Today in the MHSAA: 5/11/18
May 11, 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. Girls Tennis: Midland Dow, the top-ranked team in Lower Peninsula Division 1, swept every flight to claim a 21st straight Saginaw Valley League championship – Midland Dow
2. Girls Soccer: Division 1 No. 15 Plymouth dealt No. 3 Brighton its first loss of the season, 1-0 – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
3. Baseball: Division 1 No. 3 Rockford came back from being swept by No. 6 Grandville on Tuesday to win their third game against each other this week and pull within a game of the Bulldogs’ league lead – FOX 17
4. Girls Tennis: LPD2 No. 7 Traverse City Central locked up its seventh straight Big North Conference championship – Traverse City Record-Eagle
5. Baseball: Unranked Saginaw Heritage won the opener 1-0, but Division 1 No. 2 Bay City Western won the second game 3-0 in a matchup of Saginaw Valley League contenders – Bay City Times
6. Softball: Ubly swept Harbor Beach to earn a share of the Greater Thumb Conference East title – Huron Daily Tribune
7. Baseball: Tucker Zacharda’s walk-off sacrifice fly earned Holton an 8-7 win over White Cloud and coach Jim Giddings his 300th career victory – Local Sports Journal
8. Track & Field: Rapid River’s boys won their 41st annual home invitational by two points, while Felch North Dickinson repeated as the girls champion – Escanaba Daily Press
9. Golf: The Escanaba girls and Gladstone boys claimed Escanaba Invitational titles, the Braves shooting a 311 and Paxton Johnson finishing as girls medalist at 77 – Escanaba Daily Press
10. Football: Former Grand Ledge standout and Homer coach Joe Brya has been hired to take over Eaton Rapids – Lansing State Journal
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: Frankfort coach Reggie Manville will not return next season after leading the team to a 129-41 record over the last seven – MI Sports Now
Baseball: Ada Forest Hills Eastern coach Ian Hearn was honored Thursday for winning his 500th career game a week ago – Grand Rapids 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