This Week In High School Sports: 2/15/22

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

February 15, 2022

This week's edition reintroduces the high-scoring Liedel family from southeast Michigan, awards Game Balls to standouts in basketball and competitive cheer, addresses delayed off-sides in hockey and finishes featuring another high-achieving hoops family formerly of Walled Lake Western and now at Hartland.   MI Student Aid

The 5-minute program each week includes feature stories from around the state from the MHSAA’s Second Half or network affiliates, along with "Be The Referee," a 60-second look at the fine art of officiating.

"This Week in High School Sports" is powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury.

Listen to this week's show by Clicking Here.

Previous editions

Feb. 8: Winter postseason schedule, Fowler/Portland St. Patrick girls hoops rivalry Listen
Feb. 1: Michigan Power Ratings, remembering Jackson's Charles Janke Listen
Jan. 25:
Michigan coaches honored nationally, Port Huron Northern basketball Listen
Jan. 18: Midland Dow girls basketball, retiring coaches on all-time wins lists Listen
Jan. 11: Battle of the Fans X "Challenge Round," officiating on the islands Listen
Jan. 4: Onsted boys basketball, Oxford Strong Listen
Dec. 15:
Winter championship calendar, KLAA/MIHL Memorial Showcase Listen
Dec. 8:
2021 Bush Award honorees, remembering Tom Rashid Listen
Dec. 1: 11-Player Football Finals review Listen
Nov. 23: Volleyball, LP Girls Swimming & Diving, 8-Player Football Finals review Listen
Nov. 16:
Lower Peninsula Cross Country continued, weekend preview Listen
Nov. 9: Lower Peninsula Cross Country, Boys Soccer Finals review Listen
Nov. 2: Title IX at 50 celebration, Fall championship broadcasts Listen
Oct. 27: Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals review, soccer/volleyball playoff update Listen
Oct. 20: Lower Peninsula Girls Golf & Boys Tennis Finals review Listen
Oct. 13: Middle school/junior high cross country Regionals, football playoff selection Listen
Oct. 6: Upper Peninsula girls tennis champions, football broadcast update Listen
Sept. 29: Girls swimming & diving "Meet of Champions," Schoolcraft's star kicker  Listen
Sept. 22:
Spartan Invitational "elite" races, John U. Bacon's "Let Them Lead"  Listen
Sept. 15:
Volleyball powers face off, Tiger Teusink's tennis legacy Listen
Sept. 8:
Fall sports rules changes, Adrian Lenawee Christian inspiration – Listen
Sept. 1: 
Boys soccer seeding process, Beaver Island athletics – Listen
Aug. 25:
 Return of Fall sports, “enhanced strength-of-schedule” football playoff format – Listen

Past MHSAA standouts to Compete with World's Elite at Winter Olympics

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

January 29, 2026

The XXV Winter Olympic Games start Friday, Feb. 6  with games taking place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Ninety-three countries are sending more than a combined 3,500 athletes to compete for 195 medals, with a handful of former MHSAA athletes hoping to land on the podium.

The Team USA men’s ice hockey team will be backstopped by Connor Hellebuyck, a three-time Vezina Award winner as the NHL’s top goalie after playing at Walled Lake Northern and graduating in 2011. Joining him on the ice will current Detroit Red Wing Dylan Larkin and Columbus Blue Jacket Zach Werenski. Larkin played soccer and golf at Waterford Mott before going to play hockey at the University of Michigan and in the NHL. Werenski played on the JV boys lacrosse team for one season at Grosse Pointe North.

This tribute at Boyne City High School celebrates Olympians Kaila Kuhn, class of 2021, and Cary Adgate, class of 1971.The women’s ice hockey team features 2014 North Farmington grad Megan Keller – who played softball and basketball while in high school, in addition to travel hockey.

Nick Baumgartner will be participating in his fourth Winter Olympiad. He qualified in snowboard cross in 2010, 2014 and won Olympic gold in 2022. The 2000 graduate of West Iron County High School played football, wrestled, and ran track.

Boyne City graduate Kaila Kuhn (2021) is headed to her second Olympics. She finished eighth in freestyle ski aerials in Beijing in 2022 and is looking to improve on that this year. She ran track her senior year at Boyne City. Her father, Chris, coached the ski program at Boyne City from 2017-2025, and her older brother Quinton skied for the Ramblers.

Figure skater Emilea Zingas, a 2020 graduate of Grosse Pointe South, played JV girls lacrosse while participating on the varsity figure skating team.

And finally, while they didn’t participate in MHSAA-sponsored sports, figure skater Evan Bates (Ann Arbor Huron 2007) was on the figure skating team and snowboarder Jake Vedder (Pinckney 2016) was on the school-sponsored snowboarding team.

PHOTOS (Top) Connor Hellebuyck poses for a photo while playing at Walled Lake Northern. (Middle) This tribute at Boyne City High School celebrates Olympians Kaila Kuhn, class of 2021, and Cary Adgate, class of 1971. Adgate was a two-time Olympian in alpine skiing, competing in 1976 and 1980. (Photos courtesy of the respective schools.)