Chrisinske, Inglis Receive Bush Awards
June 5, 2013
Two athletic administrators respected as mentors and role models in their respective regions and throughout the state – Dave Chrisinske of Middleville Thornapple Kellogg and Cody Inglis of Traverse City Central – have been named the recipients of the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Allen W. Bush Award for 2013.
Al Bush served as executive director of the MHSAA for 10 years. The award honors individuals for past and continuing service to prep athletics as a coach, administrator, official, trainer, doctor or member of the media. The award was developed to bring recognition to men and women who are giving and serving without a lot of attention. This is the 22nd year of the award, with the selections being made by the MHSAA's Representative Council.
Chrisinske has served as an athletic director the last 21 years and for 36 years total in public and community education. He came to Thornapple Kellogg in fall 2011 after 32 years with Allendale Public Schools, where he taught and coached before serving 19 years as athletic director and also as assistant principal and community education director. He has coached football, basketball, baseball and volleyball at school or youth levels, and also is a registered MHSAA volleyball official.
The 1972 graduate of Stockbridge High School also worked for Coopersville Community Education for two years after graduating with his bachelor’s degree in group social studies from Grand Valley State University in 1977. He earned a master’s in educational leadership from Grand Valley State in 1992 and became a Certified Athletic Administrator in 1997.
Chrisinske continues to lend his time and expertise to a number of committees and community efforts; he has served as a region representative for the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association for a decade, on various MHSAA committees including the baseball and wrestling sport committees and the scholarship classification committee, and on three successful school bond committees that led to new buildings and outdoor athletic facilities at Allendale. He also was a district representative for the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association for 10 years and has served on recreation committees for both Allendale and Thornapple Townships.
Chrisinske was recognized as the MIAAA Region IV Athletic Director of the year in 2004, and as Athletic Director of the Year by the West Michigan Officials Association in 2006 and West Michigan Umpires Association in 2011.
“Dave Chrisinske has become a go-to person in his league and community, always willing to share his knowledge and enthusiasm for high school athletics and serving student athletes,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “His dedication shines through as well in his efforts with the MIAAA and as a frequent host of MHSAA tournaments. We are pleased to honor Dave Chrisinske with the Bush Award.”
Inglis also has served as an athletic director at two high schools, dating back to 1997. He spent 11 years at Suttons Bay, first as a teacher and also as assistant principal and middle school principal. He has spent the last five years as athletic director and assistant principal at Traverse City Central High School. Inglis is a 1989 graduate of Portage Northern High School and earned his bachelor’s degree from Hope College and master’s from Ohio University.
He coached boys and girls cross country and track and field at Suttons Bay from 1995-2008, leading his teams to numerous conference championships and the girls cross country team to a runner-up finish at the 2002 Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final. He was named Cross Country Coach of the Year after that season by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association, and the MITCA Track Coach of the Year the following spring. He also served as an assistant coach for eight seasons for the Traverse City St. Francis-led cooperative hockey program.
Inglis has been a member of the MIAAA since 1997, became a Certified Athletic Administrator in 1999, and has served as an MIAAA region representative since 2001. He too is a regular host of MHSAA tournaments in a number of sports and has served as a member of the track and field, hockey, skiing and cross country sport committees and the site and officials selection committees. He was named MIAAA Region 2 Athletic Director of the Year in 2003. Inglis was league treasurer and secretary for the Northwest Conference from 1997-2008 and has served as Big North Conference secretary since 2009.
He’s also active in a number of community programs, including Boy Scouts, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Special Olympics, the Suttons Bay Township Recreation Committee, the Suttons Bay Art Festival and with his church.
“Cody Inglis is named time and again by his fellow athletic administrators as someone of integrity and character,” Roberts said. “He’s passed on these and various lessons to his coaches and athletes, but also as a regular speaker at the MIAAA’s annual conference. His impact continues to affect those he works with regularly in the Traverse City area, but also others across our state. He is a deserving recipient of the Bush Award.”
MHSAA 2026-27 School Year Classifications Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 7, 2026
Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments for the 2026-27 school year have been announced, with enrollment breaks for postseason tournaments posted to each sport’s page on the MHSAA Website.
Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was Feb. 11. The enrollment figure submitted for athletic classification purposes may be different from the count submitted for school aid purposes, as it does not include students ineligible for athletic competition because they reached their 19th birthday prior to Sept. 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.
All sports’ tournaments are conducted with schools assigned to equal or nearly equal divisions, with lines dependent on how many schools participate in those respective sports.
For 2026-27, there are 755 tournament-qualified member schools. Schools recently were notified of their classification, and sport-by-sport divisions were posted to the MHSAA Website today (April 7). MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said a school may not subsequently lower its enrollment figure. However, if a revised enrollment figure is higher and indicates that a school should be playing in a higher division, that school would be moved up.
Five MHSAA Finals champions from fall and winter this school year will change divisions for 2026-27, including a few which have dominated over the first half of this decade.
Whitmore Lake’s girls cross country team will compete in Lower Peninsula Division 3 this upcoming fall coming off three straight Division 4 titles, and Farmington Hills Mercy’s girls swimming & diving team will be moving to Division 3 after winning the last three Division 2 championships. Allen Park’s competitive cheer team, which has won the last three Division 2 championships, will compete in Division 1 next winter. Reigning LPD4 girls golf champion Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian will move into Division 3 this fall, and Division 3 girls volleyball champion Kingsley will be moving into Division 2.
Among spring sports teams currently competing, Pickford’s boys track & field team won the last three Upper Peninsula Division 2 titles and will move to Division 3 for 2027 after competing in Division 2 again this spring, while Newberry – winners of the last two UP Division 3 titles – will move into Division 2 in 2027 after competing in Division 3 this season. The Pickford and Newberry girls teams, both coming off Finals championships last spring as well, will make the same switches for 2027. Powers North Central boys golf, which won the last two UP Division 3 titles, will compete in Division 3 again this spring but move to Division 2 next year.
Schools also may request to play in a higher classification or division in a sport for a minimum of two years. Requests to opt up in fall sports for 2026-27 must be submitted by May 1, winter sports by Aug. 15 and spring sports by Oct. 15
Visit the respective sport pages at MHSAA.com to review the divisional alignments for all MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports. Click the “SPORTS” menu above to access the page for each sport, then the “Assignments” link on the selected sport page and then “DIVISION LIST” to see the 2026-27 division.
Traditional classes (A, B, C, D) – formerly used to establish tournament classifications – are used only for MHSAA elections. To determine traditional classifications, after all counts are submitted, tournament-qualified member schools are ranked according to enrollment and then split as closely into quarters as possible. For 2026-27, there are 188 member schools in Class A and 189 each in Class B, Class C and Class D.
Effective with the 2026-27 school year, schools with 783 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 358-782, Class C is 167-357, and schools with enrollments of 166 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased five students from 2025-26, the break between Classes B and C decreased 12 students, and the break between Classes C and D decreased four students from the 2025-26 school year.
The new classification breaks will see 20 schools move up in Class for 2026-27 while 18 schools will move down:
Moving Up from Class B to Class A
Battle Creek Harper Creek
Chelsea
Harper Woods
Linden
Parma Western
Pontiac
Wayland
Moving Down from Class A to Class B
Adrian
Bay City John Glenn
Fruitport
Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills
Marysville
Owosso
Stevensville Lakeshore
Moving Up from Class C to Class B
Detroit Communication Media Arts
Detroit The School at Marygrove
Ecorse
Fennville
Lake City
Ovid-Elsie
Moving Down from Class B to Class C
Flint Hamady
Manistee
Napoleon
Taylor Prep
Waterford Oakside Prep
Moving Up from Class D to Class C
Brimley
Coldwater Pansophia Academy
Ishpeming
Jackson Prep
Newberry
Petersburg Summerfield
Vestaburg
Moving Down from Class C to Class D
Fulton
Kalamazoo Phoenix
Mayville
Taylor Trillium Academy
Traverse City Greenspire
Vandercook Lake
New Postseason-Eligible Tournament Schools in 2026-27
Calumet Copper Island
Interlochen New Covenant Christian
West Branch Alternative Education Academy
Jackson da Vinci
Enrollment Breaks by Classes – 2026-27
(Number of schools in parentheses)
Class A: 783 and above (188 schools)
Class B: 358 – 782 (189)
Class C: 167 – 357 (189)
Class D: 166 and below (189)
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.