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: 2/14/18
February 14, 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.
Today's Top 10
1. Skiing: Brighton became the first school in a decade of KLAA championships to claim both the boys and girls titles in skiing in the same season – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
2. Hockey: Division 3 top-ranked Hancock downed Division 2 No. 7 Marquette 5-2 to clinch the Great Lakes Hockey Conference regular-season championship – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
3. Girls Basketball: Howell got Brighton 51-45 to claim the Kensington Lakes Activities Association Gold title – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
4. Boys Basketball: Hillman clinched its fifth straight North Star League title with a 63-50 win over Oscoda in the Big Dipper division – Alpena News
5. Girls Basketball: Erie Mason’s Mary Liedel scored 22 points against Sand Creek to become the leading scorer in Monroe County Region history with 1,679 total – Monroe News
6. Girls Basketball: Clare senior Natalee Kunse went over 1,000 points for her career in a win over Leroy Pine River – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
7. Girls Basketball: Fruitport Calvary Christian sophomore Kelsey Richards scored 29 in a win over Hart to go over 1,000 for her career – Grand Haven Tribune
8. Boys Basketball: East Kentwood’s Ja’Moni Jones got a steal and made a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to send Holland West Ottawa to 14-2 with a 56-53 upset – Holland Sentinel
9. Girls Basketball: Midland Dow continued to shake up the Saginaw Valley League standings with a 54-42 win over Bay City Western – Midland Daily News
10. Hockey: In a rivalry game featuring state-ranked teams, Division 3 No. 2 Calumet got past No. 3 Houghton 3-0 – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: East Lansing avenged its early-season loss to Grand Ledge with a 74-67 overtime comeback victory – Lansing State Journal
Girls Basketball: In a matchup of teams that have both been state-ranked this season, Coldwater got past Battle Creek Pennfield 53-50 in overtime to stay tied for first in the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference – Battle Creek Enquirer
Boys Basketball: Detroit Pershing earned a spot in the Detroit Public School League championship game with a 60-49 win over Martin Luther King – Detroit News