Today in the MHSAA: 6/1/16
June 1, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Softball, baseball, and girls soccer MHSAA tournaments kicked off Tuesday and were filled with exciting matchups – but highlights were hardly reserved for just those three sports during one of our busiest days of competition each school year.
Baseball
Division 1 No. 5 Bay City Western got past rival Mount Pleasant for the final time this season, downing the No. 6 Oilers 7-3 to open their District – Bay City Times
Boys Lacrosse
No. 3 Okemos downed No. 7 Vicksburg 19-10 in a Division 2 Regional Semifinal at DeWitt – Lansing State Journal
Girls Soccer
Division 2 No. 3 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep downed Catholic League rival and No. 8 Warren Regina in the first round of their District – Oakland Press
Libby Amley assisted on the first goal and scored the game winner with 50 seconds to play at Bay City John Glenn came back to beat Bay City Central 2-1 in Division 2 – Bay City Times
Goodrich scored its game’s only goal in overtime to get past St. Clair 1-0 in Division 3 – Flint Journal
Softball
Bay City Western opened the postseason with a 1-0 win over Mount Pleasant in a matchup of teams earning honorable mentions in Division 1 – Bay City Times
Flat Rock’s Lauren Hoffman drove in the tying run in the seventh inning and the winner in the ninth to lead her team past New Boston Huron 5-4 – Monroe Evening News
Track & Field
Jackson’s Anthony Owens is on his way to perhaps graduating as the top long jumper in MHSAA history after breaking the 39-year-old record at the Selby Track & Field Classic with a leap of 24 feet, 8 inches – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Clare’s Kasey Staley tied the pole vault record of 11-6 at the Morning Sun Meet of Champions, matching the best by former Remus Chippewa Hills star and potential Olympian Kristen Hixson – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
Today in the MHSAA: 10/15/15
October 15, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Championship are won on a seemingly daily basis in October, and plenty were earned and celebrated Wednesday – but please also check out some great reads at the bottom of this list, including a look at why specialization is increasing as a nationwide concern.
Cross Country
The Saugatuck girls, ranked No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 4, won their ninth straight Southwestern Athletic Conference title with 12 runners earning all-league honors – Grand Rapids Press
Boys Soccer
LP Division 2 No. 5 East Lansing capped an impressive run through the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Cup by winning the final 3-1 over Grand Ledge – Lansing State Journal
LP Division 1 No. 15 East Kentwood secured its 12th Ottawa-Kent Conference Red title in 13 seasons with a 1-0 win over Grandville, helped in part by a pair of players whose ties the program go back to the early years of the run – Grand Rapids Press
LP Division 1 No. 7 Utica Ford shut out No. 14 Fraser to clinch the Macomb Area Conference Red championship – Macomb Daily
Unranked Birmingham Brother Rice stunned LP Division 1 No. 3 Detroit Catholic Central 2-1 in the championship game of the Detroit Catholic League A-B tournament – Oakland Press
LP Division 4 No. 11 Charlevoix clinched a share of the Lake Michigan Conference title with a 3-0 win over Grayling, thanks to a hat trick by Walker Drost – Charlevoix Courier
Saginaw Heritage scored the first goal Flint Powers Catholic had given up since Sept. 12, but the Chargers emerged with a 2-1 win and the overall Saginaw Valley League championship – Flint Journal
Volleyball
Lansing Catholic won the first volleyball league championship in its long history, beating Fowlerville in three sets to claim a share of the CAAC White title – Lansing State Journal
Good Reads
Single-sport specialization has become a topic of national focus and concern, and MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts was among association directors talked to for this report on why it’s a health-related issue and how states are working to promote multi-sport participation instead – NFHS.org
Vandercook Lake is enjoying its best football season in 45 years and plays for a league title this weekend, and is led by a three-sport athlete who has been on a long road back after Crohn’s disease led to his shedding 90 pounds only two years ago – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
The Christmas tree standing tall in front of the Capitol in Lansing this winter will come from Wakefield thanks to a donation by Florence Daniels in honor of her husband Jim, who coached Wakefield High's boys basketball team to 355 wins, 12 district the five regional titles in 28 seasons. He also was a member of Channing High’s Upper Peninsula championship team in 1944 and coached Al Inkala, who went on to become an MHSAA championship-winning girls tennis coach at Okemos – Lansing State Journal