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: 2/11/16
February 11, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The first MHSAA postseason of 2016 kicked off Wednesday with wrestling Team Districts, and a couple of significant basketball upsets also topped the headlines from the night’s action.
Boys Basketball
Detroit Collegiate Prep upset reigning Class A champion Detroit Western International in the Detroit Public School League Quarterfinals, 64-63, on a basket with less than a second to play – Detroit Free Press
Bridgeport handed rival Frankenmuth the Eagles’ first loss this season, 55-52, after Frankenmuth won their first meeting in double overtime – Saginaw News
Alex Thomas scored 30 points including the 1,000th of his career in Morenci’s 92-56 win over Whitmore Lake – Adrian Daily Telegram
From Tuesday, reigning Class D champ Powers North Central extended its winning streak to 40 with a nail-biting 64-60 win over Menominee – Escanaba Daily Press
Girls Basketball
Katie Spalding grabbed a school-record 25 rebounds to go with 10 points in Quincy’s 49-40 win over Reading – Coldwater Daily Reporter
Ice Hockey
Midland Dow made it two wins over rival Midland this season, adding a 3-1 victory to its previous 5-4 win – Midland Daily News
Swimming & Diving
Also from Tuesday, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s Ryan Mullen broke the school’s diving record that had stood since 1978 with a score of 254.9 against Portage Northern – Kalamazoo Gazette
Wrestling
Greenville finished behind Cedar Springs in their league this season, but won the rematch 35-34 to earn an 11th straight District title – Grand Rapids Press
Allegan extended its District title streak to 13 straight with big wins over Plainwell and Hamilton – Grand Rapids Press
Remus Chippewa Hills won its 12th straight District championship, downing Big Rapids in the Final – Big Rapids News
Vandercook won its first wrestling team District title in 27 years, downing Hanover-Horton in the Final – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Division 2 No. 3 St. Johns downed No. 2 DeWitt 35-27 in arguably the biggest matchup statewide to open the tournament – Lansing State Journal
The final matchup of rivals Niles and Stevensville Lakeshore this season went to Lakeshore by tie-breaker criteria – Niles Daily Star