Today in the MHSAA: 5/13/19

May 13, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Michigan high school teams are reaching postseason form, as the weekend was filled with league championships in a variety of sports, big time matchups in a few others plus a series of record book-worthy performances.

1. Track & Field: The Zeeland East girls and Zeeland West boys won O-K Green league meet titles; both are ranked No. 1 in LPD2 – Holland Sentinel Girls | Boys

2. Girls Tennis: Rockford, No. 9 in Lower Peninsula Division 1, scored four more points than No. 6 Holland West Ottawa at the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red tournament to create a shared league title between the ranked programs – Holland Sentinel

3. Boys Lacrosse: Birmingham Brother Rice got past rival Detroit Catholic Central 16-12 to win the Detroit Catholic League tournament final; they were ranked Nos. 1 and 4, respectively, in Division 1 entering the week – Oakland Press

4. Softball: Division 3 No. 1 Millington scored a 3-0 win over Division 2 top-ranked Escanaba at the Eskymos’ invitational – Escanaba Daily Press

5. Track & Field: The Saline boys won their ninth straight Southeastern Conference Red title on the league meet’s final event, while Ann Arbor Pioneer won the girls championship – Saline Post Boys | Girls

6. Girls Soccer: Division 1 No. 3 Rochester Hills Stoney Creek downed No. 2 Midland 1-0, handing the Chemics their first loss – Midland Daily News

7. Softball: Division 1 No. 9 Hartland won the South Lyon quad, with a 1-0 win over the host and No. 4-ranked Lions – State Champs Sports Network

8. Girls Tennis: LPD1 No. 1 Grosse Pointe South earned a 6-2 win over No. 4 Midland Dow, which earned victories over No. 7 Troy and LPD2 No. 5 Holly at the GPS quad – Midland Daily News

9. Girls Tennis: Fruitport locked up its third straight O-K Black championship – Grand Haven Tribune

10. Track & Field: Milford completed a sweep of Lakes Valley Conference meet championships – Oakland Press

Also of note …

Girls Tennis: Ludington finished a sweep of Lakes 8 Conference championships by winning the league tournament – Ludington Daily News

Track & Field: The Otsego boys and Vicksburg girls won Wolverine Conference meet championships – JoeInsider.com

Track & Field: The Spring Lake girls earned a shared O-K Blue title with a league meet win, while Allendale’s boys won their side of the meet – Grand Haven Tribune

Track & Field: The Brighton boys and Northville girls won Kensington Lakes Activities Association meet championships – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Softball: Frankfort’s Natalie Bigley hit five home runs over a double-header sweep of Bellaire, including three straight in the second game – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Baseball: Sanford Meridian’s Hunter Merillat had two doubles during a loss to Pinconning to reach 68 for his career, tying the MHSAA record – Midland Daily News

Track & Field: Coldwater thrower Dylan Targgart tossed the shot 65-9 at the Williamston Invitational, a distance that would break the LPD2 Finals record – Coldwater Daily Reporter

Baseball: Division 1 No. 17 Grand Ledge swept DeWitt, sending coach Pat O’Keefe past 1,300 career wins – Lansing State Journal

Track & Field: Definitely worth watching is Texas high school sprinter Matthew Boling setting a national record in the 100 meters at Saturday’s UIL meet with a time of 10.13 seconds – Corpus Christi Caller Times

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