Back to News Menu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --June 22, 1999
Contact: John Johnson or Mike Clifford 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - June 22 - A continued high level of competition was evident in Michigan High School Athletic Association tournaments during the 1998-99 school year.

Eighty-five different schools won titles in the recently completed school year, two less than the 87 in 1997-98. The continually high number of schools winning championships is primarily due to the competitive environment for high school teams around the state created by equal divisions in nine sports: including boys and girls Lower Peninsula golf.

The 1998-99 school year saw a total of 113 team champions crowned, an all-time high which is an increase of three from a year ago. Next year, the minimum number of titles will decrease to 109 when girls volleyball will hold a unified tournament, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, for the first time.

The schools which won their first MHSAA titles in any sport were: Detroit Mumford in Lower Peninsula boys track and field, Morrice in girls basketball, Whittemore-Prescott in team wrestling and Wyoming Rogers in softball. In addition, there were 38 schools which won tournament titles in a given sport for the first time.

Sixteen of the 85 schools winning in 1998-99 took more than one crown. Marquette won five titles, while Ann Arbor Pioneer and East Grand Rapids won four championships apiece. Marquette, Ann Arbor Pioneer and East Grand Rapids each won one unified tournament, Marquette claimed girls skiing, Ann Arbor Pioneer won boys basketball and East Grand Rapids won in boys skiing. Five schools won at least three championships and eight won at least two. Detroit Catholic Central led all schools with three championships in unified tournaments and Detroit Country Day claimed two unified tournaments. Eleven of the MHSAA's 24 championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine titlists in both Peninsulas is conducted in the other 13 sports.

The uniques in 1998-99 included: Marquette won its ninth consecutive Upper Peninsula boys swimming and diving title, the longest active streak in any sport; there was no repeat champion in any class in girls competitive cheer for the first time in the 6-year history of the event; and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett winning its 33rd MHSAA crown in Lower Peninsula boys tennis, surpassing Pickford's mark of total championships in a single sport of 32 in Upper Peninsula boys track and field. Liggett's title total is a national record in boys tennis, while Pickford's 32 boys track crowns ranks second nationally.

The following is a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 1998-99:

NOTE: Those tournaments in which competition is conducted in separate Peninsulas will have their class/division designated as UP for Upper Peninsula; LP for Lower Peninsula. Unified tournaments, involving schools from both peninsulas, will only list the letter/numeral of the class/division in which the competition was conducted.

