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: 9/19/17
September 19, 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. Safety: Hemlock girls tennis coach Dean Rusch saved a life while deejaying a wedding for his entertainment company, using an AED he keeps on hand as a coach – WNEM
2. Girls Golf: Top-ranked Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood edged No. 2 Macomb Lutheran North by a stroke in a match of Lower Peninsula Division 3 contenders – Oakland Press
3. Girls Golf: LPD1 top-ranked Traverse City West clinched its eighth straight tournament win, shooting a 341 to claim the Charlevoix Lady Rayder Classic by 12 strokes – Traverse City Record-Eagle
4. Girls Golf: LPD2 No. 3 St. Joseph posted an impressive win at the Point O’Wood Invitational, shooting a 356 to edge LPD4 No. 1 Kalamazoo Hackett by nine strokes – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
5. Girls Golf: Coldwater won the nine-team Onsted Invitational with a 348, its season-low tournament score – Coldwater Daily Reporter
6. Cross Country: In what has to be a first, Houghton standouts Clayton Sayen and Seth Helman decided in the home stretch of the Calumet Invitational who would cross the finish first by playing rock-paper-scissors; Chassell’s Lela Rautiola won the girls race by 39 seconds – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
7. Boys Soccer: Buckley downed Kingsley 5-1 as Ridge Beeman tallied his fifth hat trick of this fall – Cadillac News
8. Girls Golf: Pinckney improved to 10-1 in the Southeastern Conference White in its first season in the league with a 40-stroke win over Tecumseh – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
9. Fans: Redford Union has dedicated the 2017-18 school year to longtime fan and alum Jimmy Rollin, who died in July and was a supporter of the school’s teams. Union will have a moment of silence for him at the home opener for each varsity sport – Observer & Eccentric
10. Girls Swimming & Diving: Mull is a well-known last name in Lansing area swimming, and Grand Ledge sophomore Lola Mull is upholding her family’s reputation for pool excellence – Lansing State Journal