Several 1st-Time Winners Highlight 2025-26 MHSAA Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 18, 2026
Three schools celebrated their first Michigan High School Athletic Association Finals championships in any sport during the 2025-26 school year as 39 teams total won first Finals titles in their respective sports.
Holland Calvary, in boys cross country, Durand in boys bowling and Walled Lake Northern in softball won their schools’ first Finals championships in any sport, as 88 schools total won at least one of the 132 MHSAA team titles awarded over the three seasons.
A total of 23 schools won two or more championships this school year, paced again by Marquette with eight earned in girls and boys cross country, boys golf, girls skiing, girls and boys swimming & diving, boys tennis and boys track & field. Detroit Country Day was next with seven Finals championships, followed by Detroit Catholic Central with six and Ann Arbor Pioneer with four.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Negaunee, Northville and Rockford all won three titles in 2025-26. Winning two were Birmingham Seaholm, Charlevoix, Farmington Hills Mercy, Flint Kearsley, Flint Powers Catholic, Grand Rapids West Catholic, Jackson Lumen Christi, Lake Linden-Hubbell, Lowell, Newberry, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Pewamo-Westphalia, Ravenna, Rudyard and West Iron County.
A total of 48 champions were repeat winners from 2025-26. A total of 31 teams won championships for at least the third-straight season, while 22 teams extended title streaks to at least four consecutive seasons. The Lowell wrestling program owns the longest title streak at 13 seasons, followed by Dundee wrestling’s nine consecutive titles and runs of seven straight Finals victories by the Detroit Catholic Central ice hockey team and Marquette’s boys cross country and boys swimming & diving programs.
This school year saw the addition of field hockey and boys volleyball to the MHSAA’s postseason tournament offerings. Eighteen of the MHSAA's 30 team championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine title winners in both peninsulas is conducted in remaining sports.
For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2025-26, click here (PDF).
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.
PHOTO The Oak Park girls track & field team hoist their championship trophy and sign May 30 at Rockford High School. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Sportsmanship Summits To Address Topics Affecting Athletes On & Off Playing Field
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 7, 2025
The MHSAA's annual Sportsmanship Summit series will return this November with four stops across the Lower Peninsula, providing training on sportsmanship topics affecting students both on and off the field of play.
The MHSAA has conducted Sportsmanship Summits across Michigan for more than 20 years. This year’s series kicks off Nov. 3 in Lansing and finishes Nov. 12 in Kalamazoo.
MHSAA staff, with assistance from school administrators and the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, conduct Sportsmanship Summits. Up to 800 students are expected to take part in the four workshops, where they will discuss the line that separates good from bad sportsmanship, both as athletes during competition and while participating in off-field activities including as spectators at sporting events.
Workshop sessions will include discussions and hands-on activities on topics including working with game officials, building appropriate student cheering sections, social media behavior and parent conduct at school sports events. Summits also will feature a session developed and instructed by members of the Student Advisory Council. At the end of the day the delegation from each participating school will meet to develop a school sportsmanship campaign.
Sessions will take place at the following:
• Lansing – Nov. 3 – Crowne Plaza Lansing West – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Troy – Nov. 5 – MSU Management Education Center – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Traverse City – Nov. 10 – Grand Traverse Resort – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Kalamazoo – Nov. 12 – Radisson Plaza Hotel – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
The Sportsmanship Summit schedule rotates locations every year. In 2024, MHSAA staff conducted summits in Grand Rapids, Marquette, Saginaw and Ann Arbor.
Registration at each site is limited to the first 200 students and administrators. Schools are welcome to bring as many as 10 total representatives, including two administrators. For additional registration information, contact Andy Frushour at the MHSAA office – [email protected] or (517) 332-5046. Registration information also is available on the Sportsmanship Resources page.