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: 3/3/20
March 3, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Girls Basketball District Tournament tipped off Monday and the biggest wave came out of the Upper Peninsula, where Gladstone set the tone as top-two seeds won 90 percent of their games but the other 10 percent earned most of the biggest headlines.
1. Girls Basketball: Gladstone earned the biggest upset of District opening night, draining a last-second 3-pointer to get past previously-undefeated Menominee 46-45 in Division 2 – Escanaba Daily Press
2. Girls Basketball: Flint Carman-Ainsworth won a Division 1 matchup of league champions, downing Flushing 48-38 – WJRT
3. Girls Basketball: Cadillac won a matchup of league champions in Division 2, downing Ludington 43-39 – Cadillac News
4. Girls Basketball: East Kentwood ended Byron Center’s 19-game winning streak with a 50-43 win in Division 1; both teams were league champions this winter – WZZM
5. Girls Basketball: Eaton Rapids upset a league champion in Chelsea 58-49 in overtime in a Division 2 opener – Chelsea Sun Times News
6. Girls Basketball: Mayville got past a league champion in Kinde-North Huron 43-41 in Division 4 – Huron Daily Tribune
7. Girls Basketball: Bridgeport also upset a league champion, downing Caro 56-35 in Division 2 – Saginaw News
8. Girls Basketball: Jackson Lumen Christi ended the season for another league champion in Springport, 42-39 in Division 3 – Jackson Citizen Patriot
9. Girls Basketball: Cass City opened Division 3 play with an upset, downing Harbor Beach 46-34 – Huron Daily Tribune
10. Girls Basketball: Megan Matson led a Division 4 upset with 33 points in Munising’s 51-47 win over Rock Mid Peninsula – Escanaba Daily Press
Also of note …
Girls Basketball: Kent City may have set an MHSAA record with 40 points in the first quarter of a big Division 3 win over Ravenna – Muskegon Chronicle
Boys Basketball: From Friday, Kinde-North Huron earned a share of the North Central Thumb League Stripes title with a big win over Akron-Fairgrove – Huron Daily Tribune
Boys Swimming & Diving: From Saturday, Battle Creek Lakeview – tied for No. 10 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 – locked up the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference championship – WWMT
Boys Swimming & Diving: From Saturday, LPD1 Ann Arbor Pioneer finished nearly 200 points ahead of a field that included three more top-10 teams to win the Southeastern Conference Red championship meet – We Love Ann Arbor