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: 2/22/19
February 22, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
More league championships were awarded Thursday as boys basketball teams finished up their regular season and girls teams closed in on the final week of theirs – and we’re also glad to especially highlight an impressive United Sports effort that brought more than 250 athletes to Novi.
1. Unified Basketball: Novi and the Kensington Lakes Activities Association hosted 10 schools for a league tournament that showcased the growing Unified Sports effort – Detroit News
2. Boys Basketball: Canton downed Howell 78-58 to clinch the Kensington Lakes Activities Association Tournament championship – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
3. Boys Basketball: Walled Lake Northern earned the inaugural Lakes Valley Conference Tournament title with a 29-26 win over White Lake Lakeland – State Champs!
4. Girls Basketball: A big win over Memphis helped Harbor Beach earn a share of the Greater Thumb Conference East title – Huron Daily Tribune
5. Girls Basketball: St. Ignace defeated Cheboygan to clinch the outright Straits Area Conference championship – The Upbeat
6. Boys Basketball: Otsego finished the regular season 20-0 with a 75-61 win over Sturgis in the Wolverine Conference championship game – JoeInsider.com
7. Boys Basketball: Bear Lake’s Trey Gilbert scored 50 points in a 71-48 win over Baldwin to go over 1,000 for his career – Manistee News Advocate
8. Boys Basketball: Pellston secured the outright Ski Valley Conference title with a 54-39 win over Gaylord St. Mary – Petoskey News-Review
9. Boys Basketball: Ovid-Elsie downed New Lothrop 48-28 to secure the outright Mid-Michigan Activities Conference title – Owosso Argus-Press
10. Boys Basketball: Kyle Hulett went over 1,000 career points with 31 for Byron in a 74-72 win over Mount Morris – Flint Journal
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: New Haven’s Romeo Weems, Detroit Renaissance’s Chandler Turner, Canton’s B. Artis White and Westland John Glenn’s Joe Moon were named finalists for the Mr. Basketball Award – State Champs!
Boys Basketball: Gladstone downed Kingsford, but Kingsford’s Tyler Beauchamp became the program’s all-time leading scorer and teammate Luke Terrian scored his 1,000th point – Iron Mountain Daily News
Boys Basketball: From Tuesday, Hale defeated Posen to claim its third straight North Star League Little Dipper title – WBKB