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: 3/2/16
March 2, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Snowstorms didn’t stop all of the action Tuesday night, as a basketball team continued to make history and a hockey team enjoyed a comeback that should be talked about for years to come.
Boys Basketball
Grand Rapids Christian earned an impressive 82-62 win over reigning Class B champion Wyoming Godwin Heights – Grand Rapids Press
Johannesburg-Lewiston followed Logan Huff’s 32 points and 10 rebounds to come back from five down in the fourth quarter for a 66-62 win over Mio – Gaylord Herald Times
Hazel Park finished an outright championship with a 64-60 win over Birmingham Groves in the Oakland Activities Association Red; the title was Hazel Park’s first since 1996 – Oakland Press
Ice Hockey
Portage Central scored nine seconds into its Pre-Regional game against rival Portage Northern and continued on for a 4-2 win – Kalamazoo Gazette
After trailing by three goals with a period to play, Utica came back to beat Fraser 6-5 in a Division 2 Pre-Regional game – Macomb Daily
Good Read
It’s impossible not to root for North Muskegon’s Olivia Duncan, who will take the floor in a District Semifinal tonight and play a significant role despite also being on the waiting list for a kidney transplant – Muskegon Chronicle