Ramping Up for Prepapalooza 2014
May 27, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Over the next five days, thousands of teams representing more than 700 MHSAA high schools will compete for championships at the District, Regional and Finals levels in 11 sports in what annually is the busiest week in Michigan high school sports.
MHSAA.com and Second Half are the places to be for results, coverage and live video from championship events all over both Peninsulas.
Total, 26 Finals champions will be crowned in girls and boys tennis, girls and boys track and field and Upper Peninsula girls and boys golf, with 36 Regional champions rewarded in girls and boys lacrosse and Lower Peninsula boys golf and 320 winners earning trophies in softball, baseball and girls soccer. All tournament rounds combined, more than 8,000 medals will be presented to individual winners or contributors on those team champions.
Game scores as they are reported for baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse will be available on the MHSAA Score Center throughout the week. Full results from golf Regionals also will be posted over the next five days, as will Finals tennis and golf results as we receive them from Lower and Upper Peninsula hosts (Lower Peninsula tennis opening rounds late Friday evening). Track and Field Finals results will be posted Saturday evening.
All MHSAA Finals from both peninsulas will be covered with stories and photos on Second Half by a crew of valuable correspondents from around the state. Second Half will continue its coverage at the Lacrosse and LP Boys Golf Finals on June 14 and the Baseball, Softball and Girls Soccer Finals from June 19-21.
Live championship races from all seven sites of MHSAA Track and Field Finals will be available on a subscription basis on MHSAA.TV, beginning with the 3,200-meter relays at 10 a.m. at each site. The rest of the Upper Peninsula races then will continue, with Lower Peninsula championship races beginning again at 1 p.m. Highlights from this week's golf and tennis championship events will debut on MHSAA.TV in July.
PHOTOS: (Top) Runners push toward the finish during the 2013 LP Division 3 Final. (Middle) Members of the Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart tennis team hold up number ones to signify their place at last season's LP Division 4 Final.
Performance of the Week: Muskegon Western Michigan Christian's Abby VanderKooi
November 11, 2021
Abby VanderKooi ♦ Senior
Muskegon Western Michigan Christian ♦ Cross Country
VanderKooi on Saturday became just the eighth runner in MHSAA history to win her fourth Finals individual championship, crossing the finish line in 18:06.58 to claim the Lower Peninsula Division 4 title at Michigan International Speedway. She became the first four-time girls champion since Breckenridge’s Kirsten Olling completed her run in 2013, and in the process VanderKooi also led Western Michigan Christian to its first Finals team title.
The 18:06 was VanderKooi’s third-fastest time at a Finals, and ranks seventh all-time for Division 4. All four of VanderKooi’s championship times at MIS rank among the top 10 for either Division 4 or Division 3 Finals – her teams were Division 4 in 2018, 2019 and this fall, and Division 3 in 2020. That 2020 time of 17:12.47 also remains the 10th-fastest from all Classes and Divisions since the race distance became 5K in 1980, and she is the only runner listed among that all-Class/Division top 10 who did not compete in LP Division 1 or 2. Her season-best time this fall was 17:29.9, and her personal record for high school was a 16:48.8 as a junior. VanderKooi also is the two-time reigning LPD3 track champion in the 3,200 meters.
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2021-22 Honorees
Nov. 4: Arianne Olson, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
Oct. 28: Jack Guggemos, Okemos soccer - Report
Oct. 21: Sachiv Kumar, Northville tennis - Report
Oct. 14: Kate Brody, Grand Blanc golf - Report
Oct. 7: Lilly Nelson, Negaunee tennis - Report
Sept. 30: Stella Chapman, Ann Arbor Pioneer swimming - Report
Sept. 23: Riley Hough, Hartland cross country - Report
Sept. 16: Josie Bloom, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Report
PHOTOS courtesy of RunMichigan.com.