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: 1/26/18

January 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.

Today's Top 10 

1. Wrestling: Division 1 No. 3 Brighton clinched the Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship with a 38-25 win over No. 2 Westland John Glenn – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

2. Boys Skiing: Reigning Division 1 runner-up Traverse City Central and Division 2 seven-time reigning champion Petoskey dominated the Big North Conference opener, with Petoskey winning by half a point – Petoskey News-Review

3. Girls Basketball: A big fourth quarter pushed Detroit Mumford past Detroit Renaissance in a matchup for first place in the Detroit Public School League West Division 1 – Detroit News

4. Girls Basketball: Manton downed McBain Northern Michigan Christian in a matchup of teams that entered tied for first in the Highland Conference – Cadillac News

5. Boys Swimming & Diving: Lower Peninsula Division 1 top-ranked Holland Christian got past No. 7 Grand Rapids Christian 114-63 to claim the Legacy Trophy, named in honor of the late Riley Hoeksema – Holland Sentinel

6. Boys Swimming & Diving: LPD1 honorable mention Grand Haven relied on superior depth to edge Hudsonville 158-156 – Grand Haven Tribune

7. Boys Basketball: Saginaw Swan Valley hung on for a 60-54 win over Ovid-Elsie in a Tri-Valley Conference crossover featuring the first-place teams in the Central and West, respectively – Saginaw News

8. Boys Basketball: Clarkston got past West Bloomfield 61-48 in a matchup of Oakland Activities Association Red powers that also met in the Class A Semifinals last season – Oakland Press

9. Boys Basketball: Scottville Mason County Central, third in the West Michigan Conference, connected on three free throws to force overtime, but second-place Whitehall emerged with a 54-47 victory – Local State Journal

10. Project Unified: The Kensington Lakes Activities Association has partnered with Michigan Special Olympics to form a Project Unified basketball schedule this season, and member school Hartland is featured in this report; the MHSAA provides support and promotes Unified Sports, with teams frequently playing games as part of the March Magic Hoopfest also supported by the Greater Lansing Sports Authority – WHMI

Also of note …

Boys Basketball: From Tuesday, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley downed Macomb L’Anse Creuse North to give coach Kevin Voss his 500th win – Macomb Daily