MHSAA Women In Sports Leadership Conference to Celebrate Multiple Milestones
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 14, 2022
A pair of milestones will be celebrated by the Michigan High School Athletic Association during this year’s Women In Sports Leadership Conference, to be presented Sunday, Oct. 9, and Monday, Oct. 10 at Crowne Plaza Lansing West for 600 participants, most of them high school female student-athletes from across the state.
A theme of “Power of the Past – Force of the Future” will recall opportunities created during the 50 years since the enactment of Title IX in 1972. This also will be the 25th WISL Conference, which remains the first, largest and longest-running program of its type in the country.
This year’s edition again will feature three keynote speakers and a variety of workshops. The opening address will be delivered by Ashley Baker, who serves as the chief diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officer at Michigan State University. Baker, originally from Pontiac, earned bachelor and master’s degrees from Bowling Green State University and a doctorate in sport management and policy from the University of Georgia. She came to MSU in December 2020 from Xavier University (Louisiana) where she most recently had served as assistant vice president for student affairs and chief inclusion officer/deputy Title IX coordinator.
First-year Spartans softball coach Sharonda McDonald-Kelley will speak during the Oct. 9 evening general session. She coached Campbell University (N.C.) to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and was a four-time all-Big 12 selection as a player at Texas A&M, appearing in the College World Series before playing professionally for seven years. McDonald-Kelley was named Big South Conference Coach of the Year in 2021, and previously also coached professionally and as associate head coach at Texas Tech University after serving as an assistant for multiple prestigious college programs.
University of Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes-Arico will speak during the morning session Oct. 10. She led the Wolverines last season to their first NCAA Tournament Elite Eight and is nearing 500 career victories, having won a U-M program-record 218 during her 10 seasons. She’s a two-time Big Ten Conference Coach of Year and was a semifinalist this past season for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year honor. Michigan is her fifth college coaching stop; she came to Ann Arbor after 10 seasons at St. John’s. She played basketball one season at Stony Brook University (N.Y.) and then her final three including two as captain at Montclair State University (N.J.).
Workshops offered during the WISL Conference include topics on coaching, teaching and learning leadership; sports nutrition and performance, and injury prevention; and empowerment and goal-setting. Presenters are accomplished in their fields and represent a wide range of backgrounds in sport.
A complete itinerary is available on the MHSAA Website.
The Oct. 9 evening general session also will include recognition for the 2022 Women In Sports Leadership Award winner – recently-retired Livonia Stevenson athletic director Lori Hyman. A basketball standout at MSU during the second half of the 1970s, Hyman went on to coach college basketball for 17 years and then serve as a highly-regarded athletic director for 27 years including the last 22 at her alma mater Stevenson.
Follow the #WISL hashtag on Twitter and Instagram to learn more about the conference’s activities.
Girls Wrestling District, Regional Team Titles Headline 2025-26 Winter Additions, Rule Changes
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 4, 2025
The MHSAA will this season award District and Regional team championships in girls wrestling for the first time, with those additions headlining changes to winter sports as 2025-26 activities continue to get underway this month across the state.
Ice hockey, gymnastics, competitive cheer, girls and boys bowling, Upper Peninsula girls and boys swimming & diving, girls and boys wrestling and boys basketball all have begun competition for the 2025-26 season. Girls and boys skiing, Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving and girls basketball will begin competition over the next week.
The first Finals team championship in girls wrestling was awarded to Grand Haven to conclude the 2024-25 season, with scoring based on results from individual brackets at the MHSAA Individual Finals. Team champions for District and Regional levels this winter will be determined using the same format as the sport continues to grow toward the possibility of a head-to-head team tournament. A total of 1,505 girls participated in wrestling during the 2024-25 season, more than double the 620 participants from 2021-22, the first season the MHSAA conducted a girls division at the Individual Finals.
Ice hockey teams also will enjoy a significant addition this winter, as they are now allowed to play 27 regular-season games – two more than in seasons past – plus one scrimmage. Ice hockey also has one on-ice rule change that will be noticeable: A puck resting on top of the goal netting between the crossbar and goal frame is now considered unplayable and results in an immediate game stoppage. A puck outside of the goal netting and below the crossbar remains in play for both teams.
The most noticeable rule changes in basketball this winter address goaltending. Offensive teams no longer can be called for goaltending violations, reducing ambiguity over whether a ball was a shot or a pass. Additionally, a rule change establishes that once the ball contacts the backboard, it is automatically considered to be on its downward flight – if a player touches the ball after it hits the backboard, and the ball has a possibility of entering the basket, it is to be ruled as goaltending.
Another basketball rule change expanded the definition of basket interference to include when a player slaps or strikes the backboard, causing the backboard or basket to vibrate, while the ball is on or within the basket, touching the backboard, or within the cylinder.
As were allowed during the fall Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving season, backstroke ledges will be permitted this LP boys and UP girls and boys season in pools that maintain a 6-foot water depth. If used in competition, identical ledges must be provided by the host team for all lanes, although individual swimmers are not required to use them. Also in swimming & diving – during relay exchanges – second, third and fourth swimmers must have one foot stationary at the front edge of the deck. The remainder of their bodies may be in motion prior to the finish of the incoming swimmer.
The 2025-26 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 21 and wraps up with the Girls Basketball Finals on March 21.
A one-year calendar change will move this season’s Competitive Cheer Finals one week later than usual, to March 6-7, to accommodate scheduling at McGuirk Arena at Central Michigan University. Districts this season in cheer are scheduled for Feb. 20-21, 2026, and Regionals for Feb. 28, with Finals the following weekend. Dates for the 2026-27 and future competitive cheer seasons will return to their previously-approved schedule, with Finals to be held during the last Saturday (and previous Friday) in February.
Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates for 2025-26:
Boys Basketball
Districts – Feb. 23, 25, 27
Regionals – March 3, 5
Quarterfinals – March 10
Semifinals – March 12-13
Finals – March 14
Girls Basketball
Districts – March 2, 4, 5
Regionals – March 9, 11
Quarterfinals – March 17
Semifinals – March 19-20
Finals – March 21
Bowling
Regionals – Feb. 18-21
Finals – Feb. 27-28
Competitive Cheer
Districts – Feb. 20-21
Regionals – Feb. 28
Finals – March 6-7
Gymnastics
Regionals – Feb. 28
Finals – March 6-7
Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 16-25
Quarterfinals – Feb. 28
Semifinals – March 5-6
Finals – March 7
Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 9-13
Finals – Feb. 23
Swimming & Diving
Upper Peninsula Girls/Boys Finals – Feb. 21
Lower Peninsula Boys Diving Regionals – March 5
Lower Peninsula Boys Finals – March 13-14
Wrestling – Team
Districts – Feb. 11-12
Regionals – Feb. 18
Finals – Feb. 27-28
Wrestling – Individual
Boys Districts – Feb. 14
Girl Districts – Feb. 15
Boys Regionals – Feb. 21
Girls Regionals – Feb. 22
Finals – March 6-7