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: 4/17/17
April 17, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The first full weekend of this spring saw tournament action all over the state, with an especially notable softball tournament at Saginaw Swan Valley.
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
Longtime Comstock coach Rich Bailey earned his 500th win with his team’s 2-0 victory over Hopkins; Comstock is No. 10 in Division 3 – Kalamazoo Gazette
Zeeland East won the Holland West Ottawa Invitational by scoring a combined 50 runs over three games – Holland Sentinel
Division 1 No. 5 Midland and No. 12 Mount Pleasant split a Thursday doubleheader that should impact the Saginaw Valley League race – Midland Daily News
Boys Golf
Hartland won the Kensington Lakes Activities Association Lakes preseason tournament, led by a pair of individual runners-up – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Girls Soccer
Cadillac won the Holland Invitational, downing Black River and then the host in the championship match – Cadillac News
Softball
Escanaba improved to 6-1 to continue to make good on its No. 2 ranking in Division 2, going 3-1 at the Saginaw Swan Valley Invitational with wins over Ogemaw Heights, Lake Fenton and Division 1 top-ranked Midland before falling 7-6 to host and D2 No. 3-ranked Swan Valley in a rematch of last season’s Division 2 Quarterfinal – Escanaba Daily Press
Division 1 honorable mention Mount Pleasant also earned a win from top-ranked Midland, splitting a Thursday doubleheader – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
Division 4 No. 3 Rogers City opened its season with wins over DeWitt, St. Johns and Mason to win the East Lansing Invitational against much larger competition – Alpena News
The host Dragons, No. 7 in Division 1, downed honorable mention Oxford 1-0 to win their Lake Orion Invitational – Oakland Press
Girls Tennis
Division 2 top-ranked East Grand Rapids and Division 3 No. 1 Detroit Country Day tied for the championship at the prestigious Allegan Invitational – Grand Rapids Press
Track & Field
The Adrian Madison girls followed Megan Rosales’ dominating performance in winning the Grass Lake Invitational – Adrian Daily Telegram
The Saugatuck boys and Hudsonville girls were overall champions at the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer Invitational – Muskegon Chronicle