Welcome to the Second Half

January 27, 2012

More than 750 high schools are members of the Michigan High School Athletic Association. And every team in every community has a story.

“Second Half” is our place to tell them.

Combined with our parent site MHSAA.com, and our broadcast home MHSAA.tv, “Second Half” completes our picture of the best Michigan high school sports have to offer.

With MHSAA.com, “Second Half” is the home of a growing number of schedules, scores, league standings and tournament information for our sports – but also much more.  Now, we’ll look to provide visitors with the stories behind the scores.

You’ll find the report of a rare feat or the achievement that rallied the town. Behind-the-scenes looks at what we do at the MHSAA and what goes into 28 Finals tournaments each school year. We tell the inspiring tales of overcoming large obstacles, and the simple ones of lessons learned just by being a part of school sports. They’re the kind of stories all of us can relate to and enjoy, no matter where we live and which teams we support.

Michigan is the 10th-largest state in the nation. There are more than 58,000 square miles of land, and by vehicle it’s 625 miles from Calumet High School near the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula to Bedford High on the southeastern border with Ohio. Nearly 10 million people live, work and play here. MHSAA tournament events alone attract 1.6 million spectators each year.

With “Second Half”, we aim to make our state a little smaller.

If you like something we’re doing, let us know. If you’d like to see something else, I’d love to hear about it. My contact information is at the right of this screen, and my e-mail address is [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you – and telling the entire state about the great things you’re doing.

--Geoff Kimmerly

Addition of Girls Wrestling Team Championship Highlights Winter Sports Changes

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

December 5, 2024

With the first wrestling matches of the 2024-25 season taking place Wednesday, and the first girls and boys skiing and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving meets able to be scheduled for this weekend, teams will be competing in all 13 winter sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.

Those sports are or will soon join competition already underway in girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls gymnastics, boys ice hockey, and Upper Peninsula girls and boys swimming & diving.

This season, for the first time, an MHSAA Finals team championship will be awarded in girls wrestling. After first introducing a girls championship bracket to the Individual Wrestling Finals for the 2021-22 season, the MHSAA will honor its first team champion based on those individual finishes. The format will be similar to how MHSAA team championships were awarded for boys wrestling prior to the creation of the dual format Team Finals with the 1987-88 season.

Also on the wrestling mat, a competition rule change alters the penalty for using a wrestler at an ineligible weight class – dependent on when the ineligible wrestler is discovered.

Beginning this season, the use of an ineligible wrestler – if discovered during the involved match – will result in six team points being awarded to the opponent, plus the head coach of the team with the ineligible wrestler will be assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty resulting in a one-point team score deduction. If the ineligible wrestler is discovered after the involved match, any points earned by the offending wrestler will be removed from the team score, along with the point for unsportsmanlike conduct, and six points will be added to the offended team’s total. In both instances, neither wrestler involved in the match in question may compete again in that dual. If the ineligible wrestler is discovered after the dual is completed, the teams have left the mat area and the scorebook has been signed by the official, the results and team score will stand.

A pair of wrestling playing rules changes also will be immediately noticeable. The number of match points awarded for a takedown was increased from two to three. Also, near-fall points will now be awarded based on the number of seconds during which the near-fall criteria are met – beginning with two points for two seconds, up to four points for four seconds.

Postseasons for basketball and bowling also will incorporate slight changes. In basketball, entire District brackets will be seeded for the first time, instead of the previous top two teams receiving seeds only. Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) data will still be used to seed those full brackets. In bowling, Regionals may now take place as early in the week as Wednesday and Thursday, as long as the Team and Singles competitions are competed on consecutive days. Previously, those were competed only on Fridays and Saturdays, respectively.

The 2024-25 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 15 and wraps up with the Girls Basketball Finals on March 22. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:

Boys Basketball
Districts – Feb. 24, 26, 28
Regionals – March 4, 6
Quarterfinals – March 11
Semifinals – March 13-14
Finals – March 15

Girls Basketball
Districts – March 3, 5, 7
Regionals – March 10, 12
Quarterfinals – March 18
Semifinals – March 20-21
Finals – March 22

Bowling
Regionals – Feb. 19-22
Finals – Feb. 28-March 1

Competitive Cheer
Districts – Feb. 14-15
Regionals – Feb. 22
Finals – Feb. 28-March 1

Gymnastics
Regionals – March 1
Finals – March 7-8

Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 17-26
Quarterfinals – March 1
Semifinals – March 6-7
Finals – March 8

Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 10-14
Finals – Feb. 24

Swimming & Diving
Upper Peninsula Girls/Boys Finals – Feb. 15
Lower Peninsula Boys Diving Regionals – March 6
Lower Peninsula Boys Finals – March 14-15

Wrestling – Team
Districts – Feb. 5-6
Regionals – Feb. 12
Finals – Feb. 21-22

Wrestling – Individual
Districts – Feb. 8
Boys Regionals – Feb. 15
Girls Regionals – Feb. 16
Finals – Feb. 28-March 1