Participation Again Outpaces Population
August 26, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
For the third straight school year, Michigan in 2018-19 had the eighth-most participants in high school sports nationally according to statistics recently released by the National Federation of State High School Associations, again outpacing the state’s national ranking of 10th for total number of residents of high school age.
Michigan’s participation ranking was based on a number of 292,947, with 126,342 girls and 166,605 boys taking part in high school athletics, and included sports in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association does not conduct postseason tournaments. The totals count students once for each sport in which he or she participates, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
The state’s girls participation ranked eighth nationally for the third straight year, while boys participation fell back to eighth, after moving up one spot to seventh during 2017-18. However, as with overall population, Michigan continued to rank 10th for both females and males ages 14-17 according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates from 2018.
A total of 19 sports bested the state’s overall national participation ranking of eighth by placing seventh or higher on their respective lists. Four Michigan sports improved in national ranking during 2018-19, while the state fell in the rankings of five sports.
Perhaps the most notable improvement among Michigan sports came in boys bowling, where Michigan moved up one spot to second – its highest ranking in any of the 28 sports under MHSAA administration. Michigan previously ranked second nationally in boys bowling as recently as 2013-14 before falling to third for the last four years. Michigan’s boys tennis participation moved up one spot as well to fifth on its ranking list, while girls track & field moved up one spot to seventh and girls lacrosse moved up one spot to 13th after a one-year drop back in 2017-18.
Three of five sports that fell on participation lists still outpaced Michigan’s overall participation rank – girls volleyball fell one spot to fifth, while girls golf and girls competitive cheer both fell one spot to sixth on their respective rankings lists. Other Michigan sports that ranked eighth or higher in 2018-19 were baseball (eighth), girls basketball (sixth), boys basketball (seventh), girls bowling (fourth), girls and boys cross country (both seventh), 11 and 8-player football (sixth and seventh, respectively), boys golf (sixth), boys ice hockey (fourth), girls and boys skiing (both third), girls softball (seventh), girls tennis (third) and boys track & field (seventh).
Boys lacrosse, girls soccer and boys and girls swimming & diving participation all slotted ninth on their respective lists, holding to their 2017-18 rankings and placing still ahead of where Michigan slotted for high school-aged population. Michigan wrestling participation fell two spots to ninth nationally, but still outpaced population, and boys soccer fell one spot to 10th. Girls gymnastics participation ranked 11th nationally for the second straight year.
National participation in high school sports in 2018-19 declined for the first time in 30 years – but the total of 7,937,491 participants still ranked third highest all-time, consisting of 4,534,758 boys and 3,402,733 girls.
Girls volleyball saw the largest increase in participants nationally with 6,225 more this past year over 2017-18, followed by boys track & field (+5,257), girls soccer (+3,623) and girls lacrosse (+3,164).
Football, despite a 5.8-percent decrease from 2017-18, remained the most-played high school sport nationally with 1,006,013 participants. Boys track & field (605,354), boys basketball (540,769), girls track & field (488,267), baseball (482,740), boys soccer (459,077) and girls volleyball (452,808) all saw at least 400,000 participants, while girls basketball (399,067) and girls soccer (394,105) approached that total.
The top 10 states by participants remained the same in 2018-19. Texas and California topped the list again with 825,924 and 824,709 participants, respectively, followed by New York (369,266), Ohio (339,158), Illinois (333,838), Pennsylvania (316,429), Florida (308,173), Michigan (292,947), New Jersey (281,058) and Minnesota (240,487). Only Texas, California and Minnesota reported higher figures than the previous year.
The participation survey has been compiled in its current form by the NFHS since 1971 through numbers it receives from its 51 member state associations, including the District of Columbia. Click to see the complete 2018-19 High School Athletics Participation Survey.
The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 16 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,500 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including almost 8 million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings, sanctions interstate events, offers online publications and services for high school coaches and officials, sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, speech and debate coaches, and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities.
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.
