Today in the MHSAA: 4/14/16

April 14, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A set of milestone coaching wins and the passing of a legendary basketball coach received the biggest headlines Thursday.

Baseball

Hudsonville coach Dave VanNoord added his 500th career win with his team’s 6-1 victory over Zeeland East – Grand Rapids Press

Pinch-hitter Connor Margosian drove in two runs to give Richmond an 8-7 walk-off win over Marysville – Port Huron Times Herald

From Tuesday, St. Louis won the 300th game of coach Rollie Carman’s career, 9-1 over Harrison – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Girls Lacrosse

Spring Lake opened a 7-3 lead, Grand Haven caught up at 10-10 to force overtime, and Spring Lake then prevailed with one more goal – Grand Haven Tribune

Girls Soccer

Frankenmuth scored with six seconds to play to edge Midland Bullock Creek 2-1 – Midland Daily News

Softball

Jenison gave coach Kari Kossen the 399th and 400th wins of her 17-season career leading the program with a sweep of Grand Rapids Northview – Grand Rapids Press

Dowagiac swept Decatur 10-0 and 10-8 with pitcher Taylor Hulett tossing a no-hitter in the opener – Niles Daily Star

Good Read

The Lansing and statewide basketball communities are mourning one of the winningest coaches in Michigan high school history, Paul Cook, who died Tuesday evening and coached the first two Mr. Basketball winners and also won an MHSAA title with the Lansing Catholic girls – Lansing State Journal

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