Today in the MHSAA: 9/16/2015

September 16, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

MHSAA Finals favorites in cross country and boys tennis got an early look at each other Tuesday, while a Corunna volleyball standout set a school record – literally.

Cross Country

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart has become arguably the team to beat in Lower Peninsula Division 4 girls cross country, evidenced again by its win at the Beal City Invitational ahead of the reigning MHSAA champion Aggies – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Boys Soccer

Division 2 No. 14 Fruitport scored with six minutes to play to push past Division 3 No. 12 Ludington 4-3 – Muskegon Chronicle

Northville, ranked No. 4 in Division 1, improved to 8-0 with a 4-1 win over Livonia Stevenson – Detroit News

Boys Tennis

The top-ranked teams in LP Division 4 met Tuesday, with No. 1 Ann Arbor Greenhills prevailing in close matches to claim a 6-2 win over No. 2 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett – Mlive-Detroit

We’ve heard of lots of traveling trophies in football, but this might be a first for tennis; Clio tied Swartz Creek 4-4, and with a 5-3 win as well this season, retained “The Rock” – Flint Journal

From Saturday, we’ve got a more detailed account of how the strong competition played out at the Grosse Pointe North Invitational – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Tennis

Iron Mountain, last season’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 runner-up, moved to 14-0 this season in a close match against reigning Division 1 runner-up Kingsford – Iron Mountain Daily News

Volleyball

Reigning Class A champion Romeo rode a strong finishing run by Miss Volleyball favorite Gia Milana to down always-powerful Marysville – Macomb Daily

Corunna’s Skylar Napier broke her school’s career assists record with 2,328 during a pair of wins over Lake Fenton and Montrose – Flint Journal

Midland Bullock Creek may be unranked, but at least locally has been nearly unstoppable, moving to 19-2-1 with a pair of wins Monday – Midland Daily News

Good Read

And a good cause – Okemos and Mason’s boys soccer teams introduced this season’s "Compete for a Cause" game, which will be played Sept. 26 under the lights at Okemos High School. The teams combined last season to raise $11,000 for childhood cancer research – Lansing State Journal

Today in the MHSAA: 6/6/16

June 6, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Another busiest week – and busiest day – in MHSAA sports is in the books. So too are Finals champions in track & field and girls tennis, and hundreds of District champions in baseball, softball and girls soccer and Regional champions in girls and boys lacrosse.

We touch on the statewide media coverage of just some of the highlights below.

Baseball

Top-ranked Coldwater won its fifth straight District title, downing No. 10 Marshall 8-4 in the championship game in Division 2 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Unranked Beaverton emerged from a Division 3 District that included No. 2 Sanford Meridian and No. 3 Clare – Midland Daily News

Birmingham Groves got past Birmingham Brother Rice 8-6 in Division 1 to win its first District championship since 2005 – Oakland Press

Boys Lacrosse

Birmingham Brother Rice received a rare scare before downing Clarkston 9-6 in Division 1 – Observer & Eccentric

Okemos won its second straight Division 2 Regional title by surviving Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 9-8 – Lansing State Journal

Girls Lacrosse

Reigning Division 2 champion East Grand Rapids needed overtime to survive, 11-9, against Grand Rapids Catholic Central – Fox17

Rockford just edged Grand Rapids Forest Hills United 9-8 to move on in Division 1 – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Soccer

Division 3 No. 6 Freeland won its seventh straight District title, this time with a 4-1 championship game clincher over Alma – Midland Daily News

Division 4 No. 2 Elk Rapids moved to 21-0 this season with an 8-0 championship game win over No. 14 Leland – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Softball

Blissfield downed No. 6 Dundee to start Saturday, but top-ranked Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central beat Blissfield 4-1 in 10 innings in the Division 3 championship game – Adrian Daily Telegram

After seeing a 10-year District streak snapped in 2015, New Baltimore Anchor Bay made it 11 in 12 seasons with a 2-1 avenging of last year’s loss to Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in Division 1 – Macomb Daily

Fulton won its first District title in this sport, downing rival Fowler 8-3 in the Division 4 championship game – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Girls Tennis

Four MHSAA Lower Peninsula tennis teams won championships: Midland Dow in Division 1 after finishing runner-up in 2015, Bloomfield Hills Marian in Division 2 for the first time since 2013, Detroit County Day in Division 3 breaking a five-year hold on the title by Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in a repeat in Division 4 – Second Half

Girls Track & Field

We covered all seven championship meets across both peninsulas, with the following teams winning titles: Oak Park, Lansing Waverly, Ithaca, Fowler, Marquette, Ishpeming and Ontonagon. Ithaca and Lansing Waverly's titles were their first, and Ontonagon’s its first since 1974 – Second Half

Boys Track & Field

We also covered all seven boys meets, with the following champions: Oak Park, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Sanford Meridian, Saugatuck, Marquette, Ishpeming and Rapid River. Oak Park’s title was its first in the sport – Second Half