directors talked to for this report on why it’s a health-related issue and how states are working to promote multi-sport participation instead – NFHS.org

Vandercook Lake is enjoying its best football season in 45 years and plays for a league title this weekend, and is led by a three-sport athlete who has been on a long road back after Crohn’s disease led to his shedding 90 pounds only two years ago – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

The Christmas tree standing tall in front of the Capitol in Lansing this winter will come from Wakefield thanks to a donation by Florence Daniels in honor of her husband Jim, who coached Wakefield High's boys basketball team to 355 wins, 12 district the five regional titles in 28 seasons. He also was a member of Channing High’s Upper Peninsula championship team in 1944 and coached Al Inkala, who went on to become an MHSAA championship-winning girls tennis coach at Okemos – Lansing State Journal