Today in the MHSAA: 5/13/16

May 13, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

As we draw nearer to the start of the postseason, top teams in a number of sports are facing off with championships and momentum on the line.

Baseball

Melvindale Academy of Business & Technology ran its winning streak to 17 straight in beating Ecorse 15-4 – Detroit News

Girls Soccer

Reigning Division 2 champion Richland Gull Lake beat Portage Central 2-1 in a matchup of winners of Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference titles – Kalamazoo Gazette

Softball

Macomb Dakota moved to No. 1 in Division 1 this week and downed honorable mention Romeo 8-1 on Thursday to claim a share of the Macomb Area Conference Red title – Macomb Daily

Girls Tennis

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood came out on top in a matchup of elite Division 3 programs, downing Detroit Country Day 5-3 – Oakland Press

Division 2 top-ranked Midland Dow won every flight and lost just 10 games in championship matches to win the Saginaw Valley League tournament – Saginaw News

Track & Field

From Tuesday, Engadine dominated both the girls and boys competitions at the annual Mid Peninsula Small School Invitational – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News

Good Read

Grosse Pointe North baseball phenom Chad Lonkowski hasn’t taken long to make an impression at the high school level – the freshman who once led a team to the Little League World Series is now 6-foot-5 and 5-0 with a 0.00 ERA this spring – Detroit News

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