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: 5/12/17

May 12, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A trio of exceptional highlights led Thursday’s high school action across Michigan – the 20th straight league title for a tennis team, a perfect hitting night in softball and arguably the two best soccer teams in the state meeting in a league game.

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

Detroit Catholic Central advanced to the Detroit Catholic League A-B championship game with a 4-1 win over Division 1 No. 17 Warren DeLaSalle – Detroit News

Top-10 teams Centreville and Bronson split a Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference doubleheader, Division 4 No. 3 Centreville winning the first game and Division 3 No. 7 Bronson the second – Sturgis Journal

Girls Golf

Upper Peninsula Division 1 top-ranked Houghton bested the field by more than 50 strokes in winning a nine-team event at George Young in Iron River – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Boys Golf

Calumet edged Iron River West Iron County by six strokes to win the boys tournament at George Young – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Boys Lacrosse

Division 1 No. 3 Hartland downed Walled Lake Northern 15-3 to clinch its first Kensington Lakes Activities Association Lakes championship – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

From Wednesday, Tecumseh hung on through overtime to down Dexter 10-9 and clinch the Southeastern Conference White title – Adrian Daily Telegram

Girls Soccer

Ottawa-Kent Conference White leaders Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (No. 2 in Division 2) and Forest Hills Central (No. 1 in Division 1) are still tied for first in the league after a 1-1 draw – Grand Rapids Press

Unranked Troy Athens downed Division 1 No. 20 Troy 1-0 – Oakland Press

Softball

Bay City All Saints’ Hannah Duculon went an incredible 10 for 10 from the plate in her team’s sweep of Tawas – Bay City Times

Clarkston’s Paige Blevins tied her single-season home run school record as the Division 1 honorable mention Wolves swept Rochester Hills Stoney Creek – Oakland Press

Division 1 No. 6 Utica Ford used a late rally to secure a 4-1 win over Division 2 honorable mention St. Clair – Macomb Daily

Girls Tennis

Midland Dow, No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 1, swept every flight to win a 20th straight Saginaw Valley League title – Midland Daily News

Niles Brandywine secured the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference championship by a point ahead of Comstock – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium