Prepapalooza: Final Countdown Begins
May 26, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Nearly 30,000 athletes will take part over the next six days in what will again be the busiest week of the MHSAA calendar, with teams in all nine spring sports competing for District, Regional or Finals championships at sites across both peninsulas.
The first Finals champions of this spring will be awarded Tuesday in Upper Peninsula boys tennis, followed by six more in Upper Peninsula boys and girls golf Thursday and Friday. Four divisions of Lower Peninsula girls tennis start their two-day tournament Friday, and on Saturday, more than 7,000 athletes will join them competing in four Lower and three Upper Peninsula Track & Field Finals.
In addition, baseball, softball and girls soccer teams begin District action tonight, with most of those tournaments wrapping Saturday. Girls and boys lacrosse teams continue Regional play this week, and Lower Peninsula boys golf teams will play Regionals on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Second Half again will serve as your home for all MHSAA Finals coverage, with correspondents providing stories and photos, along with full results, from all of the Upper Peninsula Finals this week and then all 18 LP and UP Finals this weekend, Lacrosse and LP Golf Finals on June 6, and Baseball, Softball and Soccer Finals being played June 11-13.
Check back as well for video highlights from most competitions and sign up to watch all broadcast tournament action over the next three weeks for only $9.95 on MHSAA.tv. All schedules, lists of competitors and tournament brackets updated with scores real-time can be found on MHSAA.com. Keep connected as well with the MHSAA’s social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Ravenna Girls Finish Comeback in Deciding Match to Claim 1st Finals Win
By
Nick Cooper
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2025
MUSKEGON – Friday was a storybook ending for Ravenna’s Emma Herremans.
The Bulldogs’ lone senior bowler helped secure the program’s first Finals team championship.
Ravenna went the distance with Bad Axe in the deciding match, even trailing 2-1 before winning the final two games 172-150 and 186-179 to clinch.
“It feels amazing. I have to take a pause to just take everything in,” said Herremans.
Ravenna’s championship capped off an undefeated season and was the first Finals title for the school in any sport other than football.
“We just sat there, and our hearts were racing the entire time,” said Ravenna coach Jason Nutt.
En route to the championship, the top-seeded Bulldogs defeated No. 8 seed Jackson Lumen Christi and No. 5 seed Jonesville.
Bracket play featured multiple seeding upsets with No. 7 Homer sweeping second seed Burton Atherton in three games in a quarterfinal. Fifth seed Jonesville defeated No. 4 seed Allen Park Cabrini during the same round.
Ravenna posted the top score during qualifying, 2,899 pins, to outpace the field by 164.
After reaching the quarterfinals in 2024 and then winning the championship in 2025, Ravenna figures to assert itself as a statewide presence for years to come. Looking to the future, Nutt’s expectation for his program is one of optimism.
“It’s good to get one. We should continue to get strong,” he said.