2019-20 Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 26, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A total of 58 schools won one or more of the 69 Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships awarded during the 2019-20 school year, with two teams winning three or more titles despite the cancellation of 62 MHSAA Finals due to COVID-19.
Marquette led with seven championships, winning its divisions in girls and boys skiing, girls and boys swimming & diving, girls and boys cross country and girls tennis. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern won the second-most titles, three, finishing first in its divisions in girls golf, boys tennis and boys soccer – the soccer championship its first in that sport.
Four more schools won two championships: Ann Arbor Pioneer, East Grand Rapids, Farmington Hills Mercy and Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.
A total of 18 teams won first MHSAA titles in their respective sports, with Essexville Garber’s win in Division 3 girls bowling the school’s first Finals championship in any sport. A total of 23 champions were repeat winners from 2018-19 – and 11 of those won for at least the third straight season, while six extended title streaks to at least four consecutive years.
The Marquette boys skiing program owns the longest title streak at eight seasons, while Lowell wrestling joined Rockford girls lacrosse with a seventh consecutive championship. Rockford’s streak remains at seven after its season was canceled.
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. Because of COVID-19, the entire spring season was canceled as were Finals in girls and boys basketball, ice hockey, girls gymnastics and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving.
For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2019-20, click here.
(NOTE: Included in the total of 58 schools above are both Zeeland East and West, which form the cooperative program that won the Division 1 girls bowling title. However, together they are counted as one of the 18 first-time championship teams.)
Armada's Fredette Receives NFHS Honor
January 16, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Longtime Armada tennis coach David Fredette has been named one of 23 National Coaches of the Year for 2018-19 by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NHFS) Coaches Association.
Fredette was selected first at the state level and then from among the eight sections that make up the NFHS – Michigan is part of Section 4 with Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin.
The following brief bio includes an excerpt from Fredette’s coaching philosophy, which nominees were asked to submit after being identified as candidates for the awards.
David Fredette began Armada’s tennis program in 1966 and coached the boys team through the 2018 season. He led more than half his teams over the years to the MHSAA Finals, and 17 to top-10 finishes at the championship meet – including four straight from 2009-12. He also was a major contributor during the early days of the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association, and began serving on its board in 1982. Four times he was selected MHSTeCA state Coach of the Year: in Class C-D in 1982, Class B in 1992, and as one of two selections in Division 4 in both 1998 and 2018. Fredette was inducted into the MHSTeCA Hall of Fame in 1988. Armada’s tennis courts are named for him.
Fredette played tennis at Dowagiac High School and then Benton Harbor Community College. He also coached basketball and football during his time at Armada.
“Athletics give students a chance to become student-athletes, which means athletics teach athletes discipline, a strong work ethic, and cooperation with others. Athletics teach athletes how to not only compete, but how to handle both winning and losing. … I know that students who play sports upon graduation are more prepared to face the challenges that life presents them. While I always expected my players to work hard, I wanted my athletes to enjoy the experiences on and off the courts. My former players tell me how much they enjoyed competing, but also how much fun they had on the trips we went on together, whether it was to play top competition across the state of Michigan or on the Florida trips I took my boys teams on over Easter vacation from 1989 through 2001 to practice and bond as a team. Athletes learn how to compete, but they also gain friendships that last a lifetime, if only in their memories.”
Four more Michigan coaches earned honors in Section 4. Brighton girls swimming & diving coach Jason Black led the Bulldogs to a Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals runner-up finish in Fall 2018, its best placing in program history. Dexter boys swimming & diving coach Michael McHugh was selected for the second-straight year as a Section 4 winner after leading his team to its fourth-straight Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship last winter. Battle Creek St. Philip volleyball coach Vicky Groat at one point guided the Tigers to nine Class D championships in 10 seasons from 2005-14 and is the sixth-winningest coach in MHSAA volleyball history with a record of 1,154-262-93. Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart co-coach Judy Hehs helped lead that program to its second-straight Lower Peninsula Division 4 championship this past fall, its sixth title in eight seasons, in her final tournament before retirement. She previously was named NFHS Coaches Association National Coach of the Year for girls tennis in 2016.
The NFHS has been recognizing coaches through an awards program since 1982. Winners of NFHS awards must be active coaches during the year for which they receive their award.