Parade of Champions 2013-14
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 18, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A total of 99 schools won one or more of the 127 team Finals championships awarded by the Michigan High School Athletic Association during the 2013-14 school year – with six programs winning the first MHSAA team titles in any sport for their respective schools.
The Detroit Consortium boys basketball, Jonesville boys bowling, Croswell-Lexington girls bowling, Bark River-Harris girls golf, Farmington ice hockey and Ann Arbor Skyline boys soccer teams all brought home the first MHSAA team championships in their schools’ histories.
For the second straight school year, a total of 33 teams won their first MHSAA titles. A total of 40 champions were repeat winners from 2012-13 – and 25 of those won for at least the third straight season. The Birmingham Brother Rice boys lacrosse team has the longest title streak of 10 seasons, while the Battle Creek St. Philip volleyball team has won eight straight titles for the second-longest streak overall and longest among girls programs.
Marquette claimed the most championships, six, winning in Division 1 boys skiing, Upper Peninsula Division 1 boys cross country and girls cross country, Upper Peninsula boys swimming and diving and girls swimming and diving, and Upper Peninsula Division 1 girls track and field. Five schools won three titles apiece: Brother Rice, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, Birmingham Seaholm, Detroit Country Day and East Grand Rapids.
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.
For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2013-14 - Click Here (PDF)
PHOTO: The Battle Creek St. Philip volleyball team celebrates at Kellogg Arena after winning its eighth straight Class D championship in November.
Inman's 'Spirit' Recognized by NFHS
March 12, 2019
By John Gillis
Special from NFHS
Searra Inman, a student-athlete at Niles Brandywine High School, has been selected as the Section 4 recipient of the “National High School Spirit of Sport Award” by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
The National High School Spirit of Sport Award was created by the NFHS to recognize those individuals who exemplify the ideals of the spirit of sport that represent the core mission of education-based athletics.
A soccer and wrestling participant during her athletic career at Brandywine High School, Inman’s life changed forever during the summer between her junior and senior years.
At that time, she was diligently preparing for her senior wrestling season. With 75 career victories to her credit, she had two goals – to achieve 100 victories and to earn a four-year varsity wrestling plaque.
On July 9, 2018, Inman was involved in a motorcycle crash that left her with a displaced vertebral fracture that severed her spinal cord and resulted in her being paralyzed from the waist down.
Inman underwent surgical procedures at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital. Surgeons in Indianapolis used her as a case study due to the fact that almost no one with such severe spinal cord injuries had reached the operating table alive. Her initial prognosis was that she would remain hospitalized into January 2019.
However, on Sept. 14, 2018, Inman led her school’s football team onto the field for its Week 4 game. Then, during Brandywine High School’s December 5th wrestling season opener with Bronson High School, Inman locked her wheelchair, crawled in uniform to the circle of the wrestling mat, and was awarded a forfeit win in the 103-pound weight class.
However, the best might have been saved for last when during a Feb. 12 Division 4 Regional match against Schoolcraft, Inman once again moved to the center of the mat, had her hand raised for another forfeit, and in the process, got victory No. 100 and accomplished her mission.
Click to read the Second Half report "In Her Fight, Inman Seeks to Provide Hope" published earlier this winter.
About the Award
The NFHS divides the nation into eight geographical sections. The states in Section 4 are Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.
Nominations for this award were generated through NFHS member state associations and reviewed by the NFHS Spirit of Sport Award Selection Committee composed of state association staff members.
While the national winner will be recognized June 29 at the NFHS Summer Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, the section winners will be recognized within their respective states and will receive awards before the end of the current school year.
PHOTO: Searra Inman has her arm raised in victory during a match this season. (Photo courtesy of the Niles Brandywine wrestling program.)