2017-18 Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 21, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A total of 98 schools won one or more of the 129 Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships awarded during 2017-18, including one school that won both its first and then second Finals titles of all time.
Hart’s girls cross country team celebrated its first MHSAA Finals championship by winning the Lower Peninsula Division 3 meet in the fall, and then doubled up its number of titles both this school year and in school history with a first place at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals this spring.
A total of 22 schools won two or more championships this school year. Marquette claimed the most, four, winning in Division 1 girls and boys skiing, Upper Peninsula Division 1 girls cross country and Upper Peninsula Division 1 boys track & field.
Seven schools won three MHSAA Finals championships: Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Detroit Catholic Central, Detroit Country Day, Escanaba, Flint Powers Catholic, Houghton and Negaunee. Joining Hart with two titles during 2017-18 were Bronson, Clarkston, Detroit Edison Public School Academy, East Grand Rapids, Grosse Pointe South, Hanover-Horton, Hudson, Iron River West Iron County, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, Novi, Ontonagon, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and St. Ignace.
Bessemer also was part of two championships, winning the Upper Peninsula Division 3 boys track & field title and then as the secondary school in a cooperative program with Wakefield-Marenisco that finished first in Upper Peninsula Division 2 boys cross country.
A total of 33 teams won first MHSAA titles in their respective sports. A total of 45 champions were repeat winners from 2016-17 – and 18 of those won for at least the third straight season, while nine extended title streaks to at least four consecutive years.
The Petoskey boys skiing team took over the longest title streak at eight seasons, while the Marquette boys skiing and Rockford girls lacrosse teams share the second-longest streak at six straight championships.
Sixteen of the MHSAA's 28 championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine titlists in both Peninsulas is conducted in remaining sports.
For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2017-18 - Click Here (PDF)
PHOTO: Grosse Pointe South's baseball team rushes the field after clinching the Division 1 baseball championship Saturday at McLane Stadium.
Welcome to the Second Half
January 27, 2012
More than 750 high schools are members of the Michigan High School Athletic Association. And every team in every community has a story.
“Second Half” is our place to tell them.
Combined with our parent site MHSAA.com, and our broadcast home MHSAA.tv, “Second Half” completes our picture of the best Michigan high school sports have to offer.
With MHSAA.com, “Second Half” is the home of a growing number of schedules, scores, league standings and tournament information for our sports – but also much more. Now, we’ll look to provide visitors with the stories behind the scores.
You’ll find the report of a rare feat or the achievement that rallied the town. Behind-the-scenes looks at what we do at the MHSAA and what goes into 28 Finals tournaments each school year. We tell the inspiring tales of overcoming large obstacles, and the simple ones of lessons learned just by being a part of school sports. They’re the kind of stories all of us can relate to and enjoy, no matter where we live and which teams we support.
Michigan is the 10th-largest state in the nation. There are more than 58,000 square miles of land, and by vehicle it’s 625 miles from Calumet High School near the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula to Bedford High on the southeastern border with Ohio. Nearly 10 million people live, work and play here. MHSAA tournament events alone attract 1.6 million spectators each year.
With “Second Half”, we aim to make our state a little smaller.
If you like something we’re doing, let us know. If you’d like to see something else, I’d love to hear about it. My contact information is at the right of this screen, and my e-mail address is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you – and telling the entire state about the great things you’re doing.
--Geoff Kimmerly