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: 9/29/15
September 29, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The tennis and golf regular seasons will soon come to a close – and that means Michigan’s best are facing off to decide league titles with MHSAA tournaments beginning next week.
Girls Golf
Brighton continued to post incredible scores Monday, shooting 316 to win the Huron Valley Invitational led by Julia Dean at 69 – Livingston Daily
Unranked Saline won the Southeastern Conference Invitational ahead of Lower Peninsula Division 1 No. 8 Ann Arbor Pioneer, with Samantha Kellstrom’s 72 keying a 329 team score – AnnArbor.com
Boys Soccer
LP Division 1 No. 3 Utica Eisenhower came back from a weekend loss to beat No. 12 Clinton Township Chippewa Valley 2-0 in a Macomb Area Conference Red match – Macomb Daily
Boys Tennis
Ludington, No. 6 in LP Division 4, downed No. 5 Whitehall in a matchup of Coastal Conference powers – Muskegon Chronicle
Good Reads
Battle Creek Harper Creek and Pennfield combined results from cross country and football to determine the winner of a new traveling trophy – and Harper Creek took the honor first, winning both cross country meets Friday and then the football game as well – Battle Creek Enquirer
Mark Novak plans on coaching the Sanford Meridian varsity baseball team this spring, like he has the last nine seasons. But his community is cheering him on this week as well, as he’s scheduled for surgery Thursday to assist with treatment of congestive heart failure – Midland Daily News