Today in the MHSAA: 8/24/15
August 24, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All MHSAA fall sports but football kicked off competition last week, with cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving and volleyball starting Saturday.
Below are some notable headlines from the first weekend of this season, plus links to coverage.
Cross Country
St. Johns hosted its second “Under the Lights” meets Friday; Ithaca’s girls and Saugatuck’s boys bested fields loaded with much larger opponents – Lansing State Journal
The St. Joseph girls and Bridgman boys won championships at the Niles Stampede – the St. Joseph girls, who finished fourth in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season, by a large margin – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
Girls Golf
Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox, last season’s LP Division 4 individual champion, came back to defeat Brighton freshman Annie Pietila at the two-day Lober Invitational at Grand Traverse Resort – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Boys Soccer
Two of the state’s powers met in the championship game of the Detroit Country Day Tournament on Saturday – with 2013 Division 1 runner-up Bloomfield Hills downing the host Yellowjackets 1-0 in a shootout – Oakland Press
Girls Swimming & Diving
Howell won its Kenzie Klassic, which honors swimmer Mackenize Watts, who died in 2005 at age 15. The school also raised enough money to award three scholarships and begin funding cardiac-related causes – Livingston Daily
Volleyball
Novi won the Lakeshore Classic by coming back after losing the first two games to beat Grand Haven 3-2 in a rematch of a 2014 Class A Semifinal – Muskegon Chronicle
Battle Creek Harper Creek, for the first time, won the gold championship at the long-running Carrie Adams Memorial Tournament hosted by reigning Class D champion Battle Creek St. Philip – Battle Creek Enquirer
Good Read
Mike Steele, a Midland Dow grad and now pitching coach at Long Beach State in California, argues that parents need to raise their athletes to compete instead of providing specific training in one sport – Midland Daily News
Today in the MHSAA: 10/18/19
October 18, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
One of the most intriguing league cross country title races in some time came to a conclusion Thursday as a number of state-ranked girls and boys teams ran to be the best in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association.
1. Cross Country: Brighton’s girls – No. 5 in Lower Peninsula Division 1 – finished ahead of No. 2 Northville and No. 6 Salem to win the Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship meet, and Brighton’s top-ranked boys won their first league meet since 1995 – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
2. Boys Soccer: No. 3 Marshall scored all of its goals during the final 12 minutes to come back and defeat Coldwater 3-2 in a Division 2 District Final – WWMT
3. Boys Soccer: No. 2 Troy Athens shut out No. 8 Berkley 3-0 to clinch a Division 1 District championship – Oakland Press
4. Boys Soccer: Division 3 No. 2 Hudsonville Unity Christian locked up its sixth straight District title with a 7-0 win over No. 6 Wyoming Lee – FOX 17
5. Cross Country: The LPD1 No. 5 Saline boys clinched the Southeastern Conference Red title with a second place at the final league jamboree, and the top-ranked Ann Arbor Pioneer girls won their race and league championship – Saline Post Boys | Girls
6. Boys Soccer: No. 7 Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep needed overtime but got past No. 9 Hillsdale Academy 2-1 in a Division 4 District Final – JoeInsider.com
7. Cross Country: Romeo and Marysville swept their divisions of the Macomb Area Conference championship meet, with Port Huron Northern’s boys and St. Clair’s girls also victorious; Romeo’s boys are No. 2 in LPD1 and Romeo’s girls are No. 14 – Athletic.net
8. Boys Soccer: Gladwin improved to 20-2-2 and won its first District title in this sport since 2015 with a 1-0 victory over Essexville Garber in Division 3 – Bay City Times
9. Boys Soccer: Dearborn’s second-half surge resulted in a 5-1 Division 1 District title win over Downriver League champion Brownstown Woodhaven – Southgate News-Herald
10. Boys Soccer: Bad Axe improved to 11-4-3 with a 4-2 Division 4 District Final win over Saginaw Valley Lutheran – Huron Daily Tribune