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: 5/18/17

May 18, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The most impressive performance of a busy Wednesday statewide likely came from the Detroit Catholic Central boys golf team, which won a loaded Oakland County tournament with a number few teams approach.

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

Fraser earned a third straight Macomb Area Conference Gold title with a 24-13 win over Warren Woods-Tower – Macomb Daily

Division 1 No. 7 Canton downed No. 11 Brighton 7-5 to claim the overall Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship – Observer & Eccentric

Golf

Shepherd celebrated the Tri-Valley Conference Central title, its first league championship since 2004 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Division 1 top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central shot a 284 to win the Oakland County championship by 18 strokes ahead of No. 2 Clarkston – Oakland Press

McBain Northern Michigan Christian clinched the inaugural Missaukee Cup with a first place ahead of Lake City and McBain in a Wednesday match – Cadillac News

Girls Soccer

Mattawan downed Division 2 No. 5 Richland Gull Lake 1-0 to win its first Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference tournament championship – Kalamazoo Gazette

Division 2 No. 17 Marshall clinched a third straight Interstate Eight Conference regular-season title with a 2-0 win over Battle Creek Harper Creek – Battle Creek Enquirer

Softball

Division 1 No. 6 Howell continued an incredible run with a 15-0 win over honorable mention Canton to earn the Kensington Lakes Activities Association overall championship – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Freshman Grace Lehto threw a no-hitter as Division 2 honorable mention Eaton Rapids edged Webberville 1-0 in a Lansing-area Softball Classic semifinal – Lansing State Journal

Bay City John Glenn swept Midland Dow, coming back from a 10-1 deficit to win the first game 13-11 – Bay City Times

Division 4 honorable mention Morenci handed Clinton its first Tri-County Conference sweep since joining the league in 2007 – Adrian Daily Telegram

First-place Allen Park, an honorable mention in Division 1, stayed ahead of second-place and Division 2 honorable mention Trenton in the Downriver League with a 3-2 win thanks to a walk-off hit by Kelsi Littleton – Southgate News-Herald

Track & Field

Traverse City Central’s boys downed Traverse City West by 64 points – they are tied for the No. 7 spot in the Lower Peninsula Division 1 rankings – Traverse City Record-Eagle

From Tuesday, the Deckerville girls and Peck and Kingston boys won North Central Thumb League championships – Huron Daily Tribune