Today in the MHSAA: 9/24/18

September 24, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.

1. Cross Country: The Salem girls, No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 1, and No. 12 Clarkston boys won Jackson Invitational titles ahead of fields loaded with top-ranked teams – Observer & Eccentric

2. Cross Country: Two runners broke the school record as Brighton’s top-ranked LPD1 boys won the Monroe Jefferson Invitational Division 1 race; the Bulldogs swept championships as the No. 10 girls team won in a tie-breaker – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

3. Girls Swimming & Diving: LPD2 No. 6 Midland Dow won the Tri-Cities Invitational for the eighth straight season – Midland Daily News

4. Boys Tennis: Traverse City Central won its Great Lakes quad with wins over Rochester, LPD4 No. 8 Ludington and Midland, and with Chase Berden winning his 100th match – Traverse City Record-Eagle

5. Girls Swimming & Diving: LPD3 No. 5 Milan won the D3 Midseason Invitational ahead of a number of contenders in that division – Holland Sentinel

6. Boys Tennis: Unranked Petoskey made its bid for the polls with a big win over LPD3 No. 9 Haslett and close loss to No. 6 Parma Western – Petoskey News-Review

7. Boys Soccer: Boyne City extended its winning streak to eight with a three-game sweep at the Clare Invitational – Petoskey News-Review

8. Volleyball: Hudson improved to 19-6-3 with six wins and a tie in claiming the Morenci Invitational – Adrian Daily Telegram

9. Boys Soccer: Alpena outscored its opponents 14-1 to win its Huron Shores Invitational – Alpena News

10. Cross Country: Petoskey’s teams dominated their invitational in sweeping championships; the girls are ranked No. 5 in LPD2 – Petoskey News-Review

Also of note …

Boys Soccer: From Thursday, Goodrich downed previously-undefeated and Division 4 top-ranked Burton Genesee Christian to earn a share of the Genesee Area Conference championship – WJRT

Today in the MHSAA: 10/19/16

October 19, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

District soccer continued Tuesday and league champions were crowned in volleyball and cross country all over the Lower Peninsula – but the must-see stories are a pair of “good reads” coming out of the Jackson and Alpena areas.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.

Cross Country

The Caro boys – No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – and the No. 6 Shepherd girls won championships at the Tri-Valley Conference all-division final – Saginaw News

The Ubly girls and boys teams repeated as East champions at the Greater Thumb Conference championship race (Ubly's girls are No. 9 in LPD4), and the Reese girls and LPD4 honorable mention Cass City boys repeated as West winners – Huron Daily Tribune

Traverse City West swept the final Big North Conference jamborees, the West boys earning the league title and the Central girls finishing as overall league champion for the 14th straight season. The Central girls are No. 4 in LPD1 and the West girls are an honorable mention – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Harbor Springs’ boys (No. 2 LPD4) kept their undefeated season going with a third straight Lake Michigan Conference final championship, and Traverse City St. Francis (No. 2 LPD3) clinched the girls title – Petoskey News-Review

Boys Soccer

Division 1 No. 2 Portage Northern moved on with a 4-1 District win over Lansing Everett thanks to three goals by Ryan Melgar – Kalamazoo Gazette

Adrian Lenawee Christian freshman Zach Riordan set his school’s scoring record of 36 goals in an 8-0 Division 4 win over Clinton – Adrian Daily Telegram

Girls Swimming & Diving

LPD1 No. 2 Saline got past No. 10 Brighton 112-74 in a matchup of top Division 1 teams – Saline Post

Volleyball

Walled Lake Central repeated as Lakes champion in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association with a five-set win over Brighton – Livingston Daily Argus & Press

Class A top-ranked Novi swept Canton to win its fourth straight KLAA Kensington championship – Oakland Press

Marine City improved to 8-1 in the Macomb Area Conference Gold and clinched a share of the league title with a three-set win over Warren Mott – Port Huron Times Herald

Good Reads

The story of Brooklyn Columbia Central standout running back Micah Raby is captivating, if not from this passage alone about how his adopted parents found him: “Inside the missionary’s hut, on an ordinary table lay an ordinary bible box containing an extraordinary sight, and it caught Doug and Sandy Raby’s eyes and hearts immediately. Inside that bible box – no bigger than a size 10 shoebox – was a 1-month-old boy named Joseph, one of two surviving triplets. His brother did not survive the birth and the birth parents decided to keep the other one, believed to be a girl, because it was the biggest and had the greatest chance of surviving.” – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Lincoln Alcona announcer Don Franklin first gave voice to the school’s athletic events in 1967, and will retire at the end of this school year with 50 years on the microphone announcing football and a number of other sports over a half century – Alpena News