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: 10/25/16

October 25, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The most exciting of limited action statewide Monday came on the volleyball court, as multiple teams won league titles and top teams from Traverse City faced off.

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.

Volleyball

Class B No. 5 Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard repeated as Detroit Catholic League A-B champion with a win over Class A No. 8 Farmington Hills Mercy – Oakland Press

Madison Heights Bishop Foley also repeated, winning the Catholic League C-D title with a 3-2 edging of Allen Park Cabrini – Oakland Press

Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian clinched the Northern Lakes Conference title with a sweep of Boyne Falls – Petoskey News-Review

Four of Traverse City’s best met in quad play Monday, with Class C No. 4 St. Francis beating Kingsley and Class D No. 3 Leland but losing to Traverse City Central, and Leland beating Central but also losing to Kingsley, which is unranked but moved to 50-6-3 – Traverse City Record-Eagle

From Saturday, Ludington won its first Lakes 8 Conference title by sweeping the conference tournament and regular-season schedule – Ludington Daily News