Today in the MHSAA: 8/24/20
August 24, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Cross country statewide and volleyball, boys soccer and girls swimming & diving in northern Michigan were able to kick off competition over the weekend, bringing a fresh slate of storylines to the return of high school athletics in this state.
1. Cross Country: Bay City Western ran its first dual meets in 21 years, with the boys defeating Freeland and the Freeland girls winning by two in a matchup of possible Finals contenders – Bay City Times
2. Girls Golf: Rockford edged St. Joseph by 11 strokes to win the Sydney Carfine Invitational at The Meadows – Local Sports Journal
3. Boys Tennis: South Lyon freshman Cameron Crosby dominated No. 1 singles in highlighting the season-opening Pinckney quad – Livingston Daily
4. Volleyball: Grand Haven opened with a strong showing at Cadillac, defeating the host Vikings, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern and Coopersville – Grand Haven Tribune
5. Boys Tennis: Big Rapids won back-to-back quads at Ludington and Wyoming – Big Rapids News
6. Volleyball: Petoskey edged Alpena 25-23, 25-19 to win the Sault Ste. Marie Invitational – Alpena News
7. Cross Country: Adrian Lenawee Christian swept championships at the Addison Early Bird Invitational – JTV
8. Girls Tennis: Ishpeming Westwood and Iron Mountain swept their tri-meets as the annual Kingsford Invitational was split into two round-robins to account for COVID-19 restrictions – Iron Mountain Daily News
9. Girls Golf: Parma Western shot a 380 to win its invitational by nine strokes – JTV
10. Boys Soccer: Traverse City Central outscored Manistee and Boyne City by a combined 11-0 during Saturday play – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Also of note …
Football: From last week, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood and Muskegon Catholic Central are mourning the death of Cranbrook varsity coach Ben Jones, who died in a car crash; he formerly starred at MCC – Detroit News
Boys Basketball: Clinton Township Chippewa Valley coach Kevin Voss has retired after 38 years coaching basketball – Macomb Daily
Today in the MHSAA: 1/23/20
January 23, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Two of the three No. 1-ranked hockey teams in Michigan faced off Thursday in league play to take today’s No. 1 spot, followed by one of the state’s annual wrestling powers claiming a conference championship.
1. Hockey: Division 2 top-ranked Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice edged Division 1 No. 1 Detroit Catholic Central 2-1 – Oakland Press
2. Wrestling: Division 3 No. 2 Richmond clinched the Blue Water Area Conference championship with a sweep of Croswell-Lexington and Imlay City – Macomb Daily
3. Hockey: Division 1 No. 4 Brighton avenged an earlier loss to No. 3 Salem with a 3-0 win in the rematch – Observer & Eccentric
4. Bowling: Bay City Central’s girls and Essexville Garber’s boys won Bay County championships – Bay City Times
5. Girls Basketball: Michigan Center avenged last season’s Regional Final loss to Springport, 61-49 – Jackson Citizen Patriot
6. Hockey: Division 2 No. 2 Livonia Stevenson continued its recent success against No. 4 Hartland, 7-0 – Observer & Eccentric
7. Girls Basketball: Bellaire remained undefeated and ended Gaylord St. Mary’s 59-game Ski Valley Conference winning streak with a 49-36 victory – Up North Live
8. Boys Basketball: Carrollton moved to 8-0 with a 77-70 win over Reese – Saginaw News
9. Hockey: Grand Haven came back from a one-goal deficit with four minutes to play to get past Hudsonville 5-3 – Local Sports Journal
10. Hockey: Will Dawson scored a natural hat trick during the first period to lead Division 2 No. 6 Traverse City Central past Petoskey 6-0 – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Also of note …
Football: Gwinn is mourning the unexpected death of football coach Dion Brown, who took over the program in 2014 and led it to multiple playoff appearances – WLUC
Football: Hudson coach Chris Luma has stepped down with a 180-70 record over the last 23 seasons – Adrian Daily Telegram
Football: Continuing Rockford’s streak of 25 straight winning seasons will rest with former assistant Brent Cummings, who was promoted to head coach – Grand Rapids Press