21st WISL Conference Set for Feb. 2-3
January 7, 2014
The first, largest and longest-running program of its type in the country, the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Women In Sports Leadership Conference will take place Feb. 2-3 at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West, formerly the Lexington Lansing Hotel.
The 21st edition of the conference will feature three keynote speakers and a variety of workshops. The program annually attracts upwards of 500 participants, most of them high school female student-athletes. High school students, coaches and administrators are invited to register on the MHSAA Website.
Cost is $50 for students and $60 for adults, not including lodging for those intending to stay overnight in Lansing. A registration form for lodging also is available on the MHSAA Website. Registration closes Jan. 17.
The theme for this WISL Conference is #JustLead, and Dr. René Revis Shingles will focus on leadership in her opening address. Revis Shingles is a certified athletic trainer and sport sociologist and currently serves as a professor and the director of athletic training at Central Michigan University. Revis Shingles has earned degrees from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Illinois State University and Michigan State University, and CMU annually presents a leadership award in her name to a student in its athletic training education program.
University of Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins will speak on “The Importance of Leadership” at the WISL Banquet during the evening of Feb. 2. Hutchins, a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Fame, has led the Wolverines to more than 1,300 wins and the 2005 NCAA championship during her 29 seasons as coach. She holds a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Indiana and a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State.
MSU women’s basketball coach Suzy Merchant will speak on “Leading Through Vision, Values, Voice” during the morning of Feb. 3. Merchant is in her seventh season at MSU after previously coaching at Eastern Michigan University and Saginaw Valley State University and serving as a captain while a player at Central Michigan. Merchant led the Spartans to the Big Ten Conference title in 2010-11 and finishes of third place or higher in each of the last five seasons. She earned a bachelor’ degree at CMU and a master’s at SVSU.
Workshops offered during the conference include topics on coaching, teaching leadership, officiating, sports nutrition, college preparation, multi-sport participation, cultural awareness and the roles and responsibilities of captains. A complete itinerary is available on the MHSAA Website.
The WISL Banquet will include the presentation of this year’s Women In Sports Leadership Award. The winner will be announced later this month.
Follow the #JustLead hashtag on Twitter to learn more about the conference’s activities.
31 First-Time Finals Winners Highlight MHSAA's 2024-25 Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 26, 2025
A total of 93 schools won one or more of the 130 Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships awarded during the 2024-25 school sports year, with 31 teams winning the first MHSAA titles in their respective sports.
A total of 23 schools won two or more championships this school year, paced by Marquette’s eight earned in girls and boys cross country, boys golf, boys skiing, girls and boys swimming & diving, boys tennis and boys track & field. Detroit Country Day and Northville were next with four Finals championships apiece, and Detroit Catholic Central, East Grand Rapids, Newberry and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep all won three titles.
Winning two titles in 2024-25 were Ann Arbor Greenhills, Belleville, Clarkston Everest Collegiate, Farmington Hills Mercy, Fowler, Goodrich, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Hancock, Hartland, Jackson Lumen Christi, Kalamazoo Christian, Negaunee, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Pickford, Saline and Traverse City St. Francis.
A total of 51 champions were repeat winners from 2023-24. A total of 28 teams won championships for at least the third-straight season, while 14 teams extended title streaks to at least four consecutive seasons. The Lowell wrestling program owns the longest title streak at 11 seasons, followed by Dundee wrestling’s eight consecutive titles and runs of six straight Finals victories by the Detroit Catholic Central ice hockey team and Marquette’s boys cross country and boys swimming & diving programs.
Sixteen of the MHSAA's 28 team championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine title winners in both Peninsulas is conducted in remaining sports.
For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2024-25, click here (PDF).
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.