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: 10/2/17

October 2, 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. Volleyball: Edwardsburg, after falling to Bronson in pool play, came back to upset the Class C top-ranked Vikings and win their invitational – Coldwater Daily Reporter

2. Girls Swimming & Diving: Battle Creek Harper Creek (LPD3 honorable mention) edged 14-time reigning champion Battle Creek Lakeview for its first All-City championship in this sport – Battle Creek Enquirer

3. Cross Country: The Rockford (LPD1 No. 2) and Hart (LPD3 No. 1) girls and Grand Haven (LPD1 honorable mention) and Fremont (LPD2 No. 10) boys won Allendale Invitational titles against loaded fields – Athletic.net

4. Cross Country: St. Joseph’s boys placed 15-19 individually to win the Berrien County Invitational by a point, while the girls team won for the eighth straight year as standout Anna Fischer earned her third straight individual title – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

5. Boys Tennis: Muskegon Mona Shores edged rival Whitehall by two points to take back the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association title – Local Sports Journal

6. Girls Golf: LPD4 No. 4 Harbor Springs added a Lake Michigan Conference title to a fine season so far, finishing 48 strokes ahead of the field at the league tournament – Petoskey News-Review

7. Girls Golf: Lake Odessa Lakewood won its fifth straight Greater Lansing Activities Conference title, claiming the league tournament by eight strokes and 11 in front of Stockbridge, which was tied for first entering the event – Ionia Sentinel-Standard

8. Boys Cross Country: Gaylord St. Mary’s Brendan Delaney won races two days in a row, running his team’s course record Saturday to finish first at the Boyne Falls Logger Invitational – Gaylord Times-Herald

9. Girls Swimming & Diving: Trenton (LPD3 honorable mention) repeated as Downriver Classic champion with a top-three finish in every event – Southgate News Herald

10. Cross Country: Negaunee swept Escanaba Invitational titles with Colton Yesney and Emily Paupore continuing to dominate; both Miners teams are No. 3 in UPD1 – Marquette Mining Journal