Today in the MHSAA: 5/23/16
May 23, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
It’s been an exciting few days especially for our track & field and girls tennis teams, which competed in Regionals over the weekend – with some of the many highlights among those linked below.
Baseball
Battle Creek Lakeview’s Ethan Eldridge threw a shutout to lead his team over Harper Creek for their all-city championship, 3-0 – Battle Creek Enquirer
Division 1 No. 4 Rockford swept Division 3 No. 1 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett 4-1 and 4-2 – Detroit Free Press
Girls Soccer
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep won its first Detroit Catholic League A-B championship in this sport, downing Warren Regina in an overtime shootout – Oakland Press
Softball
Sierra Stoepker drilled a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to lead Lake Odessa Lakewood to a 10-9 win over DeWitt in the championship game of the Lansing Softball Classic – Lansing State Journal
Napoleon (32-1) outscored its opponents 32-5 to win a second straight Al Glick Tournament championship, beating Parma Western 3-0 in the final – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Petoskey won the Lansing Waverly Invitational, opening with a 5-4 win over two-loss Grand Ledge – Petoskey News
Division 3 No. 4 Clinton beat Division 2 No. 7 Muskegon Oakridge and later Division 3 No. 9 Reese for the Best of Michigan Tournament title at Byron Center – Adrian Dailey Telegram
Girls Tennis
Bay City All Saints won its first Regional and qualified for the MHSAA Finals for the first time since 1992 – Bay City Times
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern edged East Grand Rapids by three points to win its 15th straight Regional, in Division 2 – Grand Rapids Press
Edwardsburg claimed its first Regional title as well, dominating the field to finish six points ahead of the rest in Division 3 – Kalamazoo Gazette
Ludington shared its Division 3 Regional title with Whitehall, and in the process No. 1 doubles pair Julia Flewelling and Claire Maltbie won their 100th match to break the school’s doubles record – Muskegon Chronicle
Division 4 No. 3 Kalamazoo Hackett swept singles to finish ahead of No. 5 Kalamazoo Christian in their Regional – Kalamazoo Gazette
Track & Field
Lake Linden-Hubbell swept boys and girls Regionals for the first time since 1998 – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
The Reese girls edged Frankenmuth 122-121 to win their first Regional title in 22 years – Saginaw News
The Addison boys won their first Regional since 1995, beating Petersburg Summerfield by 12 points, 124-112 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
The Blanchard Montabella girls won their first Regional title, with the Division 4 victory also the school's first at that level of tournament competition in any sport since 2003 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
Good Read
The Grandville Calvin Christian baseball team will take part this week in fundraising for the medical care of Kyle Petrlich, who is awaiting a second heart transplant and in December required CPR from her brother Griffin, a player on the Calvin Christian baseball team – Grand Rapids Press
Did you see that? (May 13-19)
May 22, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
These next four weeks make up arguably the most exciting sports time of every school year.
With MHSAA tournament play beginning last week for track and field, girls tennis and lacrosse — plus the other sports settling their league championships — we're off to a fast start on another strong finish.
Here's a look at some of the biggest headlines dug up from last week's statewide media coverage. Click on the links for full reports.
Good Read of the Week
Fix stands strong: Jake Fix has played golf only two years and only after bone cancer led to the loss of his left leg and its replacement with a prosthetic. But he’s found a game for life and a career aspiration too now that his days at Brown City High School are drawing to a close. (Port Huron Times-Herald).
Girls Tennis
Spring Lake dominates: Spring Lake wasn’t sure how long it had been since it won its last Regional championship – but figured this weekend’s in Division 3 was the first in probably three decades. (Grand Rapids Press)
Powers split Allegan title: Division 3 No. 2 Allegan and No. 6 Holland Christian tied for first at their Regional at Allegan. The teams owned the top two seeds at every flight. (Grand Rapids Press)
Boys Golf
Carlson goes low: Hamilton sophomore Nick Carlson shot an incredible 10-under par 62 to finish first of 107 golfers at the Hamilton Invitational on Saturday. He made an eagle and nine birdies. (Holland Sentinel)
Softball
Renaissance reigns again: Detroit Renaissance clinched its ninth consecutive Detroit Public School League championship Friday. Renaissance has won 14 of the last 16 league titles and moved to 26-4 this spring with the clinching win over Detroit Cass Tech. (Detroit Free Press)
Baseball
Adding up to a championship: Unranked Addison defeated Concord, Hanover-Horton and Division 3 No. 7 Homer to win its bracket of the annual Al Glick Baseball Classic in Jackson. Addison entered Saturday’s event with a sub-.500 record but beat Homer 8-7 in the championship game. (Jackson Citizen-Patriot)
Finishing with honor: Petoskey said good-bye to its current baseball diamond with a Military Appreciation Game against Sault Ste. Marie which included the honoring of 1995 graduate Heath Robinson, who died in a helicopter crash while serving in Afghanistan in 2011. (Petoskey News)
Liggett wins battle of ranked: Division 4 No. 1 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett edged Division 1 No. 9 Birmingham Brother Rice 6-5 on Monday. (Detroit News)
Girls Soccer
Hartland gets golden goal: Hartland and Brighton had tied 1-1 earlier this season, and both teams entered last week as honorable mentions in the Division 1 state coaches poll. But Hartland scored the lone goal in their Kensington Lakes Activities Association West-deciding game Thursday, which likely pushed the Eagles into the No. 7 spot this week (and Brighton to No. 10). (Livingston Daily Press & Argus)
Dow first in first SVL Tournament: Midland Dow, another honorable mention in Division 1, downed Saginaw Heritage 3-1 in the final of the first-ever Saginaw Valley League soccer tournament. The top four teams from each of the league’s two divisions played in the one day-event. (Midland Daily News)
GRC wins battle of Grand Rapids powers: Grand Rapids Christian, No. 5 in Division 2, edged Division 3 No. 4 Hudsonville Unity Christian in one of the state’s biggest games of the regular season. (Grand Rapids Press)
Track and Field
TC Central, at the finish: Division 1 No. 3 Traverse City Central finished 11 seconds and six places ahead of No. 5 Traverse City West in the night’s final event to edge its rival by 3.5 points total and win their boys Regional on Friday. (Traverse City Record-Eagle)
First in 40: The Eau Claire boys, ranked No. 4 in Division 4, won what was reported as its first track Regional title in 40 years by beating Mendon by 29 points Saturday in New Buffalo. Mendon’s girls won their side of the meet. (St. Joseph Herald-Palladium)
Marlette edges Eagles: Division 3 No. 7 Marlette finished just ahead of No. 5 and reigning Regional champion Frankenmuth in boys Regional competition at Bad Axe on Saturday. (Saginaw News)
Boys lacrosse
Rice on top again: Birmingham Brother Rice, No. 1 in Division 1, downed No. 3-ranked Detroit Catholic Central 16-10 in the championship game of the Detroit Catholic High School League tournament on Saturday. (MLive Detroit)
Football
New coaches at Dundee, Monroe Jefferson: A pair of Monroe-area playoff programs hired new leaders last week. Assistant Bruce Pickens has taken over at Monroe Jefferson for Marc Cisco, who retired last month after 47 seasons. Former Ottawa Lake Whiteford coach Matt Garno is the new coach at Dundee, replacing Ed Maloney. (Monroe Evening News)