Today in the MHSAA: 6/6/16

June 6, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Another busiest week – and busiest day – in MHSAA sports is in the books. So too are Finals champions in track & field and girls tennis, and hundreds of District champions in baseball, softball and girls soccer and Regional champions in girls and boys lacrosse.

We touch on the statewide media coverage of just some of the highlights below.

Baseball

Top-ranked Coldwater won its fifth straight District title, downing No. 10 Marshall 8-4 in the championship game in Division 2 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Unranked Beaverton emerged from a Division 3 District that included No. 2 Sanford Meridian and No. 3 Clare – Midland Daily News

Birmingham Groves got past Birmingham Brother Rice 8-6 in Division 1 to win its first District championship since 2005 – Oakland Press

Boys Lacrosse

Birmingham Brother Rice received a rare scare before downing Clarkston 9-6 in Division 1 – Observer & Eccentric

Okemos won its second straight Division 2 Regional title by surviving Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 9-8 – Lansing State Journal

Girls Lacrosse

Reigning Division 2 champion East Grand Rapids needed overtime to survive, 11-9, against Grand Rapids Catholic Central – Fox17

Rockford just edged Grand Rapids Forest Hills United 9-8 to move on in Division 1 – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Soccer

Division 3 No. 6 Freeland won its seventh straight District title, this time with a 4-1 championship game clincher over Alma – Midland Daily News

Division 4 No. 2 Elk Rapids moved to 21-0 this season with an 8-0 championship game win over No. 14 Leland – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Softball

Blissfield downed No. 6 Dundee to start Saturday, but top-ranked Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central beat Blissfield 4-1 in 10 innings in the Division 3 championship game – Adrian Daily Telegram

After seeing a 10-year District streak snapped in 2015, New Baltimore Anchor Bay made it 11 in 12 seasons with a 2-1 avenging of last year’s loss to Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in Division 1 – Macomb Daily

Fulton won its first District title in this sport, downing rival Fowler 8-3 in the Division 4 championship game – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Girls Tennis

Four MHSAA Lower Peninsula tennis teams won championships: Midland Dow in Division 1 after finishing runner-up in 2015, Bloomfield Hills Marian in Division 2 for the first time since 2013, Detroit County Day in Division 3 breaking a five-year hold on the title by Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in a repeat in Division 4 – Second Half

Girls Track & Field

We covered all seven championship meets across both peninsulas, with the following teams winning titles: Oak Park, Lansing Waverly, Ithaca, Fowler, Marquette, Ishpeming and Ontonagon. Ithaca and Lansing Waverly's titles were their first, and Ontonagon’s its first since 1974 – Second Half

Boys Track & Field

We also covered all seven boys meets, with the following champions: Oak Park, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Sanford Meridian, Saugatuck, Marquette, Ishpeming and Rapid River. Oak Park’s title was its first in the sport – Second Half

Today in the MHSAA: 3/9/20

March 9, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The busiest weekend of the winter postseason saw MHSAA Finals in wrestling, bowling and competitive cheer – final coverage of all three all over Second Half – plus Hockey Quarterfinals, Gymnastics Regionals and Girls Basketball District Finals, coverage of some we’ve gathered below.

1. Hockey: No. 3 Trenton won a Division 2 Quarterfinal matchup of annual contenders, 5-1 over top-ranked Livonia Stevenson – Southgate News-Herald

2. Girls Basketball: Bad Axe downed Cass City 47-31 in Division 3 to claim its first District championship in four decades – Huron Daily Tribune

3. Girls Basketball: Manton locked down rival Lake City 26-17 to win a Division 3 District title; Lake City made the Division 3 Semifinals in 2019 – MI Sports Now

4. Hockey: No. 9 Midland Dow got past No. 10 Grand Rapids Catholic Central 3-2 in triple overtime in Division 3, while No. 2 Saginaw Heritage defeated Kalamazoo 2-1 also in 3 OT in Division 1 – WJRT

5. Girls Basketball: East Grand Rapids came back late to get past East Kentwood 56-53 in a Division 1 District Final – WOOD TV

6. Hockey: No. 5 Marquette advanced to the Division 2 Semifinals with a 5-2 win over No. 6 Traverse City Central – Marquette Mining Journal

7. Gymnastics: Morgan Case led Rockford/Sparta to a Regional championship – Escanaba Daily Press

8. Girls Basketball: Saline got past Ann Arbor Huron 50-44 in Division 1 after Huron finished just head of Saline in their league – State Champs Sports Network

9. Girls Basketball: Three Rivers avenged back-to-back District Final losses with a 48-37 win over Edwardsburg – JoeInsider.com

10. Girls Basketball: Sault Ste. Marie earned a few seasons’ worth of vengeance as well with a 58-43 Division 2 District Final win over Kingsley – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News