Week 9 Football Playoff Listing
October 22, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Here is a list of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playing schools, displaying their win-loss records and playoff averages through the eighth week of the season. Schools on this list are in enrollment order. An asterisk (*) beside a record indicates that a team has eight or fewer games scheduled. A caret (^) beside a school’s name indicates that a team is one win away from playoff qualification.
Those schools with 11-player teams with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules, or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer, will qualify for the MHSAA Football Playoffs beginning Nov. 1-2. Schools with 5-4, 4-3 or 4-4 records may qualify if the number of potential qualifiers by win total does not reach the 256 mark. Schools with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer may be subtracted from the field based on playoff average if the number of potential qualifiers exceeds the 256 mark.
Once the 256 qualifying schools are determined, they will be divided by enrollment groups into eight equal divisions of 32 schools, and then drawn into regions of eight teams each and districts of four teams each.
Those schools with 8-player teams will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, and the top 16 programs will be drawn into regions of eight teams each for the playoff in that division, which also begins Nov. 1-2.
To review a list of all football playoff schools, individual school playoff point details and to report errors, visit the Football page of the MHSAA Website.
The announcement of the qualifiers and first-round pairings for both the 11 and 8-player playoffs will take place on Oct. 27 on the Selection Sunday Show at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Detroit. The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the MHSAA Website following the Selection Sunday Show.
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11-Player Playoff Listing
1. Sterling Heights Stevenson, 2781, 4-4, 51.500
2. Utica Eisenhower, 2772, 4-4, 53.750
3. Clarkston, 2737, 7-1, 95.500
4. Macomb Dakota, 2693, 8-0, 108.000
5. Howell ^, 2672, 5-3, 64.625
6. Grand Blanc, 2624, 6-2, 81.625
7. East Kentwood ^, 2612, 5-3, 66.750
8. Rockford, 2572, 7-1, 92.750
9. Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, 2506, 7-1, 95.875
10. Lake Orion, 2490, 6-2, 78.375
11. Dearborn Fordson ^, 2309, 5-3, 68.589
12. Holland West Ottawa ^, 2293, 5-3, 66.000
13. Northville, 2275, 7-1, 97.250
14. Detroit Cass Tech, 2262, 8-0, 107.000
15. Brighton ^, 2164, 5-3, 69.000
16. Monroe ^, 2145, 5-3, 62.500
17. Detroit Catholic Central, 2132, 7-1, 94.161
18. Plymouth ^, 2126, 5-3, 61.625
19. Canton, 2078, 7-1, 95.750
20. Novi, 1986, 4-4, 52.375
21. Livonia Stevenson, 1983, 4-4, 49.000
22. Macomb L'Anse Creuse North, 1965, 7-1, 89.500
23. West Bloomfield ^, 1941, 5-3, 63.750
24. New Baltimore Anchor Bay, 1899, 4-4, 48.875
25. Saline, 1897, 7-1, 94.275
26. Westland John Glenn ^, 1880, 5-3, 61.375
27. Holt, 1866, 4-4, 53.250
28. Warren Mott, 1796, 8-0, 99.000
29. Romeo, 1793, 4-4, 54.750
