Today in the MHSAA: 5/19/17

May 19, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Thursday was filled with Lower Peninsula Girls Tennis Regionals – and we’ve linked to coverage of nine – plus a matchup of the top two softball teams in Division 1 and a couple of big-time contests in girls soccer.

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.

Baseball

St. Clair won a second straight game over Division 1 No. 17 Port Huron Northern to clinch a share of the Macomb Area Conference Blue title – Port Huron Times Herald

Boys Golf

Otsego repeated as Wolverine Conference champion by edging Edwardsburg by eight strokes at the league tournament – Niles Daily Star

Girls Soccer

Division 1 No. 6 Brighton finished off an overall Kensington Lakes Activities Association title run with a 2-1 win over No. 12 Walled Lake Northern – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Division 2 No. 12 DeWitt reached the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Cup championship game with a 2-0 win over No. 9 Haslett – Lansing State Journal

Division 1 No. 19 Saline downed Ann Arbor Skyline 1-0 to win a fourth straight Southeastern Conference Red title – Saline Post

Softball

The top two-ranked teams in Division 1 faced off in Macomb Area Conference Red play, with No. 1 Macomb Dakota coming back for a 3-1 win over No. 2 Utica Ford – Macomb Daily

Girls Tennis

No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Marian got past No. 2 Birmingham Seaholm to claim their Division 2 Regional – Oakland Press

No. 8 Flint Powers Catholic sent players to all eight flight finals and won five to claim its Division 3 Regional title – Flint Journal

No. 5 Rockford won its Division 1 Regional for the fourth straight season, scoring 28 points – Grand Rapids Press

No. 4 Holly posted a perfect 32 points to sweep its Division 2 Regional – Flint Journal

Top-ranked East Grand Rapids and No. 3 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern dominated their Division 2 Regional – Grand Rapids Press

No. 3 Bloomfield Hills dominated as well in scoring 30 points to win its Division 1 Regional – Oakland Press

Niles Brandywine claimed its third straight Regional title, edging its Division 4 field by two points – South Bend Tribune

No. 7 Portland claimed its third straight Division 4 Regional title, scoring 29 points – Ionia Sentinel-Standard

No. 9 Grand Rapids West Catholic won its Division 4 Regional by a point over No. 4 Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian – Muskegon Chronicle

Good Reads

Battle Creek Lakeview’s Jessalyn Genier has battled impressively through a senior year that’s included contributing as a standout in multiple sports but against a challenge most never have to experience – her mother’s suicide in October, which has driven her to consider ways she can have an impact in the future – Battle Creek Enquirer

Homer’s Scott Salow and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett’s Dan Cimini coach two of the state’s top baseball programs, but are connected another more personal way – both nearly died from heart issues. Their teams will play Thursday in the Memorial Day Heart Classic at Comerica Park to raise money for the American Heart Association and Michigan Veterans – Jackson Citizen Patriot

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