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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --February 25, 2000
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour-- 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Feb. 25 - The finals of several Michigan High School Athletic Association tournaments will be broadcast to statewide audiences this year.

Television coverage of the events will be distributed by FOX Sports Net Detroit and the MHSAA Championship Network. FOX Sports Net Detroit will air the final games of the Boys Basketball tournament live on March 25 for the third straight year as part of its contract with the MHSAA. In addition, FOX Sports Net will stream the broadcast of the finals live on the Internet. Ray Bentley, who calls NFL games for FOX Sports in the fall, will handle the play-by-play of the Class D and C games with former University of Michigan standout Tim McCormick handling the color; Detroit Tigers announcer Josh Lewin calls the action in the Class A and B games along with Detroit Shock coach Nancy Lieberman-Cline.

Olympia Entertainment, through its contract with FOX Sports Net Detroit, will televise highlights of the championship matches of the Lower Peninsula Individual Wrestling Finals on a tape-delayed basis. Those highlights will air on April 9, with the Division 1 and 2 highlights at 1 p.m.; followed by the Division 3 and 4 highlights at 2 p.m.

In addition, FOX Sports Net Detroit will be running MARCH MAGIC commercials throughout the month of March, promoting all MHSAA championships.

The MHSAA Championship Network will air, on a tape-delayed basis, the Girls Volleyball Finals on participating cable systems across the state on March 26, with the Class D match at Noon, followed by Class C at 1:30 p.m.; Class A at 3 p.m.; and Class B at 4:30 p.m. The Volleyball Finals will also be shown over-the-air on WLLA-TV (Channel 64) in Kalamazoo-Battle Creek-Grand Rapids, with the Class A match on March 20 at 6 p.m.; Class B March 21 at 6 p.m.; Class C March 22 at 6 p.m.; and Class D on March 25 at 6 p.m. Announcers for the telecasts for the eighth year are Mark Crawford and Tim Berkey, who will call the Class D and A matches; and Todd Arner and Lynn Rosendale on the Class C and B finales.

The MHSAA Championship Network will also broadcast March Magic Recap, with highlights of daily action in the Boys Basketball Semifinals, on a network of on-air stations the evenings of March 23 and 24, with WSYM-TV (Channel 47) in Lansing serving as the flagship station. WSYM-TV will air the program live at 10:30 p.m., which will be hosted by Mark Crawford.

Other stations are WLLA-TV (Channel 64) in Kalamazoo-Battle Creek-Grand Rapids (11 p.m. on March 23; 7 a.m. on March 25 with March 24 highlights); WGKI-TV (Channel 33) in Cadillac (11 p.m. each day); WSMH-TV (Channel 66) in Flint-Saginaw-Bay City (11 p.m. each day); and WLUC-TV (Channel 6) in Marquette (12:35 a.m. each evening following The Tonight Show).

A total of 35 stations are expected to be on the radio network for the Boys Basketball Finals, which is distributed by Michigan Radio Networks of Lansing.

Mike Carey and Denny Kuiper of WMMI in Mt. Pleasant will call the action of the Class C and B title games; while Brett Bakita and John Kenyon of WBBL in Grand Rapids will announce the Class D and A tilts. Andy MacDonald and Mike Stump of WATT in Cadillac will serve as the hosts.

Stations on the network are: Adrian - WABJ; Alma - WFYC; Battle Creek - WRCC; Cadillac - WATT; Caro - WKYO/WIDL-FM; Cheboygan - WCBY; Coldwater - WTVB; Detroit - WDFN; Dowagiac - WDOW; East Lansing - WVFN; Escanaba - WCHT; Escanaba - WDBC-WYKX; Gaylord - WMJZ/WSNQ-FM; Grand Rapids - WBBL; Grayling - WGRY/WQON-FM; Greenville - WPLB; Hancock - WMPL AM/FM; Hillsdale - WCSR AM/FM; Holland - WWJQ; Houghton - WHKB-FM; Iron Mountain - WIKB; Ironwood - WJMS; Jackson - WJKN; Jackson - WIBM; Lapeer - WLSP; Ludington - WKLA

Manistique - WTIQ; Marquette - WJPD/WDMJ/WIAN; Mt. Pleasant - WMMI/WCZY-FM; Muskegon - WUBR; Petoskey - WMBN/WMKT; St. Ignace - WIDG; Sturgis - WMSH; Tawas City - WKJC-FM/WIOS-AM; Traverse City - WTCM. Semifinal games will be broadcast locally on WVFN in East Lansing.
In addition, the semifinal and final games will be available live on the Internet through Michigan Live (www.mlive.com/preps). Michigan Live will also show video of the Girls Competitive Cheer and Girls Volleyball finals on an on-demand basis the week following those championships; as well as semifinal highlights of the Boys Basketball Tournament.

The MHSAA Web Site (www.mhsaa.com) will also be updated periodically during events with scores and additional information. Those events are: Team Dual Wrestling - Updates every hour, with full results posted at the completion of each match; Lower Peninsula Individual Wrestling - Updates every hour in narrative and bracket format; Girls Volleyball - Updates at completion of each game in a match, with box scores posted at the completion of each match. All other sports will have summaries posted at the end of each game or day of competition.

Television and radio network sponsors are Farm Bureau Insurance and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.