30. Oxford, 1782, 4-4, 51.625
31. Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, 1759, 6-2, 79.250
32. Hudsonville ^, 1736, 5-3, 70.875
33. Ann Arbor Skyline, 1715, 4-4, 49.250
34. Grand Ledge, 1715, 4-4, 51.250
35. Belleville ^, 1714, 5-3, 64.750
36. Davison, 1692, 4-4, 44.250
37. Walled Lake Northern, 1688, 6-2, 80.125
38. Traverse City West ^, 1653, 5-3, 66.500
39. Rochester, 1615, 4-4, 52.125
40. Waterford Kettering ^, 1604, 5-3, 66.125
41. Temperance Bedford, 1600, 8-0, 114.000
42. Grosse Pointe South ^, 1598, 5-3, 62.500
43. Rochester Adams ^, 1582, 5-3, 67.000
44. Saginaw Heritage ^, 1575, 5-3, 60.250
45. Warren DeLaSalle ^, 1564, 5-3, 74.500
46. Walled Lake Western, 1556, 8-0, 108.000
47. Flint Carman-Ainsworth, 1488, 7-1, 86.875
48. Detroit U-D Jesuit, 1476, 4-4, 55.500
49. Midland, 1462, 7-1, 90.750
50. Ypsilanti Lincoln, 1460, 7-1, 85.875
51. Pinckney ^, 1452, 5-3, 65.625
52. Traverse City Central ^, 1448, 5-3, 60.571
53. Oak Park ^, 1438, 5-3, 64.875
54. Detroit Martin Luther King *, 1432, 7-0, 103.571
55. Royal Oak, 1414, 4-4, 47.625
56. Southgate Anderson, 1409, 4-4, 48.500
57. Ypsilanti Community, 1399, 4-4, 45.000
58. Port Huron ^, 1398, 5-3, 63.107
59. Wyandotte Roosevelt, 1373, 8-0, 110.000
60. Portage Central, 1372, 8-0, 108.000
61. Lansing Everett ^, 1369, 5-3, 58.625
62. Portage Northern, 1364, 6-2, 74.625
63. Garden City, 1362, 4-4, 47.125
64. Southfield, 1356, 7-1, 95.875
65. North Farmington *, 1352, 5-3, 56.286
66. Caledonia ^, 1350, 5-3, 60.000
67. Battle Creek Lakeview, 1348, 8-0, 90.000
68. Birmingham Seaholm, 1337, 8-0, 103.000
69. Birmingham Brother Rice, 1326, 8-0, 111.200
70. Grosse Pointe North ^, 1323, 5-3, 65.375
71. Muskegon Mona Shores, 1314, 6-2, 79.500
72. Midland Dow, 1304, 7-1, 85.036
73. Farmington Hills Harrison, 1300, 7-1, 93.750
74. South Lyon, 1277, 6-2, 82.250
75. Swartz Creek, 1277, 4-4, 52.768
76. Birmingham Groves, 1274, 7-1, 85.875
77. Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills ^, 1231, 5-3, 52.500
78. Fenton, 1188, 8-0, 101.000
79. Grand Rapids Northview, 1182, 4-4, 49.750
80. Mattawan, 1176, 4-4, 45.625
81. Warren Woods Tower, 1170, 6-2, 62.750
82. Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, 1151, 7-1, 92.500
83. Lowell, 1146, 8-0, 118.000
84. Taylor Truman, 1131, 6-2, 74.500
85. East Lansing, 1124, 4-4, 52.750
86. Holly, 1124, 4-4, 49.375
87. Muskegon, 1118, 7-1, 97.875
88. Lapeer East, 1113, 4-4, 50.625
89. Marquette *, 1110, 5-2, 73.286
90. Detroit East English ^, 1109, 5-3, 59.750
91. Detroit Cody ^, 1106, 5-3, 57.250
92. Allen Park, 1103, 6-2, 76.625
93. Detroit Renaissance ^, 1097, 5-3, 53.268
94. Detroit Mumford, 1090, 6-2, 72.732
95. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 1079, 6-2, 71.250
96. St. Johns, 1079, 4-4, 47.625
97. Zeeland East ^, 1071, 5-3, 67.125
98. Lapeer West, 1063, 7-1, 91.375
99. Redford Thurston ^, 1063, 5-3, 65.375
100. Auburn Hills Avondale, 1055, 4-4, 42.375
101. Byron Center, 1039, 6-2, 68.750
102. Mt. Pleasant, 1033, 7-1, 92.875
103. Riverview, 993, 6-2, 66.625
104. St. Joseph, 986, 7-1, 88.875
105. Orchard Lake St. Mary's, 980, 4-4, 54.625
106. Petoskey ^, 965, 5-3, 62.000 &a