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: 10/26/18
October 26, 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.
The top two ranked teams in Division 4 soccer faced off in a Regional Final on Thursday, and the Division 1 reigning champion saw its season come to a close as well as upsets reigned on the pitch.
1. Boys Soccer: No. 2 Leland topped No. 1 Muskegon Western Michigan Christian in a shootout to claim a Division 4 Regional championship – MI Sports Now
2. Boys Soccer: Unranked Grand Blanc upset reigning Division 1 champion and current No. 5 Detroit Catholic Central to win a Division 1 Regional title – WJRT
3. Boys Soccer: Unranked Richland Gull Lake stunned No. 2 Grand Rapids Christian to win a Division 2 Regional Final, and No. 3 Kalamazoo Hackett earned another Semifinal berth in Division 4 – WWMT
4. Boys Soccer: No. 9 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood downed No. 8 Dexter to claim a Division 2 Regional title – Oakland Press
5. Boys Soccer: Unranked but reigning Division 4 champion Ann Arbor Greenhills claimed the shootout to get past No. 6 Adrian Lenawee Christian in a Regional Final – Adrian Daily Telegram
6. Boys Soccer: Division 1 No. 10 Ann Arbor Skyline downed Dearborn 2-0 to clinch a Division 1 Regional title – We Love Ann Arbor
7. Boys Soccer: Macomb Lutheran North beat Freeland to move on to a Division 3 Semifinal – Macomb Daily
8. Boys Soccer: Detroit Country Day shut out Tecumseh to claim a Division 2 Regional title – Oakland Press
9. Boys Soccer: East Kentwood downed Holt in Division 1 and top-ranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern defeated Haslett in Division 2 to win Regional titles – Grand Rapids Press
10. Volleyball: Division 2 No. 8 Fruitport downed Muskegon Mona Shores and Reeths-Puffer to earn a shared Ottawa-Kent Conference Black title with Division 1 honorable mention Jenison – Grand Haven Tribune
Also of note …
Volleyball: Trenton beat Allen Park in four sets to create a shared Downriver League championship between the two teams – Southgate News-Herald
Volleyball: From Saturday, Division 1 No. 8 Northville broke Novi’s seven-season winning streak at the Kensington Lakes Activities Association tournament by claiming the championship, downing the honorable mention Wildcats in the final – Observer & Eccentric