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: 10/20/17
October 20, 2017
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. Football: Bellevue is having an incredible first season of 8-player football, and quarterback Gino Costello is building on an already impressive effort with a heavy heart after his mom died after a fight with cancer at the start of this month – Battle Creek Enquirer
2. Football: West Bloomfield kicker Nick O’Shea lost his father unexpectedly from a heart attack just 10 days ago. But how he and West Bloomfield’s coaches and players have rallied is also truly inspiring – Detroit Free Press
3. Volleyball: Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian finished a perfect run through the Northern Lakes Conference with a sweep of Vanderbilt – Petoskey News-Review
4. Volleyball: Class B No. 8 Spring Lake clinched a share of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue title with a win over Comstock Park – Grand Haven Tribune
5. Boys Soccer: No. 7 Coldwater earned a rematch with No. 6-ranked Marshall by getting past perennial power Mason 2-0 to advance in Division 2 – Coldwater Daily Reporter
6. Volleyball: Class C No. 8 Unionville-Sebewaing clinched its sixth Greater Thumb Conference West title in seven seasons with a four-set win over Reese – Huron Daily Tribune
7. Cross Country: The Highland Milford girls (No. 10 in LPD1) and White Lake Lakeland boys (No. 5 in LPD1) clinched the inaugural Lakes Valley Conference championships – Observer & Eccentric Girls | Boys
8. Boys Soccer: Walled Lake Northern dealt rival Division 1 No. 15 Walled Lake Central a draw this year as the Vikings finished 15-0-1 in the Lakes Valley Conference, but Central avenged that tie with a 3-0 Division 1 win – Oakland Press
9. Volleyball: Houghton claimed the Copper Spike traveling trophy for the fourth straight season with a sweep of rival Hancock – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
10. Conference realignment: The Western Peninsula Athletic Conference is set to expand significantly with most of the Upper Peninsula’s 11-player football schools filling out the league – Marquette Mining Journal