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: 10/8/15
October 8, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The start of the Lower Peninsula Girls Golf Tournament included plenty of highlights to top an eventful Wednesday statewide.
Girls Golf
Lower Peninsula Division 2 No. 8 Muskegon Mona Shores won the MHSAA Regional at Thornapple Pointe Golf Club, but Reeths-Puffer freshman Karina VanDuinen also was exceptional going under par to finish first individually – Muskegon Chronicle
LP Division 2 top-ranked Midland Dow tied No. 6 Flushing at 340 and won the Regional title on the fifth-golfer tie-breaker – Saginaw News
Frankenmuth, No. 4 in LP Division 4, won its first Regional title and just ahead of No. 5 Freeland – Saginaw News
New Boston Huron qualified for the MHSAA Finals for the first time in this sport by finishing third at Monroe Country Club – Mlive-Detroit
Boys Soccer
Division 2 top-ranked Holland Christian and Division 3 No. 6 Hudsonville Unity Christian played to a 3-3 tie that made both 6-0-2 in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green – Holland Sentinel
Unranked Tecumseh is 6-4-4 but unbeaten in eight straight after tying Division 2 No. 12 Dexter – Adrian Daily Telegram
Unranked Buckley, a solid 13-2, upset Division 4 No. 3 Leland 2-1. Buckley hadn’t beaten Leland in boys soccer since 2003 – Cadillac News
Division 3 No. 10 Gladwin capped its Northern Michigan Soccer League schedule with another win to finish with a conference record of 10-0 – Midland Daily News
Volleyball
Unranked Mason, a Class A quarterfinalist a year ago, downed No. 10 DeWitt in five sets to create a two-team tie atop the Capital Area Activities Conference Red standings – Lansing State Journal
Good Reads
Coldwater will host its first swimming and diving meet tonight thanks to a $15 million dollar donation that paid for a new aquatic center and was given in honor of the school’s Class of 1942 by one of its members – Battle Creek Enquirer
Farmington Hills Harrison football is 5-1 under longtime coach John Herrington in what might be the final season of the school and despite the transfers of two players before the start of practice – Detroit News