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: 5/31/17
May 31, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This spring’s first night of baseball, softball and girls soccer Districts enjoyed more drama than usual, with a number of upsets changing how brackets were expected to look this weekend – especially in the Bay City and Oakland County areas.
Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.
Baseball
Bay City Central scored two runs in the seventh inning to upset Bay City Western 3-2 in Division 1 – Bay City Times
Also in Division 1, Ann Arbor Skyline upset No. 10 Brighton 1-0 in nine innings – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
No. 14 Holt downed Battle Creek Lakeview 7-1 in a matchup of teams currently or formerly ranked in Division 1 – Battle Creek Enquirer
Battle Creek Harper Creek got past Marshall 2-1 in nine innings in Division 2 – Battle Creek Enquirer
Bloomfield Hills earned a stunning 5-2 win over No. 3 Birmingham Groves in Division 1 – Oakland Press
In Flint Southwestern’s final regular-season doubleheader ever, Chris Jones broke the school’s single-season stolen base record with his 50th in 54 tries – Flint Journal
Boys Lacrosse
Canton followed a seven-goal comeback against Saline with a five-goal comeback to beat Plymouth 8-7 in overtime in a Division 1 Regional – Observer & Eccentric
Girls Soccer
No. 9 Middleville Thornapple Kellogg opened with perhaps the most stunning win on the first night of the soccer tournament, taking down No. 5 Richland Gull Lake 4-1 in Division 2 – Grand Rapids Press
After the teams split during the regular season, No. 17 Portage Central won the Division 1 District game 1-0 over Mattawan – Kalamazoo Gazette
Saginaw Heritage downed Bay City Western 2-1 in overtime in Division 1 after falling to the Warriors 5-1 earlier this spring – Saginaw News
After seeing a two-goal lead dissolve late, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian downed No. 9 North Muskegon 3-2 with a shootout in Division 4 – Muskegon Chronicle
After falling to Marine City in the District the last two seasons, Richmond downed the No. 18 Mariners 1-0 in overtime in Division 3 – Clinton Township Voice
Division 2 No. 16 Stevensville Lakeshore came back from two goals down to beat Vicksburg 3-2 – St. Joseph Herald Palladium
Softball
Barely a week after being swept by Bay City Western, Bay City Central upset the Warriors 7-4 in Division 1 – Bay City Times
Holland scored in the seventh inning to down Grand Haven 5-4, also in Division 1 – Grand Haven Tribune
No. 3 Escanaba jumped to a 7-0 lead on honorable mention Petoskey in Division 2 and finished with an 8-2 victory – Petoskey News-Review