Today in the MHSAA: 5/22/17

May 22, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

This past weekend belonged mostly to Track & Field Regionals, with some familiar faces – Oak Park and Saugatuck among them – shining brightest again.

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

Mattawan, coached by Joe Clifford, downed younger brother Phil Clifford and Jackson Lumen Christi to win the Al Glick Classic – Jackson Citizen Patriot

Essexville Garber equaled its most wins since 2006 in claiming its invitational title, and after opening with a 10-run victory over Division 4 No. 9 Saginaw Nouvel – Bay City Times

Howell swept Division 1 No. 5 Birmingham Brother Rice 8-0 and 4-2 – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Boys Lacrosse

Vi Lobo set Midland’s career scoring record with three goals in a 17-1 Division 1 Regional win over Holly/Ortonville Brandon – Midland Daily News

Softball

Ishpeming Westwood won the Mid-Peninsula Conference tournament for the first time, downing Norway in the final – Marquette Mining Journal

Girls Tennis

Bay City All Saints and Frankenmuth shared a Lower Peninsula Division 4 Regional title after an All Saints win in the final match – Bay City Times

St. Joseph won an LP Division 2 Regional title by two points over three runners-up – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

Track & Field

Oak Park’s girls and boys – both reigning MHSAA Finals champions – dominated in sweeping LP Division 1 Regional titles – Oakland Press

Saugatuck’s boys and girls teams won their fifth straight Regional titles, this time in LP Division 3; the girls are ranked No. 1 and the boys No. 3 – Grand Rapids Press

Led by a star freshman, Lansing Waverly’s girls won their first Regional title after winning their first MHSAA Finals title last season – Lansing State Journal

Battle Creek St. Phillip’s boys won their first Regional title since 1982 after entering the meet ranked No. 3 in LP Division 4 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Bessemer’s boys won their fifth straight Regional title, while Lake Linden-Hubbell’s girls also dominated at Wakefield-Marenisco – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

The Houghton boys and Negaunee girls won Regional titles at Ishpeming – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Salem’s No. 4-ranked boys won their LP Division 1 Regional by 36 points – Observer & Eccentric

Livonia Churchill’s girls repeated as LP Division 1 Regional champions by edging No. 3 Plymouth – Observer & Eccentric

Zeeland East swept LP Division 2 Regional titles; the girls are ranked No. 3 and the boys No. 4 – Holland Sentinel

No. 3 Pittsford edged No. 4 Hillsdale Academy by 3.5 points to win their LP Division 4 Regional – Hillsdale Daily News

Coldwater’s No. 5-ranked boys remained undefeated on the season with an LP Division 2 Regional title – Coldwater Daily Reporter

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s girls won their first Regional title "in decades," finishing 46 points better than the LP Division 4 field – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Shepherd’s No. 6 girls finished 46 points better than reigning LP Division 3 champion Ithaca to claim a Regional title – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Niles’ boys won their second Regional title in three seasons in LP Division 2 – Niles Daily Star

Did you see that? (June 3-9)

June 10, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The second of three weeks of spring MHSAA Finals came to a close with four more champions from lacrosse – plus 16 teams still alive in both baseball and softball, eight in girls soccer and 60 in Lower Peninsula boys golf.

See below for some of the biggest headlines from the week that was June 3-9.

Girls lacrosse

Champions of the west: A pair of Grand Rapids-area teams claimed the girls championships Saturday. Rockford defeated Bloomfield Hills United 16-7 in Division 1, while East Grand Rapids repeated in Division 2 with a 16-6 victory over Livonia Ladywood. (Second Half D1) (Second Half D2)

Boys Lacrosse

East-side excellence: Birmingham Brother Rice came back from an early deficit in the Division 1 Final to win its ninth-straight title by beating Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern 14-10. In Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood scored with 20.2 seconds to play to edge reigning champion Forest Hills Central 10-9. (Second Half D1) (Second Half D2)

Girls Soccer

Defensive standoff: Top-ranked Plymouth and No. 3 Novi needed a shootout to decide Friday’s Division 1 Regional Final. But Novi won that final round 2-1 to earn a 1-0 win and hand Plymouth its first and only loss this season. (MLive Detroit)

Powers survives comeback: Up 3-0 at halftime, reigning Division 3 runner-up Flint Powers Catholic advanced to within one win of returning to the Finals with a 3-2 Regional Final win over Lake Fenton. (Flint Journal)

Baseball

Oilers upend No. 1: Mount Pleasant, ranked No. 4 in Division 2, beat top-ranked Bay City John Glenn on the way to winning their Regional on Saturday. (Mount Pleasant Morning Sun)

MCC wins big: Muskegon Catholic Central moved on in Division 4 with a 9-0 Regional win over No. 2 Gobles in another of the weekend’s biggest baseball matchups. MCC entered the postseason ranked No. 5. (Muskegon Chronicle)

Softball

Dundee gets its chance: The Vikings won their first Regional championship and defeated two-time reigning Division 3 champion Clinton in the process Saturday at Blissfield. Dundee entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in the division. (Monroe Evening News)

Romeo prevails in pair of nail-biters: The No. 10-ranked Bulldogs were down to their final out before defeating Troy in a Regional Semifinal and then beat Hartland 3-0 in the championship game. Both Troy and Hartland were honorable mentions in the final Division 1 coaches poll. (Oakland Press)

Escanaba headed downstate: The Eskymos will face reigning MHSAA Division 2 runner-up Saginaw Swan Valley in a Quarterfinal for the second straight season thanks to a walk-off home run by sophomore Michelle LaFave in a 5-4 Regional Final win over Remus Chippewa Hills. (Escanaba Daily Press)

Boys Golf

SMAC East dominates: Top-ranked Battle Creek Lakeview in Division 1 and Marshall and Battle Creek Harper Creek in Division 2 all qualified for LP Finals, giving the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference East three teams in this weekend’s championship tournaments. (Battle Creek Enquirer)

DeWitt outshoots No. 1: Previously unranked DeWitt shot a 313 to edge top-ranked East Lansing by a stroke at their Division 2 Regional at Gull Lake View. (Lansing State Journal)

Boys Basketball

CMU star takes over GRCC: Former Central Michigan University captain T.J. Meerman has taken over the Grand Rapids Catholic Central program after serving as an assistant coach last season at Grand Valley State University. Previously, Meerman coached the varsity at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills. (Grand Rapids Press)