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: 10/21/15
October 21, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
League cross country finals and the second day of the Lower Peninsula boys soccer tournament dominated headlines as teams celebrated and continued to push toward next month’s MHSAA Finals.
Cross Country
The unranked Quincy girls won the Big 8 Conference final ahead of Lower Peninsula Division 4 No. 8 Concord. Concord’s boys won their race – Coldwater Daily Reporter
The Traverse City Central girls, No. 6 in LPD1, and the West boys who are No. 12, won the Big North Conference championships races – Traverse City Record-Eagle
The Otsego girls, No. 2 in LPD2, won their third straight Wolverine Conference championship while the No. 10-ranked boys also won – Kalamazoo Gazette
The Shepherd boys, No. 4 in LPD3, and the No. 5 girls swept the Tri-Valley Conference titles – the girls ahead of No. 3 Ithaca – Saginaw News
Boys Soccer
Two of the best from the Grand Rapids area met in a Division 1 opener, with No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central outlasting No. 12 East Kentwood 3-2 – Grand Rapids Press
Warren DeLaSalle scored in the final seconds of overtime to edge St. Clair Shores Lakeview 2-1 in a Division 1 game – Oakland Press
Midland Dow avenged its only Saginaw Valley League North loss by downing champion Saginaw Heritage 3-0 in a Division 1 opener – Midland Daily News
Division 1 No. 16 Grand Haven headed home the winning goal in overtime to survive Jenison in their opener – Muskegon Chronicle
Unranked Birmingham Seaholm won its first district game since 2011, and did so against No. 18 Birmingham Brother Rice, 2-1 – Oakland Press