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.)
Montrose Again SBP Program of the Year
By
John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus
April 15, 2015
Capturing first place in three of five individual categories, Montrose High School repeated as the “Program of the Year” in the second annual MHSAA School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2014-15.
The SBP Excellence Awards are underwritten by Herff Jones, which will award certificates and plaques to the schools which took individual honors, with the presentation dates and times to be announced.
Montrose took first place in Best Play-By-Play, Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports graphics, and the top two spots for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics. The program also took a second place for Best Produced Commercial/Feature and a third for Best Multicamera Production. Montrose also demonstrated during the school year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.
Other category winners were: Cedar Springs High School for Best Multicamera Production and Rogers City High School for Best Produced Commercial/Features.
Here is the complete list by categories of the schools and students being honored in this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:
Best Multicamera Production
First Place – Cedar Springs – Sam Owen, Sydney Dryer, Bryan Taylor, Alec Lachniet, Kaci Clark – Football game vs. Grand Rapids Northview.
Second Place – Cedar Springs – Rider Swanson, Sam Owens, Darrick Liggett, Kaci Clark, Cody Hoogerheide, Krystyn Messersmith – Football game vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
Third Place – Montrose – Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Amanda Ramsey, Nathan Brown, Eric Vandefifer, Brandon Smith – Genesee Area Conference Girls Competitive Cheer Finals.
Best Play-By-Play
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz – Boys Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.
Second Place – Rogers City – Casey Szatkowski – Girls Basketball game vs. Whittemore-Prescott.
Best Produced Commercial/Feature
First Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Huron Halloween of Horror Feature.
Second Place – Montrose – Alyssa Bernard, Amanda Ramsey, Alicia Town, Allia Town – Sexual Assault PSA.
Third Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Rogers City Girls Basketball Season Preview.
Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics
First Place – Montrose - Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Eric Vandefifer – Girls Soccer match vs. Hemlock.
Second Place – Rogers City – Brendan Koss, Sarah Meredith – Football game vs. Rudyard.
Third Place – Rogers City – Chandler Beland, Josh Foster – Girls Volleyball match vs. Posen.
Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Griffin Powell, Bradley Payne – Boys Basketball game vs. Goodrich.
Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley – Girls Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.
Third Place – Rogers City - Victoria Bullock, Zachary Myers – Football game vs. Hillman.
The School Broadcast Program, powered by PlayOn! Sports, is a platform which schools can utilize to reach members of their community about activities taking place in their buildings, providing recognition for students while at the same time giving them hands-on opportunities to gain broadcasting experience and providing schools an opportunity to realize additional revenues for their programs.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.