Today in the MHSAA: 6/3/16

June 3, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Nine Upper Peninsula teams won the first MHSAA Finals championships awarded this spring season Thursday, while a number of Lower Peninsula teams positioned themselves for trophy hunts this weekend and beyond.

Girls Golf

Escanaba, Cedarville and Iron Mountain provided some surprises and streak breakers in winning MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals – Second Half

Boys Golf

The top three ranked teams in Lower Peninsula Division 2 played in the same Regional on Thursday – with top ranked Ada Forest Hills Eastern finishing two strokes ahead of No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern and four ahead of No. 3 St. Johns as all three advanced to next weekend – Grand Rapids Press

Jackson Lumen Christi, No. 2 in LP Division 3, won its 11th straight Regional title – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Houghton won its third straight MHSAA title, Carney-Nadeau repeated and St. Ignace also won a championship at Upper Peninsula Finals – Second Half

Girls Soccer

Bay City Western avenged an earlier 5-0 loss with a 1-0 win over Midland in a Division 1 District Semifinal – Bay City Times

Traverse City West downed rival Traverse City Central 1-0 with the lone goal coming in overtime – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Division 1 No. 6 Bloomfield Hills needed a shootout to get past Waterford Mott, 1-0 – Oakland Press

Fennville downed Dowagiac 1-0 in Division 3 to advance to a District Final for the first time – Holland Sentinel

Boys Tennis

Ishpeming Westwood ran its MHSAA title streak to three straight, while a pair of powers shared the Division 1 title – Second Half

Good Read

We’re big fans of playing more than one high school sport, and so we’re big fans of the work of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills senior Alexis Baskin, who recently received the Michigan High School Coaches Association Rich Tompkins Multi-Sport Athlete Award after earning a combined 12 letters in volleyball, basketball and track & field – Grand Rapids Press

Today in the MHSAA: 4/18/18

April 18, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.

1. Girls Soccer: After opening this season 0-2, No. 4 Saline has won the first three games of league play including Tuesday’s over Ann Arbor Pioneer, 3-0 – Saline Post

2. Boys Lacrosse: Lake Orion continued its league dominance with a 15-10 win over Troy – Oakland Press

3. Girls Soccer: Lake Orion remained undefeated in league play on the soccer field as well with a 3-0 win over Royal Oak – Oakland Press

4. Baseball: Chelsea will name its field after former longtime coach and athletic director Wayne Welton – Ann Arbor News

5. Volleyball: Traverse City Central has hired former Benzie Central coach Jen Wright to take over the program; Wright most recently has been coaching the Trojans’ junior varsity – Traverse City Record-Eagle

6. Football: Junior varsity coach Jesse Fenstermaker has been promoted to take over Rogers City’s program as varsity leader – Alpena News

7. Football: Hillman promoted defensive coordinator Cody Allen to head coach as it heads into 8-player football for the first time this fall – Alpena News

8. Officials: Longtime sportswriter Al Wright gives his perspective on why it's gotten tougher to recruit officials for high school athletics – Midwest Sports Network

9. MHSAA: As part of its Black History Month features in February, State Champs! Network included a tribute to MHSAA assistant director Nate Hampton, who coordinates football, girls and boys basketball and girls and boys track & field – State Champs!