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: 2/14/20
February 14, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The first round of the Team Wrestling Tournament finished up Thursday with a dramatic ending in Division 2 leading a loaded list of headliners from across the state and five sports.
1. Wrestling: Caleb McNeil’s last-match comeback gave No. 8 Muskegon Reeths-Puffer a District Semifinal win over No. 4 Whitehall, and the Rockets then shut out Muskegon to win the title in Division 2 – Local Sports Journal
2. Hockey: Division 2 top-ranked Livonia Stevenson shut out Division 1 No. 3 Brighton 4-0 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship game – Observer & Eccentric
3. Wrestling: Bark River-Harris defeated Manistique in Division 4 to claim its first District title in this sport – Escanaba Daily Press
4. Wrestling: Unranked Union City got past No. 8 Mendon in Division 4 to earn its first District title since 2008 – Coldwater Daily News
5. Wrestling: Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice earned its first District title in this sport in a decade with a 51-20 win over Birmingham Seaholm in Division 1 – Oakland Press
6. Boys Basketball: Fraser’s 50-48 overtime win over St. Clair gave St. Clair and Port Huron Northern a shared Macomb Area Conference Gold title, Northern’s first league championship since 2001 – Port Huron Times-Herald
7. Boys Swimming & Diving: Holland West Ottawa clinched a share of a sixth-straight Ottawa-Kent Conference Red title with a 187-118 win over Grand Haven – Holland Sentinel
8. Girls Basketball: Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart took back the Mid-State Activities Conference championship with a 63-48 win over Coleman – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
9. Boys Basketball: Marquette edged Escanaba 68-64 to clinch the Great Northern Conference title – Marquette Mining Journal
10. Girls Basketball: Oscoda clinched a second-straight North Star League Big Dipper title with a 64-27 win over Whittemore-Prescott – Alpena News
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: Detroit Cass Tech advanced to the Detroit Public School League final with a 53-44 win over Detroit Communication & Media Arts – State Champs Sports Network
Boys Basketball: Muskegon Orchard View’s Ke’Ontae Barnes scored 30 points in a 58-43 win over Muskegon Catholic Central to go over 1,000 for his career – Muskegon Chronicle
Girls Basketball: Saline junior Ella Stemmer went over 1,000 points for her career with 19 in a 59-31 win over Monroe – Ann Arbor News