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.

MHSAA Provides Heat Management Reminders in Advance of 2024 Fall Practices

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

August 1, 2024

A stretch of hot and humid days downstate to finish July provided another reminder of why acclimatization to weather conditions is essential as teams at Michigan High School Athletic Association schools prepare for their first fall practices this month.

Each year, the MHSAA provides information to its member schools to help them prepare for hot weather practice and game conditions during the late summer and early fall. Practices for all Fall 2024 sports – cross country, football, Lower Peninsula girls golf, boys soccer, Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving, Lower Peninsula boys and Upper Peninsula girls tennis, and volleyball – may begin Monday, Aug. 12.

The “Health & Safety” page of the MHSAA Website has links to several information sources, including the MHSAA preseason publication Heat Ways, which is available for download and includes valuable information on heat management in addition to requirements and resources regarding head injuries, sudden cardiac arrest and emergency action plans. Emergency action plans specific to sport and venue are a new requirement for schools beginning this fall season.

The first days of formal practices in hot weather should be more for heat acclimatization than the conditioning of athletes, and practices in such conditions need planning to become longer and more strenuous over a gradual progression of time. Schools also must consider moving practices to different locations or different times of day, or change practice plans to include different activities depending on the conditions. Furthermore, football practice rules allow for only helmets to be worn during the first two days, only shoulder pads to be added on the third and fourth days, and full pads to not be worn until the fifth day of team practice.

The MHSAA advises student-athletes to make sure to hydrate all day long – beginning before practice, continuing during and also after practice is done. Water and properly-formulated sports drinks are the best choices for hydration.

A number of member schools follow the MHSAA’s Model Policy for Managing Heat & Humidity, which while not mandated for member schools was adopted as a rule for MHSAA postseason competition in 2013. The plan directs schools to begin monitoring the heat index at the activity site once the air temperature reaches 80 degrees, and provides recommendations when the heat index reaches certain points, including ceasing activities when it rises above 104 degrees. (When the temperature is below 80 degrees, there is no combination of heat and humidity that will result in a need to curtail activity.) The model heat & humidity policy is outlined in a number of places on the MHSAA Website, including as part of Heat Ways.