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: 10/9/19
October 9, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This is the time of year top programs rise from the rest, and the Benzie Central cross country teams led a list of Tuesday standouts that showed again why they are so highly regarded.
1. Boys Cross Country: Benzie Central continued an incredible streak of winning every Northwest Conference championship meet, girls and boys, since joining the league in 2007; the girls are ranked No. 3 and the boys No. 7 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – Traverse City Record-Eagle
2. Boys Soccer: Division 2 top-ranked Richland Gull Lake remained unbeaten with a 6-0 win over No. 7 St. Joseph in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference championship match – WWMT
3. Girls Golf: No. 9 Traverse City West won its LPD1 Regional by 10 strokes, and Anci Dy was medalist by 16 – Traverse City Record-Eagle
4. Girls Golf: Top-ranked Harbor Springs shot a 340 to clear its LPD4 Regional field by 89 strokes – Petoskey News-Review
5. Volleyball: Division 1 top-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy improved to 33-1 with a sweep of No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Marian – Oakland Press
6. Girls Golf: No. 8 Petoskey repeated as an LPD2 Regional champion, edging runner-up Traverse City Central by a stroke – Petoskey News-Review
7. Cross Country: Brighton swept Kensington Lakes Activities Association West tri-meets, the LPD1 No. 1 Bulldogs boys to clinch the division championship; the girls are ranked No. 6 in LPD1 – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
8. Boys Soccer: Division 4 No. 4 Muskegon Western Michigan Christian finished a title run through the Lakes 8 Conference with a win over Muskegon Catholic Central – Local Sports Journal
9. Girls Swimming & Diving: Dundee moved to 9-0 in dual meets with a 95-91 win over LPD3 No. 10 Milan, its first ever over that annually successful opponent – Monroe News
10. Volleyball: Boyne City earned its first win over Division 3 honorable mention Traverse City St. Francis since 2013, in five sets – Petoskey News-Review
Also of note …
Volleyball: From Tuesday, Division 3 honorable mention Manistique earned a share of the Mid-Peninsula Conference title with a sweep of Negaunee – Escanaba Daily Press