Sport	Class/Division	Winning School (Coach)	Overall Titles Won	Consecutive Titles Won
BASEBALL
	1 2 3 4	Detroit Catholic Central (John Salter) Sturgis (Bill Whitely) Saginaw Nouvel (Mark Krzysiak) Decatur (Ben Botti)	3 1 3 1	-- -- -- --
BASKETBALL (Boys)
	A B C D	Ann Arbor Pioneer (Brian Townsend) River Rouge (LaMonta Stone) Detroit St. Martin dePorres (Derrick Owens) Muskegon Western Michigan Christian (James Goorman)	1 14 7 6	-- 2 2 --
BASKETBALL (Girls)
	A B C D	Birmingham Marian (Mary Cicerone) Detroit Country Day (Frank Orlando) Freeland (Dave Oczpek) Morrice (Jim Lemire)	4 4 1 1	-- 2 -- --
COMPETITIVE CHEER (Girls)
	A B C-D	Rochester (Susan Wood) Grand Rapids Catholic Central (Jim Ross) Pewamo-Westphalia (Sherry Fedewa)	3 1 5	-- -- --
CROSS COUNTRY (Boys)
	LP A LP B LP C LP D LP D UP A-B UP C UP D	Novi (Robert Smith) Richland Gull Lake (Brad Portis) East Jordan (Dennis Snarey) Grass Lake (Pat Richardson) Bear Lake (Dal Townsend) Escanaba (Al O'Dell) Calumet (Bruce Hannula) Carney-Nadeau (Pauline Poupore)	1 1 1 5 3 11 4 2	-- -- -- 4 -- -- 3 2
CROSS COUNTRY (Girls)
	LP A LP B LP C LP D UP A-B UP C UP D	Rockford (Brad Prins) Whitehall (Kathy Hector) Benzie Central (Eldon Moss) Mendon (Art Bombrys) Menominee (Randy Verkerke) Stephenson (Greg Dausey) Republic-Michigamme (Vicki Holsworth)	1 1 3 2 2 2 2	-- -- -- 2 2 -- 2
FOOTBALL
	AA A BB B CC C DD D	Detroit Catholic Central (Thomas Mach) Farmington Hills Harrison (John Herrington) Menominee (Ken Hofer) Chesaning (Jim Szappan) Montrose (Dennis Reinhart) Unionville Sebewaing (Tim Travis) Fulton Middleton (Ed Lark) Fowler (Neal Hoffman)	6 9 1 1 1 1 1 4	2 2 -- -- -- -- -- --
GOLF (Boys)
	LP 1 LP 2 LP 3 LP 4 UP A-B UP C UP D	Birmingham Brother Rice (Jim Rademacher) Flint Powers Catholic (Bob Beach) Grosse Ile (James Bennett) Schoolcraft (Al Johansen) Marquette (Mark Carlson) Iron Mountain (Harvey Johnson) Ontonagon (Dennis Morin)	7 3 1 2 6 9 13	-- -- -- -- 2 -- --
GOLF (Girls)
	LP 1 LP 2 LP 3 UP A-B UP C UP D	Farmington Hills Mercy (Vicki Kowalski) Coldwater (Roger Fuller) East Grand Rapids (Dave Ghareeb) Marquette (Mark Carlson) Crystal Falls Forest Park (Chris Larsen) DeTour (Chuck Hessel)	1 1 2 5 1 1	-- -- -- -- -- --
GYMNASTICS (Girls)
	LP Open UP Open	Hartland (Deborah Heck) Menominee (Joe Johnson)	1 8	-- --
ICE HOCKEY
	A B-C-D	Detroit Catholic Central (Gordon St. John) Hancock (Richard Miller)	3 1	-- --
SKIING (Boys)
	A B-C-D	Traverse City Central (Jerry Stanek) East Grand Rapids (Tom Winquest)	16 2	2 --
SKIING (Girls)
	A B-C-D	Marquette (Derek Anderson) Maple City-Glen Lake (Mark Fisher)	1 2	-- 2
SOCCER (Boys)
	1 2 3 4	Novi (Brian O'Leary) Grand Rapids Christian (Larry Klaasen) Paw Paw (Dave Clark) Elk Rapids (Al Gredlien)	1 1 1 2	-- -- -- 2
SOCCER (Girls)
	1 2 3	Rochester Adams (Ralph Torre) Madison Heights Bishop Foley (Rick Larson) Detroit Country Day (Bob Bukari)	2 8 3	-- 3 --
SOFTBALL
	1 2 3 4	Okemos (Dan Stolz) Wyoming Rogers (Tom Hudson) Kalamazoo Christian (Marty DeJong) Bay City All Saints (Brad Walraven)	1 1 4 2	-- -- 4 --
SWIMMING & DIVING (Boys)
	LP A LP B-C-D UP Open	Ann Arbor Pioneer (Dennis Hill) Dexter (Todd Brunty) Marquette (Matt Williams)	13 1 13	-- -- 9
SWIMMING & DIVING (Girls)
	LP A LP B-C-D UP Open	Farmington Hills Mercy (Jim Downs) East Grand Rapids (Milton Briggs) Houghton (John Vincent)	2 12 3	-- -- 2
TENNIS (Boys)
	LP 1 LP 2 LP 3 LP 4 UP A-B UP C-D	Birmingham Brother Rice (Keith Cullen) Okemos (Jim Powers) Detroit Country Day (Bill Ennis) Grosse Pointe Woods Univ. Liggett (Bob Wood) Escanaba (Scott Hansen) Iron Mountain (Phyllis Laurila)	5 7 8 33 6 15	2 -- 2 -- -- 3
TENNIS (Girls)
	LP 1 LP 2 LP 3 LP 4 UP A-B UP C-D	Ann Arbor Pioneer (Tom Pullen) Okemos (Al Inkala) East Grand Rapids (Mia Bertsch) Grosse Pte. Woods Univ. Liggett (Chuck Wright/Bob Wood) Kingsford (Sue Tirschell) Stambaugh West Iron County (Brook Smith)	2 5 11 15 3 7	-- -- 5 5 3 3
TRACK & FIELD (Boys)
	LP A LP B LP C LP D UP A-B UP C UP D	Detroit Mumford (Robert Lynch) Corunna (Gordon Aldrich) Buchanan (Rusty Stitt) Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher (Michelle Batten) Escanaba (Gary Seehafer) Calumet (John Croze) Iron Mountain North Dickinson (Joe Reddinger)	1 2 2 1 14 5 3	-- 2 -- -- -- 3 --
TRACK & FIELD (Girls)
	LP A LP B LP C LP D UP A-B UP C UP D	Ann Arbor Pioneer (Bryan Westfield) Detroit Renaissance (Rick Miotke) Benzie Central (Andy Herman) North Muskegon (Doug Clark) Marquette (Dale Phillips) Ironwood (Dave Davis) Pickford (Joe Baker)	10 3 1 4 12 6 9	4 3 -- -- 7 6 --
VOLLEYBALL (Girls)
	LP A LP B LP C LP D UP A-B UP C UP D	Portage Northern (Jack Magelssen) Marysville (John Knuth) St. Louis (Gary Stanglewicz) Mendon (Kathy Trenary) Ishpeming Westwood (Jean Jandron) St. Ignace (Leonard Thomas) Rapid River (Lisa Kanyuh)	10 3 1 2 1 2 1	-- 3 -- 2 -- -- --
TEAM WRESTLING
	1 2 3 4	Temperance Bedford (Dennis Brighton) Eaton Rapids (Scott Warriner) Williamston (Jim Mooney) Whittemore-Prescott (Craig Funsch)	3 4 1 1	-- -- -- --